What language to learn?
Author
Out of all the languages that are used, which should I learn? I don''t particularly want to learn C++ as everyone seems to choose it and I want to be different, but if you all insist then I guess I will learn it. And also, once I have chosen a language, will anyone give me some 1 to 1 lessons to get me started please?
Question(s) 1:
What are your goals? What do you want to achieve with programming?
Human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives.
William James (1842 - 1910)
What are your goals? What do you want to achieve with programming?
Human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives.
William James (1842 - 1910)
I would learn C++ anyway, if i would be you.
As so many people use it there is a lot of support and there are also many tutorials and examples.
Also many of the libraries available on the internet (like those for graphics, sound, input, etc.) are only available for C++.
I started programming in Basic, which is somewhat easier to learn, but I am glad I started to program in C++ after a while, it has alot advantages.
As so many people use it there is a lot of support and there are also many tutorials and examples.
Also many of the libraries available on the internet (like those for graphics, sound, input, etc.) are only available for C++.
I started programming in Basic, which is somewhat easier to learn, but I am glad I started to program in C++ after a while, it has alot advantages.
Author
Well, ultimately I want to work with AI but for now I am thinking about programming involving complex maths formulae, as I find maths the easiest subject at school.
quote:Original post by Mickygor
Well, ultimately I want to work with AI but for now I am thinking about programming involving complex maths formulae, as I find maths the easiest subject at school.
If you like maths and AI you might want to check out one of the languages in the functional family like Standard ML or Scheme. Those langauges are very different from mainstream langauges like C++/Java/C# etc., but very popular in AI and academic circles. Scheme is a blast and used at MIT's 1. year programming course - you can find the textbook here: Link.
Or you could choose one of the more conventional languages like Java or C++.
Human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives.
William James (1842 - 1910)
[edited by - rohde on December 15, 2003 4:11:09 PM]
[edited by - rohde on December 15, 2003 4:12:44 PM]
quote:
Definately C++ then.
What?
No man, try Lisp, OCaml, Python, Haskell.. anything but C++.
EDIT: added quote
[edited by - JuNC on December 15, 2003 4:12:29 PM]
Author
Rohde: You've been very helpful, I will check out the Scheme book thingy.
JuNC: Don't worry, I won't be doing C++, it's too mainstream for me, I like to be different.
EDIT: I have decided to learn scheme (assuming that it is the language that Rohde gave a link to), it seems rather interesting and looks quite potent at what I want from a programming language.
[edited by - mickygor on December 15, 2003 4:21:16 PM]
JuNC: Don't worry, I won't be doing C++, it's too mainstream for me, I like to be different.
EDIT: I have decided to learn scheme (assuming that it is the language that Rohde gave a link to), it seems rather interesting and looks quite potent at what I want from a programming language.
[edited by - mickygor on December 15, 2003 4:21:16 PM]
quote:Original post by Mickygor
Rohde: You've been very helpful, I will check out the Scheme book thingy.
JuNC: Don't worry, I won't be doing C++, it's too mainstream for me, I like to be different.
EDIT: I have decided to learn scheme (assuming that it is the language that Rohde gave a link to), it seems rather interesting and looks quite potent at what I want from a programming language.
[edited by - mickygor on December 15, 2003 4:21:16 PM]
Here are som links:
The MIT First-year programming home-page at their OpenCourseWare (they use Scheme and it's where I got the link to he book): Link
A ton of info on Scheme: Schemers
Further, you can also get help on Scheme on these boards. Scheme is a Lisp dialect and many of the regulars here are Schemers/Lispers (bishop_pass comes to mind).
Good luck in your endeavours.
Human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives.
William James (1842 - 1910)
[edited by - rohde on December 15, 2003 4:26:49 PM]
Excellent choice, Scheme is a Lisp variant (well..) and is very powerful.
Some people like static type systems offered by the ML language family (Standard ML/OCaml etc.) or Haskell. Python is a very nice ''practical'' language which is quite scalable from small scripts to large apps. You might also like Prolog, which is a quite different paradigm than the above. Just some to keep in mind for later (of course there are many others)
One small caveat to this: it is quite likely that at some point you will have to be at least a little comfortable with C, since it is the lowest common denominator for interfacing languages together. Don''t let that worry you though, you can avoid it if you try
Some people like static type systems offered by the ML language family (Standard ML/OCaml etc.) or Haskell. Python is a very nice ''practical'' language which is quite scalable from small scripts to large apps. You might also like Prolog, which is a quite different paradigm than the above. Just some to keep in mind for later (of course there are many others
)One small caveat to this: it is quite likely that at some point you will have to be at least a little comfortable with C, since it is the lowest common denominator for interfacing languages together. Don''t let that worry you though, you can avoid it if you try
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