[kraig6412]

hey im trying to learn how to program so if there is anyway you can give me some really good pointers and tell me what language to learn it would be good.

[S0ULphIRE]

It depends on what you're going to be programming as to what language you learn.

Most people would say start with a simple language, just to get a general 'feel' for programming. Even something like Basic or Assembly Language would work well for you.
Learn to write simple programs using those languages, then move on to more powerful languages, like C++ or Java. There are LOTS of guides on the internet that'll help you, just google the language you're trying to learn.

In the end, it's definitely worth learning how to program. Lots of useful stuff you can do

[kraig6412]

ok thanks alot. can you tell me anything about pearl

[CrazeD]

Perl is a CGI scripting language. It can do various things system tasks, but is mainly used as a backend web development language.

Perl isn't too complicated, and with a good book any beginner should be able to pick it up with not too much trouble.

[aaronkupen]

Originally Posted by S0ULphIRE

Most people would say start with a simple language, just to get a general 'feel' for programming. Even something like Basic or Assembly Language would work well for you.
Learn to write simple programs using those languages, then move on to more powerful languages, like C++ or Java. There are LOTS of guides on the internet that'll help you, just google the language you're trying to learn.
)

Wait what, why would you recommend assembly to someone who has no experience with hardware or programming?

Just pick any language that you find interesting, if you actually really want to learn how to program -- and this isn't a fling -- any language would be a good start. The classics will always be Java or C++ though.

[NeoMagic33]

if your a true beginner i would recommened VB.NET, its pretty simple and some of the syntax can be "english" like

up to yourself. I started out doing VB6 and Java, then moved onto C#.NET and C++

also plenty of articles on the net to help ya out

[shreyasrulez]

MSDN Beginners Development is a great website for new programmers. It will teach you the basics and make you ready to explore programming yourself. If you follow all the video tutorials you will soon be a good enough programmer.

[Dr.House]

Originally Posted by NeoMagic33

if your a true beginner i would recommened VB.NET, its pretty simple and some of the syntax can be "english" like

up to yourself. I started out doing VB6 and Java, then moved onto C#.NET and C++

also plenty of articles on the net to help ya out

I would highly recommend you stay away from VB(VB.NET) and work with a better industry accepted language (since most languages aren't written like VB is :-P) like Java, C++ and maybe C# (this a .Net Java equivalent) (from my experience most companies stay away from VB.NET, they prefer C# even when using ASP.NET).
If you want to learn this for non-commercial reasons you could always look at Ruby, its gaining a lot of ground in the developer community (it's different like VB is, but in a good way), especially, I think among Java Developers :-P

If you want to do web development there is also Ruby on Rails (learn Ruby first obv.) and PHP (not my favorite!) and Java EE.

That's about it.

[S0ULphIRE]

Originally Posted by aaronkupen

Wait what, why would you recommend assembly to someone who has no experience with hardware or programming?

Well it's what I started with, and it seemed to work fine for me.
And if you can get a handle on that, then you'll be much more prepared for programming, because not only will you have an idea of how programming works, but also an idea of how it can be practically applied. It's also a more step-by-step language than C++, you can't take too many shortcuts. Which is GOOD if you're just starting.
nehuz, that's why I'd recommend it.

[aaronkupen]

I tip my hat to you, but I don't think many people would actually be able to handle starting out with Assembly.