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Thread: Beginning to program

  1. #1
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    Beginning to program

    Hi,
    I'm interested in learning to program....but I have no idea where to start!
    Do I have to install something to get started?
    Which language is easy to start with?
    I've gone through the how-to begin programming thread and I will continue to use that as a help, but I wan't a few personal opinions, and maybe some help with early road blocks people run into.

    I realize this is a big project to be asking about, but any help is appreciated.

    Thanks!

  2. #2
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    Re: Beginning to program

    Maybe you should first check out http://www.codecademy.com/. It's one of the best resources at moment in my opinion. Python and Ruby are pretty easy to start with, the concept is always the same, just the code is different.

  3. #3
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    Re: Beginning to program

    c++ is what im aiming to learn this summer. if i stop being lazy and finish my addmisions

  4. #4
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    Re: Beginning to program

    Quote Originally Posted by cwblanch View Post
    I'm interested in learning to program....but I have no idea where to start!
    This is a good place, but you may need to sift through conflicting opinions about which language to start with.
    Do I have to install something to get started?
    It depends on the language but you will get the help you need if you ask.
    Which language is easy to start with?
    As you have specifically mentioned "easy" and have not mentioned a need to learn a particular language, I would suggest that Python is a good place to start. It is simple and elegant but still sufficiently powerful to create useful applications. You should already have the Python interpreter installed and you can check as follows:

    In a terminal
    Code:
    $ python
    Python 2.7.3 (default, Aug  1 2012, 05:14:39) 
    [GCC 4.6.3] on linux2
    Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
    >>> print 'Hello'
    Hello
    >>>
    You type the parts in red, then ctrl-d to quit Python. (Hold down the control key and press 'd').

    Then you can move on:

    http://docs.python.org/2/tutorial/
    http://www.diveintopython.net/
    I've gone through the how-to begin programming thread and I will continue to use that as a help, but I wan't a few personal opinions, and maybe some help with early road blocks people run into.
    Good start. You should also look at other languages as well as Python. C is a base for several other languages and, in my opinion, it is good for all programmers to know at least some C because of that. Some shell scripting (Bash) is also useful. Unless you have a need to learn C++, I would suggest that you leave that language until you have a bit of experience with others.
    I realize this is a big project to be asking about, but any help is appreciated.
    The most important thing is to start. Although I've suggested Python, the language doesn't matter that much. Ask questions when you get stuck. Look at threads in this forum to get a feel for languages and problems.

    There are beginner's programming challenges to use as little projects:
    http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1714324

    Outside this forum there are also other problem sites.
    http://projecteuler.net/
    http://www.cprogramming.com/challenge.html
    Please create new threads for new questions.
    Please wrap code in code tags using the '#' button or enter it in your post like this: [code]...[/code].

  5. #5
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    Re: Beginning to program

    Quote Originally Posted by r-senior View Post
    This is a good place, but you may need to sift through conflicting opinions about which language to start with.

    It depends on the language but you will get the help you need if you ask.

    As you have specifically mentioned "easy" and have not mentioned a need to learn a particular language, I would suggest that Python is a good place to start. It is simple and elegant but still sufficiently powerful to create useful applications. You should already have the Python interpreter installed and you can check as follows:

    In a terminal
    Code:
    $ python
    Python 2.7.3 (default, Aug  1 2012, 05:14:39) 
    [GCC 4.6.3] on linux2
    Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
    >>> print 'Hello'
    Hello
    >>>
    You type the parts in red, then ctrl-d to quit Python. (Hold down the control key and press 'd').

    Then you can move on:

    http://docs.python.org/2/tutorial/
    http://www.diveintopython.net/

    Good start. You should also look at other languages as well as Python. C is a base for several other languages and, in my opinion, it is good for all programmers to know at least some C because of that. Some shell scripting (Bash) is also useful. Unless you have a need to learn C++, I would suggest that you leave that language until you have a bit of experience with others.

    The most important thing is to start. Although I've suggested Python, the language doesn't matter that much. Ask questions when you get stuck. Look at threads in this forum to get a feel for languages and problems.

    There are beginner's programming challenges to use as little projects:
    http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1714324

    Outside this forum there are also other problem sites.
    http://projecteuler.net/
    http://www.cprogramming.com/challenge.html
    A big +1
    After r-senior's post I don't think that anything else rests to be said.

  6. #6
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    Re: Beginning to program

    Quote Originally Posted by snowz View Post
    Maybe you should first check out http://www.codecademy.com/. It's one of the best resources at moment in my opinion. Python and Ruby are pretty easy to start with, the concept is always the same, just the code is different.
    Except the python interpreter on their site is shocking and relies on people writing reliable test cases; which more often then not, they don't.


    I would start with the sticky in this forum.
    http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1766253

    And the beginner programming challenges.
    http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1714324

    Also, another +1 for r-senior's post

    Bodsda
    Last edited by Bodsda; April 8th, 2013 at 02:06 PM.
    computer-howto
    Linux is not windows
    Fluxbox & Flux menu how to
    Programming is an art. Learn it, Live it, Love it!


  7. #7
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    Re: Beginning to program

    I would suggest that if you want to make webbapps, you should start with HTML and CSS, and after that PHP.
    You can start read at http://http://www.codecademy.com/

    If you want to make more desktop apps, you should start with Python.
    A good start for that is: http://learnpythonthehardway.org/

  8. #8
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    Re: Beginning to program

    Id agree, start with web coding. Also the best advice anyone can give a new coder is to stick to the latest and greatest standard of whatever language you're going to tackle, for example, If you want to learn HTML/CSS/ETC go with HTML 5.. you'll pick up all the old stuff along the way if/as it becomes necessary. Oh, and stay far far away from w3schools.com.

    When you get to where you feel comfortable tackling a compiled (or interpreted) programming language, make sure the sites info and snippets you are learning from aren't outdated or deprecated, one small bit of unsupported code and it's sometimes hours of debugging.

    -and- Type examples out manually when experimenting, cut and paste is fine once you know exactly what you are cutting and pasting and exactly what it does. Otherwise you learn nothing!

    Good Luck! Hope you deliver something cool in a few years!
    Last edited by |{urse; April 10th, 2013 at 03:04 PM.
    clear && echo paste url and press enter; read paste; (youtube-dl $paste) | zenity --progress --title="" --text "Downloading, please wait" --auto-close --pulsate && ans=$(zenity --file-selection); gnome-terminal -x mplayer "$ans"

  9. #9
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    Re: Beginning to program

    Quote Originally Posted by imagecko View Post
    I would suggest that if you want to make webbapps, you should start with HTML and CSS, and after that PHP.
    You can start read at http://http://www.codecademy.com/

    If you want to make more desktop apps, you should start with Python.
    A good start for that is: http://learnpythonthehardway.org/
    I've started with python on learnpythonthehardway and I'm really enjoying it. I thought doing programming like this would get boring after a while, but theres a lot to learn!

    Quote Originally Posted by r-senior View Post
    This is a good place, but you may need to sift through conflicting opinions about which language to start with.

    It depends on the language but you will get the help you need if you ask.

    As you have specifically mentioned "easy" and have not mentioned a need to learn a particular language, I would suggest that Python is a good place to start. It is simple and elegant but still sufficiently powerful to create useful applications. You should already have the Python interpreter installed and you can check as follows:

    In a terminal
    Code:
    $ python
    Python 2.7.3 (default, Aug  1 2012, 05:14:39) 
    [GCC 4.6.3] on linux2
    Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
    >>> print 'Hello'
    Hello
    >>>
    You type the parts in red, then ctrl-d to quit Python. (Hold down the control key and press 'd').

    Then you can move on:

    http://docs.python.org/2/tutorial/
    http://www.diveintopython.net/

    Good start. You should also look at other languages as well as Python. C is a base for several other languages and, in my opinion, it is good for all programmers to know at least some C because of that. Some shell scripting (Bash) is also useful. Unless you have a need to learn C++, I would suggest that you leave that language until you have a bit of experience with others.

    The most important thing is to start. Although I've suggested Python, the language doesn't matter that much. Ask questions when you get stuck. Look at threads in this forum to get a feel for languages and problems.

    There are beginner's programming challenges to use as little projects:
    http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1714324

    Outside this forum there are also other problem sites.
    http://projecteuler.net/
    http://www.cprogramming.com/challenge.html
    Thank you very much r-senior! I really appreciate your help and I've already come back to your post several time for information.

    And thank you to everyone else for your input! I'm really enjoying what I'm doing so far.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
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    Ubuntu 20.04 Focal Fossa

    Re: Beginning to program

    Quote Originally Posted by r-senior View Post
    This is a good place, but you may need to sift through conflicting opinions about which language to start with.

    It depends on the language but you will get the help you need if you ask.

    As you have specifically mentioned "easy" and have not mentioned a need to learn a particular language, I would suggest that Python is a good place to start. It is simple and elegant but still sufficiently powerful to create useful applications. You should already have the Python interpreter installed and you can check as follows:

    In a terminal
    Code:
    $ python
    Python 2.7.3 (default, Aug  1 2012, 05:14:39) 
    [GCC 4.6.3] on linux2
    Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
    >>> print 'Hello'
    Hello
    >>>
    You type the parts in red, then ctrl-d to quit Python. (Hold down the control key and press 'd').

    Then you can move on:

    http://docs.python.org/2/tutorial/
    http://www.diveintopython.net/

    Good start. You should also look at other languages as well as Python. C is a base for several other languages and, in my opinion, it is good for all programmers to know at least some C because of that. Some shell scripting (Bash) is also useful. Unless you have a need to learn C++, I would suggest that you leave that language until you have a bit of experience with others.

    The most important thing is to start. Although I've suggested Python, the language doesn't matter that much. Ask questions when you get stuck. Look at threads in this forum to get a feel for languages and problems.

    There are beginner's programming challenges to use as little projects:
    http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1714324

    Outside this forum there are also other problem sites.
    http://projecteuler.net/
    http://www.cprogramming.com/challenge.html
    Hey r-senior,
    thank you again for your help with the programming languages. I'm still working on Python, I went through a bit of a slump because it started feeling pointless, but I've started it up again.
    But what about Java? Is there a website or anything that helps you learn Java? I haven't found anything myself, but then again I'm not sure what to look for as far as a simple learning website.
    I'm asking because I've become a bit interested in learning to develop for Android. I've always wanted to make apps and stuff like that, but I don't have any experience! I have to get the experience myself.

    Also, I almost made a whole new post for this, but decided to just come back to the thread I already made about programming, so I hope this gets to you, or anyone that can help me out.

    Thanks!!

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