Learning to programme

RexMundi

Hello

I am interested in learning Computer Programming and was wondering where to start. I have a basic knowledge of python but I am finding it difficult to find information on it. Any suggestions of where I should be looking or possibly a language that would serve me better as an introduction to Computer programming?

Thanks

Kimbot

I started with Cobol, found it quiet easy to understand after a couple of days hard at it.

Cantab.

RexMundi wrote: »

Hello

I am interested in learning Computer Programming and was wondering where to start. I have a basic knowledge of python but I am finding it difficult to find information on it. Any suggestions of where I should be looking or possibly a language that would serve me better as an introduction to Computer programming?

Thanks

You're off to a great start there! Keep up the good work! I hope you're on Linux too! Avoid that Java stuff like the plague!

Inspector Gadget

I'm with Cantab here. Python is a very nice little language and is probably a better starter language (once you get your head around the indentation thing, which I'm sure you have by now) than the "starter" languages that used to get suggested, namely BASIC (The "B" in BASIC stands for "Beginner"!) and Pascal.

However, if you want to make a career out of programming, you're going to have to learn something else too - I have to profess to being at least a few months out of touch on this, but the main suspects should still be:

• Java (Enterprise/backend stuff/financial stuff in particular)
• The various .NET languages offered by Microsoft - particularly VB.NET and C# (general purpose for the Windows platform, or elsewhere with Mono and related stuff)
• C/C++ (because despite the best efforts of many people, it simply won't go away :P (general purpose, completely cross-platform - joking aside, this is why it's still in major use)
• PHP (an ugly language on many levels, but possibly the most important language for web application/site development outside of Enterprise apps)

I may have missed something in the above list; I'm sure someone will fill in that gap (if there is one)

I think that Python does give you a good introduction to computer programming - it allows you to do the basics quickly with minimum fuss, encourages neat code, and encourages you to modularize your code into objects. The fact that it's interpreted means that it's easy to try stuff out without the delay of the write->compile->test cycle associated with (for example) the C-related languages above.

(On this note, you should try out the IPython front end during your experimenting - I think it made my life much easier when I had to learn Python quick. The help features (type object? or object.method? to get the docstring - the little comment you should put in triple quotes to describe all of your classes/functions/methods - for the object or method) and the completion (type object.<tab> to see all of the properties/methods of that object, for example) are a godsend).

Hope this helps,
Gadget

Overheal

RexMundi wrote: »

Hello

I am interested in learning Computer Programming and was wondering where to start. I have a basic knowledge of python but I am finding it difficult to find information on it. Any suggestions of where I should be looking or possibly a language that would serve me better as an introduction to Computer programming?

Thanks

for starters call it a program and not a programme :pac:

The fastest way to learn the concepts behind programming from scratch, would probably be Alice.

Evil Phil

If you're going the .net route then go with C#.

sobriquet

If you've started with Python and are comfortable with it, I'd advocate sticking with it. It's supports multiple forms of programming without commiting you to any single one, and is quite an expressive language.

Besides that, I like it a lot more than most languages I've used, so I'm biased.

There's a wealth of beginning programming resources for python. You'll likely have seen some of these but perhaps not:

• Python Tutorial
• How to think like a computer scientist: Learning with Python
• A Byte of Python

These are all complete introductory texts for learning to program in Python. Have a browse through them and see what looks comfortable. The important thing is to commit to it and work through the examples and problems.

Best of luck.

BRENSH

Maybe you should start off with C#.