programming

someonesdad

Joined Jul 7, 2009
1,583
Work on a problem that can only be solved using computer tools. The desire to get the answer fuels your need for learning how to write programs. To me, at least, learning to program for its own sake is sterile at best.

Also, don't fall into the trap of thinking that once you're learned a few programming languages and written a few programs that you know how to program. I suggest you learn something about the material that is taught under the topic of computer science. One of the best CS course that all scientists and engineers that program a lot should take is a course on data structures and algorithms. Familiarize yourself with the material in Knuth's books, as you'll be consulting them a lot if you go on in programming. Spend time finding and collecting good algorithms, as many of the problems you'll want to deal with have already been solved.

It helps to have a mentor you can turn to for advice and guidance. There may be computer clubs or special interest groups in your area that you can attend and find like-minded people. There's also a wealth of material on the web and many places to interact with people. You'll find them by searching out answers to the problems you come up against.
 
I found the best way was to think of a problem and write a program to solve it.

My first program was assembly language on a Sinclair Spectrum and it was a platform game. It was pretty addictive.
From there I got asked at work to write programs for them and it quickly snowballed.

Later on I got into C, Delphi Pascal and eventually C# and the .net framework.
All steep learning curves but do-able with some perseverance.
 

spinnaker

Joined Oct 29, 2009
7,830
I found the best way was to think of a problem and write a program to solve it.

My first program was assembly language on a Sinclair Spectrum and it was a platform game. It was pretty addictive.
From there I got asked at work to write programs for them and it quickly snowballed.

Later on I got into C, Delphi Pascal and eventually C# and the .net framework.
All steep learning curves but do-able with some perseverance.
I will second that. I have always found it easy and more interesting to learn if I have a problem then solve it.

I would suggest BASIC or Pascal. If I had to chose between the two probably BASIC since it is more common.
 

rapidcoder

Joined Jan 16, 2011
37
E. Dijkstra said:
I think of the company advertising "Thought Processors" or the college pretending that learning BASIC suffices or at least helps, whereas the teaching of BASIC should be rated as a criminal offence: it mutilates the mind beyond recovery.
Get to learn some modern language. Modern languages are not any harder to learn than BASIC (I would recommend Python or Scala). They are even easier because they have something that BASIC lacks: REPL, a thing you can interactively work with.
 

Chieftain

Joined Feb 22, 2011
2
I'm 20 years old, and Im trying to learn programming by myself. For my age what is the best way for me to learn programming?I cant learn programming by my self only simple concepts.which is the best way?????
 
Learn to program with any one of the countless free compilers out there for your home computer. You can move those skills to embedded programming later.
A good start and it's very simple & free is "Just BASIC"
A serious start would be a C compiler. Here's a list of some.
http://www.compilers.net/Dir/Free/Compilers/CCpp.htm

IMHO some of the best embedded tutorials in book form and free are the ones for the BASIC Stamp. Check the Parallax site. Lots of examples and projects.
 
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