What Is The Code I Should Start With

[n3ur0]

waht i should start with?
i tried DarkBASic , in basic :D , but its a bit hard..
say me something :cheers:

i ve tried freepascal, but then i realized that its a compiler, not a programmer, or taht is waht i understan (tell me if im wrong)

[FreeFreddy]

I for myself would recommend either Turbo Pascal - we're studying it in the college now, or C++, but of that on I don't know if it's really as easy as our teacher says...

[mika]

I think I see what you're getting at. Some definitions might be needed:

A compiler is a little program that takes source code (text files with commands written in them) and creates an executable file in machine code (.exe files).

An IDE (I think the programmer that you were referring to) stands for Integrated Development Environment and all that it basically is is an editor for the source code in a specific language.

The important thing to have with any language is a compiler as you want to run your code after you've written it. The only exception to this are scripting languages which are not compiled (like ASP, PHP).

The IDE is only used for editing the program. Most of the time you can write the program in Notepad (or some other IDE for that language) and compile it anyway. So the IDE is not needed but is definitely a nice thing to have as it colourises the keywords and such in your source code. This just makes writing code a little easier and more productive.

If you want to learn programming as a career, then I suggest you try out .NET or Java as there are plenty of jobs out for those two. They are the corporate choices these days.
If you want to program for fun or make games, then try out the more interesting stuff like C, C++, Pascal, etc...

[Reup]

First of all. Programming is NOT going to be easy. If you've never programmed before, it will take you some time to get to know all concepts and constructs of very basic programming. BASIC is one of the easiest languages around (so it is said) because it is very 'high level' (the language takes care of a lot of things for you). Pascal is also considered a good first language and many colleges offer a programming 101 using Java. If you've learned to program in one language, getting to know another one is less hard, because the concepts tend to be the same among languages (a loop is a loop in any language).
So my advise: go for Pascal (or Delphi), Java or Visual Basic to learn programming. There's almost nothing you can't program in any of these languages (short of -perhaps- an Operating System or device driver) but you don't have to worry a lot about memory leaks (especially not with Java) and obscure compiler errors...

Read this article (http://www.tgr.com/weblog/archives/000024.html) to help you choose the language!

And about the confusion:
1) You type the program using any old text-editor. This you do in a programming language which is designed to be understood by humans (i.e. Pascal, Java, C++ or even Assembler)
2) This code has to translated to machine-code. This can be done using a compiler (e.g. Java, C++) or an Interpreter (e.g. Java). When you're using an Integrated Design Environment, most of this happens behind the screens, but this translation process does occur.

Good Luck with programming!

[quatroking]

U can try Delphi...
(i have a cd from it)
Or try javascripts.

[Yamcha]

I sarted with Visual basic and its somewhat easy.

[The Fifth Horseman]

Pascal and its derivatives are good to start with.
I have been using a training prog once that had a internal program language similar to Pascal in many aspects, and then wrote a script for pascal-based file editor (internal language too, but again very pascal-like). This helped me understand them a lot.

[n3ur0]

i will continoe wiht basic
tx u very much

[Omuletzu]

Originally posted by Yamcha@Feb 2 2005, 01:32 PM
I sarted with Visual basic and its somewhat easy.
I agree.The basics are easy to grasp, and the program is quite powerful.I also tried pascal, but it's unfriendly "GUI" scared me :whistle: .

[Kon-Tiki]

Then again, Pascal's easy to learn and is a great language to step into more professional ones, like C/C++.

If you're going for GUI and ease to code, but can lack a bit of power behind the language, you can go with Visual Basic. If you're going for GUI and power behind the language, with still relative ease to code, go for Delphi (if you can find the IDE for it >_> )

If you're not looking for GUIs directly, it all depends on what your requisitions are.

[Unknown Hero]

Originally posted by Kon-Tiki@Feb 2 2005, 05:05 PM
Then again, Pascal's easy to learn and is a great language to step into more professional ones, like C/C++.

If you're going for GUI and ease to code, but can lack a bit of power behind the language, you can go with Visual Basic. If you're going for GUI and power behind the language, with still relative ease to code, go for Delphi (if you can find the IDE for it >_> )

If you're not looking for GUIs directly, it all depends on what your requisitions are.
What's a GUI?

[Kon-Tiki]

Graphical User Interface. It's basically what any Windows program has. Buttons to click, boxes to check, fields that give this or that information, fields for input, etc.

[n3ur0]

i wanted delphi, cos ive seen good games made with it, EG: soldat :D
but, its not free, an i cant buy it here in argentina, cos no1 sell that

[Kon-Tiki]

That's the bugger 'bout those things. They're sold, but you can't buy them anywhere.

[Reup]

Borland used to offer a Personal edition for Delphi for free... don't seem to be the case for the newer version though. .. only a 30-day trial...

Anyway, if you decide yo go with Delphi (which would be an excellent step into programming) read this Beginners Guide to Delphi (http://delphi.about.com/od/beginners/a/delphicourse_2.htm)

[n3ur0]

thank u very much :)

[Ioncannon]

well new semester and my Computer Science class is fun.... can't wait to start learning VB but right now have to start with gay HTML (Which is easy and I know the language already). >.< Why do we need to learn HTML in a class about PROGRAMMING SOFTWARE!!!!.....I think.

[quatroking]

Why no school have a Programming class? that will be much easier and cool

[Mardi-Gras]

If you're planning on writing games for your own amusement rather than for commercial purposes, and have no previous programming experience, I'd recommend Java. Pretty much everything you need is available gratis from Sun.com, and there are a host of free-to-use compilers out there (such as BlueJ). While arguably not as powerful as some other languages, Java, like C++, is object orientated, which can make the coding process a lot more palatable to the programming beginner. Also, Java makes use of internal libraries, so much of the coding required already exists 'behind-the-scenes' as it were. The language is very well supported on-line, and there are many sites that contain games with their code available.

Having said that, I think every programmer has their favourite language, and would argue that another would be most suited for the first-time programmer. Of course, they'd be wrong, but I would say that, since Java's my favourite.

[Ferna182]

at the beginning ... STAY AWAY FROM VISUAL BASIC .... it's not a bad languaje... it's just that... the way you program with VB it's very different from other codes and the way you write a code in VB it's not so strict as for example in C or C++ ... i think a nice one to start it's delphi... or pascal...

[gildedgirth]

You could also try ActionScript 2.0, the scripting language for Flash MX 2004. You'd be able to create and import graphics and even animate them quickly using the FLash tools and then you can use ActionScript to do all the programming logic.

It's a full on OOP (Object Oriented) language, supporting private and public classes etc and once you get a handle on it, it would be fairly easy for you to move to C++ or Java if you wished too. The other bonus in learning ActionScript 2.0 and Flash is that you can make some side money making Flash websites as well so your skills would be easier to market since you can apply it to the web as well as game making.