Opinions are like...

[RCPD0715]

Just wanted to get some opinions from some of the programmers and such...I am 30 years old and have always wanted to venture into computer programming and stuff, but I never have. I was wondering what some of the experts would suggest as advice for getting involved it it....as far as schooling or reading or just trial and error lol...its more of just an interest, than anything else. i know that the world of computers is so vast that dreaming of a career in it is slim to none at this point in my life lol...anyways thanks in advance for any responses....Ron

[Andrew80k]

Hmmm. Been in the industry since the early 90's, mostly self taught but I have had some formal education in Sofware Development. I have degrees in Math and Physics, so no direct degree. I have a LOT of experience in the industry but I don't do a whole lot of development as a programmer any more. I actually do more development as a hobbyist now than I do in my job though I have done a fair amount of scripting and some Java development in the last year. Mostly utility stuff. If you want to learn to do it, the best way is to just do it. Lots of free compilers and information on the web. Just dig in.

[Fridgecritter]

The best part about programming, or any other software related project, is you can just install the free software and start tooling around with it. When you mess something up (when, not if) you simply reinstall or wipe the project and start over, or change a few bits and bytes of data, and try it again.

The problem I had when diving into programming was it was a lot of redundancy. I like learning the theory of how something works, not the actual application of it. So once I learned how to make a script or snippet fire, I didn't want to put it in 50 other places in the application, even if it only meant copying and pasting. Even when VB auto-completes a lot of functions for you.

I would say start with the most powerful tool on the internet... Google. There are many free tutorials available for programing in just about any language. Be prepared to stare at code for hours, and miss a "{" or ";" every once in a while, making your whole application not work.

If you are getting started in programming to help you with your EQemu ventures, I would say use C# simply because you are fresh, and don't have bad habbits to unlearn, and C# is the newest, and (kind of) easiest (you will see what I mean if you dabble in a few of them, each has it's drawbacks) out of the languages. C# also has a very nice database integration setup, even if you are using the MySQL ODBC driver (Microsoft likes to only make their programming apps work with MS SQL server).

Now that Sun and MySQL are joining together, hopefully there will be more resources poured into ease of use. Sun is pretty good at making applications and infrastructure work seamlessly, with almost no effort on behalf of the end user.

LOL that sounded like a commercial for Sun Microsystems... anyhow, I wish you luck on your journey for knowledge, and you are picking the right way to do it in my opinion... working on a game emulator and making it work will give you something with fun results you can play with, rather than a utility that someone is going to use, and you never see the results of your work.

[Theeper]

I would say that you should consider what you want to do programming-wise before you decide on what to learn. What types of software do you want to make ? .. and what parts of the software are you specifically interested in ?

I don't think it matters much what language you choose in the long run, but understanding programming paradigms is what's important. Once you grasp the difference in compiled programs versus interpreted 'scripts' and the difference in object oriented versus procedural programming, you'll be able to more clearly define what language(s) you are interested in. Although it seems like most languages are adding OOP features these days anyway. It's also important to learn the basic capabilities of each language. For instance, you can't use pure HTML to do math since it is just a markup language and cannot perform logic.

I think learning a simple scripting language is a good place to start. JavaScript is great for beginners and if you have access to a web server, PHP is a nice noob friendly language. However, it helps to learn things in the proper order. If you want to use PHP to pull and display stuff from your emu DB, first, you need to know a little bit about HTML. You can't write HTML with PHP if you don't know HTML in the first place. Then you probably need to know a little about SQL, so you can make PHP use SQL queries properly.

google up some tutorials and start coding. Aint nothing to it but to do it!

[Iobn]

i know that the world of computers is so vast that dreaming of a career in it is slim to none at this point in my life lol...anyways thanks in advance for any responses....Ron


"In the information age, the barriers just aren't there. The barriers are self-imposed. If you want to set off and go develop some grand new thing, you don't need millions of dollars of capitalization. You need enough pizza and Diet Coke to stick in your refrigerator, a cheap PC to work on, and the dedication to go through with it."

[Iobn]

(not sure why it didn't post my entire message in last post but here it is the rest)

John Carmack - quote in previous post was from him.

If you don't know who John Carmack is, he is one of the Founders of ID Software, creators of DOOM, and a god in the 3D engine development arena.

The wonderful thing about this business is the technology changes so rapidly that is not a bad starting point. Starting you know there are a lot of lessons you don't have to unlearn, that many of us who started 20 or more years ago have had to figure out how to forget, because things change.

As the quote references and other posters have said you just have to find something you are interested in and then go about figuring out how to do it.

I got into the business because it was my passion, no formal degrees, almost had a BA in accounting, but was making more from my first few years in software than I could when I graduated with a degree in Accounting.

Been at it for nearly 20 years.

Doesn't matter if your 10 years old or 60, jump in, find a passion and run with it, and when all else fails, google or turn to a community.

-Iobn