Can programming screw my computer

Started by
21 comments, last by Hraefn 10 years, 5 months ago

Hi long time no see,i want to start programming 2 month ago but i have a mid semester test and i can't do anything except study.After a mid test i search about how to programing there comment say something like this"I just screw my computer and being forced to erase my hard drive and reload my system" it is really dangerous for my computer i just won't break my computer because if i break my computer maybe i will buy a new computer when i have a job or wait until my sister working.Also if it not dangerous what is do you prefer Python2 or Python3 and what is the deference for you?Thank you very much!biggrin.png

Note:I just need programming to make a game or when i really professional i will make a application.But my goal is to make a 2d game after that 3d game nothing else.happy.png

Advertisement
Short answer: No

Longer, correct answer: yes -- you could potentially cause problems with your computer when trying to program.

However, this wouldn't be overly common, should be more easily solvable than you initially described, and should usually be easily avoidable given a healthy dose of common sense. This isn't something you should need to be concerned about.

I would recommend the latest version of Python 2 (currently 2.7.6) rather than Python 3, simply because most of the libraries you might be likely to use still support the older version, and because there are still currently more resources available for learning 2.7. The differences from your perspective will be fairly minimal, and it won't be a huge effort to upgrade later.

- Jason Astle-Adams

Yes, it can. I screwed up my system a few times, once by accidentally erasing my boot sector while playing around with raw disk access. But in general you can avoid this with a bit of common sense as jbadam notes, and if all else fails you should be able to recover easily. You should always keep backups of your important stuff anyway should the worst happen, with or without programming (you do have backups, don't you?)

And, no, nothing you do can permanently damage your hardware, except in extremely rare edge cases (e.g. severe driver bug that you just happened to trigger somehow). Operating systems these days are quite resilient. In other words, your computer is safe and programming on it will not cause it to burst into flames. Have fun!

“If I understand the standard right it is legal and safe to do this but the resulting value could be anything.”

Programming, no.

An inexperienced, explorative programmer, yes. ^_^

Short answer: No

Longer, correct answer: yes -- you could potentially cause problems with your computer when trying to program.

However, this wouldn't be overly common, should be more easily solvable than you initially described, and should usually be easily avoidable given a healthy dose of common sense. This isn't something you should need to be concerned about.

I would recommend the latest version of Python 2 (currently 2.7.6) rather than Python 3, simply because most of the libraries you might be likely to use still support the older version, and because there are still currently more resources available for learning 2.7. The differences from your perspective will be fairly minimal, and it won't be a huge effort to upgrade later.

Yes, it can. I screwed up my system a few times, once by accidentally erasing my boot sector while playing around with raw disk access. But in general you can avoid this with a bit of common sense as jbadam notes, and if all else fails you should be able to recover easily. You should always keep backups of your important stuff anyway should the worst happen, with or without programming (you do have backups, don't you?)

And, no, nothing you do can permanently damage your hardware, except in extremely rare edge cases (e.g. severe driver bug that you just happened to trigger somehow). Operating systems these days are quite resilient. In other words, your computer is safe and programming on it will not cause it to burst into flames. Have fun!

Programming, no.

An inexperienced, explorative programmer, yes. happy.png

Thank you all for your answerlaugh.png i don't know about programming but i think i should keep away from words that have any connection to my system or hardrive(Actually i'm a bit of afraid now but still i want to programming).I have one more question if i'm installing python it would using my RAM even i don't run it or it only using RAM when run it cause i have an old computer it has only 1GB(This computer is almost 4 years old)


Thank you all for your answer i don't know about programming but i think i should keep away from words that have any connection to my system or hardrive(Actually i'm a bit of afraid now but still i want to programming).I have one more question if i'm installing python it would using my RAM even i don't run it or it only using RAM when run it cause i have an old computer it has only 1GB(This computer is almost 4 years old)

As long as you don't write or delete a file that is important, you should be fine. Loading and writing files local to your game shouldn't worry you.

Also, no - programs only uses RAM when they are running.

I don't think a python editor will need too much memory anyway. (idk though)

Good programs only run and use resources when they are used. Sadly there are more and more bad programs with autoupdaters uselessly phoning home every few seconds the whole time your computer runs or preloaders that are supposed to make a single bloated program start a tiny bit faster (in the rare case you would want to use it) in expense of always slowing down booting and all other programs.

As for the danger. There are stupid things you can do like making an "rm -rf *" shell script, but normally your computer should survive.tongue.png


Yes, it can. I screwed up my system a few times, once by accidentally erasing my boot sector while playing around with raw disk access.

That's why i use vmware now to program and test those sort of "dangerous/unsafe" applications laugh.png. That way if you screw up, you only screw a virtual disk.

Yes, it can. I screwed up my system a few times, once by accidentally erasing my boot sector while playing around with raw disk access.


If you just started with hello world programs in python, I think your PC stands a significantly greater risk of being thrown out of the window during a tantrum, than dying to malfunctioning raw disc access or other forms of kernel hacking.


Short answer: No

This!

Programming isn't any more dangerous than everyday usage. You can't break it, unless you do s.th. inherently dangerous, like deleting system files or using it under the shower.

This topic is closed to new replies.

Advertisement