Noob question about coding/programming

[Fantazzmo]

In the show Mr.Robot, the main character uses the cmd to reconfigure the dns and redirect traffic from one server to another. I was wondering if that is actually possible and what the name of that coding would be?

[TheKDub]

1. Not everything in shows is legit.

 

2. I'm sure it's possible.

 

3. Its just simple commands, not really coding/programming...

[Fantazzmo]

1. Not everything in shows is legit.

 

2. I'm sure it's possible.

 

3. Its just simple commands, not really coding/programming...

I understand that its most likely not legit, but is the ability to enter intricate commands in cmd a job requirement for any programming,networking, or coding fields that you know of?

[TheKDub]

I understand that its most likely not legit, but is the ability to enter intricate commands in cmd a job requirement for any programming,networking, or coding fields that you know of?

 

Erm... Probably for stuff like certain server administration cases where there's only command line.

[Fantazzmo]

Erm... Probably for stuff like certain server administration cases where there's only command line.

Yeah that would make sense, I'm going into information systems management and computer programming and I already have to learn C#, SQL, HTML, CSS and JAVA. I'm glad I dont have to learn yet another coding language.

[LePawel]

Yeah that would make sense, I'm going into information systems management and computer programming and I already have to learn C#, SQL, HTML, CSS and JAVA. I'm glad I dont have to learn yet another coding language.

If you think you'll "learn" all of these on a single course you'll be disappointed. As a fresh Games Dev graduate, start learning at home, now, a lot. The fact you will work in more than 1 language means you're going for "jack of all trades, master of none" route.

If you want to get into programming, select between Java and C# and turn that into a hobby. Personally I think C# has a much better development environment, despite being a closed (ish) system.

[Neil]

Possible, yes. Probable, no. DNS uses TTLs (time to lives) which would make simply editing the DNS useless unless the TTLs on the records were very low, or happened to propagate very quickly. That being said, the TTLs are /usually/ honored by recursive DNS resolvers.

 

As for redirecting the traffic to another host, it depends on if it was SSL traffic or not. If it was SSL, then they'd need the private key for the certificate in order to properly perform a MITM attack.

[Fantazzmo]

If you think you'll "learn" all of these on a single course you'll be disappointed. As a fresh Games Dev graduate, start learning at home, now, a lot. The fact you will work in more than 1 language means you're going for "jack of all trades, master of none" route.

If you want to get into programming, select between Java and C# and turn that into a hobby. Personally I think C# has a much better development environment, despite being a closed (ish) system.

Yeah, thats what I was thinking. I was reading some things about programming and it seemed that no one person could possibly master all of the coding languages. I want to primarily focus on c# and possible some SQL. Any recommendations on how to start C# coding?

 

Possible, yes. Probable, no. DNS uses TTLs (time to lives) which would make simply editing the DNS useless unless the TTLs on the records were very low, or happened to propagate very quickly. That being said, the TTLs are /usually/ honored by recursive DNS resolvers.

 

As for redirecting the traffic to another host, it depends on if it was SSL traffic or not. If it was SSL, then they'd need the private key for the certificate in order to properly perform a MITM attack.

Damn, I m going to have to study this some more lol. That was a really good explanation. Thank you

[Blake]

In the show Mr.Robot, the main character uses the cmd to reconfigure the dns and redirect traffic from one server to another. I was wondering if that is actually possible and what the name of that coding would be?

Yes it is possible. Changing a DNS entry via CLI isn't hard. I haven't seen the last episode of MR. Robot, but I assume he is using kali or some Linux variant, so i wouldn't be able to tell you, but I'd assume there is a python or bash script that would do this.

 

All you would need to do is update the A record, point it to the other server. however i'd say most servers would be set to register/re-register after a given period of time, so the A record could very well just be overwritten.

[madknight3]

Yeah, thats what I was thinking. I was reading some things about programming and it seemed that no one person could possibly master all of the coding languages.

 

You wont learn all the programming languages, there are simply too many and you just wont want to, but you can learn a lot of languages enough to play around with them. The more experience you get, the easier it is to pick up new languages. Out of the languages you know, you'll probably focus most of your time on a small subset of them.

 

Any recommendations on how to start C# coding?

 

See this post for C# recommendations.

[Nineshadow]

Yeah that would make sense, I'm going into information systems management and computer programming and I already have to learn C#, SQL, HTML, CSS and JAVA. I'm glad I dont have to learn yet another coding language.

I suggest C++.

[Fantazzmo]

I suggest C++.

I'll check that out too, but is the difference between the different c type coding? (Uses, style, etc.)

[Blake]

Yeah that would make sense, I'm going into information systems management and computer programming and I already have to learn C#, SQL, HTML, CSS and JAVA. I'm glad I dont have to learn yet another coding language.

On the windows side, you have power-shell is basically C#.net. HTML and CSS are pretty easy to learn, your issue will be that your learning a bunch of other stuff at the same time, Same with SQL. Java shares a lot of syntax with C#. I'd recommend learning the key concepts (OOP, Encapsulation, Third normalized forms, ect) from your programming, as that remains constant between languages. Then, who cares, there is a massive difference in pay grades between a code monkey and a developer, one knows every little bit of syntax with Language x but doesn't know how or why to encapsulate a class, the other understands the key concepts behind every programming language, and will design code that actually works/scales correctly.

 

 "jack of all trades, master of none" 

 

 Yes but, "jack of all trades, master of none, but better then a master of one." is the way the rest of that saying goes.

[Nineshadow]

I'll check that out too, but is the difference between the different c type coding? (Uses, style, etc.)

C was one of the first high-level programming languages and it was used to re-implement Unix. Nowadays, C is considered quite a low-level language, and for a reason. C set the base for many programming languages :  C++, D, Go, Rust, Java, JavaScript, Limbo, LPC, C#, Objective-C, Perl, PHP, Python,etc. While lacking quite a lot of features, C is often used in conjunction with assembly especially in operating systems.

 

C++ can be considered an "enhanced" version of C. At first it was called "C with classes" , as that's what it implemented. C++ brought classes, and with it object oriented programming.Over time, a lot of additions have been made :

• generic programming using templates
• objects
• encapsulation
• inheritance
• operator overloading
• polymorphism
• lambda functions
• exception handling
• etc.

In addition, C++ also comes with the really powerful Standard Template Library, STL.

 

C++ is an extremely powerful language. You benefit a lot from learning it first. It might be harder than other languages, but it pays off with the knowledge you learn.

 

C# is dependent on the .NET framework, which is Windows-only. Sure, there are ports for Linux(mono), but still not quite there. So, let's just say C# is Windows-only. C# is , I think, Microsoft's Java. That's how I can sum it up. It's slower, not as powerful, but you can get results faster, but a lot of times not better.

 

However, C# is kinda losing popularity nowadays, now that people are using modern c++ features. Let's take a quick history lesson. In the beginning , hardware was slow and people wanted speed , and that was is achieved through C(for low-level stuff) and C++. As hardware got faster, the focus moved to speed of development and people moved to higher-level languages, such as C# , Java or Python. Nowadays, there's some focus on speed again, due to ARM-based computers.

 

To sum it up, C is mainly for OS-level programming. That's where it dominates. If you are going with C++, make sure you eventually get to using all of its modern features and the STL. Otherwise, you probably don't need most of them so you could just use C. As far as C# goes...I honestly don't know what to say about it. There's nothing you can't do in C++ that C# can do. If you use .NET, you use C#. That's the best way I can put it.

[Fantazzmo]

C was one of the first high-level programming languages and it was used to re-implement Unix. Nowadays, C is considered quite a low-level language, and for a reason. C set the base for many programming languages :  C++, D, Go, Rust, Java, JavaScript, Limbo, LPC, C#, Objective-C, Perl, PHP, Python,etc. While lacking quite a lot of features, C is often used in conjunction with assembly especially in operating systems.

 

C++ can be considered an "enhanced" version of C. At first it was called "C with classes" , as that's what it implemented. C++ brought classes, and with it object oriented programming.Over time, a lot of additions have been made :

• generic programming using templates
• objects
• encapsulation
• inheritance
• operator overloading
• polymorphism
• lambda functions
• exception handling
• etc.

In addition, C++ also comes with the really powerful Standard Template Library, STL.

 

C++ is an extremely powerful language. You benefit a lot from learning it first. It might be harder than other languages, but it pays off with the knowledge you learn.

 

C# is dependent on the .NET framework, which is Windows-only. Sure, there are ports for Linux(mono), but still not quite there. So, let's just say C# is Windows-only. C# is , I think, Microsoft's Java. That's how I can sum it up. It's slower, not as powerful, but you can get results faster, but a lot of times not better.

 

However, C# is kinda losing popularity nowadays, now that people are using modern c++ features. Let's take a quick history lesson. In the beginning , hardware was slow and people wanted speed , and that was is achieved through C(for low-level stuff) and C++. As hardware got faster, the focus moved to speed of development and people moved to higher-level languages, such as C# , Java or Python. Nowadays, there's some focus on speed again, due to ARM-based computers.

 

To sum it up, C is mainly for OS-level programming. That's where it dominates. If you are going with C++, make sure you eventually get to using all of its modern features and the STL. Otherwise, you probably don't need most of them so you could just use C. As far as C# goes...I honestly don't know what to say about it. There's nothing you can't do in C++ that C# can do. If you use .NET, you use C#. That's the best way I can put it.

That was an impeccable explanation. Thanks for the explanation, and I think I'm going to start learning c++ tonight. It sounds a lot more useful than C# and I dont mind hard programming or coding. Ill learn it one way or another lol. Thanks again!

[Fantazzmo]

On the windows side, you have power-shell is basically C#.net. HTML and CSS are pretty easy to learn, your issue will be that your learning a bunch of other stuff at the same time, Same with SQL. Java shares a lot of syntax with C#. I'd recommend learning the key concepts (OOP, Encapsulation, Third normalized forms, ect) from your programming, as that remains constant between languages. Then, who cares, there is a massive difference in pay grades between a code monkey and a developer, one knows every little bit of syntax with Language x but doesn't know how or why to encapsulate a class, the other understands the key concepts behind every programming language, and will design code that actually works/scales correctly.

 

 

 Yes but, "jack of all trades, master of none, but better then a master of one." is the way the rest of that saying goes.

Okay thanks, I have been wondering about the differences in everything and you guys have really helped thanks!

[Fantazzmo]

whats a good program to start c++ coding? I cant seem to find one

[madknight3]

I'll check that out too, but is the difference between the different c type coding? (Uses, style, etc.)

 

That was an impeccable explanation. Thanks for the explanation, and I think I'm going to start learning c++ tonight. It sounds a lot more useful than C# and I dont mind hard programming or coding. Ill learn it one way or another lol. Thanks again!

 

I wouldn't worry about comparing languages right now. Without any foundation and experience you're not going to really understand things and it's easy to start constructing false opinions based on what people say without knowing any better.

 

By all means, start learning C++ (start here) but don't just assume "C++ is a lot more useful than C#" (or another language) before you've got the experience to make that decision for yourself.

[Nineshadow]

I wouldn't worry about comparing languages right now. Without any foundation and experience you're not going to really understand things and it's easy to start constructing false opinions based on what people say without knowing any better.

By all means, start learning C++ (start here) but don't just assume "C++ is a lot more useful than C#" (or another language) before you've got the experience to make that decision for yourself.

Exactly. C++ is a really good foundation for programming.

Also, what do you mean by

 

whats a good program to start c++ coding? I cant seem to find one

 Are you talking about an IDE? You don't exactly need one for C++. You can use notepad/notepad++ to write your source code then compile it via CLI with the g++ compiler.

Still, I suggest Codeblocks. It's simple and easy to use. Also cross-platform.

[jimakos234]

It safe to say that in mr.robot, elliot uses kali linux( a newer backtrack linux version based now on debian) ,a distro with thousands of tools/exploit/hacks, such as  wpa cracking, packet sniffing ,dns and redirect traffic, traffic manipulation, reverse engineering etc etc, and many more that i dont have the strength to list here.

[LePawel]

Yes but, "jack of all trades, master of none, but better then a master of one." is the way the rest of that saying goes.

Yay for out of context replies! Anyway, it doesn't necessarily apply in computing. If you want to go for one of those ".net, html, css, js, jquery c# java etc wtf omg" then it's probably true. If you're after a specific fraction of the industry (e.g. games) it's often a strong knowledge of X rather than average knowledge of everything including X that's preferred, especially when average knowledge of everything can be achieved relatively easily, which transfers to the fact that especially in programming, mastering one language makes learning others much easier, This is why being a master of none often means you know the basics, but have no knowledge of the advanced stuff, regardless of language, which makes you barely useful.

 

And if you want to be picky, according to the dreaded wikipedia source, neither "master of none" or "certainly/often times better than a master of one" were originally part of the saying, and it has a buttload of versions of the last line on the internet.