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[leutnant]

Hi, I was always interested in programming but after taking a visual basic class, I decided that it was simply not something that I wanted to do. However, now I want to do something and my interest in it has been rekindled.

I want to make a program that goes to this website and fetches me the times for the 5 daily prayers that muslims have to perform: http://www.islamicfinder.org/locate.php?ziporcity=21042&dist=10&start=0&state=&home=1

What language should I delve in to get this done as quickly as possible?

[Tomosaur]

Hi, I was always interested in programming but after taking a visual basic class, I decided that it was simply not something that I wanted to do. However, now I want to do something and my interest in it has been rekindled.

I want to make a program that goes to this website and fetches me the times for the 5 daily prayers that muslims have to perform: http://www.islamicfinder.org/locate.php?ziporcity=21042&dist=10&start=0&state=&home=1

What language should I delve in to get this done as quickly as possible?

Hello!

For the quickest solution, I'd go for a combination of Python (http://www.python.org) (the programming language) and the Curl (http://pycurl.sourceforge.net/) library (To handle the web request stuff).

Good luck!

[CptPicard]

I second Python, but urllib2 + BeautifulSoup for the screen scraping stuff.

[hessiess]

dont give up on programming just yet, the VB IDE drasticly overcomplicates everything. programming languages are just:

variables for storing data (int, float, char...)
conditional statements (if, switch)
arithmetic (+,-,*,/ etc)
loops (for, while, do-while)
functions
classes (only in a OOP language)
standard libery functions(printf, cin etc)

as for languages, python is generally good for beginners, though personally I fInd c++ easier to understand. avoid IDE,s untill you understand the basics.

[namegame]

In my opinion, Visual Basic is an awful representation of what programming truly is. I took about a month of a visual basic class at my college and hated it compared to my C and C++ classes.

Granted, Visual Basic can be useful for some applications, but I actually found it hard to understand...:lolflag:

[jimi_hendrix]

if we have to use a .NET language... C# > VB any day...

but both languages cannot be used fully on linux because they were made by microsoft for windows programming

for your purposes i know C#'s objects for dealing with the web will work but id advise you use python

[jimi_hendrix]

dont give up on programming just yet, the VB IDE drasticly overcomplicates everything. programming languages are just:


for the small amount i used i liked the IDE...



variables for storing data (int, float, char...)
conditional statements (if, switch)
arithmetic (+,-,*,/ etc)
loops (for, while, do-while)
functions
classes (only in a OOP language)
standard libery functions(printf, cin etc)

as for languages, python is generally good for beginners, though personally I fInd c++ easier to understand. avoid IDE,s untill you understand the basics.

+1 except for the c++ part...it overcomplicates some basic things imo


In my opinion, Visual Basic is an awful representation of what programming truly is. I took about a month of a visual basic class at my college and hated it compared to my C and C++ classes.

Granted, Visual Basic can be useful for some applications, but I actually found it hard to understand...:lolflag:
+1

</end critiques>

[Mr.Macdonald]

Visual Basic isn't a programming language. It simply is one of many sad attempts to make computer software, attempts by a totalitarian company that believes in taxing your bank account and patience.

!!Microsoft!!

Anyways if you want to actually program (i suggest it) use python and don't take classes about programming without having a background. Because they will (unless they teach you about Linux) be deceiving you.

Learn to program then take classes for credit. The reverse will lead to your demise. If you don't believe me look at what the major Computer Science companies use (MS doesn't count), Linux and open source.

[namegame]

Visual Basic isn't a programming language. It simply is one of many sad attempts to make computer software, attempts by a totalitarian company that believes in taxing your bank account and patience.

!!Microsoft!!

Anyways if you want to actually program (i suggest it) use python and don't take classes about programming without having a background. Because they will (unless they teach you about Linux) be deceiving you.

Learn to program then take classes for credit. The reverse will lead to your demise. If you don't believe me look at what the major Computer Science companies use (MS doesn't count), Linux and open source.

I agree. I'm only in my second semester of C, and we are currently working on a ray-tracer, however, 100% of the work we do is in Linux. I have honestly never compiled or ran a C or C++ program in Windows.

We are required to learn .tar .tar.gz, terminal commands, Makefiles, etc. Not only are we learning how to program, but we are also learning Linux. Some of us more than others of course :)