Best way to start programming

[KikoHQ]

Anyone know what's the best website learning how to program? I have no knowledge of programming but since I am into computer hardware and stuff, I figured that maybe programming might be a job opportunity for me. I hear you can self teach yourself how to program, so I would like to know the websites that are best for this. Opinions, advice, questions would be most appreciated. Thanks!

[Kuzma]

Anyone know what's the best website learning how to program? I have no knowledge of programming but since I am into computer hardware and stuff, I figured that maybe programming might be a job opportunity for me. I hear you can self teach yourself how to program, so I would like to know the websites that are best for this. Opinions, advice, questions would be most appreciated. Thanks!

A good thing to do is to start of with the basics so start with something like Visual Basic (search tutorials on google or youtube there are LOADS) then once you've learned how to do a few things try and be creative and experiment until you feel like you've learned the ins and outs ^_^ then you can move on but make sure not to move on too early.

 

(Taught myself at 7 ._. twas not easy)

[KikoHQ]

A good thing to do is to start of with the basics so start with something like Visual Basic (search tutorials on google or youtube there are LOADS) then once you've learned how to do a few things try and be creative and experiment until you feel like you've learned the ins and outs ^_^ then you can move on but make sure not to move on too early.

 

(Taught myself at 7 ._. twas not easy)

Links? And do you have to download a program. I downloaded Microsoft visual studios 2010.

[Kuzma]

Links? And do you have to download a program. I downloaded Microsoft visual studios 2010.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-gb/vstudio/hh388573.aspx

http://visualbasic.about.com/od/standalonevb6/l/bllearnvba.htm

[Kuzma]

Best thing to do is get the most recent version of Visual Basic, I do not have any idea what it is because I learn't vb 6

[squirrl]

it's quite annoying how it says dot N E T when it clearly says on the wikipedia page in front of him "pronounced 'dot net'" :P

[1funnygame]

it's quite annoying how it says dot N E T when it clearly says on the wikipedia page in front of him "pronounced 'dot net'" :P

oh hey don't worry I'll just change the wiki page to say dot SMALL ROUND SLICE OF DEAD PIG

[Darkfeign]

Get yourself a solid book to learn from, as nothing beats the vast information you can constantly flick back and forth for in a text book. Something like Java: How to Program will teach you programming generics using the Java language.

[TechSage]

I learned with QBASIC, it's really easy to use and you will learn how to use IF, THEN, ELSE, DO, Loop etc.

[bigmichaelful]

I would recommend a number of different options;

If you want a walk-through tutorial, someone like TheNewBoston (that’s how I learnt),

Code Academy is a fantastic website; I wish it had as much content it does now when I first started,

Also, there is the MIT OpenCourseWare, which is absolutely fantastic

Have Fun!

[rashdanml]

1. Pick a language. C, C++, Python are good places to start. There are many more good first choices.

2. Search for online tutorials. My keywords in Google are usually "[language] tutorial" or "learn [language]"

3. Pick up a good book. Dive into Python/Python3 is excellent for explaining the basics of Python with a working example. C, C++ and Java have similar books.

 

That should get you started on the basics. If you're curious about more computer programming related topics not specific to a language, MIT Opencourseware, as mentioned above, is a great place to take free computer science courses. You'll learn more topics that aren't necessarily specific to a language and can theoretically be applied to any language.

 

Then start a project. And finish it. If you need to learn something to continue, learn as you go. Make mistakes, then figure out where you went wrong. Could be just about anything (small projects are great if you want something easy to finish, for motivational purposes).

[Alex4475]

I wouldn't start with c or c++, it can be quite confusing for newcomers. Python is definetly a good starting point, it is where I started. Ruby is also quite a nice language and with rails is a nice language for web application development.

Like others say, visual basic can be a good place to start but won't be as valuable in industry. A lot of employers like a scripting language like python because concepts can be quickly coded and tested before being written in java/C

Hope this helps

[criso8]

Don't make the mistake of just reading book and watching tutorials. There is no substitute for actually taking the time to figure something out. When you can't figure something out try going to stack exchange. There are many people there that are willing to help you out.

[Sneaky]

C# is a very good language to start with, but whatever language you choose the best way to learn it just program as much as you can. Get a good book once you have chosen a language, that's what I did.

[ik1nky]

Personally, if I were to do it all again, I would start with python. Python will teach you all the basics of programming, force you to use good style, and allow you to build fun and powerful programs. Python is great for beginners as the syntax is structured more naturally than C based languages and all around easier to learn.

While Visual basic is an easy language to learn, I wouldn't go that route myself. VB isn't really relevant outside of the business world and doesn't allow you to learn all of the essentials of programming by itself. If you would like to program for primarily a Microsoft environment,I would recommend c#, however, its not a very common starting language.

No matter what language you choose, I would start with a good book. Any online tutorials I've seen don't do the fundamentals very well. Grab a book from the library and for the first month rely primarily on that. After you have learned the basics: variables, methods, loops, etc. I would then recommend using online tutorials to further your skills. I quite like thenewboston for quick and simple tutorials.

Hopefully that helps with your decision. Happy coding!

[Liikeaturtle]

I would start by getting a C book and learning that first, then once you feel comfortable with C move up to a higher level language like Java or C++. If you need some online resources, thenewboston on YouTube has hundreds of programming tutorials. Eventually if you feel like making games Java has LWJGL/LibGDX and C++ has SDL and DirectX.

 

Good Luck!

[Darkfeign]

Personally, if I were to do it all again, I would start with python. Python will teach you all the basics of programming, force you to use good style, and allow you to build fun and powerful programs. Python is great for beginners as the syntax is structured more naturally than C based languages and all around easier to learn.

While Visual basic is an easy language to learn, I wouldn't go that route myself. VB isn't really relevant outside of the business world and doesn't allow you to learn all of the essentials of programming by itself. If you would like to program for primarily a Microsoft environment,I would recommend c#, however, its not a very common starting language.

No matter what language you choose, I would start with a good book. Any online tutorials I've seen don't do the fundamentals very well. Grab a book from the library and for the first month rely primarily on that. After you have learned the basics: variables, methods, loops, etc. I would then recommend using online tutorials to further your skills. I quite like thenewboston for quick and simple tutorials.

Hopefully that helps with your decision. Happy coding!

 

This, with extra emphasis on a decent book. Something like Java: How to Program is a great resource, but Java is not necessarily everyone's starting choice. Python is brilliant, but I struggle to identify a decent programming book for Python, other than Learn Python The Hard Way.

[Zonked]

This, with extra emphasis on a decent book. Something like Java: How to Program is a great resource, but Java is not necessarily everyone's starting choice. Python is brilliant, but I struggle to identify a decent programming book for Python, other than Learn Python The Hard Way.

I read Think Python and found it to be a good book. However I do agree with you, Python does seem to lack solid reading materials.

[Darkfeign]

I read Think Python and found it to be a good book. However I do agree with you, Python does seem to lack solid reading materials.

 

Just started reading the same author's Think Complexity and it seems well written and great for moving onto intermediate python, so I guess his original for python beginners would be at a similar level of quality.