Beginner programming. (21)

2 Name: #!/usr/bin/anonymous : 2015-02-14 12:26 ID:wL4Mq0w2

There lots of tutorials out there, but I think most of them are pretty bad since they don't really allow you to see results. In fact, many newbies who try to get into programming get frustrated because once they finish all the tutorials and get a solid (if very abstract and theoretical) knowledge of a languages don't know how to put these skills to use. They may know how to print "Hello world!" onto a console screen, but from there to creating actually useful programs is a long way.

From your post I assume what you're looking for is a way to really jump into the deep water without prior knowledge. I actually think this is the best way to get used to programming. My recommendation to you is to start programming in the C# language on the .NET framework. The .NET framework comes with a thingy called Windows Forms which allows you to set up and run a functional window with buttons and everything in mere minutes. Creating stuff in it isn't complicated. You can choose to drag and drop stuff like checkboxes and textboxes onto your design, resize them and set their properties and start programming functions for them simply by double-clicking them.

Now in more practical term, what you're going to need to download is Microsoft Visual Studio. You can either get the freeware Express version, or get the more serious and feature-ful versions through less legal means. Once you download and install it, just open a new Windows Forms project and start toying around, see what you can figure out by yourself before looking up help online.

Of course you're gonna need tutorials eventually. In fact, you might need them because minutes after opening a new project you get stuck and you don't know what you're doing. In that case just close everything, create a new Console project and just google "C# tutorials". There you can learn the actual basics of the language and programming. But I think it's important for you to get a little taste of what is possible to be done with your skills your learning. That way you don't ever get "stuck in theory", if you know what I'm saying.

Learning programming is like 20% learning the language and 80% learning to put the language to actual use. And those 80% are mostly composed of learning how to use different tools that other people made for you. Look up SFML if you're interested in game development, for example.

BTW: I personally think Java and C++ are bad beginners' languages. Java has good documentation and tutorials for it, but it has very limited practical uses. C++ is considered a strong language, but it's very rough and takes a considerable amount of time to learn, ESPECIALLY for a beginner. I'd seriously avoid C++ if I were you.
Python is an interesting choice, since it's both useful AND simple (many servers today, for example, are written mostly in Python), but I personally had pretty limited contact with it so I can't judge it either way.

Feel free to ask questions if you have any.

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