What computer language(s) should i learn??

Tom-eg

I am fairly up on computers as in how to make my way around etc but i don't know much about computer languages. I would love to learn a bit about some of them. What ones would be the best to start off with. I'm curious about dos aswell. Any help on where i should start would be great. Thanks

KStaford

learn assembler / machine code - all you'll ever need.

Then do a search of boards to see if this topic has perhaps been covered some, and then covered some more in the past.

ntlbell

this was covered recently if you do a search

Evil Phil

If fine to start a new thread if you want too Tom-eg. Wading through pages of posts on a previous thread can be a pain - hence there's nothing in the forum charter about starting a new thread on a subject that has been recently covered.

I'll say that again for the benefit of others:

There's nothing in the forum charter about starting a new thread on a subject that has been recently covered.

There is stuff about being reasonable and patient with beginners though.

Tom Dunne

Tom-eg wrote: »

I am fairly up on computers as in how to make my way around etc but i don't know much about computer languages. I would love to learn a bit about some of them. What ones would be the best to start off with. I'm curious about dos aswell. Any help on where i should start would be great. Thanks

It all depends on what you want to do.

Do you want to write web-based software? If so, asp.net and php are probably the place to start.

If you want to write general software programs for Windows, then the likes of c# (pronounced "see-sharp") could be worth looking at.

Most colleges teach Java, it will give you a good grounding on programming practices.

Only masochists learn assembler, personally, I loved it in college.

If you want to learn about Dos, I presume you mean writing the likes of batch scripts, which technically isn't programming, more scripting. Just fire up Windows help, or type help at the command line. It's how we all learned.

If I was pushed to make a recommendation, I would say go with Java. You will get literally loads of different recommendations from people here, depending on their background.

Tom-eg

Ok maybe what i should of asked is what are the different programming languages (and a bit about scripts and the differences) and could you give an explanation of each one?? That would really help me out. Cheers

Tom Dunne

Tom-eg wrote: »

Ok maybe what i should of asked is what are the different programming languages (and a bit about scripts and the differences) and could you give an explanation of each one?? That would really help me out. Cheers

Ok, Google is your friend here. The Wikepedia article (first hit on Google) gives a good introduction. There are literally hundreds of different programming and scripting languages.

Briefly, programming languages are a series of instructions in human readable format. To enable the computer to understand them, they have to be converted, or compiled, into machine language. Some are interpreted, meaning they run straight away and don't need to be compiled.

Scripting languages are used to perform a series of small tasks, a good example is in system administration where common tasks can be automated or scheduled to run at night.

XJR

KStaford wrote: »

learn assembler / machine code - all you'll ever need.

As someone who learned this at college and went on into career in IT I have never had to use assembler or it's ilk.

As other posters have said it all depends on what you want to do with it - are you hoping to develop client server, mainframe or web applications ?

Tom-eg

Well as of now i have no idea what i want to do with it. More so than learn any language right now i just want to dabble in a few to get an understanding of how they work. Give me more insight into how computers actually function. I have recently started experimenting with linux distros and this is what has gotten me interested. I don't want to be a windows user whos content with using a computer and take it for granted. Also i would like to be able use linux distros to their full extent and learn as much as i can along the way

Cantab.

Tom-eg wrote: »

Well as of now i have no idea what i want to do with it. More so than learn any language right now i just want to dabble in a few to get an understanding of how they work. Give me more insight into how computers actually function. I have recently started experimenting with linux distros and this is what has gotten me interested. I don't want to be a windows user whos content with using a computer and take it for granted. Also i would like to be able use linux distros to their full extent and learn as much as i can along the way

Mate, go with Java.

Not that I'm a big fan or a day-to-day user. It's just it's really easy to learn, has an excellent documentation structure, gives you the ability to do a huge amount, there are loads of free tools, loads of 3rd-party documentation/tutorials and it's been proven to be a robust and reliable platform for extremely complex projects. Plus the concepts you pick up in Java are transferable to the other big Object-Orientated languages such as C++ and .NET variants

Download the latest JDK and choose between either the Eclipse or NetBeans IDE (choose others at your peril).

I'd highly recommend using a good text editor (i.e. one with Java syntax highlighting) of your choice and use the command line for the first couple of weeks and move on to the IDE thereafter. If you're on windows: emacs, Notepad++ and jEdit are good starting points. If you're on Linux: plenty of options. I like the simplicity of gedit.

jhegarty

Learn C as your first language. Most modern languages are just developments of it's syntax.

pauldiv

I heard you when you said that you dont want to be just another windows user who blindly uses computers without understanding them.

You sound like a really enthusiastic guy and its' great that you want to learn Linux. If you use Linux then you will have enough to keep you learning for the rest of your life and you will become more familiar with community supported open source software.

You can get a server right now from www.wampserver.com and install it on windows with a single click. The you could download something like Wordpress or Drupal and get that up and running in ten minutes.

There is also a site where you can get free electonic versions of the most popular programming books.

Java with the Netbeans IDE is a great pairing. You can use both on Windows or Linux machines.

If you want to know about how people build web sites then have a look at the open source cms site http://www.opensourcecms.com/

These applications are mostly written in Php and you can download them all free and have a great time learning about them.

Even though you are not a programmer - yet - you can still do a lot of stuff by learning how to configure all these appplications for real use.

If you start learning Php you will be able to customise them in anyway you want. And yes, Php runs on on Linux.

IRLConor

The above suggestions are good, but I'd add one overriding rule:

If you have a friend/colleague who is likely to help you learn a language, pick the language that they prefer to teach you.

I say this because your first programming language will be the trickiest to learn (and hence direct help can be useful) since you'll be learning two things:

1. How to write programs.
2. How that language is used to write programs.

Number 1 is the more important part, hence the language of instruction isn't that important.* Once you can program, learning another language is a largely mechanical task of figuring out all the ways of implementing a particular technique in the new language.

* Yes, I'm aware that some languages are more conducive to instruction than others.