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Massimo
28-10-10, 12:09
Looking to teach myself something new,

Decided i want to learn to Program :)

What would you guys say is the best?

And why is it the best?

Was thinking about JAVA but not to sure.

Thanks.
andyn
28-10-10, 12:10
Best for what?

There isn't really a best language, it's all down to the best tool for the job.

Web development? (Python/Php are popular choices)
Unix scripting? (perl)
Games development? (C++)
Windows application development? (.NET with C#)

Java is also a good choice because it is a pretty 'clean' language and it's multiplatform. I don't like it much myself, but that's probably just me.
Massimo
28-10-10, 12:13
Good point lol.

Not sure to sure
Pullen
28-10-10, 12:15
Start off with VB, it's simples :P.
Massimo
28-10-10, 12:21
Start off with VB, it's simples :P.


Ive played around with VB a bit and was fun :)

Might start with web Web development or App dev.
scottmac
28-10-10, 13:28
PHP isn't a bad place to start add a little bit of MySQL and you can achieve quite a lot quite quickly
Mr. Grapes
28-10-10, 13:31
got a smartphone?

android app dev is (basically) java and all the tools are free.

iPhone/iOS is basically Objective C (although you can code in C++ as well) and you need a Mac to do the coding on. and if you want to put it on an actual device, you have to sign up properly (costs $99) or jailbreak your device if you want to submit to app store, its that $99 fee per year.

windows phone 7 code normal apps in silverlight or games with the XNA framework (both C#) XNA has the advantage of also working for xbox360 XBLA.
the tools are free, but again, if you want to submit to the market it's $99 per year.
Spudeh
28-10-10, 16:01
Whatever it is you choose, this guy's tutorials seem to be pretty good (http://www.thenewboston.com/?page_id=14).
Faisal
28-10-10, 16:05
To be honest I would say Java, it's one of the harder programming languages yet is quite easy in comparison to something like C++. It's best to learn something that is object-orientated because when you go on to learning another programming language you'll understand everything and won't have to learn much new things. Also, Java is quite a popular one, you can make online games with it, mobile phone games/apps and lots of cool stuff and plus if you do manage to learn it you'll have a pretty good view of hard programming.

I personally wouldn't recommend C++ because it might be a little too hard since they don't use the english words as much, it's more abbreviated, Java more simple to understand in that sense.



Whatever it is you choose, this guy's tutorials seem to be pretty good (http://www.thenewboston.com/?page_id=14).

Ye TheNewBoston is a very good teacher, check out his youtube channel, he has loads of programming tutorials and it's defiantly a good place to start, his tutorials helped me out a lot.

EDIT: If you choose Java, here's an amazing tutorial to start with: http://chortle.ccsu.edu/java5/cs151java.html I'd also recommend any programming books as they are a lot more helpful than you think.
alexnifty
28-10-10, 16:29
I did Java at uni, really enjoyed it and can't say it was hard at all.

Most of all learning about object oriented programming will set you up really nicely and give you a good platform. Once you get your head around it everything just clicks.
Massimo
28-10-10, 16:51
Are there any online courses that give a recognized cert at the end?

The sound of android apps ect it what i think im going to work towards :)
alexnifty
28-10-10, 16:52
You'll want to go for Java then, can't help with courses I'm afraid there must be some.
Mr. Grapes
28-10-10, 17:03
Whatever it is you choose, this guy's tutorials seem to be pretty good (http://www.thenewboston.com/?page_id=14).

Oh man... that's just the sort of resource i've been looking for.

time to kick start my iphone game dev again :)
Faisal
28-10-10, 17:19
Are there any online courses that give a recognized cert at the end?

The sound of android apps ect it what i think im going to work towards :)

Use the link Spudeh gave, he literally has every programming tutorial. Objective C, C++, Cocos2D, iPhone AppDevelopment, Computer hardware, Java, Dreamweaver, Java Game Development, Python, C and much much more.

Here's his youtube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/thenewboston