Learning Coding or Programming

Start with Java as it is much easier to learn than C, especially since this is your first time. Understand that when you compile your code the first time, 99.99999999% of the time it won't work the way you want it to. That's okay, it happens to everyone.

Flash or Ruby are good for beginners. I think Flash would be a good place to start. I don't have any resources to recommend though. Ruby is a popular language for web development. It's easy to learn from the online materials but if you want a book Chris Pine's Learn to Program comes highly recommended.

+1 to Ruby. I would also highly recommend Python. Tons of free eBooks online. PM me if you're interested in resources

I agree that Python is a good one to learn but if you have no programing experience, it might be a bit tough to get started. Check out Lynda.com for a lot of tutorials on everything from Java, Python, VB, etc. You have to pay to access most of the tutorials but they are also available on torrent sites.

If you are more interested in web stuff, you need notepad and a web browser. You can learn a whole lot that way.

If you want to get into a serious language, I'd suggest Java because it is clean and powerful. Plenty to learn there. Download NetBeans. Buy a Java book. Type by hand all the example programs in the book. ALL of them and don't just copy the source code from the CD included with the book. Compile them, run them, etc. Get used to using the compiler and debugging. Debugging takes a lot of time usually. Then tweak the programs to see the effects of changing an object.

Once you can use Java to accomplish a variety of tasks, you can move on to other languages rather easily.

I say all that, but I find C++ to be infinitely more useful, so I don't blame you if you start with C++ instead. The hard part is that books on C++ aren't as readily available anymore, I usually have to order them online rather than walking to a bookstore. C++ will also require you to DIY for everything. Java automates many things like garbage collection. C++ does not.

It really depends on what you want to do and your background.

If this is your very first time trying to get something done, and you want to create desktop applications, I'd suggest you choose either Python or Java.
Python is easier for beginners, as it is a very high level language (meaning you don't have to mess with any BS to make things work quickly -- but in more advanced settings it doesn't give you the necessary control over certain low-level stuff), and there is plenty of support and help from both the community (very active) and books (some free ebooks and tutorials are also available on the internet).

Java is somewhat more complicated for absolute beginners, since it's much more object oriented. this means that, even for your first applications, you have to write and understand some bits of code that seem completely unnecessary at the time but will prove of great importance once you want to develop more advanced applications.

Don't mess with C or C++: they are serious shit. A bit too serious for the beginners.


On a completely different note, you might even be interested in creating (dynamic) websites.

To build a web page, you only need to know a bit of HTML (and CSS). For example, you can create a page similar to Google: the google logo, some text and a couple of buttons.

Once you press the button, though, Google has dynamic pages that take care of your request (i.e. search the web for 'styleforum WAYWT'). So, to create a so-called web application, you can choose from Python (yes, again!), PHP and Ruby (on Rails).

PHP is the most popular language for we programming, and as such you will find (too) many resources to learn from. Its syntax may look strange at first, and is very similar to C/C++, without all of the hassles though.

Ruby on Rails is the big thing right now (and for quite some years). Pros: very handful, you can create a blog from scratch in a matter of minutes. Cons: whatever, I don't like it, I don't recommend it.

Avoid Perl if your goal is other than showing off with your geek friends.

Java or C will be the most useful, but programming is just a thought process and there's not much different in your way of thinking from Motorola 68HC11 assembly to C/C++. About a decade ago, I started college as a CS undergrad and I think one of the C-like languages (C,C++,C#,Java, etc.) would be the best starting point. At a high level, .NET is worth looking into as far as frameworks go. I do nothing related to programming now so take my advice with a grain of salt.

This is sigworthy for being so fail.

Figure out what you want to do and then pick an appropriate language. If you want to screw around with network code in linux, learn C or C++. If you want to write web sites, learn something web-centric like php. Perl for me has always been more of a utility language. It's good for parsing shit or scripting admin work. .net languages will allow you to crank out fully functional programs with pretty nice UIs in very little time. I know ruby and python are very popular, python more for scripting. Ruby I can't offer much insight into.

I have quite a bit of experience in all of the languages listed thus far -- I would still recommend Python above all of them, however. PM me and I'll send you a copy of the O'Reilly book. It is very easy to learn and actually produce useful programs with, and the underlying programming language is quite sophisticated. Also, check this (free) book, http://learnpythonthehardway.org/index - the examples are very good Finally, stackoverflow is your friend. EDIT: then again, looking at the OP, if you want to make Flash games... then yes, Flash is the best choice.

Just my thoughts, but you can't go wrong learning C. If you know C, any other language you want to go to is a pretty small learning curve. Of course, that's kind of the way programing is in general. If you're good at one you probably aren't far from being good at another. Just take a look at what you will enjoy working with and go with that. So my recommendations: C if you want to develop desktop applications (or iPhone/iPad apps) Java if you would like to build applications that run on android phones. PHP if you want to write programs that generate web pages. For websites you'll probably want to know javascript(not the same as java) as well. If you want to write a simple flash game, then go with that. Pick up a book on actionscript and go to town.

google books has the O'Reilly python book. That's what I'm trying to use right now, but I have no idea why I'm trying to learn programming.

+1.

Once you learn the thought process and the fundamentals, you can pick up any language. Yes the .Net Framework is useful to know and understand well.