Learning my first programming language :-D what should I learn?

[DEAD34345]

I'd say to start with Visual Basic. It's not all that different from C, but it's a lot more user-friendly and easy to learn (at least in my opinion). Then, once you can program in VB it's not very difficult to switch to C if you want.

It's also not as fast as C, but I doubt you will be writing many programs that need speed when you're just learning the basics.

 

[CyberSkull]

For programming, start with C. Despite what Microsoft would have your believe, C is the foundation that pretty much every OS and device is built on. With C you will learn not only the basics of programming but also a good foundation in how computers work.

I would say go straight to C++ if that is an option.
C has some pretty lousy pointers handling that makes it harder to learn if you are new or careless. Sure its powerful, but its not "rookie friendly"...

Learning to manage pointers is a pain, but it will make you a better programmer. C++ has the same issues, but instead of remembering to free your mallocs, you have to remember to delete all your news. I think object theory, especially as how it is implemented in C++, is too much to foist on a new programmer when they still don't understand pointers.

 

[Lacsapix]

#1 Visual Basic
#2 Html
#3 java/C++

whats the best way to learn c++ ?

I've learned it from this guy

Spoiler

the teacher here has full tutorials of almost every programing language out there.

 

[bakan]

snip

Learning C first will make you appreciate all the higher level languages even more.

Or it can be a pain if he does learn it without background knowledge and no instructions.

In my opinion it's better to start off with something easier to understand if you wanna learn it by yourself - it is just not as frustrating and keeps you motivated.

 

[ThisIsSnake]

#1 Visual Basic
#2 Html
#3 java/C++

whats the best way to learn c++ ?

Over several gruelling years.

In my software class we went

Pascal (using Turbo Pascal), because it's very strict with it's syntax.
Visual Basic, because it's easier to make practical programs that look.... well not like dos.
Java, because it's VB but as an actual programming language /superiority

You could easily learn html from web tutorials and using the view source feature on web browsers to reverse engineer the stuff you want. Javascript is a little trickier but you'll need that to nice things on a website.

 

[hermes]

For programming, start with C. Despite what Microsoft would have your believe, C is the foundation that pretty much every OS and device is built on. With C you will learn not only the basics of programming but also a good foundation in how computers work.

I would say go straight to C++ if that is an option.
C has some pretty lousy pointers handling that makes it harder to learn if you are new or careless. Sure its powerful, but its not "rookie friendly"...

Learning to manage pointers is a pain, but it will make you a better programmer. C++ has the same issues, but instead of remembering to free your mallocs, you have to remember to delete all your news. I think object theory, especially as how it is implemented in C++, is too much to foist on a new programmer when they still don't understand pointers.

That is why I would go to Pascal or Modula first (before C or C++, at least)...
They are not as powerful. They were not designed to be commercially useful, but to be used as learning tools for structured programming.

 

[Weaver]

If you want to become an expert programmer you should start off with a degree in computer science or software engineering and go from there.

There is a wide world of difference between a computer scientist and a self taught programmer. I've worked in the software industry long enough to see both.

 

[mionic]

Java is pretty standard is it not? For websites you should use HTML and java script... But what do i know? I only code extremely basic AS 2.0

 

[Red 3mu]

I'm such a beginner at coding I can't write a webpage. I want to learn programming so I can be useful someday, and maybe girls might finally like me.

What programming language is best to start learning with? Why? How am I supposed to begin earning the skills to become an expert programmer?

What should I keep in mind while programming? Anything I must know? Programming tips?

Personally I wouldn't use knowledge of programming to pick up girls, but I started with Pascal and moved onto Delphi which is pretty much object-oriented Pascal. Next would be java then probably C++

 

[dillinger88]

I started with C to learn the general coding practices such as variable declarations, basic data structures, functions and pointers.

Then moved to Java to learn object orientated stuff and then on the C++ (also OO).

The reason I started with C and not a OO language is there's extra theory on object orientated practices to learn and it could be come too much. So I'd say start simple.

Once you've done C and Java/C++ you'll have no problems using many other languages. Plus these 3 are the ones mostly used in the programming industry.

EDIT: There seems to be a lot of people saying VB, which I kind of disagree with. There just aren't many uses for it and as its relatively easy it'll probably make learning other languages more frustrating, but that's just my opinion.

 

[Red 3mu]

I'm such a beginner at coding I can't write a webpage. I want to learn programming so I can be useful someday, and maybe girls might finally like me.

What programming language is best to start learning with? Why? How am I supposed to begin earning the skills to become an expert programmer?

What should I keep in mind while programming? Anything I must know? Programming tips?

Personally I wouldn't use knowledge of programming to pick up girls, but I started with Pascal and moved onto Delphi which is pretty much object-oriented Pascal. Next would be java then probably C++

 

[Sebenko]

I have no idea why anyone is saying VB.

VB sucks, and although it's easy, it really doesn't help you move on to other languages without having to unlearn a load of stuff.

I've heard good things about Python, but I really haven't worked with it enough to give a real opinion.

Java is... eeeh. Despite my personal dislike of it, I suppose it's a pretty good place to start.

 

[Jordi]

I see a lot of recommendations for Visual Basic here. I personally have no experience with it, but I've always kind of stayed away from it because of this Edsger Dijkstra[footnote]important computer scientist and Turing Award winner[/footnote]: "the teaching of BASIC should be rated as a criminal offence: it mutilates the mind beyond recovery."[footnote]http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/transcriptions/EWD08xx/EWD898.html[/footnote]

In order to recommend a good language, I think it might help to know what someone actually wants to get out of it, and what s/he would like to make. If you spend a lot of time on the internet, it is probably interesting to make a website. If you really like mobile phones, maybe you'd prefer to make an app for that. If you like a particular game, you might be able to make a mod for it and there are also game editors to make simple games "from scratch".
I think that as long as you are smart enough, one of the big "dangers" in learning to program is just losing interest. Therefore I would always recommend that you do something that is fun to you. If you don't mind doing something with no real practical applications, you could also participate in programming games such as Robocode [http://robocode.sourceforge.net/].

You can learn the basics of programming from almost every language, so I think it is more important to consider what you want to do. If you don't really have ideas about that, I would suggest taking a language/environment that is specifically designed to teach you to program, such as Greenfoot [www.greenfoot.org/].
If you can avoid it, I would probably stay away from low-level languages such as C and C++ (unless you need them for something you really want to make), because they can be fairly verbose compared to higher-level/scripting languages like Python, Ruby and Scala.

 

[intheweeds]

I'm such a beginner at coding I can't write a webpage. I want to learn programming so I can be useful someday, and maybe girls might finally like me.

What programming language is best to start learning with? Why? How am I supposed to begin earning the skills to become an expert programmer?

What should I keep in mind while programming? Anything I must know? Programming tips?

I just started programming in school last year and they started me on Java first. I love it. Sure you will see results faster with VB, but that is because a lot of the programming is done for you when it comes to the GUI. Java is very flexible when you have all the tools, you can do almost anything. Minecraft is written in Java for instance.

As for starting, check online for legitimate colleges that have online study options. I took my first two courses online, it was really easy and not very expensive.

(awesomeRead == http://www.amazon.com/Head-First-Java-Kathy-Sierra/dp/0596009208)

 

[Qitz]

Lots of great advice. Just to add my own advice, bookmark the website http://w3schools.com/ it comes in handy A LOT when you need to remember what the hell that function was, or what it did. Specially when you get into the fun shit like PHP and MySQL. Nothing like having PHP tell you the errors 6 lines below the actually one because that Semi-colon DIDN'T WANT TO BE ON THAT SPOT!

 

[Icedshot]

Dont start with one language with the plan to move onto another one, that is a terrible, terrible idea. There is no 'best' programming language to start off with

Just learn the language that you want to learn, first. I'd recommend C++, or C#. Yes, even for a complete beginner

People will tell you to start with language xyz to learn this thing, then move onto something else, but just dont. It isn't worth learning the syntax of three languages for.

Programming tips: Join a forum with a programming section, and find some friends to program with. Motivation is the most difficult part of programming. That, and the hard-to-find bugs that like to live in my programs

A good tutorial website for c++ is http://www.cplusplus.com/doc/tutorial/

If you get to the stage where you would like to do 2D graphics, SFML is a good graphics library

If you decide to go with C#, just google it im sure something will come up! And i've heard good things about XNA for 2d graphics

 

[Nimbus]

If you want something easy to learn, start with PHP.

 

[dillinger88]

Lots of great advice. Just to add my own advice, bookmark the website http://w3schools.com/ it comes in handy A LOT when you need to remember what the hell that function was, or what it did. Specially when you get into the fun shit like PHP and MySQL. Nothing like having PHP tell you the errors 6 lines below the actually one because that Semi-colon DIDN'T WANT TO BE ON THAT SPOT!

Semi-colons are the bane of new programmers until you learn that "Compiler found OVER9000 errors" basically means, "you missed a colon somewhere, I'm not telling you where though. trolololol!"

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

If you want to become an expert programmer you should start off with a degree in computer science or software engineering and go from there.

Having done a Software Engineering degree, I'd advise the opposite. Most of the really good programmers I know are self-taught, who just happen to go along with the degree. The degree itself attempts to teach you stuff you will never need, because the syllabus is always playing catch up.

Seriously, for my first six months we never used a computer once.

Get some work experience using SAGE or some such while learning in your spare time. The degree is a piece of paper you can easily get from a distance course.

 

[Qitz]

Lots of great advice. Just to add my own advice, bookmark the website http://w3schools.com/ it comes in handy A LOT when you need to remember what the hell that function was, or what it did. Specially when you get into the fun shit like PHP and MySQL. Nothing like having PHP tell you the errors 6 lines below the actually one because that Semi-colon DIDN'T WANT TO BE ON THAT SPOT!

Semi-colons are the bane of new programmers until you learn that "Compiler found OVER9000 errors" basically means, "you missed a colon somewhere, I'm not telling you where though. trolololol!"

Yup. My first thought when I see any error is "SHIT! Where'd I miss the semi-colon?!"