Starting Programming

Hey,
Well I want to start learning programming and make programs like Tweet Attacks (you know what I mean) ...... what other skills do I need to know ,and what type of programming is like Tweet Attacks? And where to start

Very good question.
I would like also the answer of the type of programming.

Although I don't know what tweet attacks is, from my experience learning programming has two big steps:

Step 1 : learning a procedural or functional language like C or Pascal. In this step you learn the very fundamentals of programming : instructions, variables, arrays & structures, functions & procedures, loops, conditions, input/output along with some algorithmic concepts that help a lot later on like recursion and stacks (very important to understand threading). For a complete beginner, this can take from 3 months to a year to get good at, depending on dedication.

Step 2 : in this step you move on to the next level and learn Object Oriented Programming or POO. You begin to use Classes and Interfaces instead of the classic structures. The code becomes clearer and exceptions (errors) are handled better. After familiarizing yourself with those concepts, you should look at multi-threading (sensitive part that needs a lot of focus), locking and synchronization, along with sockets and network programming. Those are all necessary stuff to know if you want to write the kind of bots you see sold on IM forums.
In my opinion, a good language choice for step 2 is Java. It's multi platform (write once run everywhere), has a great level of abstraction, very abundant examples on the Internet and an excellent documentation by Sun.

Then again, programming is something you learn by doing so don't be passive. Build a lot of programs.

In general, i would recommend learning c# or PHP. PHP is more Linux friendly and a simpler scripting language. C# is not that much harder to learn, is more .Net based, and more object oriented. With either, if you devote about 2-4 weeks, you may be able to learn the basics and program something simple. I'd suggest you pay someone to tutor you, and help you accomplish your specific programming task. For the long-term, it is worth it to learn coding if you have the inclination and aptitude for it.

Your coding will likely need to speak to the twitter api.

Alchemical said:

In general, i would recommend learning c# or PHP. PHP is more Linux friendly and a simpler scripting language. C# is not that much harder to learn, is more .Net based, and more object oriented. With either, if you devote about 2-4 weeks, you may be able to learn the basics and program something simple. I'd suggest you pay someone to tutor you, and help you accomplish your specific programming task. For the long-term, it is worth it to learn coding if you have the inclination and aptitude for it.

Your coding will likely need to speak to the http://apiwiki.twitter.com/w/page/22554648/FrontPage.

Click to expand...

that's some perfect advice right there. If you're looking to develop desktop apps for windows do c#. PHP is for webbased apps but like he said at least it works for linux too (then again most servers are linux). Personally most of my success has been derived from PHP and I really love the language because unlike other lower end languages like c++ it handles all of the memory and variable conversions for you.

To top things off PHP is dirt easy.

I would suggest to start with C#. A language that is bit easier is VB.NET. C# and VB.NET are both good languages and created by Microsoft.

I would definitely recommend Python as a great starting language because of its easy syntax and is great for smaller projects.

Yeah Python is a good start to learn all the basics.
After that i would recommend C#

Also companies are looking for talent in Java, but even intro CS classes in college use Java I really wouldn't recommend it as a starting language... for example..
<code>
class myfirstjavaprog
{
public static void main(String args[])
{
System.out.println("Hello World!");
}
</code>
is how you say hello world in a command prompt and in Python...

<code>print("Hello World")</code>

is how you do it.

i started with QBASIC in '93 lol

F*ck me... I entered Computer Engineering in college this year and I started with scheme/racket, I f*ckin Hate it!! .... WIsh I could have started with anything else like Java or C

Jeez... It's a BIG question. Most coders will tell you that over time, you'll need to pick up many languages (at least at a basic level.) So many languages are designed to perform in particular environments and scenarios.

If you're completely new to any type of coding, then start with basic scripting. Learn HTML and CSS, to get a feel for some of the basic concepts and then jump into PHP. PHP is a great starting language and you'll be able to produce some useful programs for yourself if you get into online business. I've written so many utilities that streamline my SEO, article production, spinning & link building etc.

After that get into Javascript and Ajax and then full Java C++/C#. You'll also want to get to grips with .net at some point if you're going to be doing web-based code.

Programming is a HUGE area, and like someone above said, you need to just keep playing and practicing and building apps.

Some good resources:

w3schools.com

free-php-editor.com

Good luck!

Write your own code or outsource the code. Which one is a good way to go?

santacruz said:

Write your own code or outsource the code. Which one is a good way to go?

Click to expand...

It's always best to only outsource what you could do yourself but would be too mundane or time wasting. Otherwise you always risk ending up with not exatly what you wanted. And you learn what you couldn't do yourself so that you can outsource it

Things that actually require talent, like webdesign for example, are an exception of course.

And remember, when you outsource, you always face the risk of ideas & code being used/copied...

I always code my 'special' work myself, so the ideas and functionality remains a secret.

Well I started pretty young, about 13 or so, with PHP and it's taken me several years to get where I am, with knowledge of several languages. PHP is extremely easy in that it does most of the work for you (as opposed to writing an entire function in C++ to convert data types). So if you wanted a web-based start, PHP would be the way to go.

However, you want to learn software, so PHP may not be an ideal language for you. You wouldn't be learning memory allocation and things dealing with the computer.

I just started my second semester of a CS class and my teacher said in an open discussion that Pascal would be an ideal language to start with since it was designed to teach people how to program. I guess I agree. Pascal was part of the beginning, and it's better to start reading at the beginning of a book rather than the middle, else you won't know what's going on, right?

So you could do that. Personally, my first non-web language was Python. I guess it was suitable for beginners. I know most of my class had trouble with it and I wrote programs for at least three people. I personally find C++ to have simpler syntax than Python, but apparently Python is one of the easiest languages to learn. That must be subjective.

Also, Python is much harder to convert to .exe file format, but other than that, it is great for practice or learning the diverse styles of programming. So if I had to recommend anything, it would be C++ or Python. In no way do I recommend Java.

Or of course, you could always do Pascal, or even Perl.