Hey guys.
Recently, after completing a bunch of exams, I've realised I have a bit (Too much) free time and I thought getting into/teaching myself some programming would come in handy later on in life and in my IT course. I just want to ask you guys which "language" is the best and easiest to get to grips with for a complete noob like myself. Any advice would be much appreciated.
Thanks, Invictus.
Guess that's like asking a bunch of people what car to get, you'll get a different answer every time x)
I personally love PHP, just because it's so simple, and it's nice to combine with JavaScript, html/css.
I've been meaning to learn Python, I've heard good things.
I also would advice you to learn a low-level language, like C or C++, and then move on to a high-level language, like PHP.
You could firstly find something specific you want use the programming language for, and then try to create like a small project out of it. That's a nice way to learn a language, when you have a final product, or a goal to accomplish using it.
Hope it helps :)
It depends somewhat on what you want to do with programming, but I generally recommend Python as a good place to start. It is an object oriented or OOP language so you learn the same underlying concepts as C++, java, etc... But in my opinion it is much easier to get started in. The syntax is simple and clean and the language handles some of the more technical things, like memory allocation, for you.
Python also has a ton of built in or free libraries that allow you to do all kinds of stuff.
Learn python the hard way by Zed Shaw is a great free online resource for learning the basics of Python.
https://teksyndicate.com/forum/code/programming-super-thread/142214
I found this very useful in learning Python, thanks Google ^^
If you want to learn Java eventually, I suggest using something called Processing. It's what I used to learn, and it's basically just Java with the beginner stuff simplified, so you can get right into it with little prerequisites/previous programming knowledge.
I'll definitely look into all of your suggestions, thanks guys!
In my opinion, a good place to start would be Java script. It's not very hard to understand and it works fast enough for websites and is sometimes used for gaming. *A link for learning programming* www.codecademy.com/
For some really good material try programming-motherfucker.com Try out python, first. It should be a good entry point and "learn python the hard way" is really good at teaching you how programming works and the integration of it with your computer and making programs. Getting into it will be confusing, but in the end, everything will be much easier and less intimidating than going with codecademy.com first (trust me, been there done that.)
My suggestion would be to try some of the open-courseware lecture series that major universities have put online, such as: http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-001-structure-and-interpretation-of-computer-programs-spring-2005/video-lectures/1a-overview-and-introduction-to-lisp/
It may be difficult, but remember that some universities (I'm looking at you, MIT) have highly respected computer science programs. So, it may be more effort than just learning to 'code', but understanding the underlying systems and concepts go a long way in making one a better programmer.
Any OOP language. Web is where a lot of the future is moving...
But I always recommend C# for Windows using the .NET framework if your a Windows man. Or Java if you want to learn on Windows/Mac/Linux and even move onto Android sometime.
However, learning C++ from the core basics up will teach you more than anything else and do it all from a text editor like Notepad++.