PROGRAMMING

Hello...um i am 16 years old...and I am wanting to get into programming and webdesign...but i want to learn programming first...Ok...so here's the question...What programming lauguage should i start out with...i have all of the software for like Visual Studio professional 2008, Dev C++, Eclipse for java...and python for well python...so what should i start with...i haven't done any programming in my life...well i have tried to learn..but what should i start with that i will get more use from down the road...i am wanting to build games, windows based software, and things in that nature...thanks for answering

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Permalink Reply by Ulrik F. Damm on June 10, 2009 at 11:21pm: Which programming language you choose depends on how much time and effort you want to put into it. Python is very easy to learn and use, because it has a very simple syntax and is very straight-forward. It's not very efficient through, and you don't get to learn a lot of elements that you're gonna use if you want to really get into programming (like pointers, advanced OOP, memory management, etc.).
Java is a little harder than Python, and takes some more time to learn, but there's also more concepts in it, and it is faster than Python. It reminds more about C++, and learning C++ after you've learned Java won't be hard. It has some features like pointers, they're just much easier to handle than in C++.
C++ (or C for that matter) is the most high-end you'll need to make any program. It really takes time and a good amount of effort to master, but once you got that, learning every other programming language is really easy. C++ doesn't have things like garbage control and runtime errors like in Java (in Java you'll get the name of the error and a stack trace, in C++ you'll get a segfault and crash).

Which of these you want to learn is up to you, and it just depends on the time you want to put into it. I started straight away with C++, with only some programming experience from JavaScript and Game Maker Language (^_^) and I've been working with it for 2 years now, and when using it, it's getting more and more logical, so don't get stuck in the beginning because there's something you don't understand :) I started on learning Java in school one year ago, and I've never had any problem understanding any part of it, because it really looks like C++, just more simple ;)

Hope that helps :); ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Techgeek93 on June 11, 2009 at 7:29am: Ok....THANKS....i will do that; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Silas Tic on June 11, 2009 at 3:26am: Start with HTML, it is a web based language and it is a client side language which means when you code you can just open the document in your web browser to see if it works, you don't have to compile your programs and what not.

HTML will teach you some simple techniques and just get you use to coding, you can then move to CSS and see how that interacts and changes your HTML designs.

Then i would move move to software programming.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Casey Renee Clark on June 13, 2009 at 12:44am: HTML is definitely what you would start with, as well as CSS and then move up to JavaScript, its an easy way to build dynamic webpages + it has many of the features, methods and commands that are almost identical to java itself. so HTML, CSS then javascript :) My course teaches it in this order as well :); ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by logan on June 15, 2009 at 5:28am: html is the easyes progaming languide ive learned; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Brandon Turnbull on June 11, 2009 at 3:43am: well id recomend HTML and C++ or other variations of C all work about the same them move onto Java and Python avoid anything with the word visual in the name Visual C++ or dare i say Visual basic wich you will learn in highschool and are ultimutly usless and just waste your time if you want to get into web design you will need HTML XML and Java but Python looks like it could be importent in a few years i know that autodesk has anounced that maya will be going full python and droping MEL so thats a big step for it; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by IMPMAC on June 11, 2009 at 3:57am: Since everything is going to the web, learn some web-related languages!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Darren on June 11, 2009 at 4:56am: ^ This; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Beef_Log_FTL on June 11, 2009 at 7:28am: If you want to do stuff like games and windows software you should start with C++ for sure and then move into C# and XNA game studio. XNA lets you build game and put them on your xbox360 if you want to test them and stuff like that its very cool and they have tutorials to show you stuff but you do need some knowledge in C# before you get into that I would recommend.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Rex Torres on June 11, 2009 at 4:23pm: Well I'm a Programmer Analyst for the State of Florida and I can say that people with knowledge and skills of C# and the .NET Framework are in demand everywhere. I've been in the business for 8 years so I know this for a fact. I recently interviewed for another position in the private sector and I was told the same thing. The best way to learn C# is to jump right in and start out with Visual Studio. Start small and simple. I would go to a bookstore and get a beginner's book on C# and go through it cover to cover. That's how I started out. Most C# instructor-lead classes cost over $2,000 per person, so a book is much cheaper!!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Intel_VistaHacker on June 13, 2009 at 3:23am: Yeah, I agree with him.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by tjbackstage on June 12, 2009 at 8:35pm: Hey! I'm kinda in your same boat. I'm 15, and I've never done any programming. I signed up for and started taking a class at a community college on C++, but I had to withdraw because I was too busy to keep taking it. But now that it's summer, I plan to take a lot more time looking through the textbook. I've done a little bit in Microsoft Visual Basic 2008 (go to Microsoft's DreamSpark.com, where they give free software to students), but I want to do more with it and learn Cocoa for OS X. So today, I went out and spent some of my savings on a few books. I purchased "Visual Basic 2008: Step by Step" [by: Michael Halvorson / from Microsoft] and "Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X - For Dummies" [by: Erick Tejkowski]. So far, these books have been great, and you don't really need any experience to understand them. I'd recommend taking a look at stuff on iTunes U and buying (or checking them out from a library) some books on the programming language of your choice. I'd recommend starting off with Visual Basic, Cocoa, C++, and/or Python. However, it all depends on preference and what you want to do.

Hope that helps ya out! And good luck with your future in computer programming!; ▶ Reply to This