A good programming language for beginners?

[The Runar]

I'm pretty good with computer, but there's one thing I still have to learn, and that's programming. I can currently only program in Apple II BASIC (the easiest language ever I think, too bad it's useless now). What I want to know is, what's the best programming language for beginners? And if possible, a link to some tutorials would be nice too :)

[The Runar]

We talking programming programs or games?

 

 

 

Here is for games:

 

Python, C++ or Flash Action Script (Easiest one)

 

 

 

Programming games.

 

 

 

Thanks for the suggestions ;)

[ElkNight]

I heard python was a good language to start with.

[The Runar]

I heard python was a good language to start with.

 

 

 

I think it's Python, then.

 

 

 

Can anybody give a link to a good tutorial?

[Salad]

[The Runar]

 

 

 

Hmm a video tutorial? I prefer text tutorials.

[Errdoth]

http://wiki.python.org/moin/BeginnersGuide

 

 

 

The PyGame framework will get you going if you're looking to make games, too.

[InkofDeath]

Actionscript is like the most easiest language ever that you can make games with. More importantly though you learn some basics of things like variables, functions, keywords, commands, and arrays, as well as object properties, and such, in a relatively small amount of time, which will make learning other languages a lot easier, to understand the context behind the words/questions/statements in whatever tutorials you find. It took me one month to have everything in Actionscript down.

 

 

 

http://www.actionscript.org/index.php

 

 

 

Search for 'code' in the search bar and you'll find a lot of the code focused tutorials in Actionscript and not the GUI stuff.

 

 

 

You can make a lot of semi-complex games with Actionscript tbh, just sacrifices the graphics of it.

[JoeDaStudd]

Personally I got started on Lua switched to VB.Net (would highly recommend VB.Net for a beginnner) and are currenlty making the switch to C++.

 

 

 

For beginners its either VB.Net (nice interface and holds your hand a lot), Python (never tried it myself, but heard good things) or C++ (a strict language but will set you up for life).

[The Runar]

Thanks for replies everyone :)

[obfuscator]

Java is generally a good learning language though not as easy as python from what I've heard.

[Stragomagus]

If you are planning to make games there are two main languages that you should learn. The primary one being C++ or Java and the secondary one being one that compliments the language of your choice.

 

 

 

If you choose Java I recommend this book:

 

Java - An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming Fifth Edition by Walter Savitch and Frank M. Carrano

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the wikipedia article for C++ and Java, which will tell you what all it can do.

 

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%2B%2B

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%2B%2B

 

 

 

Java is generally a good learning language though not as easy as python from what I've heard.

 

 

 

Java is case-sensitive unlike most programming languages, which makes it a pain to program in.

[obfuscator]

If you are planning to make games there are two main languages that you should learn. The primary one being C++ or Java and the secondary one being one that compliments the language of your choice.

 

 

 

If you choose Java I recommend this book:

 

Java - An Introduction to Problem Solving & Programming Fifth Edition by Walter Savitch and Frank M. Carrano

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the wikipedia article for C++ and Java, which will tell you what all it can do.

 

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%2B%2B

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%2B%2B

 

 

 

Java is generally a good learning language though not as easy as python from what I've heard.

 

 

 

Java is case-sensitive unlike most programming languages, which makes it a pain to program in.

 

Of all the problems I've had with Java, that's been the least of my worries :lol:

[Makoto_the_Phoenix]

Java is case-sensitive unlike most programming languages, which makes it a pain to program in.

 

C, C++, Python, PHP, Ruby, and pretty much any other language which uses reserved words to denote a function is case-sensitive. It's not a pain, really - just get used to the syntax.

 

 

 

I see that you want to program games, but let me let you know something - you're literally going from walking in a meadow to drowning with sharks. Start easy and basic with a programming language that's well-suited to game development, perhaps some Flash (*shudder*), or preferably some Java. Python's up and coming in game development too, but the resources to actually learn that are scattered about the four winds.

 

 

 

For a beginner like yourself, Python and Java = pure win. Then move on to C++ when you're ready.

[The Runar]

Well, I decided to choose Python.

[dsavi]

Good choice.

[Stragomagus]

C, C++, Python, PHP, Ruby, and pretty much any other language which uses reserved words to denote a function is case-sensitive. It's not a pain, really - just get used to the syntax.

 

 

 

What I meant by case-sensitive is that most of the syntax commands have to be uppercase at the start,while most other programming languages could care less how you type them as long as the structure is correct.

[obfuscator]

C, C++, Python, PHP, Ruby, and pretty much any other language which uses reserved words to denote a function is case-sensitive. It's not a pain, really - just get used to the syntax.

 

 

 

What I meant by case-sensitive is that most of the syntax commands have to be uppercase at the start,while most other programming languages could care less how you type them as long as the structure is correct.

 

I guess you would notice that more if you learned another language first; Java was my first "real" language so I always just took that for granted.

[Jard_Y_Dooku]

Java is case-sensitive unlike most programming languages, which makes it a pain to program in.

 

C, C++, Python, PHP, Ruby, and pretty much any other language which uses reserved words to denote a function is case-sensitive. It's not a pain, really - just get used to the syntax.

 

 

 

I see that you want to program games, but let me let you know something - you're literally going from walking in a meadow to drowning with sharks. Start easy and basic with a programming language that's well-suited to game development, perhaps some Flash (*shudder*), or preferably some Java. Python's up and coming in game development too, but the resources to actually learn that are scattered about the four winds.

 

 

 

For a beginner like yourself, Python and Java = pure win. Then move on to C++ when you're ready.

 

 

 

First of all, you said part of what I was going to.

 

 

 

One thing that is very important for beginning programmers is to write your code cleanly. For this reason I recommend Java (using Eclipse IDE) as your starting language and use Eclipse's formatter to keep your code neat. I once helped a college freshman solve a programming problem in his class, and although the error was completely and utterly trivial, it took me a good 10 minutes to help him find it, even though I am a seasoned programmer. His error was that he was missing a }. And his code was formatted so poorly that it was impossible to see where it was missing with a glance... which is why it took 10 minutes. He thanked me several times, and I sent him along his way with some tips about good formatting. I hope he will follow my advice.

 

 

 

Anyways, Java has no pointers to melt your brain, but you should learn them later when you are more experienced. No programmer is a good programmer without understanding how pointers work. For example, how many of you with programming experience understand this?

 

 

 

public unsafe virtual BITMAPINFOHEADER* Header

{

   get

   {

       fixed (BITMAPINFOHEADER* val = &this.header)

       {

           return val;

       }

   }



   set

   {

       this.header = *value;

   }

}

 

 

 

This is an accessor in C# which gets the actual reference to the "header" member variable, which is a struct and is thus passed by value and not by reference, when using the accessor under normal managed constructs, which is basically turned into a method at compile time - it's not direct access to the member variable, just syntactic sugar. In other words, it gets a "pointer" to the object we want, instead of a copy of it. It is faster, and in the instance in which I have used it, prevents the code from working improperly for reasons I won't bother to explain here.

 

 

 

LIGHTNING STORM! This post is not finished, I'll edit it on my laptop (cordless! haha!) in a moment. I don't like my computer on during storms... BRB!

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

So... the storm is as loud as damn nuclear bombs when I get off my desktop, yet after I use the restroom, brush my teeth, and bring my laptop upstairs with me to bed, I can barely hear it. Life. -.-

 

 

 

Ah well. I'd planned on settling down to read my book anyways (surprisingly, a book on software engineering and business - who'd have guessed?). So... to finish my post. BTW, I brought my USB mouse, my mousepad, and a thin hardcover book since I hate the laptop touchpads. Genius eh? Also, due to an incredible invention called batteries, I'm not on AC power so lightning can't blow up my laptop. Haha! Take that, nature. Oh yes. Finishing my post.

 

 

 

So... after what I said on pointers, I'll need to clarify: pointers are not needed in 90% of the code written today, and in production code they are "downright dangerous" as Joel Spolsky puts it, something I quite agree with. But what both Joel and I will tell you is that it is very important to understand pointers if you wish to be a good programmer (wow - I'm getting to type pretty fast on a laptop keyboard (I never use laptops)) even if they aren't used much at all, or ever, in any of the programs you write in your career. It is simply good to understand them. It's basically this: you can, in a sense, "program" some of the programs you use... let me think of a good example. Let's use JavaScript for lack of a better one. The JavaScript alert function shows a message box with the text you specify. But do you know the code behind the alert function that actually makes IT work, and behind that? And so on? Understand pointers is fundamental to understanding software from the ground up. If Russia accidentally wiped out the world tomorrow, and you were the last computer scientist on earth... you'd better know pointers or we're not going to have computers again for a while. I'm not saying languages with higher abstraction, like Java, are bad... in fact they are very GOOD... but it is simply fundamental that you understand what's behind them.

 

 

 

Also, programmers tend to be particularly picky and critical people... working at the finest level of detail. I don't know if we develop this, or are just born with it. Notice how I formatted the code example above. I was careful to write that block with an EXACT, perfectly defined formatting style. When you're a software developer, it's critical to be critical. Always criticize your work and try to improve upon yourself, and success will come to you.

 

 

 

I think I'm done. I probably forgot something, but whatever.

[Denismage]

HSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

 

 

 

 

 

Python. As easy as visual basic.