Starting programming?

Tarrosion

Weaksauce
Joined
Oct 2, 2007
Messages
110
I did a very quick search and didn't find anything, but my search-fu is not strong, so if I should look elsewhere please point me there.

Anyways, I'm interested in starting programming. I haven't written a line of code in my life, but I'm reasonably capable with computers and well versed in math. I don't want to do anything fancy - say, building a raytracer. I'm more looking to write simple programs, most of which would just be repeated iterations of a simple mathematical process. (For example, say I wanted to know what the Fibonacci numbers looked like mod 7, I would want to write a program for that. And yes, I know I can use WolframAlpha for some of this type of thing).

So the question is where do I start? What do I need? I realize it'll be a slow learning process, but I don't even know what book(s) to buy, websites to visit, etc, so any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Tarrosion
 
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1029612365

If you want to make simple console applications for mathematics, I'd recommend just downloading BloodShed Dev C++ and learning some basic C++. Dev C++ is a great IDE for a beginner because it works right away. Just install it to your computer, launch it, and start writing code. When your code is written hit "compile", and then execute your code.

This is a pretty good tutorial for the language:
http://www.cplusplus.com/doc/tutorial/


I learned how to program using Java so I could just as easily recommend that -- especially if you're looking to make GUI apps right off the bat. The only downside is that you'll have to go download and fiddle with the Java JDK just to get your development environment set up. Python, as the poster above me noted, is an excellent language to learn with as well.

What you should be concerned with more than learning a particular language is learning how to think like a programmer. Your mathematical background should make problem solving a cinch.
 
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