program languages

[kile22]

which program language is the best to start out with?
i'm a junior in high school and want to do something with computers in college and will have to learn COBOL and C/C++.
where should i start to learn basic programing?

 

[ArmchairAthlete]

Why will you have to learn COBOL and C/C++? Cobol is pretty old.... I guess some places might still have some cobol stuff.

I'd start out on Python. Comes with it's own IDE, simple syntax, don't have to jump right into OO and you can start with just functions, hello world is one tiny line, etc.

http://www.python.org

 

[kile22]

well...i'll be going to ohio university athens, not ohio state, and it is a MIS(management information systems)(Bachelors) and Computer Tech(associates) degrees so i don't know but its in the program right now, might change later

 

[Drakkon]

learn basic programming by programming in Basic...possibly VB.NET...
For MIS maybe even check into IIS/apache, mySQL and php or asp to get a jump start on running a server possibly

 

[kile22]

thanx

 

[Brule]

Originally posted by: ArmchairAthlete
Why will you have to learn COBOL and C/C++? Cobol is pretty old.... I guess some places might still have some cobol stuff.

I'd start out on Python. Comes with it's own IDE, simple syntax, don't have to jump right into OO and you can start with just functions, hello world is one tiny line, etc.

http://www.python.org

Experienced COBOL coders can make some serious cash but I agree it's out of date (besides millions of lines of code still in daily use )and not a good place to start. If your college will be using mostly C++ I'd put most of your prep time into that. (OOP, multi-platform) Python, Perl, and VB are all worth learning as well considering your mentioning of MIS.

 

[ArmchairAthlete]

Originally posted by: Drakkon
learn basic programming by programming in Basic...possibly VB.NET...
For MIS maybe even check into IIS/apache, mySQL and php or asp to get a jump start on running a server possibly

VB.NET is a pretty good choice too, I'm starting to get into that before I start my coop job since I'll bet using it there (like with ASP.NET). Also fully OO but doesn't require it to just try basic statements at first.

Here's a book for noobs:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de...i/002-9765199-1123232?v=glance&s=books

 

[mhillary]

Python is good, but start off with C.

 

[EagleKeeper]

Cobol is still heavily used with large scale business/financial applications.

Maybe not worthwhile to learn (technical standpoint), but can be useful to have for flexability on your resume initially.

 

[Codewiz]

There are two trains of thought.

1. Start off with a language where you have to deal with a bunch of bs and the learning curve is very high. That would be the route of C or C++

2. Other train of thought is start with an easier language such as python, Java, VB.NET, C# and learn the concepts. Get good practices down. Then move on to more difficult languages.

My concern with the first method is that you can get into some REALLY bad habits that are hard break. I feel that learning good programming practices by using an easier language is the better approach. However the 1st method makes everything else pretty easy in the future. Pretty much every high level language will be a cakewalk compared to C or C++.

I came from the first school of thought simply because of my age. The only real problem I see with the 2nd train of thought is that people usually never take the time to learn C++ or C when they have learned easier languages.