Is anyone fluent in multiple programming languages, web based or other. I am currently a Noob learning BASIC right now and I was wondering if anyone has any experience or knows any good learning tools. Basically I am dabbling in writing games in BLITZ
BASIC is a good place to start. Hense the name It lets you learn programming concepts (input/output, variables, if-then, loops, etc) without exposing all the exotic stuff. Once you learn the concepts, they apply to all other languages; the syntax might change but the ideas are the same. I believe C++ is widely used for games, only because it gives you lots of control over memory and speed. I haven't heard of BLITZ, but I never got into the game stuff .. My programming experience has been mainly business applications and websites. You don't see C++ in too many business applications, because they usually focus on "RAD" (rapid application development) which typically involves VB.Net, Java, etc (these languages provide functions for a lot of the nitty gritty stuff that you have to do yourself in C++; e.g. array searches, string manipulation, etc) I think it's important to know programming concepts, even if you're not planning to become a programmer. If you're troubleshooting systems or applications, it helps to understand how programs work so that you can understand what is going on. I've never been a full-time programmer, it's always just been a hobby for me, but it's helped a lot during my career. I started learning BASIC on a Commodore 64 when I was about 10 years old (making simple tet based games). After that I gota copy of QuickBasic for DOS and played with that until highschool when I got a copy of TurboC (making ANSI viewers and "zines" and stuff during the BBS era). Next I learned PHP and MySQL (creating some websites for friends, and small applications at an ISP I worked for.) The MySQL experience got me into learning Microsoft SQL. A few years later while working for an IT company we started selling a Point-of-Sale software (cash register, inventory, etc) that used MSSQL and allows you to program add-ins via COM. This is when I picked up VB.Net and taught myself OOP concepts (object oriented programming; which was a world of a difference from anything I had done before.) My job today is mainly systems analysis and management for a mid-sized maufacturer (I take care of their ERP software, Mail server, network routers, Windows servers, etc). However I wind up doing a fair bit of programming when it comes to creating reports, using MSSQL (programming T-SQL functions and SQL Views) and Crystal Reports (field formulas). I've also been working on a few data collection appliations using VB.Net and ASP.Net. Programming knowledge has definately helped, even thought I'm not a "programmer" per se.
I also forgot to mention, for me the best way to learn is by example. I haven't ever really had to buy books; searching online will yeild thousands of results. If you do look at books, look for something that explains things well and walks you through the process of creating an application. "For Dummies" books have always been a favourite of mine.
I've been programming since 1981, and getting paid for it since 1986. Assembly, C, C++ & Java, mostly. I learn best from tutorials. Sun's Java tutorials are excellent if you want to learn Java. What's your goal?
BASIC, C, C++, C# (all of .NET really), Java, and, my favorite of all time, ABAP. I have also dabbled in ICON but I haven't used that for many years. Oh, how could I forget my two years in assembly language! Boy is that fun!!
Really I just want to make a few games and learn a few languages as a hobby. I don't really plan to use any of it in a professional sense, just as a personal hobby
You just described my teenage years, except I had a VIC 20. Taught myself C on an 8088 with TurboC from Borland. Now I do systems programming in C and C++. Have also used Fortran (so long ago I forget), Pascal, Ada and dabbled in Java. Boy, I'm old.
Actually, you just reminded me .. it WAS a VIC 20! We had Commodore 64's at school, and I had a VIC 20 at home, and the games wern't compatible or something. It's so great to think of all the times my parents and teachers said computers were just a toy and that I was wasting my time (they didn't tell me I was wasting my time, but that's the impression I got.) Who ever thought I would make a career out of it
Actually, my dad helped me buy the VIC 20 because it was a computer. He never allowed Atari or the like in the house. He said if I was going to play video games, then I had to make them myself. Which is weird, because my dad was a commercial artist and never touched computers.
Someone mentioned VIC20 - I taught myself assembler on a C64 with a HESMON cartridge. Wrote a neat real-time app that read an FSK stream of stock quotes back in the 80's... I also do (did, actually, I'm management now) C, C++, Pascal, and an expert in Delphi through version 7.0. For the guy starting in Basic, recommend jumping to C or Pascal as a higher order language before you go object oriented in something like C++. OO's "Ukrainian Doll" concept of inheritance can be a hard concept to understand at first.
I taught myself programming on a TRS-80 Color Computer. In the early 80s, a little company called Microware ported their OS-9 operating system to it. It was a tiny Unix-clone that ran in 64k of RAM, from floppies. It provided real multitasking long before either the IBM PC or the Mac. I remember people being dumbfounded when I said my computer could run more than one program at a time. "But you've only got one keyboard and one screen!", they would exclaim. "What possible use could you have for multitasking?" Other CoCo owners thought I was crazy for buying into OS-9, but it had a C compiler, and I could see that C was going to be the language to know for a long time. That investment ended up getting me my first programming job, which turned into a lucrative career.
I'm mostly web based.. PHP, MySQL, ASP, HTML, CSS, Javascript.. I've done some work in Visual Basic and with C++.. nothing special that I've made.. I think my best thing was a calculator a few years back? lol
