how to start learning programing?

[jbchillin]

I'm currently in college and im going for a Computer Science: Information Technology degree. I am only one year in so i have mostly core classes and a few cs classes and their not programing heavy. For one of my classes my teacher was talking about how next spring programing classes start up and we should all have basic knowledge of it. So whats the best way to start programing? Wheres a good source to read up on it and what are some good programs?

I currently have Visual studio 2010 but i cant install it at this time and i know absolutely nothing im planning on learning as much as i can over summer.

 

[Proteus214]

If you know what language or languages your school primarily works with, it would be best to concentrate on those for the sake of getting through your academics. In the professional world having a lot of experience with languages such as Java and C++ will get you far, so if your school doesn't work with those too much, you will want to make a point of learning those on your own at some point.

Once you have settled on what language and platform you will be working with, get a book on that language to help you out. From there you need to set up your computer as a development platform with things such as Visual Studio that will allow you to easily write, compile/interpret, and run your code easily.

This is the most important part right here:
Start coding. Write code, get it to compile, run it, modify it, break it, fix it, break it again, write something else, break that too, etc. Doesn't matter what kind of programs you end up writing as long as you are coding. Do not wait until summer to do this, start now and get yourself in that environment.

 

[dmase]

If your truly interested you could get your textbooks early and read through them. I'm surprised you haven't touched on some basic programming in a csc class. csc being pretty damn basic, we did logic and a java based program called Karl J robot. But Java and C++ are probably the basic languages you need to know. Learn the most common mistakes for when you debug is also a must... It will save you TONS of time when your creating a program.

 

[Zantos]

My physics course started by teaching C. Aparently it's a simple language and you can apply the skills to most languages if you pick up another. Loads of free software and tutorials for it too.