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[Kikarian]

Computer Programming is used for everything your doing on your computer. Whether it be programs, Apps, OS and your browser.

We know a lot of Gaffers are programmers whether it is a job or a hobby. This thread will allow you to express all your ideas.

Definition:

Computer programming (often shortened to programming or coding) is the process of designing, writing, testing, debugging, and maintaining the source code of computer programs. This source code is written in one or more programming languages. The purpose of programming is to create a set of instructions that computers use to perform specific operations or to exhibit desired behaviors. The process of writing source code often requires expertise in many different subjects, including knowledge of the application domain, specialized algorithms and formal logic.

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History:

The Antikythera mechanism from ancient Greece was a calculator utilizing gears of various sizes and configuration to determine its operation,[3] which tracked the metonic cycle still used in lunar-to-solar calendars, and which is consistent for calculating the dates of the Olympiads.[4] Al-Jazari built programmable Automata in 1206. One system employed in these devices was the use of pegs and cams placed into a wooden drum at specific locations, which would sequentially trigger levers that in turn operated percussion instruments. The output of this device was a small drummer playing various rhythms and drum patterns.[5][6] The Jacquard Loom, which Joseph Marie Jacquard developed in 1801, uses a series of pasteboard cards with holes punched in them. The hole pattern represented the pattern that the loom had to follow in weaving cloth. The loom could produce entirely different weaves using different sets of cards. Charles Babbage adopted the use of punched cards around 1830 to control his Analytical Engine. The first computer program was written for the Analytical Engine by mathematician Ada Lovelace to calculate a sequence of Bernoulli Numbers.[7] The synthesis of numerical calculation, predetermined operation and output, along with a way to organize and input instructions in a manner relatively easy for humans to conceive and produce, led to the modern development of computer programming. Development of computer programming accelerated through the Industrial Revolution.

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Programming Languages: (Click for more info)
C++

C

C# / C-Sharp

Perl

Java

Ruby

Python

In this thread you can talk about what projects you are doing. What is your proffered language. Ask for help.

Programming is an ever-growing field and an ever-changing field. It's an exciting and challenging career path, but with good benefits.

Resources

http://programming-motherfucker.com/become.html

http://www.cprogramming.com/

4chan.org/prog/ - Can SOMETIMES be helpful

http://phpacademy.org/

TheNewBoston (Youtube)

http://learnyouahaskell.com/

www.codecademy.com

www.udacity.com

Text Editors & IDE's:

T = Text Editor
I = IDE (Integrated Development Environment)

Notepad++ - (T)
Notepad+ - (T)
SublimeText 2 - (T)
Code::Blocks - (I)
Netbeans IDE - (I)
Eclipse - (I)
Microsoft Visual Studio *(Express) - (I)

Game Design (made by 4chan's /vg/):

General resource lists
heartvine.tumblr.com/post/17243872646/indie-game-dev-faq

sites.google.com/site/vidyadevresources

http://www.pixelprospector.com/indie-resources

www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~amitp/gameprog.html

content.gpwiki.org/index.php

More programming resources
forums.tigsource.com/index.php?board=4.0

UPDATE:

Game Development: http://heartvine.tumblr.com/post/17243872646/indie-game-dev-faq
https://sites.google.com/site/vidyadevresources/tutorials
http://vidyadev.com/wiki/Main_Page
http://www.pixelprospector.com/list-of-programming-language-resources/

 

[Good Job Bob]

Become a Programmer, Motherfucker - Awesome resource for a ton of languages.

 

[Legato.Reborn-]

Right now I'm working in XNA (C#) and loving it.

Trying to get this very simple game done and sent out to the marketplace to see what happens!

 

[DUFFMCWALIN]

This thread is relevant to my interests. Good thing we finally have our own |OT|.

 

[iamshadowlark]

http://www.cprogramming.com/

got me started back in the day. Now im almost a CS grad.

 

[KorrZ]

Great idea for a thread, was hoping someone would finally make one of these. I'm learning C++ right now, about 5-6 months into the process.

 

[Kikarian]

Become a Programmer, Motherfucker - Awesome resource for a ton of languages.

http://www.cprogramming.com/

got me started back in the day. Now im almost a CS grad.

Will update OP, thanks...

 

[Kikarian]

Right now I'm working in XNA (C#) and loving it.

Trying to get this very simple game done and sent out to the marketplace to see what happens!

I'm to start C#, Tried it a bit, but didn't really do much with it. I might use it for XNA.

 

[ComputerMKII]

deleted

 

[survivor]

I'm learning Ruby right now in the summer to get started on Rails. It was a bit hard to find a decent source to learn so if anyone knows good websites/books please share them

 

[ComputerMKII]

deleted

 

[leroy hacker]

Learn You a Haskell for Great Good!

 

[Relix]

Where the fuck is Visual Basic you goddamned haters!!!

 

[Lasthope106]

Awesome thread. I'm assuming this replaces the c++ one?

 

[DopeyFish]

Where the fuck is Visual Basic you gotddamned haters!!!

QuickBasic > Vbasic

 

[Kikarian]

For people who understand French, this site will be your Bible: http://www.siteduzero.com/

Chrome couldn't Translate it.

 

[Tathanen]

Haven't used anything but PHP for eight years. Everyone's like WOO PYTHON WOO RAILS but dang it, it works for me!

 

[ghostofsparta]

Where the fuck is Visual Basic you goddamned haters!!!

"It is practically impossible to teach good programming to students that have had a prior exposure to BASIC: as potential programmers they are mentally mutilated beyond hope of regeneration."

I've never actually used Basic so I can't say if I agree

 

[Nevasleep]

Where the fuck is Visual Basic you gotddamned haters!!!

I can do QBasic, Visual Basic 6, VB.Net, Java, Python.......now learning PHP, which is fun.

For PHP check out http://phpacademy.org/ and the NewBoston YouTube videos.
Actually have a look at thenewboston on YouTube whatever language you're learning, as it's probably there.

 

[jeremy70583]

So my first job out of college has been PeopleSoft. It has evolved quite a bit, but still pretty archaic. I was just wondering if anyone else has used it, and if it would hurt my career in any way if I use it exclusively for 5+ years?

 

[Kikarian]

I can do QBasic, Visual Basic 6, VB.Net, Java, Python.......now learning PHP, which is fun.

For PHP check out http://phpacademy.org/ and the NewBoston YouTube videos.
Actually have a look at thenewboston on YouTube whatever language you're learning, as it's probably there.

Forgot about NewBoston, he's pretty good.

 

[mugurumakensei]

Where the fuck is Visual Basic you goddamned haters!!!

I'd like to pretend we are in a world where Visual Basic never existed.

Being serious, a lot of the limitations and semantics of visual basic have led to an astounding amount of bad code.

 

[injurai]

Awesome OT, I needed a place to talk about this stuff.

 

[Kikarian]

I'd like to pretend we are in a world where Visual Basic never existed.

 

[Reg]

I'm really interested in learning C#, but don't know where to start. Does anybody know of any noob friendly books or websites for a guy who hasn't programmed before?

 

[FunkyPajamas]

Nice, count me in. Used to do some C back in College (and loved it) but became a Web developer (yes, I know, easy money). Did PHP for about 10 years and now I'm doing Ruby and thinking of picking up Python.

Anyway, hello world (; (<--- should have been second post)

 

[upandaway]

I've learned Java in high school for 2 years, but my teacher was really bad so I decided to do a "reset" and start from scratch with a decent book. So I'm currently reading this.

It's such an awesome book, nearly done with it.

That said, working full time tedious/tiring job makes it so hard to learn on my own. I'm pretty much reduced a chapter per weekend, at best.

Does anyone know a good Java reference book? Or am I good with the online API?

 

[Averon]

I have never programmed a thing in my life. What are some good sites/books/programs to get someone who's completely ignorant in programming a start?

 

[Tashi]

Awesome thread idea. I know there's been one about C++ and I've been getting my XNA help from the Indie thread over on gaming side. Will check this thread often.

Nice shit!

 

[Kikarian]

I'm really interested in learning C#, but don't know where to start. Does anybody know of any noob friendly books or websites for a guy who hasn't programmed before?

TheNewBoston has a good C# playlist.

 

[The Lamp]

What a coincidence! I start my "Structured Programming in C" course tomorrow. What's C like? Is it hard? I'm a first-time programmer though I have a little experience with Python.

 

[KorrZ]

This book is a godsend for anyone looking to start out learning C++. It's very easy to follow even for a complete noob to programming, but it's still very detailed and tries to cement not just how to program but also the "proper" way.

 

[survivor]

I've learned Java in high school for 2 years, but my teacher was really bad so I decided to do a "reset" and start from scratch with a decent book. So I'm currently reading this.

It's such an awesome book, nearly done with it.

That said, working full time tedious/tiring job makes it so hard to learn on my own. I'm pretty much reduced a chapter per weekend, at best.

Does anyone know a good Java reference book? Or am I good with the online API?

I have that book too

I can't give you expert opinion on the online Java API since I never really used it for anything complex outside of looking up some data structures but I found it useful enough.

 

[mugurumakensei]

What a coincidence! I start my "Structured Programming in C" course tomorrow. What's C like? Is it hard? I'm a first-time programmer though I have a little experience with Python.

Depends on how in-depth the courses are... I find beginners get tripped up by the behavior of pointers along with related semantic items such as the dereference operator and the address-of operator. Otherwise, due to the limited number of features, the language itself is fairly simple.

 

[Prophet Steve]

TheNewBoston has a good C# playlist.

I believe almost all of their tutorials are quite good right? Did their C++ one before.

Well, except the Photoshop tutorials I guess, if those are still outdated.

Currently I'm mainly having to work in Actionscript 3, and I absolutely loathe it. But should only be for a few weeks, until I most likely go back to C#.

Also, I don't have any experience with Java, but I see people joking about it with it in relation to Minecraft. Why is that? Is it a large difference from C#?

 

[Zombie James]

I fully support this OP.

Self-taught in C before moving on to other languages in college. Out of work right now (ugh) but I'm keeping busy doing random web development stuff and Python programming these days. Totally love Python and it's quickly becoming one of my favourite languages to work with, wish I had started working with it earlier.

I think some tools would be nice to have in the OP. I'm a huge fan of Sublime Text 2 and I think anyone who codes outside on an IDE should check it out.

 

[robox]

i was trying to link to a thread on Brogramming but stupid quora is now requires registration to read. screw them.

 

[The Technomancer]

Depends on how in-depth the courses are... I find beginners get tripped up by the behavior of pointers along with related semantic items such as the dereference operator and the address-of operator. Otherwise, due to the limited number of features, the language itself is fairly simple.

Everyone always says that pointers are tricky but I've never had any problem with them. I think part of the trick is understanding from the start the distinction between an address and what's contained at that address.

 

[burn]

I've learned Java in high school for 2 years, but my teacher was really bad so I decided to do a "reset" and start from scratch with a decent book. So I'm currently reading this.

It's such an awesome book, nearly done with it.

That said, working full time tedious/tiring job makes it so hard to learn on my own. I'm pretty much reduced a chapter per weekend, at best.

Does anyone know a good Java reference book? Or am I good with the online API?

Check out Thinking in Java. You can download the third edition for free or buy the 4th, although I don't know if it's worth it.

The official Java Tutorials are also great. You can even download them as ebooks.

 

[rodvik]

This book is a godsend for anyone looking to start out learning C++. It's very easy to follow even for a complete noob to programming, but it's still very detailed and tries to cement not just how to program but also the "proper" way.

Its a good book.

I would also reccomend:

A superb go to short beginners book. Very useful as it doesnt bother with much theory just focuses on doing with an example on each page to reference. Very good for learning by doing.

By the guy who wrote C++ a beginners book. Highly recommended. It is delightful when after the first four chapters or so he declares something like "There you have learnt everything important, the rest of this book is just add ons." So very refreshing.

For those wanting to go to C++ via Java playing aroundd with Processing is also a lot of fun.

 

[The Technomancer]

This book is a godsend for anyone looking to start out learning C++. It's very easy to follow even for a complete noob to programming, but it's still very detailed and tries to cement not just how to program but also the "proper" way.

Oh yes. This is the book. I basically taught myself programming from scratch using this book.

 

[Relix]

VB 4 LIFE

 

[moojito]

Subscribed! I'd like to get into programming again.

If I start learning java, will I naturally become able to write apps for android, or is android-java somehow different?

 

[Liquid Helium]

I'm learning Ruby right now in the summer to get started on Rails. It was a bit hard to find a decent source to learn so if anyone knows good websites/books please share them

I have heard very good things about http://railsforzombies.com/

 

[Haly]

I kind of wish I started out in C++ rather than Java or C#. It's where all the jobs are and I would probably be a better programmer today if I learned to think with pointers earlier on.

 

[usea]

Hi, programming gaf.

Hey, let's talk about tabs vs spaces!

Spoiler

jk. mostly. tabs forever.

But seriously, the more programming threads we have, the better. I'm all up ins these threads:
C++ thread
Indy game development thread
programming rants thread

I've been reading through Game Engine Architecture which is a good book. The chapters on physics, vectors and collision are especially great. However, a lot of it is really specific to AAA console game engines written in c++. Which for me is not very interesting since I love more modern languages and I totally drink the kool-aid with regards to OOD stuff that is in vogue these days. Still, great book.

I also recommend these books. Especially the second one. It's the best game AI book I've read.
Programming Game AI by Example
Artificial Intelligence for Games.

Also great books on other subjects:
Effective C++
Introduction to Algorithms (cormen, et al)

I kind of wish I started out in C++ rather than Java or C#. It's where all the jobs are and I would probably be a better programmer today if I learned to think with pointers earlier on.

What kind of jobs? There are tons of jobs in both C++ and java/c#, but they're going to be mostly in different industries with some crossover. Also they vary regionally. Around here, there are a million C# jobs, with little java and c++.

 

[TheExodu5]

Professional Java developer here. Sad part is I haven't really worked with any other languages outside of school, so my skillset is not that varied at this point. I'm still not fully comfortable with some things in C++, for example (pointers, structs).

I'd like to give myself some projects at some point to work on some things on my own time. I just need a good idea or set of goals to work towards. I used to take on the HackThisSite programming challenges...those were fun.

I think this year I might try to take up some hardware projects...get myself an FPGA board and work on my VHDL skills. You can come up with some really neat and useful designs if you know how to work an FPGA board. Completely different mindset though, since FPGA programs run in full parallel. You really need to be comfortable with state machines to get anywhere. There is such a large sense of accomplishment from creating working FPGA based designs though. I made my own simulated MIPS processor in school...still one of the biggest highlights of my degree.

 

[Slavik81]

I'd like to give myself some projects at some point to work on some things on my own time. I just need a good idea or set of goals to work towards. I used to take on the HackThisSite programming challenges...those were fun.

www.projecteuler.net

 

[usea]

Professional Java developer here. Sad part is I haven't really worked with any other languages outside of school, so my skillset is not that varied at this point. I'm still not fully comfortable with some things in C++, for example (pointers, structs).

I'd like to give myself some projects at some point to work on some things on my own time. I just need a good idea or set of goals to work towards. I used to take on the HackThisSite programming challenges...those were fun.

Maybe try out some other programming challenge sites in a new language? They can be pretty fun.
Google Code Jam
Top Coder
Others
(project euler kind of sucks imo)

I graduated a year ago and I've done almost exclusively C# since then, so my skillset isn't very varied either. I feel you there. I've done some little things in javascript, tsql, msbuild scripts, etc. But nothing that I felt greatly broadened my skillset. I need to dive into ruby, python or lua or something.

 

[Haly]

Essential Mathematics for Games and Interactive Applications is a good book if you intend to do any amount of heavy physics simulation in your game projects.

gafferongames also has a bunch of nice tutorials for stuff like forces, velocity and acceleration, updating using delta time and a very robust framework for an RK4 integrator.