Hi there,

So I was reading this article about the two founders of google and then it struck me, that shoudln't be too hard and I;m going to give it a go myself.

So, here I am, I have never programmed a thing in my life and I want to become a programmer.

The question is, how do you get started?

What's the best language to build on? C? C++? java? qobalt?

Can you develop regular programs with Java, or only web applications?

Any computer folks around here who could help me out?

Thanks.

If you want to develop desktop applications and such, I would recommend starting with learning C and then moving on to C++ and Java. If you want to develop applications for the Web (something like this site, for instance), look into HTML and JavaScript and PHP. There are excellent resources on the Web for this.

Oh, and yeah, you can "regular" programs that run on Windows with Java. Spyware Blaster is one good example.

Overall, good advice. The link however didn't work for me. Spywareblaster's pretty good, though.

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So if I understand it correctly, Java can only be used for programming web applications? Because I really don't want to confine myself. By the way, is it not possible to just start with C++? Do you really have to start with C first? And second of all, will C++ be relevant for the years ahead? Or will it be replaced by something better soon?

Thanks in advance/

I would see it so that:
1. Java is the easiest language and fastest to program because simple syntax, easy memory management and good libraries.. It is mature and working language, but because it is run on virtual machine, it cannot be used when more low-level environment support is needed and with performance critical applications.. One of the best features of Java is portability.. Ones you build the java program, it will run on every environment..
2. C is a low-level language, which has big difficulties on memory management and difficult pointer arithmetics.. Any bigger C applications face a serious risk of memory leaks.. C is good to know, but perhaps it is somewhat obsolete and shouldn't be used for application programming.. It is still the standard in the POSIX world..
3. C++ is a complicated language, it requires lot of time to learn and it also has the pointers.. Still, C++ is rather powerful language and it has good abilities for building mature object-oriented code and good support for memory management.. It typically requires more effort than Java to develope anything, but it can be used for accessing the environment functionality and it can be used for performance critical applications..

It is also good to realize that all this languages are related to each other.. First was C, then C++ was based upon it and Java was based upon both C and C++.. Learning one language helps learning the other..

- BtD

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