<html><body><span style="font-family:Verdana; color:#000000; font-size:10pt;"><div>With all this talk of programming, it has sparked more from the interest I've had over the last couple of years. I'm just wondering if there are books anyone knows of that can teach in a entertaining manner. Perhaps by creating fun little programs one can use immediately. Perhaps some type of cookbook of "Choose which program interests you most" and learn along the way type of training. Similar to some old electronics kits you could buy at Radio Shack. This would not only be more enjoyable (compared to the many boring beginner books), but also give immediate purpose to someone who doesn't have a lot of free time, and when free time is available, would like to spend it doing something fun. Anyone have any thoughts? I'm interested in C# (Java), Pearl, but don't really have a preference on which language. Just need to learn some techniques, what are Classes, Functions and other Object Oriented things I always hear about, that sound important.</div><div><span style="font-size: 10pt; "><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size: 10pt; "><br>Thanks, </span></div><div><span style="font-size: 10pt; "><br>Larry</span></div><div><span style="font-size: 10pt; "><br></span></div><div><span style="font-size: 10pt; ">PS. As mentioned several times in the past, I have an office in DTC (Dry Creek and I-25) that I can make available to Installfests or possibly meetups. </span></div><div><br></div>
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-------- Original Message --------<br>
Subject: Re: [clue] Budding SW Engineers<br>
From: Chris Fedde <<a href="mailto:chris@fedde.us">chris@fedde.us</a>><br>
Date: Mon, May 07, 2012 7:31 pm<br>
To: "CLUE's mailing list" <<a href="mailto:clue@cluedenver.org">clue@cluedenver.org</a>><br>
<br>
I suspect that anyone finishing a current vocational programming<br>
degree will have seen quite a bit of Java. It's a good career skill to<br>
have. The other half of the recent graduates have some set of<br>
Microsoft tools under their belt: C#, VB, powershell, .net etc. but<br>
for this discussion that whole universe is pretty much irrelevant.<br>
C++ is a strong second on unix/linux especially with tools like QT<br>
available to you. Pretty much all big applications environments use<br>
either java or C++. But Gnome still hangs on to C and has been doing<br>
a great job of keeping it relevant for linux programmers. As with all<br>
these languages, modern C does not look much like what you used when<br>
you worked your way through K&R.<br>
<br>
I suspect that Javascript and the other parts of the HTML5 tool set<br>
will become even more important to all of us as the browser becomes<br>
the platform of chooice for even more UI. The maturation of the web<br>
with things like Google apps, jQuery, and seems to be headed that<br>
way. We'll still need "server side" languages but things like Node.js<br>
give javascript interesting things to say there.<br>
<br>
It's hard to become a competent Linux user without some exposure to<br>
shell languages, pipes and the assorted tools. But these days<br>
sed/awk/grep pipelines are less important than they once were. Tools<br>
like Python, perl, ruby, lua etc live in this space too. Pick one,<br>
buy the t-shirt forget about the others and go to town. You'll always<br>
be stuck knowing something about the shell if you are more than a<br>
casual linux user.<br>
<br>
As an aside. It is useful to note that a pipeline involving lots of<br>
small text processing tools in a producer-consumer chain is a great<br>
way to get a parallelism bang out of your multi-core processor.<br>
Modern linux processes take care of all the messy bits for you.<br>
<br>
Then there are all the other contenders, R, Go, Haskel, Lisp/Scheme,<br>
Prolog, Cloture, etc. Erlang, etc. In the end it comes down to<br>
experience, background, taste, and which t-shirt you put on today.<br>
<br>
I can't end without throwing in an aphorism: "The determined Real<br>
Programmer can write FORTRAN programs in any language." Ed Post.<br>
<a href="http://www.ee.ryerson.ca/~elf/hack/realmen.html">http://www.ee.ryerson.ca/~elf/hack/realmen.html</a><br>
<br>
This got a bit longer than expected. Thanks for the prompt.<br>
chris<br>
<br>
On Mon, May 7, 2012 at 11:57 AM, David L. Willson <<a href="mailto:DLWillson@thegeek.nu">DLWillson@thegeek.nu</a>> wrote:<br>
> I can't count the number of times I've been asked, "What is the best<br>
> programming language? Which one should I learn first?"<br>
><br>
> I can answer now, with some confidence.<br>
><br>
> Learn them all, but start with Python, because it's easy, fun, and highly<br>
> capable out-of-the box.<br>
><br>
> Next, if you want to get further away from the OS, go Java. If you want to<br>
> get closer to the OS, go bash.<br>
><br>
> And enough JavaScript and perl to get by on.<br>
><br>
> --<br>
> David L. Willson<br>
> Trainer, Engineer, Enthusiast<br>
> RHCE Network+ A+ Linux+ LPIC-1 Ubuntu<br>
> Mobile 720-333-LANS(5267)<br>
><br>
> This is a good time for a r3volution.<br>
><br>
><br>
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