C# as beginner programming language

[ArnieCarnie]

Hey guys, i am interested in learning programming, i have no previous experience and i have researched what language to learn first and i have come to the conclusion of C#

 

I want to develop applications and possibly games, is C# a good starting point and the moving onto C and C++

 

Thanks

[brownninja97]

i really wouldnt recommend it as a first language, its powerful but its one of those walk before you can run situations. Dont get me wrong its possible still, i recommend visual basic, while its pretty crap what you need to learn first is the theory, once you can get the theory on lock down you can pretty much understand any language so it should be a lot easier. This is just my opinion though. 

[Levent]

what is the question here really?, just download Visual Studio Community 2015 (MS gives it away for free), C# is really a nice beginner language with a rather easy transition to C++ when you want.

[madknight3]

I want to develop applications and possibly games, is C# a good starting point and the moving onto C and C++

 

Sure, you might find C# a little more complicated than something like Python but there's no reason you can't start with C# if it appeals to you. C# can be used to make many types of applications, including games, but so can other languages so it's not like C# is unique in that respect.

 

I'll provide some extra resources to check out to help you get started with C#. If you're not sure where to start, here's one option. TutorialsPoint can be useful to use alongside the previous tutorial for some extra information on some topics. And if you like books, then consider getting C# In A Nutshell.

 

As Levent said, install Visual Studio Community 2015 (don't worry that the tutorial above uses VS Express 2013, you'll be fine with VS 2015). Installing Visual Studio Code can also be helpful. VS 2015 is a full IDE while VS Code is more like a general text editor with some extra programming features. It's more lightweight and can be nice to use sometimes when you don't need VS 2015.

 

Also, don't worry about what to move onto after your first language yet. Focus on one language for a while and when it comes time for you to learn another, your interests may have changed or become more focused on a specific area. So what you think you might move onto now, may not be what you actually move onto in the future.

[a_block_of_wood]

It is absolutely possible to start with C#. You can code something very simple to something very complicated with it. Just because it is powerful doesn't mean you can't do the easy stuff.

 

I once tried to find an intermediate level C# reference book to further increase my skills, but I bought a wrong one. It's a total beginner book. Beginner as in new to programming, not new to C#. It was "Learning C# 3.0" published by O'Reilly.

 

So don't be intimidated by C#. You can even start with a simple console application and test out a few function at a time, nothing complicated. You do not master just one programming language, you master the art of learning new languages as you need it.

[Nuluvius]

For an absolute beginner it's a very accessible and relatively easy language to learn. It will also put you in good standing for quick gains in current industry.

Depending on your aptitude a next choice could be C++ (considering building up a stong combibation). Beware that it's a very different animal however.

[beingGamer]

i would recommend starting with C or C++ get used to with it then move to C#

[PrimeSonic]

I use C# professionally very often. It's great to work in. But as a teaching tool, you might miss out on a few subtleties from having such a robust library at your disposal.

 

By all means, go ahead and start with C#, nothing should stop you there. But also take the time to learn and understand the fundamental data structures and how they work behind the scenes.

C# has every data structure you could need already implemented in its libraries but without knowing what each one really does you might not know which is the best choice for a given problem.

 

So learn what a pointer is. Learn how linked lists work. Learn about all the major data structures that really just build off the fundamentals of the linked list.

Look into things like Dictionaries and Hash Tables. The more of these you learn and understand, even if you never had to build the implementation of it from scratch, the better equipped you'll be to choose the right tool for the job.