Where Do I Start.

[xantos_gambit]

As a new comer, I am a avid hardware hacker I love tinkering with things and I would love to get into the software side of things but there are so many coding languages I want to know, what would be a good place to start and what should I avoid.

[BattZ]

C++ can be a good place to start for some, other like Python. I believe most programming languages are interchangeable, most can do the same thing, some just do it better then others, and those also have some short comings in other areas. Try a few out and see what style you like the most, then that one will be the easiest to learn.

[xtr3m3]

I've been asking this same question for far too long (10+ years) and still haven't got anywhere..

[Mr-Protocol]

It depends on your understanding of code and how you pick it up.

My opinion would be start with Visual Basic. Or if you have pretty good logic and understanding then C/C++.

If you know C/C++, then you can pretty much pick up any language as soon as you learn syntax. Most languages are based off of C/C++.

Just remember C is more for small electronics (like the Rubber Ducky), and C++ is for OOP (Object Oriented Programming) for more complex operations.

[BattZ]

Just remember C is more for small electronics (like the Rubber Ducky), and C++ is for OOP (Object Oriented Programming) for more complex operations.

Very true, not sure what hardware hacks you do, but C might be a decent fit.

[BattZ]

double post....thought that was hinky..sorry

Edited August 17, 2010 by BattZ

[MRGRIM]

Well, learning a language for language sake can be tough. Try and have a specific goal / project running in the background, for me when I started learning PHP I had academic projects e.g. online hotel booking system.

Once this was completed (via reading online tutorials) I started to apply my knowledge and test things out on my own website, made a news update (blog), then decided to try and write a really basic forum, with a bunch of account controls, then I wanted some sort of image gallery with all kinds of upload and image handling features.

All these things pushed me to research stuff, some of the knowledge came by downloading other people’s source code, extracting what I needed and modifying it.

Perhaps you have a specific project in mind? If not then there was a programming challenge thread on one of the forums somewhere, you could pick one of the topics from that and take a bash at it.

However I’ll confess my approach has made me a ‘jack of all trades, master of none’

[OtterFox]

If you like hardware, learn C.

Edited August 19, 2010 by OtterFox

[iisjman07]

I started to learn VB.net and I'm pretty glad I did; it's partly GUI based, the code is fairly standard and easy to pick up

[Guest darkeyzs]

hello sir

to answer your question

don´t learn none

what i really mean is you have to first understand programming logic the how things fit together

start

bit bytes

binary

hex

opcodes

etc

then i sugest assembly

after that learn c or c++ or html,php,python,perl,asp (page thing)

code is like math learning

you start with the basics learning numbers,add,less etc

then you start solving problems with the math and so on

programming requires reading a lot and a lot of training, coding coding did i said you have to code a lot?

and more

rule 1

Don´t read shit manuals

Rule 2

Don´t read too crappy extensive ones too

Whats important is finding good manual or one that is from language creator

if you find video tutorials from training company better(vtc,trainsignal,lynda,etc etc etc)

best of lucks

[BattZ]

don´t learn none

Uh huh.

You don't need to know how to rebuild an engine when you start to learn to drive, and those thigns are very nitty-gritty low level things. The high level languages were made so people didn't have to deal with assembly, binary, and hex. (for the most part) I know some programmers that never deal with the low level stuff. But I have heard that if you want to get paid huge sums of money, you can specialize in assembly, so you can save cpu cycles on programs, but that is extremely high end.

I'm not saying that a little knowledge of hex/binary can't be useful when starting out, but it's far from needed for a basic into to programming.

[madhak]

Look like you need to start with Arduino, its C syntax and after you are good with it you can move to C/C++

AVOID: VB and C# as wou will be forever stuck with microsuck.... yeah I know about wine and mono but that's terribly slow and inconsistent IMO

Start by setting yourself a goal:

I.e. I want to blink a led if a button is pressed.

Then write pseudo code in your own mental language

if button is pressed then

if light is on then

set light off

elseif light is off then

set light on

wait a bit (flashing delay)

then move on, now you want that led to toogle blinking when pressed, so create a variable to store button state

variable buttonstate

if button is pressed then

if button state is on then

set buttonstate off

elseif buttonstate is off then

set buttonstate on

then you can decide if your led blink with buttonstate

if buttonstate is on then

if light is on then

set light off

elseif light is off then

set light on

wait a bit (flashing delay)

If you cant think like that then take the blue pill and go read a novel, otherwise take the red pill and download Arduino :)

Oh wait, nobody read novel nowaday, so replace that by go watch history channel ancient alien

Edited April 15, 2014 by madhak

[cooper]

That's right. It may take 3.5 years, but eventually we deliver. :)

[i8igmac]

I think you should start with something extremely simple autoit programing is superfun and great for first place to start programming little things

after a few weeks of autoit then try ruby pearl or Python