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[DarthHelmet86]

Well the title about says it all, now I know this is a hard thing to do and the like and I am not going to school about it at the moment but I do plan on at some point. For now I just want to try and learn some coding and make some simple programs. A friend of mine has been suggesting a few things, what with him being a paid coder and all, but I would like some more suggestions and thoughts on the different languages.

I am thinking of doing something in the C area, I know I used one of them at school for making a couple of programs (a dice roller and some bouncy shape thing I think) but I can't remember which. Which is the one you would recommend?

Or should I go for something more like Java or whatever Lua is? The more info I get now the better so throw it at me folks.

[The Fifth Horseman]

C or C++ . They're not too difficult to start with, but not so convenient you can allow yourself to stop thinking about what you're doing.

[arete]

I think it depends on the sort of things you want to end up coding.

[GTX2GvO]

If you need a program to be able to code with, you can look at MS Visual Studio Express.
It's free.

Should also have some tutorials available.
(either on site or in the program itself)

[Tracker]

Well, C would be ideal - I study Pascal (un)fortunately, which is a very easy, thus outdated language. Though you can write suprisingly good programs in it, even 3 dimensional. The only problem is, it's mostly compatible with Windows OSes under XP, or DOSBox. On linux or mac you could use FreePascal, but it doesn't really have graphical units (think of them of libraries of functions), so go with DOSBox + Borland/Turbo Pascal if you choose Pascal to code in.
You can easily grasp the basic concepts of variables, loops, different data structures, file management, and such. Then there's Object Pascal based Delphi, which is the Object-Oriented version of Pascal, lot of things can be written in it.
But as I began, C would be the best - it's a widely used language with lot of information about it, libraries, functions, sourcecode of tons of software... just learn C!

[DarthHelmet86]

Yes my friend did suggest the Express programs as being good enough to start with and free so I will be going there to try them out for sure. C++ seems to be the one I will pick up for now I think. Who knows where this could lead...it could lead to me giving up in a few weeks after I work out how hard it is and my lazy bones kick in.

[Tracker]

Well, it might be better to learn C, as C++ is only slightly different, but I'm not sure learning C after C++ is easier. But anyway, don't give up, think of all the 3D demos you'll write!

[jonh_sabugs]

I would start with C, not C++. Object orienting is even another layer over the basics of programming, and I guess it would be confusing to learn it before mastering algorithms. Pure C is an excellent place to learn the idea of algorithm and implement them. Also, it gives a very good idea of memory management and pointer usage. You should start C++ or Java after you master C.

[jonh_sabugs]

EDIT: sorry it posted the same thing twice for some reason, and I can't find how to delete it.

[Japo]

my answer is usually: "use whatever your friends use."

http://norvig.com/21-days.html