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[Vestal]

Anyone here did some automation with outlook before? I wanted to use VBA to automate some stuff. I need a decent guide .

Also good guides on making a GUI with java? I really regret making this project in java instead of C#

What are you trying to automate?

 

[Vestal]

Scripting question. I used this script twice to rename PC on two different domains no issue.

Now I am in the same domain as my first rename
job and this is what I get.

Rename-Computer : Cannot convert 'System.Object[]' to the type 'System.String' required by parameter 'ComputerName'. Specified method is not supported.
At C:scriptsOldNew.ps1:6 char:31
+ Rename-Computer -ComputerName $computers.Oldname -NewName $computers. ...


Script

$DomainCredential = Get-Credential
$computers = import-csv -Path "c:scriptscomputers.csv"

foreach ($oldname in $computers)
{
Rename-Computer -ComputerName $computers.oldname -NewName $computers.newname -DomainCredential $DomainCredential -Force -Restart
}


CSV content

oldname,newname
KTP-Helpdesk,SUPPORT3
cbeers1,SUPPORT2

Do this instead.

$DomainCredential = Get-Credential
$computers = import-csv -Path "c:scriptscomputers.csv"

foreach ($computer in $computers)
{
Rename-Computer -ComputerName $computer.oldname -NewName $computer.newname -DomainCredential $DomainCredential -Force -Restart
}

here you will iterate through each $computer ..

 

[cyborg009]

What are you trying to automate?

These emails I'm receiving. I have to click a link on it and enter practically the same information over and over again.

 

[Vestal]

These emails I'm receiving. I have to click a link on it and enter practically the same information over and over again.

I would probably do this through powershell instead of creating something within outlook...

 

[clockworkinyou]

OK GAF, please don't kill me.

Taking a class this summer to learn JAVA. Get a 4 phase project dropped on me the week I'm traveling out of state for work. I have 2 phases done, but am stuck on phase 3. I need to submit individual phases, with phase 4 being the completed project/program.

The program is basically a YMCA member/class array that reads 3 .dat files and has a reports menu.

Phase 3 makes me remove all methods and just create another class, but then requires the modify_member option to write/delete/edit info in the array.

I have 3 days to finish this and I'm not going to have much time to work on it. I need some guidance/help.

Any sites that I can pay for some walk-through or guidance on my code? Any experience with assignmentexpert.com?

Everything else I'm fine with (loops, call to methods, etc.), but I'm at a loss here.

Thoughts?

 

[cyborg009]

I would probably do this through powershell instead of creating something within outlook...

Well it's kind of like this.

I have to open a email grab a string from it and click on a link that opens up a browser for me to finish executing some stuff.

 

[Fahzgoolin]

OK GAF, please don't kill me.

Taking a class this summer to learn JAVA. Get a 4 phase project dropped on me the week I'm traveling out of state for work. I have 2 phases done, but am stuck on phase 3. I need to submit individual phases, with phase 4 being the completed project/program.

The program is basically a YMCA member/class array that reads 3 .dat files and has a reports menu.

Phase 3 makes me remove all methods and just create another class, but then requires the modify_member option to write/delete/edit info in the array.

I have 3 days to finish this and I'm not going to have much time to work on it. I need some guidance/help.

Any sites that I can pay for some walk-through or guidance on my code? Any experience with assignmentexpert.com?

Everything else I'm fine with (loops, call to methods, etc.), but I'm at a loss here.

Thoughts?

Hard to understand exactly what phase 3 is asking for, but is the array a class based linked list or just a standard array[ ]? Also, what do you mean by "makes me remove all methods and just create another class?"

 

[clockworkinyou]

Hard to understand exactly what phase 3 is asking for, but is the array a class based linked list or just a standard array[ ]? Also, what do you mean by "makes me remove all methods and just create another class?"

Phase 1 and 2 had me build Methods for each function of the program (a member database/report/modification program), and reading the information from 3 .dat files. Then Phase 3 comes along and here are the requirements -

1. In this phase of the project, you are to add a user defined class. All arrays, counts and methods are to be members of this new class. Therefore, you will NOT pass any data to any methods anymore.

2. Add code to the Modify_member method
In this method you are to first print another menu something like the following:
Member Modification Menu
1. Add Member
2. Delete Member
3. Modify Member Information

When the user picks menu option #1, prompt for new member information and store it in the parallel arrays
When the user picks menu option #2, prompt for the member id, search the arrays for the member and delete the member from the arrays
When the user picks menu option #3:
o prompt the user for the member code
o search the arrays for the member code
o Prompt for a new member type
o read in the new member type and store it in the proper array

3. Add code to the Modify_registration method
In this method you will allow the user to add new registration information to the proper parallel arrays

4. Add code to the Exit_program method
This method will write all data from the parallel arrays back to the three data files member.dat, register.dat and class.dat. Therefore, if the user entered new data or back to the data file. Then, the next time the program would run, that new data would be read in.

And I'm stuck on step 2, trying to setup the prompt and store the new info.

 

[Pokemaniac]

Phase 1 and 2 had me build Methods for each function of the program (a member database/report/modification program), and reading the information from 3 .dat files. Then Phase 3 comes along and here are the requirements -



And I'm stuck on step 2, trying to setup the prompt and store the new info.

So, assuming this is a command line app, you probably want to use one of these to set up the prompt:
https://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/util/Scanner.html

 

[clockworkinyou]

I know how do to the prompts. The issue is taking the info put into the prompts and putting it into the array.

I'll post a link to my code and where I'm at so far, later tonight.

But does anyone have any links to a site that will skype/remote with me real-time to work through this? I don't have much time.

 

[Fahzgoolin]

I know how do to the prompts. The issue is taking the info put into the prompts and putting it into the array.

I'll post a link to my code and where I'm at so far, later tonight.

Unless you are using a linked list, vector, or scanner array you will have to completely recreate a new array with the new modified data that the user has inputted. I still don't understand the point of the "user defined class" without methods when it immediately instructs you to make methods for data.

Post the code and I'll try to help if I can. Perhaps provide the entire instructions as well.

 

[clockworkinyou]

Unless you are using a linked list, vector, or scanner array you will have to completely recreate a new array with the new modified data that the user has inputted. I still don't understand the point of the "user defined class" without methods when it immediately instructs you to make methods for data.

Post the code and I'll try to help if I can. Perhaps provide the entire instructions as well.

So here is my Phase 2 completed code. Basically, from this point is where I need to start/hit all the points for Phase 3. This is a perfect version of Phase 1 and 2 combined (I've gotten a 100% so far).

https://pastebin.com/iUv19Dnh

And here is where I'm at for trying to work it on my own... : ( [hint: it's not very far]

https://pastebin.com/6giAKHXQ

 

[Fahzgoolin]

So here is my Phase 2 completed code. Basically, from this point is where I need to start/hit all the points for Phase 3. This is a perfect version of Phase 1 and 2 combined (I've gotten a 100% so far).

https://pastebin.com/iUv19Dnh

And here is where I'm at for trying to work it on my own... : ( [hint: it's not very far]

https://pastebin.com/6giAKHXQ

Okay I'm free tomorrow morning, so I'll look into it. I'll also try tonight if I can.

 

[clockworkinyou]

Okay I'm free tomorrow morning, so I'll look into it. I'll also try tonight if I can.

Thank you! I'm off tomorrow to try to power through what I can before friday.

 

[Vestal]

Well it's kind of like this.

I have to open a email grab a string from it and click on a link that opens up a browser for me to finish executing some stuff.

Can do all of that through powershell in a few lines.. I actually have something similar setup at work.

 

[Two Words]

My internship is wrapping up. I've really enjoyed it overall. One thing I really haven't enjoyed is working with Dell Boomi. The company I interned for has been looking to implement more of their back-end services in it. I developed some REST services using it, and it is such a pain. It's basically developing with basically no code, all GUI driven. Why do companies hire programmers to use stuff like this?


Just an example image from Google.

 

[JeTmAn81]

My internship is wrapping up. I've really enjoyed it overall. One thing I really haven't enjoyed is working with Dell Boomi. The company I interned for has been looking to implement more of their back-end services in it. I developed some REST services using it, and it is such a pain. It's basically developing with basically no code, all GUI driven. Why do companies hire programmers to use stuff like this?


Just an example image from Google.

This reminds of me SQL SSIS for building tasks through flowcharts. Such garbo, way easier to just write a .NET application.

 

[Two Words]

This reminds of me SQL SSIS for building tasks through flowcharts. Such garbo, way easier to just write a .NET application.

It's such a huge pain because it is so obviously designed for somebody with 0 programming background. For a POST service, I want to just do some basic validation on the JSON body and evaluate some records on some SQL tables. Using these components is such a pain because there isn't really any rhyme or reason to it and the documentation sucks. And you have to rely on an internal community for help instead of Google/stack overflow.

 

[j-wood]

So I'm looking to get back into programming and scripting. I took classes in this area in college, and was really good at it, but it just wasn't my thing at the time. Took alot of java and visual basic.

In my current job I'm script alot with powershell, but I want to get back into programming, and learn some new languages.

I just snagged a macbook pro to get back at it. Where do I even start? Are there any tools you recommend? I also have some top spec windows machines.

 

[Koren]

Where do I even start?

By deciding what you want to actually program (games, software, phone apps...), so you can properly choose the best language to try, I'd say...

 

[Sectorseven]

Do those verified certificates from online sites like HarvardX have any real world value? Like, if you put one on your resume, would it be seen as desirable to employers?

 

[cpp_is_king]

Do those verified certificates from online sites like HarvardX have any real world value? Like, if you put one on your resume, would it be seen as desirable to employers?

I suppose it depends on the specific technology but for programming languages I've always thought of them as a negative. Maybe I'm just old fashioned though

 

[Sectorseven]

I suppose it depends on the specific technology but for programming languages I've always thought of them as a negative. Maybe I'm just old fashioned though

Why a negative, are they like paper mill degrees?

 

[j-wood]

By deciding what you want to actually program (games, software, phone apps...), so you can properly choose the best language to try, I'd say...

Not games, more software or phone apps.

By start i meant more so getting familiar with a language again.

 

[Lister]

Not games, more software or phone apps.

By start i meant more so getting familiar with a language again.

If you know Java and VB .net might be up your alley. C# will take you far, from back end applicaiton development, multi-platform desktop app development to mobile development with the likes of Xamarin. But there are tons and tons of choices out there.

 

[Megasoum]

So I'm looking into learning Python.

I have done a LOT of scripting with AutoIT and a good amount of Powershell so I'm not a total newbie but I have never really worked with Python.

Any good online ressource you guys could suggest that would help me?

A bit of a follow up on my original question.

I have to spend the day in a hospital waiting room tomorrow so I was thinking about bringing my laptop... Is there any good offline ressources to learn that stuff?

 

[Koren]

Not games, more software or phone apps.

By start i meant more so getting familiar with a language again.

Yes, but most of the time, just learning a language is often quickly a chore if you're not learning useful things for future projects, and doing something you like helps a LOT to learn a language.

So yes, I'd say C# is probably a good candidate. F# if you want something different (functional programming) and can live with more troubles when turning your code into actual apps (I'd argue learning at least a functional language is really useful, and fun, but that may not be your first objective).

I must say that Java probably fits the bill as well, but since I'm allergic to the language, I can't decently back it, even if I'm honest to recognize it's a possibility

Python (3k ) is nice, easy to learn, and has a bunch of modules, so it's suitable to apps (with doesn't require performances) but will fail for phone apps. I'm not that fond of Python for huge projects, but you won't probably tackle 10k+ lines project at first...

I wouldn't advise to go C++ first, but should you go C++, I'd strongly advice you find a good modern C++ book (like C++ x14). Try to directly jump on the more recent, sanest syntax, so you directly get good habits (though that means finding examples online trickier)

Why a negative, are they like paper mill degrees?

Well, in programming, academic degrees don't mean much, short ones even less. I've seen people from the best CS schools that are awfuly bad.

The kind that try to convert an int (containing a decimal value) into an int (containing an hexadecimal value) by using printf to a buffer, doing the conversion in the string, and reading the hex string (true story, and yes, that's the identity function, but unfortunately, it was buggy as hell on top of it... And they were 2 or 3, and worked two days on this)

No degree will comme anywhere close to a portfolio... I'm not recruiting people, but I'd guess it can be seen as filling for someone with very little actual experience. But I may be as old-school as cpp_is_king...

 

[Koren]

Any good online ressource you guys could suggest that would help me?

That's not an easy one, but I'd actually suggest the official tutorial...

https://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/

(By the way, you'll noticed that's the Python 3k tutorial, I'd strongly suggest you to directly jump in the 3k wagon... Python (2) is on its way out, and I can't see why it would be useful to start with the oldest one, especially if you don't have to deal with legacy code)

Though my first advice would be to stay far far away from Learn Python The Hard Way (for each idea I agree with, there's half a dozen I find stupid, like learning boolean tables by heart or spending a huge time looking for typographic errors in code instead of a logical flaw)

I used "Dive into Python" myself, and enjoyed it a lot (with some small regrets) but you can only enjoy it if you're already at ease with coding, I believe (they won't explain concepts, just how the language work).

A bit of a follow up on my original question.

I have to spend the day in a hospital waiting room tomorrow so I was thinking about bringing my laptop... Is there any good offline ressources to learn that stuff?

Well, I believe the official tutorial is included in the downloadable documentation (and you REALLY should download the official documentation as a reference, though it's included in some distributions)

wget or httrack are useful tools to make online ressources available offline, though...

I'd say the most important thing if you want to be able to work offline is making sure you have a proper Python installation, misssing a common module is annoying as hell (miniconda on Windows is nice)...

I still havent found a really nice Python IDE. The official Idle is very limited, Spyder has a lot of bloat to me, IEP (distributed with Pyzo on Windows) is the "less bad" one to me, but when it takes that much time to have parens highlighting... But to train into Python, I really believe having an editor alongside a console really helps to understand what works and what doesn't when you learn the language.

 

[esmith08734]

Guess it's time for me to venture into C++. It might be what I am working on for work now.

Does anyone have any good C++ tutorials or WPF tutorials?
I have some background in Java. WPF doesn't seem too hard at all, but was seeing if people who have experience with it and if they can give a good resource to learn.

 

[cpp_is_king]

Seems like clang is one step closer to being a complete drop-in replacement for MSVC on Windows.

http://blog.llvm.org/2017/08/llvm-on-windows-now-supports-pdb-debug.html

Pretty cool stuff.

 

[Two Words]

I'm about to start a grad-level computer graphics course. How much of a refresher should I do on Linear Algebra. I've basically forgotten everything but the basics.

 

[Spoiled Milk]

I'm about to start a grad-level computer graphics course. How much of a refresher should I do on Linear Algebra. I've basically forgotten everything but the basics.

You just need the basics. You definitely want to bone up on your vector calculus though.

 

[Auctopus]

Hi guys,

I'm pretty much a very basic beginnner at programming/coding. I'm pretty decent with HTML but for software programming, I'm still pretty naive/un-knowledgable.

To learn skills, there's a small application I want to build.

Essentially, the IT team at my University has (like most) a wireless printing system. This system has registered prices for each print and sometimes it's the job of the Service Desk Analyst team to refund students when the printers fuck up (jam, error, whatever). Usually, these students will come to the desk, complain about their job messing up and request a refund, which is fine. However, sometimes these are large jobs like 247 pages of colour, double-sided.

Now, I've nothing against mental arithmetic or using a regular calculator but I wanted to ask you guys what language would be easiest to create a small specialised calculator application that could quickly produce the amount required to refund.

It would ideally have an initial input field where you type the amount of pages then a drop down menu each for paper size, b&w or colour and single sided or double-sided, respectively. Then, using a designated prices built in to the application, it would figure out the refund amount.

What would be the best way to build this? I know calculators are quite common first coding projects so I'm hoping a specialised one such as what I described wouldn't be too different.

 

[PetriP-TNT]

Hi guys,

I'm pretty much a very basic beginnner at programming/coding. I'm pretty decent with HTML but for software programming, I'm still pretty naive/un-knowledgable.

To learn skills, there's a small application I want to build.

Essentially, the IT team at my University has (like most) a wireless printing system. This system has registered prices for each print and sometimes it's the job of the Service Desk Analyst team to refund students when the printers fuck up (jam, error, whatever). Usually, these students will come to the desk, complain about their job messing up and request a refund, which is fine. However, sometimes these are large jobs like 247 pages of colour, double-sided.

Now, I've nothing against mental arithmetic or using a regular calculator but I wanted to ask you guys what language would be easiest to create a small specialised calculator application that could quickly produce the amount required to refund.

It would ideally have an initial input field where you type the amount of pages then a drop down menu each for paper size, b&w or colour and single sided or double-sided, respectively. Then, using a designated prices built in to the application, it would figure out the refund amount.

What would be the best way to build this? I know calculators are quite common first coding projects so I'm hoping a specialised one such as what I described wouldn't be too different.

Since you have HTML down already, creating the logic with JavaScript would be a relatively simple way to go forward.

 

[cyborg009]

Has anyone used Microsoft word developer mode? I need to create a gui so I can enter repetitive information. I assume I have to enter document variables but I don't think I'm creating them correctly.

Can do all of that through powershell in a few lines.. I actually have something similar setup at work.

I'll have to show you my code I'm struggle a bit with this.

 

[Megasoum]

That's not an easy one, but I'd actually suggest the official tutorial...

https://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/

(By the way, you'll noticed that's the Python 3k tutorial, I'd strongly suggest you to directly jump in the 3k wagon... Python (2) is on its way out, and I can't see why it would be useful to start with the oldest one, especially if you don't have to deal with legacy code)

Though my first advice would be to stay far far away from Learn Python The Hard Way (for each idea I agree with, there's half a dozen I find stupid, like learning boolean tables by heart or spending a huge time looking for typographic errors in code instead of a logical flaw)

I used "Dive into Python" myself, and enjoyed it a lot (with some small regrets) but you can only enjoy it if you're already at ease with coding, I believe (they won't explain concepts, just how the language work).



Well, I believe the official tutorial is included in the downloadable documentation (and you REALLY should download the official documentation as a reference, though it's included in some distributions)

wget or httrack are useful tools to make online ressources available offline, though...

I'd say the most important thing if you want to be able to work offline is making sure you have a proper Python installation, misssing a common module is annoying as hell (miniconda on Windows is nice)...

I still havent found a really nice Python IDE. The official Idle is very limited, Spyder has a lot of bloat to me, IEP (distributed with Pyzo on Windows) is the "less bad" one to me, but when it takes that much time to have parens highlighting... But to train into Python, I really believe having an editor alongside a console really helps to understand what works and what doesn't when you learn the language.

Cool thanks for the tip, working my way through "Dive into Python" right now!

 

[Somnid]

SQL Server CLR Integration is the darkest of magic. What possessed MS to make such a horrible thing? What possible good practice could come of this?

 

[Antagon]

Yes, but most of the time, just learning a language is often quickly a chore if you're not learning useful things for future projects, and doing something you like helps a LOT to learn a language.

So yes, I'd say C# is probably a good candidate. F# if you want something different (functional programming) and can live with more troubles when turning your code into actual apps (I'd argue learning at least a functional language is really useful, and fun, but that may not be your first objective).

I must say that Java probably fits the bill as well, but since I'm allergic to the language, I can't decently back it, even if I'm honest to recognize it's a possibility

Python (3k ) is nice, easy to learn, and has a bunch of modules, so it's suitable to apps (with doesn't require performances) but will fail for phone apps. I'm not that fond of Python for huge projects, but you won't probably tackle 10k+ lines project at first...

I wouldn't advise to go C++ first, but should you go C++, I'd strongly advice you find a good modern C++ book (like C++ x14). Try to directly jump on the more recent, sanest syntax, so you directly get good habits (though that means finding examples online trickier)



Well, in programming, academic degrees don't mean much, short ones even less. I've seen people from the best CS schools that are awfuly bad.

The kind that try to convert an int (containing a decimal value) into an int (containing an hexadecimal value) by using printf to a buffer, doing the conversion in the string, and reading the hex string (true story, and yes, that's the identity function, but unfortunately, it was buggy as hell on top of it... And they were 2 or 3, and worked two days on this)

No degree will comme anywhere close to a portfolio... I'm not recruiting people, but I'd guess it can be seen as filling for someone with very little actual experience. But I may be as old-school as cpp_is_king...

You might not like the language, but the JVM is a thing of magic. Kotlin might ge a good choice though. Good interopability with Java, has at least some support from Google and the syntax looks a lot like Swift. A lot less verbose and more modern compared to Java as well.

Edit: about the python IDE, have you used pycharn? I have no Python experience, but jetbrains tools tend to be really good.

 

[archnemesis]

Pycharm is indeed awesome. It has many built-in tools that makes development of larger projects much faster.

 

[Antagon]

After working for years with Java I've got to lead a C# project now. After all the hype I've heard about the language I'm actually surprised that there doesn't seem to be a build tool on the level of maven / gradle for it. I need to create a NuGet package that's shared in multiple solutions and run into the problem that you don't really have something like 'snapshot' in maven (which is automatically overwritten on every build) and can't easily get the assembly version from a project in Jenkins (which means that I can't simply define the assembly version in a single location and append a build number).

I first thought I missed something obvious, but now I've heard from other, more experienced C# devs here that they're struggling with the same issues.

 

[Spoiled Milk]

After working for years with Java I've got to lead a C# project now. After all the hype I've heard about the language I'm actually surprised that there doesn't seem to be a build tool on the level of maven / gradle for it. I need to create a NuGet package that's shared in multiple solutions and run into the problem that you don't really have something like 'snapshot' in maven (which is automatically overwritten on every build) and can't easily get the assembly version from a project in Jenkins (which means that I can't simply define the assembly version in a single location and append a build number).

I first thought I missed something obvious, but now I've heard from other, more experienced C# devs here that they're struggling with the same issues.

For being the definition of a corporate language, Java has a huge and thriving open source community, which means great tooling. It's really amazing.

 

[AquaticSquirrel]

Isn't it possible to use Gradle with languages other than Java?

I would imagine there is a C# plugin that you could use?

 

[Koren]

You might not like the language, but the JVM is a thing of magic.

The idea is interesting, and I'm impressed by the efficiency. Though I've hated it because of how difficult sometimes it is to deal with all the fights between Sun, Oracle, IBM, Microsoft and the like. I never liked how the execution chain is a slightly shadowy thing.

But for all the dislike (and more) I have with Java about the syntax and philosophy, and the installation/management issues of the JVM, there's languages I like and use that work on JVM. Like Scala (though I sometimes wish it they kept the .net comptability)

Edit: about the python IDE, have you used pycharn? I have no Python experience, but jetbrains tools tend to be really good.

I should try it indeed... Thanks for reminding me. Though I should have said that I was talking mostly about IDE for beginners.

Pycharm is indeed awesome. It has many built-in tools that makes development of larger projects much faster.

Will definitively look into it.

For all the things I do in Python these days, I'm still not convinced it's a great language for very large projects. The lack of any "static" type checking makes extensive tests a necessity, and it quickly explodes. It's not uncommon to spend more time writing tests than code, but in Python, I sometimes feels like it's a "quadratic" task :/

 

[j-wood]

So i decided I'm going to learn Python and C#. Snagged a book on python, got it and pycharm installed on my mac.

For C#, anyone recommend a good book? I was going to try out visual studio on the mac.

 

[Water]

For C#, anyone recommend a good book? I was going to try out visual studio on the mac.

I haven't been able to find any quality books that teach intro level programming using C#. The best intro level materials are for languages that get used at good universities as intro teaching languages, such as Python. C# isn't used for that purpose pretty much anywhere, so learning materials for it are mostly geared towards people who already know programming. After you have learned programming routine and theory with another language, C# is a very straightforward new language to pick up. It's not a good idea to try to learn two languages simultaneously.

I'd love to find a good "learn programming from scratch using C#" book and/or a MOOC as a supplement to my own students, since I'm one of the few weirdos who teach programming from the start with C#. Otherwise I'd start them with Python, probably, but we need to jump directly into game programming.

 

[j-wood]

I haven't been able to find any quality books that teach intro level programming using C#. The best intro level materials are for languages that get used at good universities as intro teaching languages, such as Python. C# isn't used for that purpose pretty much anywhere, so learning materials for it are mostly geared towards people who already know programming. After you have learned programming routine and theory with another language, C# is a very straightforward new language to pick up. It's not a good idea to try to learn two languages simultaneously.

I'd love to find a good "learn programming from scratch using C#" book and/or a MOOC as a supplement to my own students, since I'm one of the few weirdos who teach programming from the start with C#. Otherwise I'd start them with Python, probably, but we need to jump directly into game programming.

Yeah that makes sense. I'm not entirely new to programming. I did alot of java and basic back in college, and at my current job I do alot of scripting in bash, powershell, batch, and vbscript.

So I think i have that "programming" brain where I understand how this works and how to go at things step by step. Back in college I just felt like I didn't want to do this full time, so changed lanes to more general IT. But I've had a change of heart and want to get back into it.

 

[Koren]

I haven't been able to find any quality books that teach intro level programming using C#.

And good C# books that go from basics to advanced technique for people that has experience in a lot of other languages? I'd like to improve my C#...

It's not a good idea to try to learn two languages simultaneously.

Any reason? By fear of mixing the ideas of the two languages?

I learned programming (at 8) simultaneously with Basic and Logo, I don't remember this being a burden, though both are basically imperative (the main difference was that Basic was lacking function support).

Still, I have a lot of students that learn Python and Caml at the same time, several of them being beginners. I won't say there's never an oddity (how many time I saw a complex Python function to make it tail recursive... when Python doesn't have TRC? ) but it seems that they do fine.

I feel it's like learning foreing languages... Kids, sometimes 4-6 years old, are quite efficient at learning several at the same time (my cousin daughter is 5 and learned english and chinese), even if they mix some words from time to time.


That being said, I wouldn't suggest learning programming with two languages at the same timea at the beginning if you can avoid it, but if you have to, I don't think it's that big a hurdle. I would advise anyone learning a second language really quick, though...

 

[esmith08734]

Do you guys recommend certifications? Thinking about getting an Oracle cert for Java but not sure if it's a good investment. I have professional experience as a developer- not sure if that ultimately means more.

 

[Bony Manifesto]

And good C# books that go from basics to advanced technique for people that has experience in a lot of other languages? I'd like to improve my C#...

C# Step By Step is a good book for people who know the basics of programming and want to have a decent grounding in C# (though it'll probably be a bit basic for you). If you want to know the real ins and outs of the syntax then C# In a Nutshell or C# in Depth are both comprehensive references (if rather dry to read beginning-to-end). If you're more interested in the nuances of how the language interacts with the runtime then CLR via C# is a really good look behind the scenes.

 

[Somnid]

Do you guys recommend certifications? Thinking about getting an Oracle cert for Java but not sure if it's a good investment. I have professional experience as a developer- not sure if that ultimately means more.

No. Anyone hiring will look at your previous experience and ask you to solve some whiteboard problems. At the upper end they don't even really care what languages you know as long as you have CS and architecture foundations down.

If you want to learn just dig up some videos on what it is you want to learn.