[General] Where to start?

[oliolioioi]

Hi

Thanks for reading my post and possibly helping me.

If a youngster age 9 has dreams of building "Habbo v2" but is at the very start of learning about computers,

where should I begin the learning process. I also have no experience of programming but am good learner.

What courses could he do? Are there online tutorials etc?

Any help in answering his questions gratefully received? Would be nice to have an answer to his "Why?"!!!:?:

Thanks

Oli

 

[FrostElite]

Wow 9... that's actually a great start to trying to learn computer programming.
My advice to you is to start off with C, get comfortable with it for a few months then
You can move on to either C# , C++ or Java

 

[Daevius]

I think you should be playing outside with other kids at this age, but if you really want to start learning now, begin with something easy. For me that was web design. HTML / CSS -> JavaScript -> PHP.

 

[Mr.Lucifer]

9 is early. There's a lot of essential basic mathematics you won't learn until you're 13. But hey, if you're dedicated and prepared to work hard you can do anything.

Whatever you do, don't start with VB. It has a terrible syntax (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/syntax), and it's not really useful. I suggest looking into Java or C#.

 

[PostOfTheYear]

No! Don't do habbo!
9 is too early for learning computer stuff.

 

[Pure]

No! Don't do habbo!
9 is too early for learning computer stuff.

Totally disagree - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7874291.stm

Youngster like computers - Learn young = Have learn more than the basic's by 13-14.

I started of with BASIC HTML, learning the syntax, such as:

<html> </html>

Then moved onto the CSS:

.banner{
background-image:url(./site/lolz.gif);
}
<div class="banner"></div>

Then moved onto php, Where im learning new stuff as the day goes by.

I learned this all by myself, So... i could never be a teacher, because each coder has different ways of coding. My coding could differ to say, "Meth0d", (HOLOCMS coder). Which it does. I only understand php/html/css/ in my own head, so if someone else try's to teach me it's like wa?

But yeh, i learnt alot of stuff from other peoples source, start of small. I looked at vbulletins source, It's like WTF!? Start off with viewing peoples sources, such as ragezone: CTRL + u (Firefox only).

Many thanks, and i wish you luck.
iJames,
P.s Age does not matter, it's the state of mind that counts.

 

[PostOfTheYear]

Well, I started off when I'm was 10 or 11 something.

 

[XZeenon]

No! Don't do habbo!
9 is too early for learning computer stuff.

Lol I started when I was 7 yrs old. Except I coded in Java html and php, and Flash

 

[Daevius]

I started with HTML/CSS at age 13, but was bored with it rather quick, JS at 14 which was a cool language till I discovered PHP 15 - 17 (and around 17 also AJAX, but I rather just call that JS), at 17 I also started with C and C++. Am 18 and a half now, so that almost 2 years of C/C++.

But yeah, you can take the easy long route through web stuff, or just go the quick hard way by just jumping into it. I think C/C++ as first language can be rather frustrating the first few weeks or months.

 

[Cancel Man]

Do NOT start in vb, it'll get you into some pretty bad programming habits.
Alot of the languages have similarities, such as Flash & Php, you'll find alot of common terms in Php, which can also be found in Flash, such as array structures and such.

offtopic;
i start at
12 (x)HTML
13 Flash
14 PHP + CSS.
15 I'll be turning to C.

I really regret not learning CSS with Html. But it was pretty easy to pick up as i went along.

 

[WhiteMoga]

People say starting in Visual Basic will give you bad programming habits, if this is true, all high level languages will give you bad programming habits.

I started way back when, and I started on Microsoft's QBASIC v4.5
Beautiful language, it even allowed you to write assembler inside of it if you preferred, but any how it was terrible to have to code in, and the syntax wasn't even close to C or C++.

Getting into C or C++ for your first language I wouldn't recommend, as you will probably get lost on the difference between reference and primitive variables, and then throwing in classes will just throw you off as well. (C++). Then comes the trouble that often as you're learning you don't learn how to handle memory, and you just end up getting programs that crash when they are larger, and you don't know why.

With a lot of dedicated learning it could be pulled off, but I wouldn't recommend it for someone starting out.

For someone starting out programming that wants to see good results, I recommend Visual Basic in all honesty. It does not teach you bad habits, it just has a different syntax. Once you get moderately comfortable in Visual Basic, I extremely urge you to move up into C# or Java. I would personally side with Java over C#, but that's always a big debate. Personally if you know Java very well C# is a breeze as the syntax is virtually copied, even down to generics. You just don't get things like anonymous classing as far as I know.

Just my two cents.

 

[Mr.Lucifer]

People say starting in Visual Basic will give you bad programming habits, if this is true, all high level languages will give you bad programming habits.

I started way back when, and I started on Microsoft's QBASIC v4.5
Beautiful language, it even allowed you to write assembler inside of it if you preferred, but any how it was terrible to have to code in, and the syntax wasn't even close to C or C++.

Getting into C or C++ for your first language I wouldn't recommend, as you will probably get lost on the difference between reference and primitive variables, and then throwing in classes will just throw you off as well. (C++). Then comes the trouble that often as you're learning you don't learn how to handle memory, and you just end up getting programs that crash when they are larger, and you don't know why.

With a lot of dedicated learning it could be pulled off, but I wouldn't recommend it for someone starting out.

For someone starting out programming that wants to see good results, I recommend Visual Basic in all honesty. It does not teach you bad habits, it just has a different syntax. Once you get moderately comfortable in Visual Basic, I extremely urge you to move up into C# or Java. I would personally side with Java over C#, but that's always a big debate. Personally if you know Java very well C# is a breeze as the syntax is virtually copied, even down to generics. You just don't get things like anonymous classing as far as I know.

Just my two cents.

Why not start straight at Java? I believe it's a really nice language for beginners.

 

[[HDx]Adolf]

assembly x86

 

[EliteGM]

Well I started pretty early, but 9? Damn :
But willing to learn is good. I had my first MuServer when I was 10, so this goes too.
But if you want to make 'Habbo v2' you'll also need graphics, etc. Not just coding.

 

[mgX^]

whoever told him to start with C, go back to your grave you old mummy! C teaches bad habbits, and should be avoided for beginners. Its ancient and barely used commercially anymore...well except games and OS. Dont go with something not OOP... i really hate those who went from a non OOP to an OOP lang...theyre impossible to work with. Wish i could fire them, really, but its too hard to get programmers these days.

 

[Daevius]

whoever told him to start with C, go back to your grave you old mummy! C teaches bad habbits, and should be avoided for beginners. Its ancient and barely used commercially anymore...well except games and OS. Dont go with something not OOP... i really hate those who went from a non OOP to an OOP lang...theyre impossible to work with. Wish i could fire them, really, but its too hard to get programmers these days.

Bad habbits? HOW!? Almost ever language comes from C! It teaches you things much closer to the CPU then any OOP language. I would actually say that anyone who doesn't master ASM or C (or something similarly close to the CPU) is NOT a quality programmer, since you hardly know how the CPU works, you can never optimize your application fully. It's like driving a space shuttle at home, you don't have any idea how the shuttle works, you just pass the bigger / global commands accross and the shuttle will find out the rest.

Remember, OOP is a coding style, so is functional programming. I could just as well say "don't learn Java/C#, it teaches you bad habbits!" if I was a functional programmer. Your reply doesn't make any sense.

If you WOULD properly order and structure your code, you wouldn't need OOP to do this for you and to cooperate with your employee's. If you properly divide the program into certain files with strict naming rules etc, and wise use of includes, it would be structured very good.

 

[mgX^]

Bad habbits? HOW!? Almost ever language comes from C! It teaches you things much closer to the CPU then any OOP language. I would actually say that anyone who doesn't master ASM or C (or something similarly close to the CPU) is NOT a quality programmer, since you hardly know how the CPU works, you can never optimize your application fully. It's like driving a space shuttle at home, you don't have any idea how the shuttle works, you just pass the bigger / global commands accross and the shuttle will find out the rest.

Remember, OOP is a coding style, so is functional programming. I could just as well say "don't learn Java/C#, it teaches you bad habbits!" if I was a functional programmer. Your reply doesn't make any sense.

If you WOULD properly order and structure your code, you wouldn't need OOP to do this for you and to cooperate with your employee's. If you properly divide the program into certain files with strict naming rules etc, and wise use of includes, it would be structured very good.

If you think proper programmers who DO master multiple language and who DID take the time to learn different programming methods should be fired, I highly doubt you should be their boss.

funny, but ppl dont...the oldschool programmers in many cases never picked up on the OOP logic. I am not saying that one should not learn C, but i would say that complete rookies should start with a highlevel language to speed up the learning process and then move their way down.

 

[Daevius]

funny, but ppl dont...the oldschool programmers in many cases never picked up on the OOP logic. I am not saying that one should not learn C, but i would say that complete rookies should start with a highlevel language to speed up the learning process and then move their way down.

Ah I see what you mean, slightly misunderstood what you meant (sorry for that last sentence). But the same is backwards, OOP to non-OOP. As long as a programmer is open for new technology, and isn't conservative, one can learn virtually anything

 

[Jeffijoe]

Well, I went to HTML clases at the age of 13, every tuesday, and I remember like NOTHING xD

When I turned 14, I began VB.NET.
My VB.NET is broken, so I could not continue.
A few weeks ago, I started Delphi, and I am very happy. I am still 14. Might be hard to understand it when you begin, but you might come along.


And those who say you need good maths to code:
You mostly just need to know Variables. Like x = whatever xD

So I would say get Delphi. Find a torrent. I wont give you one though, since it is a crack.

Happy coding!

 

[King Izu]

Bad habbits? HOW!? Almost ever language comes from C! It teaches you things much closer to the CPU then any OOP language. I would actually say that anyone who doesn't master ASM or C (or something similarly close to the CPU) is NOT a quality programmer, since you hardly know how the CPU works, you can never optimize your application fully. It's like driving a space shuttle at home, you don't have any idea how the shuttle works, you just pass the bigger / global commands accross and the shuttle will find out the rest.

Remember, OOP is a coding style, so is functional programming. I could just as well say "don't learn Java/C#, it teaches you bad habbits!" if I was a functional programmer. Your reply doesn't make any sense.

If you WOULD properly order and structure your code, you wouldn't need OOP to do this for you and to cooperate with your employee's. If you properly divide the program into certain files with strict naming rules etc, and wise use of includes, it would be structured very good.

C? Has to be the worst first language, especially for someone who's only 9 years of age. Functional programming? I think you mean procedural programming.

While I agree with the idea that C is a language worth learning for any serious programmer, I also agree that it's old and impractical now. Honestly, with C++ (which is actually also too old, although C++0x is a huge improvement) around, I see the practical uses of C lacking.

As for the topic at hand: Ignore anyone who mentions starting with HTML/CSS. I recommend that you just try to learn more about computing in general before picking up a book or two on a programming language (Yes, I said book, not tutorial). I find that tutorials are generally good when you know a bit about the subject, which is not the case. As for the language to choose, go with Java. It's been around for a while, and probably has the most developed community willing to help you. Let's not forget that it's also a simple yet useful language.