programing

They have: 31 posts

Joined: Mar 2003

I would like to devise the best strategy for learning how to program. I need a good starting language.

I want to pick one language to learn, and having mastered that one language, be able to pick up other languages quickly. But the problem is , what language will that be?

I have started out learning C+ but am thinking of switching to qbasic, and then Java. I have heard it is best to start with either qbasic or cobol.

What do you guys suggest?

Busy's picture

He has: 6,151 posts

Joined: May 2001

I believe a lot depends on what you want to end up doing. (what you want to programme)
Learning C can advance you to C++, Java and others as it's all based on C. Including things like PHP etc

They have: 31 posts

Joined: Mar 2003

I would like to be a WebMaster, and be able to make things like tests(online) interactive pages, guestbooks etc. That is what I want to do for money, but for fun I am drifting into making fun little interactive programs a user can download.

They have: 31 posts

Joined: Mar 2003

So are you saying I would not be wasting my time learning C++ up to the advanced stages?

dk01's picture

He has: 516 posts

Joined: Mar 2002

You wouldn't be wasting your time. C++ will be around for a long time (and has been around for a long time). At least it will give you a good base for other languages. I would suggest the book Sam's Teach Yourself C++ in 21 Days but I'm sure there are many that do an excellent job. One thing you will want to look into is a compiler because I think that they can be quite expensive.
Good Luck!
-dk

Busy's picture

He has: 6,151 posts

Joined: May 2001

for a webmaster you don't need C, C++, Java ... can be done with PHP, ASP (server side languages), even javascript
games can be done in flash, java applets (beans) etc

Sounds your a little undecided, so learn C or C++ as the format of it (variables, arrays ...) are used throughout programming. You never know you could learn C++ and find you hate it and just want to do web pages or vice versa.

They have: 18 posts

Joined: Feb 2002

I you wanna be webmaster learn PHP and MySql

They have: 11 posts

Joined: May 2003

Real Webmasters use Microsoft DOT NET and C#

muahahhahaha

The answer to your question really relies on something else. What is your overall computer knowledge level? If you have to ask "Daddy, whats a database?" or "Mommy, whats a server" then you should probably start way way back at the basics and learn internet architecture, what does what, etc before learning to program.

After you've figured out the prerequisites, you should ask yourself what your target "platform" shall be. If its linux/*nix the PHP and Mysql may be the preferable combination of scripting language/database server. If its microsoft (and by your vb comment, thats what I interpreted), you may want to go ASP.NET with VB code and target microsoft sql server. Although you could use mysql as well, just have to do some exta configuration (mysql odbc drivers)
C, C++ blah you do NOT need to kill yourself with those for web programming. While syntax (the way the code LOOKS) is similar between c, c++, php, c# (pronounced c sharp) and java, each language has major differences outside of simple syntax.

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