Rolled Out On: 1/5/2006 9:32 AM

Victory dance - OK
Victory bump and grind - not so much.

btw- I have always wanted to program, purely for my own amusment. What is good language to start with?

Rolled Out On: 1/5/2006 10:08 AM

Hmmmm. The language itself is irrelevant, it's the programming methodology that is the important part. You want to learn (IMHO) Object Oriented Programming (OOP), regardless of language. I can write Java, C++, C#, VB.Net and formerly Python, not because I know all the languages inside and out, but because I understand OOP and they all do about the same thing just using different notations.

However, VB.Net is closer to english than C# and some people think it's easier to learn. I'd avoid Perl as it looks more like something out of the Matrix movie than anything legible. And you really can't go wrong learning C++ and there's plenty of free compilers out there.

Of course, if you're wanting to design Windows applications, .Net is really the only way to go which gives you C#, VB.Net, and J#.

Email me if you'd like more info.

Rolled Out On: 1/5/2006 11:01 AM

As an undergraduate we did a course in Java as an exercise in learning object orientated programming. I passed the course- can't programme in Java! I really need to get back into it and do a refresher since my programing skills have descended into MATLAB, a smattering of IDL, C and FORTRAN.

Never, ever, ever learn FORTRAN. Never. No really, never.

Rolled Out On: 1/5/2006 11:02 AM

Do we get to see video of the victory dance?

Rolled Out On: 1/6/2006 6:00 PM

The dance should model that of the Nextel commercial with the Salt'N'Pepa track. Sly, slow arrogance that oozes confidence and competence, plus a hip shake. Go on, you deserve it.

(congrats from another computer geek.)

Rolled Out On: 1/16/2006 4:59 PM

Daniel, you could do what I did: I started with Algol 68 back in 1978, went through 8-bit micro BASIC (yuk), 6502/Z80/68000 assembler, FORTRAN 77, then Pascal and Modula 2 with a sprinking of Ada, really started into professional programming with C, sidestepped into Java in '91 for a while, then moved to C++ and Objective C for Mac and Unix programming with a little bit of PowerPC assembler, and finally to a combination of PHP/SQL and DOM JavaScript, which is what I mainly use now.