Programming: Where to Begin : O

OK - I am BRAND NEW to the world of programming (that's actually an understatement). My 1st programming book, which I just purchased, is "Thinking in Java" by Bruce Eckel. I quickly found out that this is an intermediate level book on Java and that I needed to go a few hundred steps backwards before I open this book again.

The introduction mentioned a free "web seminar" on C that I could use to begin my studies. It also mentioned that I was going to need a C++ Compiler if I was going to use that seminar. I guess my question is... Are there any good, free (specific) compilers that you recommend. I googled "free C++ compiler" and was overwhelmed by the results.

Also, I generally learn best through reading, so if anyone knows of any good sites that may be useful to someone JUST STARTING OUT, that would be extremely helpful.

Thanks

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Comments

Daniel333

Hey! I don't do much programming. But I knock out some VB with SQL here and there.

I would say start with Visual Basic .Net It's free and full of amazing resources online for. But if you prefer Linux, you should learn C/C++.

Visual Basic Route -
So I would jump on www.vtc.com and learn VBScript from there. Their videos are great. Pick up the book Microsoft VBScript Step by Step.

Once you think you got the hang of Vbscript down you'll get deeper into Visual Basic. Probably the book Microsoft Visual Basic 2008 Step by Step is a good idea. Since the other ones were good.

From there you need to start learning things like SQL, ADO and start learning C#.

Linux -
The C programming guide on www.vtc.com is very good. It covers both Linux and Windows and goes very slowly. [/u]

remyforbes777

If i were you and you were going to start with a programming language I would start with python or perl. The syntax is pretty easy and it will help you down the line learning the logic behind programming. Now if you really want to get down and dirty learn C and then use a linux based distro such as debian.

hypnotoad

There has been an on-going, heated debate in academia for 40 years over how to teach programming, and there is no one answer.

The language is only half the battle -- the fun part is constructing solutions (algorithms) and building them in to feasible solutions (software engineering). Learn to think in terms of data representation and algorithms and you'll be successful in any language.

Edit: re-reading your post, if you're interested in C/C++, the best/standard compiler is GCC. It's available on any linux distro. C and C++ might not be the most friendly, or bang-for-your-buck languages, but there's a lot of history there. I'd be willing to bet every language and OS developed after 1975 or so has been influenced either for the better or worse by C.

Megadeth4168

I've been using bloodshed dev C++ compiler
http://www.bloodshed.net/devcpp.html

Mishra

I would probably be flamed for this but I enjoyed starting out at HTML and would recommend it. Although NOT a programming language, there is a lot of visual impact involved which helps you see when you make a change it changes a part of the page. Also, it takes you basics of programming like saving your pages BEFORE you make changes. Plus it is fun to make a website totally from scratch and might get you interested in web design instead.

Also some coding is done in conjunction with HTML so its smart to learn it.

jetdynamics

I also want to least programming but never had any background I want to learn SQL what do you think guys I would study first or any recommendations you can suggest.