How did you get into coding?

[.Yoss.]

Started at 13 thanks to some course that taught programming to beginners with a Java IDE and that's where it all started. However, back then it was too advanced for me so I left the programming scene right after I ended that course and continued with other things like Photoshop and Blender in the following years.

The years passed and I wanted to set up a forum for some friends and me and discovered php & SQL databases. I set up the forum and several other C.M.Systems and eventually started coding some simple poop in HTML, php, CSS and fetched data from a MySQL database.

In the past few years, I wanted to know how windows worked and how programs were made but I did not want to code in anything similar to the Java IDE because it left me with a bad impression as a kid. So I read some reviews about what languages were the best performance-wise and that left me with asm and C/C++. I still continue learning these to this day but code more programs in C than asm because asm can get tedious fast and I mostly do this for fun and my spare time is not unlimited.
A few months ago I started trying to learn about OpenGL and networking and that's where I'm at today.

By the way, right now it feels like it will take a few more years until I will be able to create anything productive in C/C++.. Has anyone had this feeling? Any tips on this?

 

[jMerliN]

By the way, right now it feels like it will take a few more years until I will be able to create anything productive in C/C++.. Has anyone had this feeling? Any tips on this?

That's not true. For the big tasks there are mature libraries to do the heavy lifting for you (XML parsing, scripting languages, etc). For an OpenGL game, you can use something like freeglut or SDL to handle the OS-specific windowing stuff for you and to provide audio api and if you read through the red book, setting up something like a 2D scroller game in OpenGL would be fairly trivial. The tricky bit would be timing the rendering so it's smooth and how you handle map movements and all that good stuff, but that's getting into game design. It doesn't take much more than a few months of getting used to the language to start making something substantial in it.

Personally I have my own adaptation of freeglut that gives me a lot more control and I use OpenGL and OpenAL directly, also using my freeglut impl. to handle mouse/keyboard I/O.

 

[xMike1x]

At first i never really even knew what programming was. Then i played a MS private server. After it shut down, i wanted to make my own. Got introduced to 'sources' and coding from there.

Started when i was around 15, and i'm 16 atm. Had less then a year of experience but i consider my self okay.

 

[TheAJ]

Started in 2006, when i wanted to edit/customize a runescape emulator, written in Java. I went on to learn PHP, JavaScript, C#, C/C++(fluent), Pascal/Delphi(fluent), SQL, and some other small scripting languages (Lua, Boo) as time went by.

 

[Phantom*]

at the young age of 12, during the dot-com bubble i got interested in web development and taught myself the ever so popular perl language on my summer vacation. soon afterwards, i continued with computer science courses in secondary school, learning turing, visual basic and c/c++; summer vacations i taught myself x86 and 68k assembly. i dropped out my post graduate year (grade 13) do to the conflicts with my love for hacking. a year later, i started on the road to a computer science degree in college, where i was influenced by corporate subsidies and forced upon the usual ibm, sun (oracle) and mircosoft technologies. i fast-tracked my way through college (evening/summer courses) and took a year off after graduation to re-invoke my hacker within; that's when i rediscovered libre software and came upon ragezone and the rest is history.

coming on 15 years and i'm still living day 1. never stop learning!

 

[RastaLulz]

Back in 2005 I was getting bored of Habbo Hotel and wanted to do something different. So I decided to create Habbo fansite to mix things up a bit. The site consisted of some copy and pasted code that I googled, and slightly modified to my liking. Ever since then I've used the trial and error method, and I am now pretty fluent in (x)HTML, CSS, PHP, and MySQL (yeah, I know that MySQL isn't a language). I've also touched on C#, but my real passion is with the web development side of things. I plan on learning JavaScript this summer, and improving my overall skills.

 

[jMerliN]

at the young age of 12, during the dot-com bubble i got interested in web development and taught myself the ever so popular perl language on my summer vacation. soon afterwards, i continued with computer science courses in secondary school, learning turing, visual basic and c/c++; summer vacations i taught myself x86 and 68k assembly. i dropped out my post graduate year (grade 13) do to the conflicts with my love for hacking. a year later, i started on the road to a computer science degree in college, where i was influenced by corporate subsidies and forced upon the usual ibm, sun (oracle) and mircosoft technologies. i fast-tracked my way through college (evening/summer courses) and took a year off after graduation to re-invoke my hacker within; that's when i rediscovered libre software and came upon ragezone and the rest is history.

coming on 15 years and i'm still living day 1. never stop learning!

I've always got at least 10+ books on my "to read list." It's impossible to learn everything .

 

[Solaire]

Can't completely remember how I started. I started 2 years ago with HTML and then decided to move on to PHP for dynamic websites. Taught myself the basics of PHP but then concluded that it was nothing for me. A year later (last year) I started again on PHP, got my PHP master certificate (Dutch degree for PHP) and decided to move on to C. Once done with C it was pretty easy to break through C++ and, later on, C#. Then moved on to x86 assembly (can't remember why) and did some small languages in the mean time (Ruby, Java, JavaScript, SQL, etc.).

 

[_Rööt]

money made me learn

 

[lPaul]

I started because everyone was doing awesome things. I pushed myself even though it was hard.

 

[beyol]

Started on 2010 , 19 years old few months ago . I`m practising php/html/css still a noob i hope i can get good like u guys

 

[King Grub]

I have been in the Maplestory private server scene for awhile now, and a few months back I decided to learn some java. I'm still pretty new to it, but i'm starting to get a hang of it.

 

[piratenaapje]

Went into my CS major without any actual coding experience. I quickly catched up though .

 

[lewis-smiffy]

A couple of years ago i started with HTML, then moved on to making habbo retro servers in vb6 (Private ones, never released) then starting making game hacks in vb6, Moved onto PHP making a user system, but now ive quit, cba with it.

 

[Just]

Habbo Hotel server development. Nuff Said :

 

[Psion]

I had been interested in the development of games and reverse engineering, since I picked up a copy of Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and a GameShark. I later began to play MMOs and discovered websites for the hacking of said MMOs, then I learned to code basic client hacks in C++. Two summers later, I bought a few books on C++. Worked on MapleStory servers, Guild Wars, amongst other things.

I've got plans to go to a tech institute in Phoenix in two years or a local college (Still undecided), and I've got a meeting with a local guy this Friday, who made it big in IT Remote Administration programs.

So, that's pretty much how it all started, the way I have it worked out.

Edit: The person whom I met with is Joel Bomgar. Got to see the office and met one of the programmers. He showed his customer chart, and Facebook, as well as some other big companies, were listed.

 

[Hydros1]

Well. I started when I first found a Habbo retro called Open hotel, decided they make allot of money for doing nothing than started my own "Habbo retro" and now I am good with most languages (c#, PHP, xhtml, css, sql) and some other languages.


Peace.

 

[lmame]

I began I don't really know at what age. It was on TI99-4A console so maybe 4 or 5.
Basically it was some Basic language.
Then Qbasic on MSDOS 5.x for a long while, was really fun ^_^
Later came Pascal, C, C++, PHP, Objective C and other languages, basically when I need one I learn one.

osRose was the first server project I came into.

 

[penihop]

i am reviving this thread. this thread must be marked as important.

first had an experience with need for speed when i was 6 ^^
bought pc when i was 9 with my savings. no internet. only a few books from C,ASM and Flash.

life was great.

 

[Lapje]

It's really cool to read your storys =].

Well, I started with a MS pserver at 12 I think. I barely understood any english, but managed to get one online. Did ALOT of leeching, yes leeching i know =/. But I always looked at the code and tried to understand. That's where I made one of my first NPC's with JavaScript.

I quit MS at around 14 1/2 cause I got bored of the game. Then got back to it around 15 1/2 cause well. MapleStory stays cool lol. Played for around 2 months, got bored. quit. Then decided to return to private servers. That's where I got to RaGEZONE. I learned to make NPC's. Mostly thanks to Shawns explanations (Thanks Shawn =]). I started helping other people with their problems and while doing that, I learned alot about JS.

I found someone who wanted to host a server but got zero knowledge about it. Me, as noob as I was, bluffed my way to making a server with him.
I was busy with it almost everyday. I woke up, got to my laptop, started doing shiz, till my mom yelled it was time for dinner. I did that for almost 3 weeks (holidays). I had progressed alot with JS and I think I can say I can make some pretty good NPC's for MS (still have no clue about any other use of JS). In the mean time I studied the source (which is in Java). I made some simple stuff by taking some lines from one function and another line from another function. Putting that together and voila!

4/5 weeks ago i started with C++. I still don't have a clue on what I'm doing and I'm looking for some good tuts/resources/guides (anyone? (A)) to help me out. I started using QtCreator and made my first App yesterday! =D. A calculator ._. (I didn't even make it myself, It was a tut =.=).

Well, you can pretty much say I learned almost nothing in the past 4 years. I wasn't really motivated to do something. And I've got no-one nearby who can tell/explain/teach me stuff. But I've decided keep learning and hopefully, I'll be releasing something useful to you guys one day.