what do you program??

[UbuntUser4389]

I would like to get into programming. I am currently taking a programming course (Intro to programming) in college right now. My question is: what do you program? Do you normally write your own GUI programs or do you just write scripts?

I know a lot of people don't write their own office suites because that would require lots of time/work for just one person, I just can't figure out what I should write as a first program. The first step to programming is understanding the problem, I just don't have a problem that I need to write a program for! I know a lot of people write their own Perl scripts but I was looking more at writing something in Python.

Thanks!

[thumper]

I'm not sure if my answer is the sort of thing you are looking for...

I know that there are a number of us on this forum that are professional programmers (day job type stuff) - so what we program may not end up helping you choose something to do.

Over the last few years I have been doing mainly C++ server side stuff for investment banks working on risk calculation systems for equity and credit derivatives. My current job is working with python/Zope on a CMS system. Quite a different direction but something that I was interested in.

At home I tend to write mostly scripts (python ones at that). But to be perfectly honest, I don't get to do as much programming at home as I would like (I have a wife and three young children 5, 3, and 10 months).

Most interfaces I do these days all use a web browser, so not much on that side either.

[macxek]

First you have to find something you're interested in. It can be something just for fun, or something useful, as long as the kind of software you want to get into is something that is thrilling for you.

Ask yourself what kind of things you do with your computer. Do you watch a lot of video clips and stuff? Get into a audio/video player! Do you write electronic music? Get into a music writing program! Get it?

To answer your question with an example, right now I'm writing an applet to resolve the Rubix Cube in Java using the Java3D API. For linux-related projects, I'm looking into writing bug patches for audio/video software (like VLC or Totem).

[UbuntUser4389]

Thanks for the quick replies!! Helping to fix bugs and such in Linux would be awesome! What language(s) does one need to know and how does one get started?

Thanks!

[RavenOfOdin]

Currently I'm writing a console/Telnet emulator with secure sockets support. This is in C/C++.

Helping to fix bugs and such in Linux would be awesome! What language(s) does one need to know and how does one get started?


I'd recommend learning both C++ and either Qt/GTK (Qt for KDE apps or GTK for GNOME)

Try checking here:

http://www.kde.org

[lnostdal]

i like the whole AJAX (or "Comet"?) and thin-client idea, so i'm working on a server in Common Lisp (edit: and some parts in C) for that

here is some early stuff:
http://nostdal.org/sw/wiki/SWGo

edit:
oh, and here is a very good "free" book about Common Lisp:
http://www.gigamonkeys.com/book/

[macxek]

What language(s) does one need to know and how does one get started?

There are many programming languages available, each with their synthax and specific rules, and many different languages can be used to write software for Linux. However, learning a programming language is not like learning a spoken language: most of the stuff you learn from one language is "reusable knowledge". To illustrate this, in (almost) every language you can use loops (ex. in C you have "for", "while" and some variations), so learning to make use of loops will be good for every language you'll learn.

You have to choose one language to start with and for that I would recommend C or C++. After some time you'll be able to learn other languages easily. On top of that, many software for Linux are written in C/C++.

[yaaarrrgg]

Mostly I've do server-side web applicatons... although I prefer writing small web games. So I use mostly Java, J2EE, and some Macromedia Flash (the scripting language is like javascript).

Writing a game is a great way to learn a new language, since games force you to solve odd problems, for example machine intelligence. They don't have to be complex... Some earlier games of mine:

http://members.sigecom.net/kseifert/index.htm

[macxek]

how does one get started?

Sorry, I forgot to include better info for this part of the question:

Here's an excellent tutorial on C/C++. There is everything you need to get started, including help on "setuping" your machine. Also, everything is explained in a vocabulary that a starter will understand.

http://www.cprogramming.com/

Cheers!