Good Starting Language

Forum: Programming and Scripting
Topic: Good Starting Language
started by: Nonamer475

Posted by Nonamer475 on Oct. 30 2005,05:38

Hey, i was wondering if anyone could sugjest a good starting language, and mabey where to find a totorial on the subject?

Posted by John on Oct. 30 2005,11:14

This really depends on what you want to do.

Posted by newOldUser on Oct. 30 2005,13:07

Do you want to create applications to run on a desktop?

Do you want to create web pages with scripts and animation?

Like John said, it depends what you want to do.

I find it easier to learn a language when I have a small project I want to do. What have you seen that makes you want to program.

One of the first people to teach me to program had the class write down everything they do in the first 5 minutes when they wake up. Most of the class could list 3 or 4 things and that's what they handed in. The prof came back and said "More detail". We went off again and maybe came up with half a page of stuff. Once again the prof said "More detail".... in the end we had about 5 pages of items. Things like "move arm". "open fingers". close fingers around blanket".... "move arm".... "open fingers to release blanket" and on and on....

His point was to show that you take a lot of things for granted but when programming you need to tell the computer all the little steps that make up the big project..

Wow... I shouldn't be writting before my second cup of coffee... sorry, I've gone off topic. Like John said think about what you want to do and someone here will help you find a starting language.

-Good luck

Posted by Nonamer475 on Oct. 30 2005,17:23

Well I feel pulled more twords apps, and as far as what makes me want to program? I've always loved computers, since my hand first touched a mouse, and programming just seems like something that could help me learn more about my good friend computer.

Posted by adssse on Oct. 30 2005,21:47

Just my opinion but I started out with c++. I have learned a few different ones, but still use c++ more than any other.

Posted by fstephens on Nov. 10 2005,18:09

Python is generally considered a very good language to learn with. It has a very clear, clean syntax, so it is easy to read. Also very powerfull and has lots of modules to add functionallity.
Don't let the fact that it is a "scripting language" put you off - it is used to create some very large programs! Debuging is also lots easier than a compiled language. You can run commands right inside the interpreter for testing too. The consenses is that it is 2-10 times faster to program in than C/C++.

There are many tutorials too. Try < http://www.byteofpython.info/ > for a good introduction.

Posted by Nonamer475 on Nov. 20 2005,05:36

Thanks for the input. I've done some reserch and desided to start with Perl, as I'm looking for something smaller to start with. I will certinly look into C\C++ and Python when I've gained a good knowledge of Perl.