[Bassetlug mailing] Programming -- was: Re: Fwd: BassetLUG Contact Form Submittal

[Danny Roberts]

Hi Richard,

There are indeed many suitable choices for beginners, personally I think a
big factor over your choice of first language is always going to be the
reason why you want to learn in the first place. For example choosing PHP as
a first language if you eventually want to be able to program server
daemons probably isn't a great 1st choice.

Having also used C# 1st I think personally its a great general choice for a
1st programming language especially if theres no particular area (such as
web/server daemons) etc that you are interested in.

Also it's incorrect to say that C# is tied to one vendor and/or
is proprietary etc as it is not. C# is actually a standards approved
language (via the IEEE standards comitee I believe) just like C++ is. It's
the .NET framework that is Microsoft's proprietary offering not C# itself,
and we do have an alternative to .NET in the free software world called Mono
(which I actually did a presentation on one evening:
http://basset.lug.org.uk/documents/Mono_Presentation.odp).

But hey I'm not saying C# is the right choice as it very well might not be.
I'd be interested to here more of your thoughts sometime. If you could get
down a to a LUG meeting one week that would be great.

Regards
Danny

On 13 July 2011 22:18, Richard Smedley <smedley358 at btinternet.com> wrote:

> On 13/07/11 20:05, Danny Roberts wrote:
>
>> On 13 July 2011 19:43, philip jones<phil at thejones-family.co.**uk<phil at thejones-family.co.uk>>
>>  wrote:
>>
>>> I would like to learn a bit of programming but need to start at the
>>> beginning.
>>> martin has suggested I start with c# and shape develop
>>>
>>
> > C# is still a good choice but there are other options if you don't
> > like the sound of that.
>
> You can learn to program by starting with almost any language
> but some make it easier than others [0]. Personally I recommend
> JavaScript [1] for the quickest start (a couple of lines of code,
> and the programs run in any browser), or Scheme [2] (or Common
> Lisp [3]) for harder work but more rewards.
>
> However if you're after coding something useful for either
> the Web or the GNU/Linux platform, then one of the great
> intros to Python [4] or Ruby [5] will get you set up for both. :)
>
> [0] I don't wish to start a language war - C# isn't bad,
>    although it is tied to one vendor, known for love of
>    patents and proprietary software :-/
>
> [1] Eloquent JavaScript: A Modern Introduction to Programming
>    Marijn Haverbeke
>    No Starch Press
>    978-1-59327-282-1
>
> [2] http://www.htdp.org/
>    is best, but if you're feeling brave, consider SICP :)
>
> [3] http://landoflisp.com/
>
> [4] http://learnpythonthehardway.**org/<http://learnpythonthehardway.org/>
>
> [5] http://mislav.uniqpath.com/**poignant-guide/book/<http://mislav.uniqpath.com/poignant-guide/book/>
>
>  - Richard
>
> --
> http://teachyourkidstocode.**org/ <http://teachyourkidstocode.org/>
>
>
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