How do I get into computer coding?

[Rhymenoceros]

Earlier tonight I saw The Social Network (awesome film, great acting) and particularly at the beginning Zuckerberg, amongst others, do quite a bit of coding and hacking and as I have often wondered if I would enjoy it I thought to ask you, My esteemed fellow Escapians, how should I go about getting into coding?

 

[tomtom94]

Go to the library/bookshop
Find where they keep all the "For Dummies" books
Find the one about coding
PROFIT!

That, or talk to a professional.

 

[daltonlaffs]

Poot dispenser here. [http://www.microsoft.com/express/Downloads/]

Microsoft's Visual Studio collection now has free Express editions. Express does pretty much everything you could need to do, and VB.NET (Visual Basic) is the BEST language I've ever encountered for an easy introduction. The language follows simple syntax rules, and most of the difficult tasks of other languages are turned into simple one-liners.

 

[burningdragoon]

*checks age*
You are in high school or some such? Take a class if offered. That's what happened to me (in college though)

No luck, then check out the [a href="http://www.google.com"]internets[/a]. There are loads and loads of tutorials out there. I do not know how good they are for beginning but they are definitely out there.

You probably could find a good book that will be "better" than what some of the internet can offer and the cost of... actually costing something.

 

[Danzaivar]

You can start by calling it programming. You're not a 13 year old script kiddy!

And err, google 'MSDN tutorial' and just go from there I guess. If you wanna be 'pro' I guess you could start with learning the following languages:

C++ (Straight up programming)
PHP (To make decent web-pages, which is probably what you're thinking of)
SQL (Need this for databases, also necessary for most 'hacking')

If C++ is over your head then try C# or Java. They're basically C++ lite.

That's all pretty pointless without understanding the concepts of programming, but it's a decent enough start.

 

[Nimbus]

You could do it the way I'm doing it: Take a course in it!

 

[spazzattack]

Languages you will benefit from learning are C++ and Java for application making, HTML, PHP, and JavaScript for web pages, and MySQL for database manipulations. Don't worry about higher level languages such as Perl, Python, Ruby, etc. as they are for programmers with complex systems.

 

[Good morning blues]

The best way to start is by taking a class. You'll probably want to start with a simpler language in order to get your head around the concepts and logic that are universal to all programming languages; Python is probably the best place to start.

If you can't get a class, find a good book about it. The "For Dummies" books are not good books; look around for reviews and find one that comes highly recommended.

 

[tehbeard]

Start with VB, python or java (Java is pretty much used at ALL univeristy level degrees).
As said SQL is a must for more complex programs, as pretty much everything is moving to databases for data storage these days.

Programming is more then "knowing" a language, its understanding a problem, and understanding how to solve that problem with the toolset you have at your disposal.

 

[Heart of Darkness]

Well, as others have said, either take a class in it (if its offered) or go pick up a book and try to learn a language yourself. Start with a simple language, like JavaScript, and see if you like it or not--if you do, go up to something a little more difficult, like Java or C++.

And make sure you know how to tackle problems efficiently. That'll help you write much more efficient programs. If you need help with that, either ask someone or start looking over example programs.

 

[SturmDolch]

Poot dispenser here. [http://www.microsoft.com/express/Downloads/]

Microsoft's Visual Studio collection now has free Express editions. Express does pretty much everything you could need to do, and VB.NET (Visual Basic) is the BEST language I've ever encountered for an easy introduction. The language follows simple syntax rules, and most of the difficult tasks of other languages are turned into simple one-liners.

Do not listen to this. I have a beginner's background in computing science and Visual Studio has done nothing for me but make me want to tear my hair out. And Visual Basic is an old language... Go with something people are actually using now instead.

I suggest you start with Java. It's a very easy language. Buy the "Java All-In-One Desk Reference for Dummies", a great book that details many parts of the language and will help you get started.

Also, get the Eclipse IDE [http://www.eclipse.org/]. This is where you will enter the code. Eclipse underlines things that are wrong in red, just like in Microsoft Word. It's a great and easy to use program. Best of all? It's open-source, i.e. free.

If you decide to go with C++ or C instead, I'd again recommend the All-In-One Desk Reference for Dummies. Great series of books.

As for an IDE, it will be harder to find out where the bugs are. It won't be as simple as with Eclipse. But check out Code::blocks [http://www.codeblocks.org/] and get the one with the compiler included. It will take a bit of fiddling to get it to work, but you'll figure it out eventually and be coding soon.

Of course, you could just work with the command line... But it gets tedious.

All in all, I really suggest starting with a C based language. They're the popular ones right now. C, C++, Java, and the copy of Java, C#. Once you know one of them, it will be easy to switch to another.

 

[rabidmidget]

First I would recommend finding a language that suits you, as many languages have varying levels of difficulty and use.

Visual basic and Javascript are probably as easy as it gets, but some people decide to jump in head first into C++/C/C# or java.

A lot of it depends on what you want to be doing with this code, as some languages are better suited for certain tasks than others.

EDIT: Also, you don't have to be too worried about picking the "wrong" language and having to start over again, as once you have gained a good understanding of how programming languages work, it's much easier to learn new languages.

 

[Vhite]

Poot dispenser here. [http://www.microsoft.com/express/Downloads/]

Microsoft's Visual Studio collection now has free Express editions. Express does pretty much everything you could need to do, and VB.NET (Visual Basic) is the BEST language I've ever encountered for an easy introduction. The language follows simple syntax rules, and most of the difficult tasks of other languages are turned into simple one-liners.

I think you are being too quick, only someone whos already in programming would understand what did you just said, many people who never coded anything dont even know that there is many languages or where and how to write code.

Earlier tonight I saw The Social Network (awesome film, great acting) and particularly at the beginning Zuckerberg, amongst others, do quite a bit of coding and hacking and as I have often wondered if I would enjoy it I thought to ask you, My esteemed fellow Escapians, how should I go about getting into coding?

This [http://www.youtube.com/user/LusikkaMage#p/u/16/C-D9bkJ2JxY] is where I send everyone who wants to learn about programming. It may look little childish but it explains stuff pretty well (its mainly oriented on making games), whole channel does. As language I would recommend either C++ and use Dev-c++ or Code::blocks as IDE or C# and use Visual C# Express Studio 2010/2008 as IDE. They arent easiest but if you will know them everything else will be easy. You should buy some book about language your going to learn, there are some tutorials on internet but book is sure bet. And dont buy anything "for Dummies" buy something thick and decent.

 

[Heart of Darkness]

This [http://www.youtube.com/user/LusikkaMage#p/u/16/C-D9bkJ2JxY] is where I send everyone who wants to learn about programming. It may look little childish but it explains stuff pretty well (its mainly oriented on making games), whole channel does. As language I would recommend either C++ and use Dev-c++ or Code::blocks as IDE or C# and use Visual C# Express Studio 2010/2008 as IDE. They arent easiest but if you will know them everything else will be easy. You should buy some book about language your going to learn, there are some tutorials on internet but book is sure bet. And dont buy anything "for Dummies" buy something thick and decent.

Hey, thanks for linking this. It's relevant to my interests, and it seems like it could be a lot of help. It's not the best presentation, but whatever.

 

[DaJoW]

Courses really is the best way, though the first courses I took were very, very bad. At my uni the first programming courses use Moscow ML, it's a very easy language to get into (though C++ is used more and probably just as easy), and while it has several weaknesses it's a pretty good beginners language. It's mainly used for introduction courses in programming so it shouldn't be a problem to find slides about it on the web.

Really though, you'd need to either take a course or pick up a book, because otherwise it'll be difficult to find useful things to do. People tend to try and do complicated things right away, but without the basics it's doomed to fail. First few assignments in a beginners course is usually no more complex than a few lines just to test things out, and learn common mistakes to avoid.

 

[Mr Montmorency]

First you should learn Pascal, which will help with #C and Visual Basic, which'll help you learn the syntax, then you can move up on shit.

A similar case is HTML, which helps with CSS and PHP.

 

[AdmiralMemo]

Dummies books, college classes, etc.

Start basic with something like C++.

Never do Assembly unless you need to.

 

[Doctor VonSexMachine]

Grow a neckbeard, I hear it helps.



I kid, I kid. Learn C. If you end up studying engineering, you'll need it anyways and it's a good basis. And FORTRAN is pretty cool too, although I've never *actually* had to use it.

Never do Assembly unless you want to be employable and make good money.

Fixed.

ETA: Programing and hacking are no where near as glamorous as you see in the movies. It's hard work with lots of aggravation, but it's a decent enough skill to have.

 

[AdmiralMemo]

Never do Assembly unless you want to be employable and make good money.

Fixed.

True enough, but it is really tough. I took 2 classes in it. I really don't want to do any more... I mean, half a page of code to write "Hello World" on the screen? Forget it. I'm only mucking in the code's guts when it's required.