Programming, a task most daunting... or is it?

Xyne · 2010-10-31 22:34:18

kachelaqa wrote:

Awebb wrote:
A cave 10.0000 BC, carving symbols in stone. We needed to wait a bit for the archaeologists to find and interpret it. The good old times, you know, when bite code was teethmarks on bones...
you had bones? you were lucky.
in my day we had nothing but a soup of chemicals to work with, and our programs were built out of polynucleotide chains...

Polymers? Bah! You had it easy.

In my day you were lucky if you could find two hydrogen atoms to fuse together, let alone anything with neutrons in it. Our programs were built out of subatomic particles and you had to understand quantum mechanics just to write a "Hello, World!" program, then you had to sit around and wait for billions of years of evolution to develop beings capable of reading and understanding quantum states, all the while hoping that your quantum entanglements would hold. Kids these days don't even need to consider wave-particle duality. You don't know how easy you have it!

*edited for typos*

Last edited by Xyne (2010-10-31 22:35:43)

Cyrusm · 2010-11-01 20:13:45

Xyne wrote:

kachelaqa wrote:
Awebb wrote:
A cave 10.0000 BC, carving symbols in stone. We needed to wait a bit for the archaeologists to find and interpret it. The good old times, you know, when bite code was teethmarks on bones...
you had bones? you were lucky.
in my day we had nothing but a soup of chemicals to work with, and our programs were built out of polynucleotide chains...
Polymers? Bah! You had it easy.
In my day you were lucky if you could find two hydrogen atoms to fuse together, let alone anything with neutrons in it. Our programs were built out of subatomic particles and you had to understand quantum mechanics just to write a "Hello, World!" program, then you had to sit around and wait for billions of years of evolution to develop beings capable of reading and understanding quantum states, all the while hoping that your quantum entanglements would hold. Kids these days don't even need to consider wave-particle duality. You don't know how easy you have it!

*edited for typos*

%s/reading and understanding quantum states/reading and understanding the words "Hello World!"/g

just because I still don't think anyone REALLY understands quantum mechanics....

n0stradamus · 2010-11-08 20:47:35

Programming, a task most daunting... or is it?

I wouldn't say so...everyone who is able to follow long chains of logic is able to program.
I think the daunting part is to write and document your code in such a way that everyone is able to understand it without having to look at it for too long (depending on the size and complexity of your project^^)

Answering to your actual question:
I started off with C++ after hearing about a local programming competition. I was still using Windows back then. That is why I got fed up with "console-all-the-time" and started tinkering with the Qt-Toolkit. After having heard that programming on Linux is quite different I switched over and was able to truly experience the flow of code with Bash and Python.
I think it's just like drcouzelis said. You shouldn't force learning to program, if you don't like it, perhaps later you will. The more people I speak with about programming, the more I come to think that it's something you have to enjoy.

I'd recommend you to start off with C++ and get the logic right, because then you know how type-sensitive a language can be and you will truly enjoy the ease with which you can create programs in Python or Bash. Of course there are lots of other opinions on how to start off, that's just my personal one

Last edited by n0stradamus (2010-11-08 20:48:41)

tlvb · 2010-11-10 11:58:14

n0stradamus wrote:

I wouldn't say so...everyone who is able to follow long chains of logic is able to program.

I would say that one also needs to be able to forge new chains in order to be able to program.

Google · 2010-11-10 13:57:59

I started with QBASIC in highschool. We didn't learn much, but I brought it home with me and made some programs for video games (types of calculators, etc.). It interested me so I looked up some C++ tutorials and took C++ in university but it didn't click with me too much. I used C++ in a procedural kind of way. I learned C on my own/graduate school and love it. That is my evolution. Now I am going back to find a nice new language.

By the way, next semester I need to learn how to program in MIPS assembly on my own (as we are expected to be able to, and I am not haha). I am excited. I already started reading tutorials/books.

Last edited by Google (2010-11-10 13:59:31)

Ichimonji10 · 2010-11-11 14:24:03

tlvb wrote:

n0stradamus wrote:
I wouldn't say so...everyone who is able to follow long chains of logic is able to program.
I would say that one also needs to be able to forge new chains in order to be able to program.

I would also say that the best programmers can forge small and well-defined chains of logic, rather than long and sprawling ones.

Last edited by Ichimonji10 (2010-11-11 14:24:29)

n0stradamus · 2010-11-11 15:56:02

Ichimonji10 wrote:

I would also say that the best programmers can forge small and well-defined chains of logic, rather than long and sprawling ones.

Well...yes
I think that's the big difference between a programmer and a good programmer.
Seems like I am one of the first, I forgot to mention some of the other points

Lolecule · 2010-11-13 03:19:02

Figured this would be a nice first post, hello Arch Linux forums!

My first real experience of programming was when I was dabbling in C++ when I was 16, I didn't get very far because I then had to learn Visual Basic 6 for my A Level in Computing. Once getting to university I moved on to Java, Python and C. I think of the three I favour Python for it's syntax, but I do rather like C.

Arch Linux

#26 2010-10-31 22:34:18

Re: Programming, a task most daunting... or is it?

#27 2010-11-01 20:13:45

Re: Programming, a task most daunting... or is it?

#28 2010-11-08 20:47:35

Re: Programming, a task most daunting... or is it?

#29 2010-11-10 11:58:14

Re: Programming, a task most daunting... or is it?

#30 2010-11-10 13:57:59

Re: Programming, a task most daunting... or is it?

#31 2010-11-11 14:24:03

Re: Programming, a task most daunting... or is it?

#32 2010-11-11 15:56:02

Re: Programming, a task most daunting... or is it?

#33 2010-11-13 03:19:02

Re: Programming, a task most daunting... or is it?

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