Hi, im very interested in programming, barely have any knowlege of it.
I want to know where I should start, what books to buy, and what would realy get me off on the riht foot, i realy have no knowledge of programming. So any help would b much appreciated!
thanks!
eric
VB (Visual Basic is a good one to start with. It is the macro language for things like MS Excel and should be pretty easy to come across. The structure of the language is a good gateway to other languages like C and COBOL. Of course, you can just as easily segway from VB into Java and other things. Not exactly Mac, but is a good gateway as it is pretty commonplace, plenty of doc and help around it, and you may be able to get into it for little or no out-of-pocket.
I've heard that Python is a good starter language and is quite powerful in its own right. I suppose it can be though of as a 'gateway' language, allowing you to better grasp and eventually master other languages.
Python is a nicely structured language that will force you to write good code. There's something about a language where indents matter that just makes me happy.
I'd stay away from Visual Basic at the moment. Just personal bias.
I shy away from recommending programming languages without knowing the problem you're attempting to solve.
-BDub
ok so id like to try python! where do i start?
eric
(I know you said you're interested in Python, but…)Real Basic's ok (I use it a lot) and you can compile for Mac, Linux(never tried it myself, but it is possible) and Wln. It runs on Mac(OS9 or OSX) or Wln
There are also some good books on RealBasic and you can convert Vlsual Basic programs for it (special converter program made by Real Software(Free))
http://www.realbasic.com
pythong.org
http://www.python.org/moin/BeginnersGuide is the beginners guide to Python. If you're running OS X, you already have Python installed.
If you're running Mac OS 10.3, I recommend using SubEthaEdit (http://www.codingmonkeys.de/subethaedit/) as a good text editor. It's one of my favorite pieces of software, just because of the syntax highlighting on it. It also contains some cool features allowing multiple users on one document, and being able to see what's been changed. Of course, those are after you've started doing more advanced projects, however it's nice working with an editor that you won't outgrow anytime soon.
-BDub