Guide to start programming

[imported_krish]

In this thread I would like to share the views about how to decide which fields of Software development do I need to choose!

Firstly there are different fields of programming itself, that I can choose to master. Then you need to choose if you want to be a web developer or a desktop/enterprise developer. To keep it simple lets talk about normal desktop application developers and the software they need to learn, in this thread.

1. Normal Desktop Application programmers.

The first step always, is to learn C and develop some console applications. Remember that you do not need to develop a virus as soon as you learn programming. A good program is one which is useful to us , however small it may be. I remember having developed a small text file reader and random test generator and I loved it a lot. Having learned C, you are now well accustomed to the programming principles.

Then I would prefer to learn C++, to get the taste of Object Oriented Programming (OOP). Then I would directly jump into pava Programming. Java is one language that every developer should learn. It is so powerful and yet so friendly to both developers and users. At this stage don't even think of programming a GUI. First stick to the old console applications.

Now after Java, you can decide either to go for learning .NET programming using C# or VB.NET, or you can stick to the Java side and get deep into the Java SDK.

VB 6.0 and VC++ are two other technologies one usually prefers to learn. I would say VC++ is a pain to learn and when there is .NET which can do all things that VC++ can do, there is no need to take the pain.
VB 6.0 is outdated but still popular among many programmers.

[imported_krish]

2.Web Development.

This is frankly the easier part to a little extent. You need to learn HTML then CSS and then start JavaScript which are all very easy to learn. Then you can choose either PHP (those who know only C) or Java or ASP.NET/ASP.

The tools which would be useful are FrontPage, HomeSite, Dreamweaver of which Dreamweaver is very advanced can do a lot of design wonders.

Just invest two months of time on HTML/CSS/Javascript and you can be a full fledged web developer.

When it comes to server side scripting most of the non-corporate applications are developed using PHP on Apache Server. Enterprise level applications are done mostly using J2ee or .the NET platform.

When you talk about server-side devlopment it is not complete without mentioning databases, one should learn atleast the basics of one database system like MySQL or SQLServer.

Hope this information is sufficient to decide where your interests lie.

[cmpolis]

I would suggest learning C++ first, because it is simple and provides all the simple ideas that you use for other languages and it's easy to go from C++ to PHP. That's what I did.

-C

[kelp]

I actually started in web design a few years ago, and now I have to relearn everything like XHTML and CSS, but it's not that difficult after a week of putting it into action. You can make some money with web design by freelancing. I studied on C++ after learning some PHP, but I gave it up to make websites for profit.

[jess]

C++ is extremely hard!

And I find C very different from PHP. PHP is so easy compared to those, you can be lazy and program in php but you cannot be lazy in C languages.

[Will.Spencer]

I concur.

C is difficult because you must declare variables prior to using them, because you have to manage your own memory allocation cleanup, and for a host of other reasons that I have long forgotten.

Add to that the mind-twisting involved with OOP programming and C++ can be a real pain.

Of course, Java is no walk in the park either. Java hurts my head just to read. Java is designed to keep programmers in line, but it always seems somehow wrong to me. That may be because I did C and C++ before I did Java.

PHP, on the other hand, has very little application outside of the web environment. I can't see it as a real programming language. Hell, it's not even compiled -- not even to bytecode.*

* Not counting Zend!