Personal Development for Smart People Forums - View Single Post - Want To Program-Good Programming Resources?

ixmatus · 11-09-2008, 08:30 AM

Eh - language of all languages at a human readable level (NOT machine code IOW) would be Assembler.

My suggestion would be to start off learning to program in a scripted environment rather than a compiled one - quicker to see results and scripting languages are usually built to be more human readable than their compiled brethren.

Suggestions from personal experience:

Python (my favorite)
PHP
Lua

If you are serious about learning a compiled language first, I am assuming you are in it to learn the nitty gritty, in which case you should start bottom up:

Assembler (many different specs depending on your architecture)
C/C++
Java
Fortran
etc...

If you are interested in a language that will be in demand near future, think about learning the mother of all concurrent languages: Erlang.

Your journey is a long one - I suggest getting a mix of both practical and theoretical programming in. Build a website w/ Python then crack open a compsci textbook that uses Python, you'll get experience and knowledge from both that are essential IMHO.

You can learn to program for free very easily. My del.icio.us bookmark account has an enormous number of bookmarks for free education, texts, online textbooks, tutorials, etc... in the programming and compsci arena as well as education on a whole: ixmatus's Bookmarks on Delicious

Libraries are excellent resources as well - especially for used textbooks. Don't knock older books, some excellent material in there - it may also be thought of as a good exercise to bridge the gap between knowledge in older books with newer developments - keeps you keen on what you are learning.

11-09-2008, 08:30 AM	#4 (permalink)
ixmatus Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Vegas Baby! Posts: 162	Programming, eh? Eh - language of all languages at a human readable level (NOT machine code IOW) would be Assembler. My suggestion would be to start off learning to program in a scripted environment rather than a compiled one - quicker to see results and scripting languages are usually built to be more human readable than their compiled brethren. Suggestions from personal experience: Python (my favorite) PHP Lua If you are serious about learning a compiled language first, I am assuming you are in it to learn the nitty gritty, in which case you should start bottom up: Assembler (many different specs depending on your architecture) C/C++ Java Fortran etc... If you are interested in a language that will be in demand near future, think about learning the mother of all concurrent languages: Erlang. Your journey is a long one - I suggest getting a mix of both practical and theoretical programming in. Build a website w/ Python then crack open a compsci textbook that uses Python, you'll get experience and knowledge from both that are essential IMHO. You can learn to program for free very easily. My del.icio.us bookmark account has an enormous number of bookmarks for free education, texts, online textbooks, tutorials, etc... in the programming and compsci arena as well as education on a whole: ixmatus's Bookmarks on Delicious Libraries are excellent resources as well - especially for used textbooks. Don't knock older books, some excellent material in there - it may also be thought of as a good exercise to bridge the gap between knowledge in older books with newer developments - keeps you keen on what you are learning.