How to start programming from scratch?

Question

I've never really had any experience with programming at all, my uncle told me to come to this site for help from total strangers if I wanted to start programming. I know the names of a couple of languages but I don't really know anything at all. I'm fourteen and I can type fast if that counts for anything. One of my uncles wanted me to learn c#. So my question is, is c# a good place to begin, and if not, where is a good place to begin and how do I learn it?

Answer 1

This SO link to some online videos will probably help. Oh, and get the free copy of VS2010 C#.

Answer 2

C# is a fine language to begin with.

Here is a good free ebook to get you started. It not only discusses the programming language but also what it means to be a programmer and how to approach it professionally.

As Jon says in his answer - Head First C# is also a great first book (as are all their other books such as Head First HTML).

You can get the Visual Studio Express programming environment (editor with syntax highlighting and intellisense, compiler, debugger and more) for free here - just be sure to select the C# version.

Answer 3

There's no best approach, but one place to start is here:

Express Editions

They're free and you get lots of choices.

Answer 4

I believe C# is a really good starting point. That's pretty spiffy that you're really interested about programming at 14.

I suggest picking up a C# book and reading it. Follow the examples as you come by them.

One of my favorite C# books is by Andrew Troelsen: Pro C# with .NET 4.0 is his latest book. :)

http://apress.com/book/view/1430225491

Answer 5

There's a lot to programming but it can probably be broken down into a few key elements:

• theory
• craft
• dialects

Theory just takes lots of learning. Books, classes, trial and error, research, etc.

Craft comes with experience.

And that leaves dialects...or rather the particular language(s) you want to become fluent in.

To answer that would require a long list of what kind of stuff you are aiming to do. If you don't really have any particular direction to go in, your 'uncle wanting you to learn it' is maybe as good of a reason as any.

Answer 6

I personally got a great headstart on programming when I started on C++ about half a year ago. I'm about thirteen myself as well. C# is a lot like C++ (there are differences, though), so speaking from experience, I'd say yeah, that's a good language to start out with.

As for references, just grab some books at your local bookstore and start working your way through them. That's what I did. If you want to start with C++, I know for sure that there's an excellent reference called 'C++ for Dummies'. That's where I started.

Answer 7

You may want to look at getting the latest edition of Head First C#. It's particularly suited to newcomers - and it concentrates on "fun" examples rather than business-oriented ones. I'm not personally a fan of that style of learning, but it clearly suits a lot of other people.

Make sure you buy either the latest edition (covering .NET 4) or the most recent printing of the previous edition though: earlier versions had quite a few errors, but those have been rectified over time.

Answer 8

C# is an okay place to begin, but you might find it more fun to write websites instead. It's easy, everyone can see the cool things you do, and you already have the tools to start doing it -- just a text editor and a web browser. HTML and Javascript are also much simpler and more straightforward than C# without being less powerful.

http://www.w3schools.com/ is a good starting point.

Answer 9

I would say dibble a bit in a few hot languages like C#, Python, Ruby. The reason I say this is, I think liking a language is a bit like developing tastebuds. I know many people who disgusted coding only because of braces and syntatic sugar. All I wanted to save you was from getting intimidated by syntax and throwing it away

Answer 10

C# is definitely a good place to start and here is one reason why:

C# is a proper language that will pretty much force you to know what you're doing as a programmer. I began my programming career with PHP and that language is so loose you almost can't screw up. You can make cool sites and such but never know how terrible they are until you are hired to do something that requires a stronger language. At that time, certain terms and data types that are never used in PHP will broadside you. As I look back, now that I know many programming languages, starting with PHP was a pretty bad way to begin programming, at least in my opinion. I can't believe I have a job in this field knowing where I began. Java is also a good place to begin. Any strict compiling language, really. When you know the foundations from a strict compiling language, the loose ones like PHP are a breeze to add to your knowledge base.

Of course, you may want to consider what you're looking to program for. If you want to do web work, C# is a good base, but doubtful that you will use it much for web work unless you're working on something seriously deep. Objective C is used for iphone and ipad development, so you can't go wrong learning that.

Java is good for web and is now a mobile platform, so it is definitely a good investment. The principles of Java will help you write better web code, as well as form a good foundation if you want to branch to C later. Vice versa, I guess.

PHP is very easy to learn and will serve you quite well if you want to get into web development. You should know html, css and get familiar with at least mysql for databases if you go this route. Just FYI, php developers are a dime a dozen in the programming field, so don't count on getting rich doing this unless you want to run your own web company and do the site yourself.

In any case, MVC (model view controller) will be an important thing to read up on. When your code is well structured, it is immeasurably easier to maintain for yourself and anyone else that may have to pick up where you left off.

Have fun.

Answer 11

Whichever language you decide to pick (nothing wrong with C#). Pickup a good book or resource, a few are mentioned here. Once you've done that, make sure to work the examples by hand and then at the computer to concrete them into your melon.

It may be totally obvious, but the more examples you can work, modify and make your own and see how they work, the quicker you'll pick up the language. IMHO this is how you really start to learn and have fun because you can start seeing things happen and begin to solve problems and gain context to issues you wouldn't have just reading...

Answer 12

In my opinion, there is one critical tool when learning to program or when learning a new programming language. That tool is "a problem that you are sincerely interested in solving."

It may be a game you are interested in writing or a desktop or web-based tool that will actually help you with something in school or in your life.

If you have a real problem that you really want to solve, there will always be free tools, tutorials, and online geeks to help you learn how to solve it.

Learning programming without solving real problems is like learning to build a house with just a hammer and a nail and a short piece of wood. You can learn the basic mechanics of the hammer, but you'll never be a carpenter until you have to confront the problems you'll encounter while trying to build something useful.

After that, I think C# is a great general purpose language to learn programming. And there are some really great free tools available.

I agree with the poster who said experiment with several languages. Solving the same problem with different tools can be a real eye-opener into the different paradigms of those tools.

Answer 13

If one of your uncles wants you to learn C#, he probably sees you as his employee a couple of years from now. So ask him directly if that's his plan and persuade him to help you.

If your uncle has no idea about programming and just dropped this C# suggestion because he heard the term somewhere, he might be doing a very bad favor to you.

If I would be you and I would have free hands to choose what I want, I certainly wouldn't choose C#, because it ties you to a proprietary operating system (Mono is a joke, admit it).

My choice would probably be Python, because it runs on almost any platform. And you have two very valuable tutorials for beginners that approach teaching programming from very different points, so you can pick the one that suits you best: the official Python tutorial and Zed Shaw's Learn Python The Hard Way (don't be afraid of the scary title, the book is very valuable for a beginner).

edit:

After reading the comments, I would like to add a couple more points.

How many of those C# programmers code for fun? Most programmers that use Microsoft technologies, do it professionally - it's their job, they do it for money, most of them don't have guts to admit their job is boring sometimes (even if it is), because such a claim is against the corporate policy that slips into the culture around the infrastructure provided by their (cough!) free programming tools.

Just in a couple of years, the community of users who do programming more or less seriously has literally exploded. Back in the days there was sourceforge - the single monster that was totally programmer related. Today there is launchpad, bitbucket, github (which recently surpassed 1000000 repositories, most of which are small personal pet projects governed by free licenses). How many of those projects are using C#?

Today programming is about reusing or "stealing" (in the good sense) code more than ever. Where are the herds of C# projects, small general-purpose libraries? While some programmers who write proprietary software are not very helpful to newbies (because they see it as consulting, which they can do for money), and while some programmers who write free software are not very helpful as well (because they lack social skills), the code is more important. You don't learn programming only by reading books, you learn it by studying working code. And the free software ecosystem provides much more code to study.

Generally, people who get into programming have two choices:

• avoid proprietary stuff, get access to a lot of free software at the risk of being called "anonymous internet elitist"
• ignore the proprietary vs free holy war at the risk of feeling what proprietary software means indeed and how it can spoil a good intention, like this guy

Answer 14

I wouldn't pick C# purely as it isn't completely free and the full visual studio is very expensive. Have a look at python, it forces you program properly in many ways whilst omitting some of the more annoying aspects of programming ({'s and ;'s). If you do choose to learn python there is a free site with tutorials on how to make simple text based games. I used it to familiarize myself with the language before starting my current project.

link: http://pythonbook.coffeeghost.net/book1/index.html

Answer 15

It is an asset You have made a commitment to prgramming. It is usually advantageous to start from a keen understaning of Your working environment. Ask basic questions like what tools are already available to do Your daily assignments? Have as much fun as You can with them; and when they behave unusual, ask the why? Try finding solution to them on the net. Later on, perhaps You may want to enjoy basic html for sometime; and move all the way around c-sharp or anyother programming language; because at the end You- Yourself will figure out the link between a programmer and programming languages.

Hope it helps

Answer 16

Having an ability to type fast using ten fingers is useful as you can do more and more exercises without causing your muscle tired quickly. The first time I used computer, I just typed using my right index finger only and got tired fast ---typing become a nightmare !

If you have much time, you can start learning the following topics in order:

1. Computer architecture from hardware and software perspective.
2. C# (Deitel's C# book may be a good choice since it has much more details).

Answer 17

The most used languages are C and Java, according to Tiobe, so I'd almost say you should start there but esr has some good reasons for recommending Python as a first language.

Answer 18

C# is an excellent place to start. One thing I would suggest is think of something cool, but not too complex, that you would like to build the using some of the reference books other people have suggested in this thread go build it. Calculators are fun starting programs to build (Disclaimer: I am a math geek).

Answer 19

Whatever you do, don't learn VB. It teaches you bad syntax

Answer 20

Any widely used language is a good place to start. Once you have done some useful projects in one language, it will be easier to pick up others because the logic is similar.

I suggest choosing based on what you want to do with it now. For example, let's say you are interested in making a few simple games while you learn (think frogger or maybe 1943 and keep the scope small). You can make 2D games pretty rapidly using an interpreted language like Python or Ruby (both have free game libraries available). With perhaps a little more work you can make them in Java or C, and have room to grow into heftier game features. Or you could make them in Objective-C and Cocoa, which would limit you to developing on a Mac, but open the possibility of distributing your games on the iPhone.

If you want to do business or finance applications, you can find a lot of support based on languages like C#, Visual Basic, Java, C, and the .NET framework (not a language, but applicable to enterprise software generally). It would also be a good idea to practice with SQL for interacting with databases (where business data like sales, customer names, or employee records are likely to be stored).

The most important thing to learning quickly is that you enjoy the projects you are working on, and are extremely interested. It will seem impossible to learn a language if you don't really want to do anything with it. On the other hand, you can be an amazingly good programmer in 6 months if you quickly start working on projects of interest, and are fanatical about solving the problems you set for yourself. Besides, you're 14 so you have the option of pushing your life and career in a direction that will give you both income and enjoyment in the work you do.

Answer 21

OK, is it just me or no one asked him the main question. What do you exactly want to do ? Do you want to play with hardware (ie have some board connected to a serial / parallel / USB port and have some LEDs flashing, have some sound coming out a speaker etc) or do you want to develop applications that have a nice user interface connecting to a database or even a game ?

Well, for number one, that will be assembly (ie for ARM SOCs) and C and that would require you to get familiar with hardware programming. For number 2, I'd say C++/JAVA. I wouldn't recommand a language that is only supported by one OS (like C#) ...

Answer 22

to copy a post i posted here: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3430705/3432079#3432079 there are two things to get a handle upon:

Academic Knowledge:

• Know the Theory - get a great handle on the theory of programming, the theory of language design, the theory behind the architectures you are coding on
• Know the Math - all programming eventually boils down to math - know predicate logic, trig, vectors, geometry, (basic) set theory, graphs, basic matrix theory, a little numerical analysis doesnt hurt either - as well as complexity theory
• Know your Language - get a book, read it, make notes for reference. Apress titles work well for C# http://www.amazon.com/Pro-2010-NET-Platform-Fifth/dp/1430225491/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1281215548&sr=8-1 is good. Then read blogs and videos, learn to use the Redgate Reflector and MSDN help
• Know your Tools - for C# this means Visual Studio 2010 - http://blogs.msdn.com/b/saraford/archive/2010/06/17/video-101-visual-studio-tips-in-55-minutes.aspx is a great way to learn. Also get a decent refactorer - ReSharper is my favorite but there are others.
• Know your Ecosysyem - know what libraries are out there, learn how to use one or two of the best

Skills:

• Know how to define a projct - no matter how good a programmer you are if you build the wrong thing you will have failed epically.
• Know how to design - learn the theory on object orientated design - the Gang Of Four software patterns are classics and every coder should be aware of them.
• Know how to document code - this is critical for long lasting code and for working well in a team. Write it, Document it, Test it => Resuse it
• Know how to work in a team - work hard, play nice, communicate well.
• Know which tool to use - get a feel for as many types of languages, actual languages, technologyies, libraries and so on as you can so that you know which to use in which situations
• Know how to learn - from those around you, from the web, from documentation and most importantly from your own mistakes.

I'm sure others can add to these lists ;)