Wanting to learn

[jessie3]

So i want to learn how to be a programmer.

More specifically I guess I want to learn anything I can to be honest, be it from tech support to development. My dream is to actually code software, but learning all I can is just as well what I want.
I plan to start computer science courses soon, my knowledge with computers is vast, but if you tried to quiz me chances are i'd fail. I know I want it as a career and I guess I just want an early start.

My point being is where do I start? IS there free courses online that give me the immersion an actual course gives? I like hands on if you can provide that. Any books would be greatly appreciated as well.

[Opti_Rick]

I'm in the same place.

From what I can gather all the languages differ but at the same time if you can learn one then it will be much easier to grasp the others.
Basic and C seem like good places to start, before moving on to newer stuff like Java.
I've just bought C++ for Dummies, it assumes no programming knowledge whatsoever and purports that by the end i'll be able to write code, i'm about 100 pages in, we'll see!

[coffeecat]

The General Help sub-forum is for technical support questions for Ubuntu and official derivatives.

Thread moved to The Cafe.

[grahammechanical]

Ubuntu developers are turning Ubuntu into a development platform and a lot of help is being given to those who want to be a developer, which is not necessarily the same as wanting to be a programmer but it may be more fun and satisfaction may come quicker.

http://developer.ubuntu.com/ (http://developer.ubuntu.com/)

http://developer.ubuntu.com/apps/sdk/

http://blog.didrocks.fr/post/Ubuntu-loves-Developers

Regards.

[Rob Sayer]

Basic is hopelessly dated and useless. No serious professional programmer uses it.

C or C++ are not good languages to start with. C isn't a high level language and assumes you understand concepts that aren't beginner friendly at all. POinters for example.

The intro computer science course (for one for CS majors, not dabblers) at the local university here uses python and java.

[stalkingwolf]

I think it was MIT that just offered a linun101 course free this last summer. I intended to take it but was OBE.

[pissedoffdude]

Coursera has lots of introduction to programming courses. But if you want a hands-on introduction, maybe try codeacademy

[Nytram]

Just decide what you want, what you want your program to do and then write it, in the language you choose.
Learn as you go.
Yeh you will get stuck along the way, just do an internet search and find the answers.
The more you practice, and the more times you get stuck, the more you will learn.
Becoming a good programmer takes a lot of practice, but once you are good in one language, it's not difficult to change to another language.
That's my opinion, others may vary.

[fkkroundabout]

code.org
^ taught me the basics of IF THEN and... well that's about as far as i made it

codecademy.com
^ seems a well designed website to learn specific languages. i tried it for 10 minutes or so

edx.org/course/harvardx/harvardx-cs50x-introduction-computer-1022
^ MOOC introductory course on computer science. again i gave up on quite quickly

memrise.com
^ quite off topic but: a website to learn human languages. i did actually learn a good chunk of french on this and persevered much longer than with the computer code !

[Nytram]

code.org
^ taught me the basics of IF THEN and... well that's about as far as i made it

codecademy.com
^ seems a well designed website to learn specific languages. i tried it for 10 minutes or so

edx.org/course/harvardx/harvardx-cs50x-introduction-computer-1022
^ MOOC introductory course on computer science. again i gave up on quite quickly

memrise.com
^ quite off topic but: a website to learn human languages. i did actually learn a good chunk of french on this and persevered much longer than with the computer code !

If you're using Linux then Python is a good place to start, I started learning Python with this tutorial:

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Non-Programmer%27s_Tutorial_for_Python_3

But like I mentioned in my previous post, it helps to have an incentive to write a program, something you actually want to do/write.

The guide I mentioned will help, but you when it comes to writing your own program, you will want to search the net when you become unstuck.

[EngieOP]

Basic is hopelessly dated and useless. No serious professional programmer uses it.

C or C++ are not good languages to start with. C isn't a high level language and assumes you understand concepts that aren't beginner friendly at all. POinters for example.

The intro computer science course (for one for CS majors, not dabblers) at the local university here uses python and java.


Interesting. The community college here has an CS1 class and C is the first language taught.
Here is a very good online resource (IMO): http://c.learncodethehardway.org/book/

[Warren Hill]

Interesting. The community college here has an CS1 class and C is the first language taught.
Here is a very good online resource (IMO): http://c.learncodethehardway.org/book/

I learnt BASIC (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BASIC) first then C but that was a long time ago I don't think anybody uses BASIC any more.

The problem with C is that it requires you to have an understanding of CPU internals and understand concepts such as memory organisation. If your going to learn more than one language I wouldn't start with C but if you are intending to program in a Linux environment Python because you can concentrate on solving the problem with having to worry about such things.

If however you just want to become a C or C++ programmer start with that: there is little point in learning a language you are not going to use.

[EngieOP]

The problem with C is that it requires you to have an understanding of CPU internals and understand concepts such as memory organisation.

This isn't necessarily a bad thing...:-|
As a programmer, you really know what is going on.

[Warren Hill]

This isn't necessarily a bad thing...:-|
As a programmer, you really know what is going on.

I agree but it's useful to not have to worry too much about it when you are just starting out.