Where to start programming

Amleto · 4 Nov 2013 at 18:10

Deehjay said:
Ok thanks, I get it now.

So do you think for starting out that I should just read some basic tutorials and get to grips with the language and then create some basic programs?

Edit: Also, just downloaded Visual Studio and I have one more question. When creating a new project, when would be the time when you create for instance a Visual Basic project, and when would you create a Visual C++ project?

Never.

Sorry! Couldn't resist

You create whichever one you want to program in (or are forced to program in...).

Deehjay · 4 Nov 2013 at 18:20

Amleto said:
Never.

Sorry! Couldn't resist

You create whichever one you want to program in (or are forced to program in...).

Hah yeah that's what I thought too.
Thanks.

Haircut · 4 Nov 2013 at 18:31

Any time I would create a VB project I would stop and create a C# project instead.
And most of the time I would create a C++ project I'd stop and do the C# one again.

GravyMonster · 4 Nov 2013 at 22:58

Deehjay said:
When creating a new project, when would be the time when you create for instance a Visual Basic project

When there is a man holding you at gunpoint forcing you to do so, and you want to live.

jubei · 4 Nov 2013 at 23:12

I wholeheartedly advise you to buy a directx book by frank luna, They are done in c++ (if you learn that then other languages are easy by comparison) and will walk you step by step from rendering a triangle on screen to writing a small engine rendering terrain/objects that you can walk around as well as shaders for water effects etc.

Deehjay · 4 Nov 2013 at 23:33

Spunkey said:
When there is a man holding you at gunpoint forcing you to do so, and you want to live.

Oh ok thanks, I'll make sure to use it for everything and anything from now on then!

jubei said:
I wholeheartedly advise you to buy a directx book by frank luna, They are done in c++ (if you learn that then other languages are easy by comparison) and will walk you step by step from rendering a triangle on screen to writing a small engine rendering terrain/objects that you can walk around as well as shaders for water effects etc.

Thanks. I'll have a look into it.
Jesus. £32 on said river website... is it worth it? :O

GravyMonster · 5 Nov 2013 at 10:28

Deehjay said:
Oh ok thanks, I'll make sure to use it for everything and anything from now on then!

Not sure if sarcasm, so just to be clear, I meant the EXACT opposite of what you said. Try to avoid VB.Net as much as physically possible.

Deehjay said:
Jesus. £32 on said river website... is it worth it? :O

Not when you're just starting out, and are learning what variables and types are, no.

gregorius · 5 Nov 2013 at 12:31

Wong-sensei said:
I would, however, suggest that if you want to do any large-scale projects, particularly games, you learn C, then move onto C++ (In that order, you'll end up a much better programmer).

Just a bit curious about this suggestion (i.e. learn C and then C++) as it seems to go against the general flow of advice these days. The "gurus" are not happy with the overuse of C idioms in C++, rather than treating C++ as a language in its own right.

Also, if you've learned object oriented programming in Python first, would it not make sense to go to another object oriented language first?

Deehjay · 5 Nov 2013 at 12:42

Spunkey said:
Not sure if sarcasm, so just to be clear, I meant the EXACT opposite of what you said. Try to avoid VB.Net as much as physically possible.

Not when you're just starting out, and are learning what variables and types are, no.

Of course I was being sarcastic

Thanks for the heads up though.

jubei · 5 Nov 2013 at 13:54

Spunkey said:
Not when you're just starting out, and are learning what variables and types are, no.

Man has a point sorry, i saw game programming student and i know i would have loved to know about that book before i had my engine modules lol.

If you are at the very beginning then i think i saw someone mention code academy etc, they are good for learning the basics. There are also some brilliant youtube channels too, try this one:

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3345A50B73C26A6F

deanolfc · 5 Nov 2013 at 15:56

I mite give Python a try knowing nothing about coding whatsoever <!DOCTYPE HTML>
<title>Noob.</title>

Deehjay · 5 Nov 2013 at 20:05

deanolfc said:
I mite give Python a try knowing nothing about coding whatsoever <!DOCTYPE HTML>
<title>Noob.</title>

What? Care to elaborate?

Amleto · 5 Nov 2013 at 23:02

gregorius said:
Just a bit curious about this suggestion (i.e. learn C and then C++) as it seems to go against the general flow of advice these days. The "gurus" are not happy with the overuse of C idioms in C++, rather than treating C++ as a language in its own right.

Also, if you've learned object oriented programming in Python first, would it not make sense to go to another object oriented language first?

Correct, there is no reason to learn C before C++ other than if you actually want to learn C.

Deehjay · 9 Nov 2013 at 14:32

Thinking of purchasing the Head First Java book, and 'Python for absolute beginners', they seem to get really good reviews and seem like decent books for starting out. I'm also looking for a C++ one but haven't found any beginner ones with great reviews (It doesn't really matter at this stage since I won't be learning C++ first), so if anybody has any recommendations that'd be appreciated, or I might as well just read tutorials off of the internet.

Also, I'm still a little confused as to what deanolfc said earlier which he didn't reply to me, am I doing something wrong here?

Amleto · 9 Nov 2013 at 22:01

I think he's stating he doesn't know anything about coding as he's a mere webby

Hades · 9 Nov 2013 at 22:09

It's been a while since I was learning it' but I recall the head first books being good for beginning a subject.

FeFiDoh · 10 Nov 2013 at 00:05

My two cents but I did some very basic Python stuff following codeacademy/python the hardway and python for the absolute beginner I didn't spend enough time doing it as I should but I started to get a feel for it. I have recently started an OU course that teaches OOP with Java and I am finding the terminology confusing moving from one to the other, I am sure when you are more experienced its fine but I am not alone in this. When looking on the course forums I see other people finding the differences in names a little odd at first. I would say pick something that will allow you to do what you want to do now and solely focus on that alone.

gregorius · 10 Nov 2013 at 12:08

Deehjay said:
I'm also looking for a C++ one but haven't found any beginner ones with great reviews (It doesn't really matter at this stage since I won't be learning C++ first), so if anybody has any recommendations that'd be appreciated, or I might as well just read tutorials off of the internet.

Good idea not to try and learn C++ first! Once you've got the concepts of a modern object oriented language like Python firmly under your belt then you can approach C++ as a second language, already knowing that many of the things that exist in Python must have their equivalents in C++.

With a solid background in Python I would send you straight to the fourth edition of the "C++ Primer" by Lippman et al. backed up with "The C++ Standard Library" by Josuttis.

Deehjay · 10 Nov 2013 at 12:27

gregorius said:
Good idea not to try and learn C++ first! Once you've got the concepts of a modern object oriented language like Python firmly under your belt then you can approach C++ as a second language, already knowing that many of the things that exist in Python must have their equivalents in C++.

With a solid background in Python I would send you straight to the fourth edition of the "C++ Primer" by Lippman et al. backed up with "The C++ Standard Library" by Josuttis.

I was looking at that book, but people said it really wasn't for beginners at all, so I'll definitely give it a try in the future probably, seems like the most efficient.

Amleto · 10 Nov 2013 at 15:49

gregorius said:
Good idea not to try and learn C++ first! Once you've got the concepts of a modern object oriented language like Python firmly under your belt then you can approach C++ as a second language, already knowing that many of the things that exist in Python must have their equivalents in C++.

With a solid background in Python I would send you straight to the fourth edition of the "C++ Primer" by Lippman et al. backed up with "The C++ Standard Library" by Josuttis.

I disagree. It's perfectly feasible to learn C++ first. Also make sure to get the C++11 edition of those books (or any other C++ book...)