Simple programming

I was looking at http://www.dummies.com/WileyCDA/DummiesTitle/Beginning-Programming-All-In-One-Desk-Reference-For-Dummies.productCd-0470108541.html, it's Beginning Programming All In One Desk Reference For Dummies, anybody have it or is it any good?

 

Visual Basic .NET is easier than C#, especially if you wish to program for MSFT Office.

 

Visual Basic.NET is more suited for rapid application development, but it gives you less control on the application. A lot of companies which developed in VB are switching to C#. And it is quite easy, considering that a 13 year old boy like me can understand it quite well

 

Not for MSFT Office programming.

Visual Basic .NET is easier than C# if you wish to program for MSFT Office.

 

The Original poster wanted something MSFT office programming?

 

is this book any good for beginning programming? http://www.dummies.com/WileyCDA/DummiesTitle/Beginning-Programming-All-In-One-Desk-Reference-For-Dummies.productCd-0470108541.html

 

IMNSHO, one can do better than most dummies books.

You should buy 2 books spewcific to the programming language you choose.
If you choose a MSFT language, such as VB or C/C++ or C# pr VB .NET, a good place to start, if you are new to programming, is the corresponding Step By Step book from MSFT press.

You also should get a book that is useful for learning, but can also serve as a reference.

What is your target language?

There are also books that are aimed at teaching programming pricipals, or computer science, using a specific language. DEpends on what approach works for you.

 

You can have as much control over your apps with VB.net as with C# (or j# or python.net etc), don't know where you have got that information from...

 

Absolutivily!

The .NET languages are just about equal in capability.
VB .NET is the easiest to use, especially when programming MSFT Office.

It is true that VB 6 gave one less control than C/C++, but so what, most apps do not need that level of control.

 

I will tell you from experience. C language. For just learning to do some code writing, it is not the easiest. But in the end, it is where you will want to end up. I know a number of languages enough to do what I have wanted, especially script languages. You know, make neat little scripts to automate this or that. I especially like AutoIT becasue the language is fairly easy to use, you can create GUI shells, and you can compile them into a standalone exe.

However, I now struggle to learn C due to lack of time. I wish now that I had spent my free time then on C of some kind, probably C++. Reason? I have advanced far enough that I wish to make plugins and such, as well as some PIC applications. There are more resources and example for this kind of programming in C than others, IMO.

Whatever the case, learning the logic of any language will learn you the logic of all languages. Each language is different, but generally speaking the logic of each remains the same.

Good Luck.
Sul.

 

Computer algorithms remain the same, only the outer covering is different.

 

THere are a number of good books for learning C.

 

The means for implementation can vary significantly from language to language.

 

You do actually get different programming paradigms, which means certain algorithms do not work.

Eg you cannot loop in a funtional language, you have to use a lambda function to determin the relationships to create a set of data.
End effect is the same, but the under lying algorthims are chalk and cheese different.

There is a lot of overlap in which algorithms work, you can emulate certain algorithmic techniques (eg functional programming in C is only an emulation) and certain techniques are simply not possible (eg you cannot manage state with a pure functional language) and certain languages are a mixture of various paradigms (eg Python).

 

Erm, what I meant was that if you know nothing about coding, then just learning some basic stuff like what a loop is, what an array is, maybe what push does, what a variable is, let alone a class. There are lot's of things you can learn even in a script language that will help you with like say an object oriented one.

Granted some languages are just a bit different, but still the premise of 'I want to step through that X times' or 'this should do this until that' or even 'if this then that' I think are the root of programming.

Sul.

 

If you want to be employed by a company that writes software (such as Microsoft, Kasperski, Symantec, etc) then you must learn to program in such manner that your code can be COMPANY code. That is, your code must be well-structured and clearly annotated so that other programmers can work with it.

When I instructed beginner programmers, a 9-month school term included...

1- One month of Assembler language. Just the very basics. Assembly Language is as close as you can come to writing in machine language, but has the advantage that it's also human-readable... using a small vocabulary of words with one syllable. Once you have a basic understanding of Assembler, then you will have a sound foundation for learning higher-level languages.

2- 6 months of Pascal. Pascal is a high-level program language that more or less FORCES the programmer to use a structured approach & other good programming skills. Pascal teaches the programmer to avoid "spaghetti code" and easily-overlooked mistakes that plague programmers using languages such as C, Visual Basic, etc. Thus, a good foundation in Pascal especially helps the programmer to develop those programming skills that are essential when working with teams of systems analysts & programmers. Pascal tools are available from various sources for Windows, Mac, and Unix-like systems.

3- 2 months of "Introduction to C++, Ada, Ruby, & PERL." Just an overview. (This course completed the first year for beginning programmers. In the second year, students were permitted to select and learn a major high-level language of their choice (most elected C++).

NOTE- Do not go for Visual Basic. No no no! VB apps are impossible to port to other environments. Also, you're at the mercy of Microsoft's changing specs for the language. Worst yet, VB is available only from Microsoft, & only for Windows.

 

Good points made by all. Most of the current college DP courses focuses on C++, Java, HTML, and web based programming.

Pascal is no longer taught at my local college. Ada- the supposed language for all computer languages at DOD? What became of that?

PERFORM, PERFORM-UNTIL, WHILE-DO loops are usually taught in all introductory courses.

 

If one wants to be a professional programmer, one must learn the concepts via language such as C++ or Java.

If one wants to applications, there's nothing wrong with learning VB .NET, and then moving on to C++ in .NET, and C#.

To learn elementary programming stuff, there's nothing wrong with starting with VBA. Especially if you feel comfortable witha particular Office app.

With Office 2007, MSFT has put in better hooks for the.NET programming languages, but, for working with Office, VB.NET is much easier, especially for the beginner.

It's not worth learning VB 6(Note that I do almost all current programming in VB 6).

 

Python -

http://www.freenetpages.co.uk/hp/alan.gauld/