How did you start out a programmer? Advice for a beginner?

Ok thanks. I am interested in Visual Basic script, I tried learning and reading a few tutorials in the summer because of this program someone made with VBscript www.stealthbot.net so yeah, its like bot for warcraft channels, similar to IRC channels.

 

VB is fundamentally different than languages like C++ and PHP because it is event driven rather than procedural. VB Script combines the methods, and propertly references with some procedural functionality to give you a pretty good mix of both worlds. If you're interested in this, then I would explore VB.net, because this is where all VB programming is headed.

The problem with VBScript, IMO, is that almost nothing open source is going to be written in VB script. So while you may find alot of small examples, and snippets, you're not going to be able to take whole applications, and modify them to suite your needs. You'll have to write everything almost completely from scratch.

 

If you want to create a bot for something similar to IRC and if you plan to distribute your bot for other users, I'd suggest you pick a language with good networking support (socket programming) and easy to use string functionality. Generally, it would be much more easy to use a scripting language, but if you plan to redistribute this bot (like StealthBot), you want to make it easy to run so a language that is compiled (instead of interpreted like PHP) would be best. For what you're trying to do, I'd suggest you pick a language like Java, C#, VB, or possibly even C++.

 

I see, well now I am back to these 3 languages.

1. Python. Which I read was a simple language.
2. Javascript
3. Visual Basic (What is the difference from VB and VBScript?)

 

VB is event driven. When this button is clicked, do this. when this button is clicked, do this, etc. VBscript combines some of the event driven methods, etc with some procedural logic.... do this first, then this, then this.

 

Whatever floats your boat. You can't build a bot in JavaScript though.

 

Ok thanks. Does anybody have any good recommendations for Python books?

 

VBScript isn't really event driven, its a scripting language! Sure it can be used as a response to events, but it will happily chug through a huge programme if you want it to.

 

No one ever said VBscript was event driven. In response to the question, "What's the difference between VB and VBscript", I said that VB was event driven, and that VB script provides event driven methods, properties,,,etc in a procedural scripting language.

 

Yeah you did

The different way that VB and VBScript deal with events on a conceptual level is minimal - they are both procedural and both rely on some runtime (either VB runtime or scripting host) firing off a function etc when an event happens. VB.NET is slightly different.

 

First decide which technology you would like to learn or focus, if you want to do some web based applications, I would recommend php and ajax.

And don't start everything from scrath, because there are plenty of opensource codes that you can use.

Good Luck

 

Ok thanks everyone. I decided to go use my gift card and buy this book:

http://www.dummies.com/WileyCDA/DummiesTitle/productCd-0470088702.html

It is the 4th edition published in 2007 so it's new. Also you guys were talking about learning fundamentals and basics beforehand so I thought this would be a good start.

 

I started out programming in Python and then Ruby as an early programmer, then just moved on to Java. Python/Ruby are the easiest languages I have EVER seen. They're easy to use. Ruby is a hassle, but the hassle is worth it.

 

I have to object with some of the opinions out there.

When I started programming, it was because I desperately wanted to program Video Games, and then I realized that I would have to program to do so.

If you want to program .exe applications you can use many things, however as some people have mentioned, C++ may be a little difficult to understand without more of a background knowledge. Java is a little like C++, but much easier to learn as time goes by. Other languages like VB.net and Pthyon are nice to start on also, but I wouldn't ever actually use them to accomplish real tasks.

My first procedural programming language was ANSI C, and learning that was hard enough. After that my highschool offered a programming course, and they taught us a practical approach to VB.net.

The easiest way to learn is by doing, so figure out what you want to make, and then don't give up.

As for Web Development, I would use something closer to HTML, called Coldfusion. It is an interpreted language, and it doesn't require a complier.
Keep in mind that it is free for the Developer edition, and the software you need to work with it. However, to host a site with Coldfusion, most hosting places will charge a few more dollars for Coldfusion support.

Again, Java shows up in the Web Development world, so theres that.
And then you could also start researching Flex .(Flex 2 is out now)

When I first stepped into the world of Object-Oriented programming, Coldfusion was a savior. It brought so much simplicity to the table. Java wasn't hard either, but it did take some basic concepts. Flex is nice to work with, and it intergrates easily with Java, making front-end work a little simpler.
PHP is where I found an enemy, as I moved towards it just recently for a project at work. I fought tooth and nail to accomplish some of the tasks that the project called for. (I could have written the application in Java or Coldfusion in my sleep). I just think PHP is out performed by most languages out there.

The most important lesson you have to learn to be a programmer is that there is no right/wrong way to program. There are thousands of ways to implement ideas, and it all just depends on what tool you want to use to accomplish it.

IN addition, if you ever want/need more personal assistance, I would be more than happy to help.