[NeVeRReSt]

I want to learn about programming and dont know which program to start on

Any suggestions on which program and any good books for it too.

thx

[ferrija1]

What kind of programming?

[emx620]

I'd recommend Java to you. Books by O'Reilly are good.

[NeVeRReSt]

Well im not too sure what all the languages do, i want to learn one that will be practical, that i could use everyday.
To help me understand debugging and so i can fix problems on my computer if they occur.

hope that made sense

thx for tolerating me

[DoubleHelix]

Learning programming languages won't help you fix problems on your computer. Programs that you install are already compiled. Without access to the source code, which could be written in any of a number of languages, you can't fix anything.

[ferrija1]

And I would say that if you have no reason to learn how to programing, don't.

[Shadow2531]

Originally Posted by NeVeRReSt

I want to learn about programming and dont know which program to start on

Any suggestions on which program and any good books for it too.

thx

What OS do you have?

[vicks]

I would suggest you read everything on this site and also as much as you can on www.computing.org www.komando.com . These sites I have learned A LOT on... Also you can get free online classes from HP and from www.cnet.com. I have taken several classes on line from these places.
Good luck.. I have found the learning great. (am a 64 yr old granny that has learned everything I know since Jan. 2001, grand daughter taught me how to turn it on and start with e-mail.)
Good Luck
Vicks

[MMJ]

If you really want to know how to program than you should go with a good language like C++ or Java.

If you want to make small programs to do easy stuff for you than I would go with Visual Basic 2005.

They have an excellent free Express edition.

I made my TidyCSS program with it (link is in my sig but site is offline)

[Firestone]

I would suggest Liberty BASIC. BASIC is a good language to start in, and Liberty BASIC is quick and easy to use:
Liberty BASIC Website

[carrotstix]

Try Kidware Software. I bought their VB tutorial for my nine year old son (he's now fifteen) so he could learn Visual Basic. Their stuff is excellent. I even went through it and learned all kinds of stuff and I've been programming for lots of years.

[NeVeRReSt]

Guys I didnt mean that I wanted to program so I can fix problems on my computer, its so I can create programs that I can use (+ for leisure), sorry for now being that clear.

I know everything about hardware and know nothing about the software side of things, just curious and willing to learn.

[NeVeRReSt]

its on my computer icon with the rest of my specs (Win xP sp2

[MMJ]

I would really go with Visual Basic Express 2005, its great.

[Shadow2531]

Goto http://nuwen.net and download STL's C++ mingw distro (it uses GCC 4.1.2 and includes the boost.org library for all kinds of goodies).

It's specifically here (extract it after it's done downloading). It shows you how to install it at http://nuwen.net/mingw.html, but if you don't want to add the mingw directory to your path for all consoles, you can do the following which will make the install portable.

Create initmingw.bat and put it in the bin folder

@echo off
cd "bin"
set "path=%cd%;%path%"
cd "%userprofile%\desktop"
prompt "$p"$_$G$S
cls
echo STL's C++ Mingw Distro 2.0 - ^<http://nuwen.net/^>
echo.
echo Compile Release build: g++ -Wall -Wextra hello.cc -o hello -O3 -s
echo Compile Debug build: g++ -Wall -Wextra -g hello.cc -o hello_debug
echo Debug program: gdb hello_debug.exe
echo Run program: type hello.exe and press ENTER (do not double-click on hello.exe)
echo Compress exe: upx --best hello.exe

Create startmingw.bat and place it in the root of the Mingw folder (next to the readme)

cmd.exe /K "bin\initmingw.bat"

Click on startmingw.bat. It will start up, add the bin directory to the path (so g++ can be found etc.) and will change to your desktop. It also will list example commands for how to compile.

Create hello.cc and save it to your desktop.

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

int main() {
    cout << "Hello, world!\n";
}

(make sure there's an empty line at the end of the file.

Then, type the command to compile hello.cc and press ENTER. You should end up with hello.exe. Type hello.exe and press ENTER to run it.

You can use your favorite text editor to create the files.
(BTW, if you want gdb.exe, it's at mingw.org)