Want to learn Coding

[nrshida]

Well obviously there is a spectrum of opinion. I suggested the old fashioned approach because he will learn more about programming in the long run that way. I really would suggest deferring going to more complicated IDEs until later. Even writing a simple console app can be daunting in MSDEV for example. You end up focussing on the wrong things. The more you do yourself with the simple tools the more you will learn and you can certainly transfer that knowledge to any language later on.

He did say he wanted to learn, and not immediately apply for a job in industry.

[dedalos]

not only that but you have a much bigger range of what you can do in linux than you can in winblowz, and it's free.

Give us some examples please.  BTW, unless you are building a PC, windows is free.  It is already on your computer.  But I am more interested in what is the bigger range of what you can do in Linux. 

FYI, the thread is about someone wanting to learn how to write code.  What does the operating system have to do with that?  Didn't I call you a nube before?  Thanks for proving it    It is not a religion. It is software.  Both windows and Linux have their uses.  Calling one an absolute better than the other is foolish.

[Ex-jazz]

Right...

Funny...after coding for 15 years I have never had that experience. Structural errors are always trapped before the Shell launches when testing...and the OS never crashes (XP W7)...as to logic errors they occur no matter what language or method you choose

Go ahead and play with your command line programs

I will stick to the worlds most widely used IDE for the worlds most widely used GUI OS

Linux 

I'm a noob...

Are the major of the web servers running a apache/Linux?

[RTHolmes]

the ones that work, yes

[APDrone]

Well obviously there is a spectrum of opinion. I suggested the old fashioned approach because he will learn more about programming in the long run that way. I really would suggest deferring going to more complicated IDEs until later. Even writing a simple console app can be daunting in MSDEV for example. You end up focussing on the wrong things. The more you do yourself with the simple tools the more you will learn and you can certainly transfer that knowledge to any language later on.

He did say he wanted to learn, and not immediately apply for a job in industry.

+1

FYI, the thread is about someone wanting to learn how to write code.  What does the operating system have to do with that?  Didn't I call you a nube before?  Thanks for proving it    It is not a religion. It is software.  Both windows and Linux have their uses.  Calling one an absolute better than the other is foolish.

Agreed.

I'm intrigued about a C compiler built into Linux.  I have Ubuntu on an extra machine and after it gets finished downloading and installing the latest version, I'm going to give it a shot and see what it has in there. egads.. that's gonna be about 3 hours.. lol.

My aversion to this type of developing on a windows OS is you'd have to do it in a command box.  Just not quite like the good old days when that's all you had ( pre windows 3.0 ).
My comment about the API was because I had written an app that interfaced with it.. many moons ago.. and I seem to recall it was frustrating.  Probably due to the lack of documentation at the time..

With any environment you're not just learning to code, you're learning the interface with the machine you're working on to make that code do something useful that you can see. 

I'm thinking the linux/C approach may be easier than others.

I could very well be wrong.

Should know after the updates are done.

[oneway]

Drone,

My argument is that nobody programs in a vacuum other than the student who follows some of the advice on this thread.

In other words, a program that simply runs in a command box and prints to the box is 100% useless, its uninspiring and downright bland and boring.

The vast majority of programs require a user to input meaningful data that in turn is validated, and then this input is run through a function or method. That input comes in the form of Windows style interface (textbox, listbox choice, checkbox, optionset etc)...or a reasonable facsimile thereof (Aces High)

Nobody runs todays modern programs from a Command Line

Further, there isn't anything that can be accomplished in a command line program that cannot be accomplished via a Windows style GUI...and further still there is nothing that can be learned in Console app that cannot also be learned starting from Winform app

A new programmer who learns to run a "Hello World" command line program is legions behind the same neophyte that learns to do it via a Winform, a Command button and a label

Todays modern IDE creates with the push of button the modern Winform app, and exposes the student to the structure of it.

I do not believe, nor will anyone convince me, that learning code outside of an integrated Winform IDE is a better choice...

Intellisense is the MS IDE method of interpreting what your trying to code...and that alone teaches you more in a shorter period of time than any tutorial could; it shows you, or indicates how objects are related (properties, methods & events)

If the OP decides to start with Winforms in C# (free from MS)...he will be well served

Oneway

[APDrone]

I beg to differ, oneway.. and the reason is such..

Programming is constructing a series of steps using commands, statements, functions, procedures, subprograms, and the like to achieve some result.

Once you get a fundamental understanding of how all that works, then you can apply that to any language.

You should use the simplest interface to learn variable definition,  if/then/else,  while-do, function definition, using a returned value from a function, using procedures.   

Get some of those under your belt, then move on to reading files and line commands.

Defining a box and dragging a button to it is not programming. That is using a tool to construct an interface.  God help you when it breaks and your debugger gives you no real help on how to fix it.

No.. I firmly believe that you should learn how to write code .. It doesn't have to be months or a year.. just start there. 

Get something written in C, then you can understand C++ and Java.  Learn the importance of libraries, header files, linked modules, and executables.  I would consider it an investment.

But, then, I'm not a formal educator.  I could be completely off-base.  It worked for me.   

[oneway]

I would rather dive in to the pool from the deep end...

To each his own I suppose...I would rather grab a snake by his head than his tail...

Salute

Right click view image...

[gyrene81]

I would rather dive in to the pool from the deep end...

if you're using microsoft vb or visual c you're nowhere close to the deep end. if i want a nice fancy excel spreadsheet or some fancy front end for the worst database system on the planet, vb is great.

it's a damn good thing nobody followed such programming advice in the past, the apollo program would have never gotten off the ground, no one would have had the pleasure of seeing an atari or commodore, no atm's, no internet, apple os would never have seen the light of day...and microsoft wouldn't exist. first computer generated graphics, on unix. first 32 bit operating system, unix. first 64 bit operating system, unix. most widely used enterprise operating system, unix/linux.


i agree, why have the flexibility and knowledge that comes from working on the command line when you can work with a fancy front end within the confines of what microsoft will allow in their operating system? can you map a specific memory address, call a specific dma channel or irq, perhaps create a cluster file system, maybe even load balance a cluster file system with microsoft vb or c#? no would be the correct answer.

[mensa180]

The easy part of programming is user input, the hard part is manipulating it and forming/implementing complex algorithms.

[dedalos]

I'm a noob...

Are the major of the web servers running a apache/Linux?

Sorry, you are in the wrong thread.  The OP was talking about programming 

[4deck]

I agree with most of the thoughts here on Linux. Excellent free way to learn. Books are essential though. You'll be paying for those.

One more thing too. If your intreted in web type of stuff, there is a very cheap web hoster called limedomains.com

for 8 bucks a year you can have a web site to dabble with. If you find yourself drawn to that kind of thing.

Good luck though,. And if you feel fustrated its ok. When you have your eureka moment, you'll never forget it. Just right it down, so incase you do forget it, you can recreate it. Then try to remember where u put the notebook. 

[Ex-jazz]

Sorry, you are in the wrong thread.  The OP was talking about programming 

Please, see my first post in this thread.

The second post was about "Linux  " comment.

[dedalos]

Please, see my first post in this thread.

The second post was about "Linux  " comment.

Well, are you posting from Linux?  Running AH on Linux?  As I said, it has its uses (mainly in real time systems) but to say you can do more on a linux box than you can do an a windows is just funny.  In either case, the thread is about writing code and that should be irrelevant to operating systems.  What is relevant, is taking everything else out of the equation to make it easier for someone new to focus on the programming task only.  So doing it in windows, a system that he is already familiar with, using tools with a familiar look and feel has to be the easiest way, no?

Telling a new guy to go install Linux, learn vi and use a command line compiler (should he rebuild the kernel a few times while at it?) is just ridiculous.  Where is he going to install it?  Have you ever made the mistake to try and install Linux on a laptop that came with windows on?    In my experience (and it is big) when questions like the OPs are answered with "install linux cause it is the best" the people are either clueless or just bragging about their mad command line Linux skillz.  A lot of times it is both.

[BiPoLaR]

Computer coding in today's construct attempts to emulate life in reflection...it attempts to reflect reality in an Object Oriented construct...and is hemmed in and by the standards adopted by the coders and architects who have their finger in the direction of that particular language.

It is impossible to address or answer your question unless or until you define your objectives and the language you wish to accomplish them in.

Oneway

This is a bulletin board ya know. Not an application to micrapsoft. You can dumb it down for us southern folk.