Another programming question

[C-Death]

Alright. I jumped Into Java...only to realize that I'm way over my head. Could anyone suggest a different language to learn first?

Thanks.

 

[Romek]

In all honesty, vJass.
You'll learn the basics of all modern programming languages in a fun way, with clear results.

If you want to go straight into real programming, then I recommend Visual Basic.

 

[C-Death]

In all honesty, vJass.
You'll learn the basics of all modern programming languages in a fun way, with clear results.

If you want to go straight into real programming, then I just Visual Basic.

Well, I would jass but I no longer have WC3 so I guess I'll go get Microsoft Visual Basic. Thanks man!

 

[TheDamien]

Java is on the lower end of the difficulty scale by design, so it is likely that you are jumping to a hasty conclusion when you say that you are in over your head. Maybe you should post about the particular difficulties you are having?

 

[CaptDeath]

C-death if your using net beans
type . into a line and a whole but load of things will come up also check out there site theres lots of tuts

 

[Lyle.]

VB.Net is a good place to start, but Damien brings up a good point. There is no way you encountered anything show-stopping in the time you started. At least not anything you'll be able to avoid in VB.net. If you really want to learn I suggest formal classes, If that's not an option be warned learning is not an overnight process.


All said and done, Visual Studio and VB.Net is ALWAYS the best place to start for programming(...IMO).

Also note VB and VB.Net are different

 

[TheDamien]

VB.Net is a good place to start, but Damien brings up a good point. There is no way you encountered anything show-stopping in the time you started. At least not anything you'll be able to avoid in VB.net. If you really want to learn I suggest formal classes, If that's not an option be warned learning is not an overnight process.


All said and done, Visual Studio and VB.Net is ALWAYS the best place to start for programming(...IMO).

Also note VB and VB.Net are different

That's a pretty big IMO. I wouldn't consider VB or VB.NET to be good programming languages, or even good first languages. It is probably much better to start with something like Ruby, Python, Scheme or JavaScript.

 

[C-Death]

That's a pretty big IMO. I wouldn't consider VB or VB.NET to be good programming languages, or even good first languages. It is probably much better to start with something like Ruby, Python, Scheme or JavaScript.

Well, I am pretty fluent in Javascript... so I'd say theres a step in my favor? lol

 

[Lyle.]

That's a pretty big IMO. I wouldn't consider VB or VB.NET to be good programming languages, or even good first languages. It is probably much better to start with something like Ruby, Python, Scheme or JavaScript.

VB was replaced 8 years ago I was not suggesting it....

Romek touched on the most important part for a new programmer, Instant results. Visual Studio allows you to program a GUI program incredibly easy. Heck you can make a very simple program with Event-Driven controls without really knowing programming at all. Plus VB.Net's syntax is extremely basic and the closest to english as you can get. It's not case sensitive and doesn't worry about spaces, and semi-colons and etc etc.

VB.Net is the easiest to start out with, it's just not the best to develop million-dollar software because it's not as deep as some of the others.

Ruby - Ok there are for every person who knows Ruby there are 100 who know VB.Net. Which means support is limited.

Python - See above

Scheme - I have never even heard of Scheme:\

JavaScript - I'm not gonna tell you that Scripting is different then Programming because my last post that said that got deleted. Although JavaScript does introduce variables and functions so it is helpful

Well, I am pretty fluent in Javascript... so I'd say theres a step in my favor? lol

Yes, JavaScript has things like variables and functions which are important to understand. Keep in mind VB.Net/Java or whatever you decide can do a lot more than JavaScript and become increasingly more difficult... just something to look forward too

 

[TheDamien]

VB was replaced 8 years ago I was not suggesting it....

I was responding to both you and Romek in that comment. Also keep in mind that VB and "Visual Basic" can be used to refer to either VB6, VB.NET or both, depending on context, so don't try to use that as a grounds for nitpicking.

Romek touched on the most important part for a new programmer, Instant results. Visual Studio allows you to program a GUI program incredibly easy.
[...]
VB.Net is the easiest to start out with, it's just not the best to develop million-dollar software because it's not as deep as some of the others.

An example of an extremely basic syntax would be Lisp's. VB.NET's syntax is certainly not basic, and it is certainly nowhere near close to English. Using an overabundance of keywords from English does not make a programming language "closer" to English or any easier to understand.

There are better languages to start out with. Many of the modern scripting languages include a REPL for quick learning and feedback, for instance.

If you must go for a .NET language, then at least go for C#. It combines the benefits of the .NET platform with a language that is well designed. Or at least not really badly designed.

Ruby - Ok there are for every person who knows Ruby there are 100 who know VB.Net. Which means support is limited.

It is almost ridiculous to suggest that the ratio of Ruby/Python users to VB.NET users is anywhere near 1:100. Actually, the statistics from http://langpop.com/ seem to indicate that Ruby and Python might be even more popular than Visual Basic.

"Support is limited" is a very vague statement and certainly not a reliable conclusion if you are only considering a language's popularity.

Scheme - I have never even heard of Scheme:\

It is a minimalistic lisp dialect that is often used in teaching programming and computer science.

JavaScript - I'm not gonna tell you that Scripting is different then Programming because my last post that said that got deleted. Although JavaScript does introduce variables and functions so it is helpful

Don't be fooled by JavaScript's domain of client-side scripting and its lamentable name. In some ways, it is a better language than Java, and it supports things directly which many other languages do not.

Well, I am pretty fluent in Javascript... so I'd say theres a step in my favor? lol

It depends on how much of the language you are fluent in.

 

[CaptDeath]

i suggest against Visualbasic[6 .net or w/e] because it took me like a hour to dl
it was massive took several gigs on my hard drive

 

[C-Death]

Well, sorry to be the noob and spark arguments here, but could somone explain for me what the difference is between visual basic.net and just visual basic?

Thanks.

 

[duyen]

.NET is newer and has more functionality.

It's like the difference between WC3: Reign of Chaos, and WC3: The Frozen Throne.

Just a note: VB(.NET) only works for Windows.

 

[ReVolver]

I started with HTML then I moved on to C (I got a book to teach me)

http://www.amazon.com/Sams-Teach-Yourself-Days-6th/dp/0672324482


Be aware that it can take you more than 21 days


After that you will have a nice background in programming.

 

[Weegee]

I say C++ is the way to go, if I remember, I was around 11 or 12 when I learned it, now im 14 (almost 15) and I love the language. Actually Java is supposed to be easier (my opinion) and once you learn C++ then you can conquer Java. Plus you can make games with these 2 languages (as well as a lot of the other ones ). Besides look how easy it is for the line to output text-to-screen,

cout << "It is your decision :) \n";

and HOLY S**T it took you only a little more then 21 days to learn? it toke me like 6 months to a year :banghead:

 

[Samael88]

and HOLY S**T it took you only a little more then 21 days to learn? it toke me like 6 months to a year :banghead:

I recomment c++ aswell. If you got any expirience with another language, it should not be any problems. And there are great tutorials for free on the internet

@Dragon_Lance:
It took me about the same time to learn the basics for it, and I had wc3 both GUI and some JASS as a base And I took a course in it at school But did not buy any books

 

[Lyle.]

Google shows "VB.Net" tutorial has 15,000,000 hits, Python and Ruby have about 600,000.

VB.Net is an upgrade for VB, not really important to know anything else .
When people say VB they usually mean VB.Net.

 

[TheDamien]

Google shows "VB.Net" tutorial has 15,000,000 hits, Python and Ruby have about 600,000.

VB.Net is an upgrade for VB, not really important to know anything else .
When people say VB they usually mean VB.Net.

I have not been able to duplicate these results, and langpop gives a much better (but still flawed) measure of popularity than whatever google queries you are using. Regardless of popularity, Visual Basic is just an ugly, verbose and poorly designed language.

 

[Samuraid]

Well, sorry to be the noob and spark arguments here, but could somone explain for me what the difference is between visual basic.net and just visual basic?

Thanks.

Visual Basic (6) is a very old and mostly-unsupported language.

Visual Basic.NET is a newer version of it, with a number of improvements, built alongside the Microsoft .NET framework.

Both it and C# are roughly interchangeable (although the syntax between the two is mostly different) and both compile down to an intermediate byte-code called CIL.

As many have suggested, learning VB.NET would be a great way to get started developing some simple (or even complex) Windows applications. If you really like javascript and its C-like syntax, you might even consider trying out C# instead.

Grab MS Visual Studio express for free and get started.

 

[0_Flip]

I dont want to be a noob taking down visual basic,
but im a C++ guy, and if you look at google's codesearch:

Basic/Visual Basic : 287.000 files.
C : 8.090.000 files
C++ : 11.100.000 files.

(ps. C#, wich is also for the .net framework returned 1.600.000 source files)

Basically, C and all of its friends own.
And if you want to learn a language i dont suggest reading a book,
just use tutorials from the internet such as this one(c++)