I'm almost 19 years old, but I've never programmed before. I've done a little bit of research on the internet about programming, but my knowlege is limited with computers, let alone programming.

My question is, where do I begin? Should I find a tutorial online, download a program for beginners, read a book? I've heard of a few programming languages, such as Python, C++, Java, etc. but I know nothing about them.

Any advice would be appreciated. Apologies if my questions are extremely vague. I just have no idea what to do or where to start.

This question has been asked several times before on this forum. Do a quick search or simply browse through the programming sections and see what answers have been given. People are reluctant to keep answering the same questions.

That being said, I'll give a plug for myself and simply direct you to my web site, featuring a downloadable copy of the programming ebook I wrote. That should be good for you to start out with.

If you have any questions or problems, just let me know.

I'd recommend starting with some questions to yourself that are NOT vague.

1: For what reason do I want to write programs?

2: Is there a specific program that I want to write?

3: Is there a career objective that I may want to satisfy?

4: Is there an educational path that I seek that includes programming?


My point in asking these questions (you don't have to answer them to us if you don't want to) is that their answers should help you narrow down the choices of beginning programming language.

If your answers are as vague as you initially imply, then it probably doesn't matter which language you learn first, pick something easy.

My personal recommendations (with some answers to the above included) are as follows:

Learn Java first. Java is strongly typed. It has a very robust API. It is object-oriented. It is a "mother-of-all-objects" single inheritance hierarchy. Its syntax makes it very easy to convert to C or C++. There are a number of occupational opportunities for Java. While dissimilar in ways, it shares syntax with JavaScript, a very popular client-side web programming language. It has extensive client-side and server-side libraries and programming models. It provides garbage collection thus freeing the beginning programmer from the memory management labors (and concepts) common in C and C++. It is a mature and freely available language that is very well documented and features built-in code documentation capabilities. A nearly unlimited number of educational environments use Java and/or allow projects using Java as the language of choice.

Once you master the language, you will be better prepared for just about any other language, particularly those with "C-like syntax."

You may also never need to learn another language.

CommonSense 2.1.0: Try running a Python app on an 8KB chip card.

Download the JDK SE at java.sun.com. If you grab the documentation, too, it comes with tutorials, links to free books and all of the source code to everything that you will need to get started. There is also a Java programming forum here at GIDForums if you have any questions along the way. If you do not have an IDE (Integrated Development Environment), grab the version with the NetBeans, which is an IDE designed for Java.


MxB

No problem.