General Discussions

**millwalll** · 01-31-2007, 08:11 AM

I was thinking about Learning a Program but not sure what one is best C++,Visual Basic or any others anyone know what good to learn and what sort things i can do once i know them. i know C++ has some things in common with PHP

**willcode4beer** · 01-31-2007, 11:24 AM

A lot of it depends upon your goals.
The reality is, most programming languages are fairly easy to learn. The most time is spent getting to know the best practices and the libraries that are used with the language.

If you don't know anything, and just want to play around, just start with javascript. All you need is a simple text editor to get started and your browser is your runtime. On windows, you can script many OS functions by creating an HTA (hypertext application), with KDE on Linux, there are extensions to control and integrate most KDE apps using javascript. If you want to build a standalone program, you can use the XUL framework by Mozilla to build applications using js and XML.

Once you get your feet wet, you'll probably have a better idea of where you want to go. In the enterprise, a lot of stufff is Java. On the web, Java Ruby, PHP, C#, yada yada yada. Client apps, most are still C++ but, other languages are starting to pop-up too.

good luck

**millwalll** · 01-31-2007, 11:38 AM

Hi thanks for that i am more intrested in learning how to make software so would c++ be the best thing to learn

**rita_peng** · 02-01-2007, 08:39 PM

what about Filemarker Pro?Maybe you can try it~

**sauravs** · 02-02-2007, 05:55 AM

If you know any one programming language very well, whether its C++. or Visual Basic or Java then you can learn any language easily, since logic is same just application is different.

**In0ue'sHeArt** · 02-02-2007, 08:02 AM

i am more interested in a Linux Admin,, what do yah think?

**willcode4beer** · 02-02-2007, 03:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by In0ue'sHeArt

i am more interested in a Linux Admin,, what do yah think?

An admin will need a collection of knowledge.
Start with shell scripts, you'll use them alot. On most Linux, bash is the way to go (you will need to be at least able to read csh scripts). Even the simple scripts you write, starting out, will be useful.
Along with that, learn awk and sed. Make sure to know how to use grep and find too.
next up, you'll need a general purpose scripting language.
Most admins start with perl but, python and ruby are fine choices (growing in popularity) too.

At some point though, you will need to learn C/C++. Most linux apps are written in them. Plus, you will need to learn to create kernel modules, and debug random things.

There's a reason linux admins on average earn more than double what a windows admin does

Of course, the average linux admin manages about 3X the number of boxes as a windows admin.

Now, if you said Linux developer, the list would be a little different.

**roy77** · 02-02-2007, 07:22 PM

python - easy
c+/c++ - beyond easy

**dansgalaxy** · 02-02-2007, 08:06 PM

i hate this, i just cant seem to grasp prog languages like some can...
maybe its just my type of learning. if i had a teacher/tutor who toaught me it i would pick it up alot faster.

im just started learning php, and im still on basics, i just cant like remember and think about the more complex (to me atleast) functions, the bext i can do it if's and $_get and stuff lol...

Dan

**In0ue'sHeArt** · 02-05-2007, 01:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by willcode4beer

An admin will need a collection of knowledge.
Start with shell scripts, you'll use them alot. On most Linux, bash is the way to go (you will need to be at least able to read csh scripts). Even the simple scripts you write, starting out, will be useful.
Along with that, learn awk and sed. Make sure to know how to use grep and find too.
next up, you'll need a general purpose scripting language.
Most admins start with perl but, python and ruby are fine choices (growing in popularity) too.

At some point though, you will need to learn C/C++. Most linux apps are written in them. Plus, you will need to learn to create kernel modules, and debug random things.

There's a reason linux admins on average earn more than double what a windows admin does

Of course, the average linux admin manages about 3X the number of boxes as a windows admin.

Now, if you said Linux developer, the list would be a little different.

wow... you are such a great comp wizard... thanks a ton. after reading it, i am now much more interested in linux.. at least now I know, what are the things i should learn first in linux. Great! thanks

**willcode4beer** · 02-05-2007, 08:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by In0ue'sHeArt

wow... you are such a great comp wizard... thanks a ton. after reading it, i am now much more interested in linux.. at least now I know, what are the things i should learn first in linux. Great! thanks

Thanks but, I'm just a guy scribbling up code for .....

**dansgalaxy** · 02-05-2007, 04:03 PM

and there was my thoughts of linux being easier out the window....

dan

**willcode4beer** · 02-09-2007, 12:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dansgalaxy

and there was my thoughts of linux being easier out the window....

dan

Well, easier is relative.
If you have to do some updates on some servers and still have time for beer, then linux is the only way to go. As an admin, do you have to know more? Absolutely, thats why you'll make more too.
Its a powerful system, more power requires more knowledge.

For example, some reasons many like linux in a server environment is you can update a piece of software while it is running. The updates will take place when you restart the program. You can install/update just about anything without a reboot. Think about how much money is lost on a high volume ecomm site during a reboot. About the only time anybody reboots a linux server is for hardware changes or to update the kernel of the operating system.
Finally, what the poity-haired types like, its actually cheaper to admin.
Sure the system administrators cost twice as much but, they can manage 4Xs as many machines.
At my last job (RealNetworks) 3 system admins were in charge of over 100 live servers, in addition to a bunch of test and development servers. Compare that with Microsoft's recommendation of one admin per 4 servers.

**dansgalaxy** · 02-09-2007, 04:56 PM

i dont know how people who are still in school find the time to learn it.

I am and i know people which runs servers and i am just like WhaT?

Dan

**willcode4beer** · 02-09-2007, 10:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dansgalaxy

i dont know how people who are still in school find the time to learn it.

I am and i know people which runs servers and i am just like WhaT?

Dan

Most just get started by putting it on their desktop.
I used to dual-boot Windows and Linux. Then one day I realized that I hadn't booted into Windows for over 6 months. So, I decided to free up some drive space ;-)
BTW, for the record, I am a programmer, not an admin (except for my own stuff).

**sukantab** · 02-12-2007, 01:24 AM

C++ is no doubt a good language to learn, But I think VB is easier to learn & code unless you really need to use the Object oriented stuff. This is for creating windows softwares. For web programming php is the best and easiest.

**dansgalaxy** · 02-12-2007, 11:54 AM

I put ubuntu on my desktop and found it simple and basic. compared to windows.

Im not sure i probally should give it a chance,
however im not sure how to do it with dual boot
[the last time i tried i ended up partitioning my dricve whth my current files, not being able to boot form that, re-installing windows booting form that version and finding the my files were in the ither pertition i transferd needed file deleted that partition and not have unallocate space on my C: and dont know how to allocate it to a exsiting partition...

o and it didnt install ubuntu...

btw, does redhat cost? i thought all linux were free but i can only find versions of red hat which cost...

Dan

**sukantab** · 02-13-2007, 11:27 AM

Redhat is not free any more - now they have a fedora project for free use: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Distribution/Download

**dansgalaxy** · 02-13-2007, 12:48 PM

I thought linux was open source so distros had to be free?

So how can they charge?

dan

**memberpro** · 02-13-2007, 01:30 PM

I think the most univerial programming code would be C++ and then you can easily transfer into Visual C++. I myself is am a Basic fan, but I wish I knew C++ well.

I also like Lingo which is the programming language of Macromedia (now Adobe) Director. Director is fun because you can create anything you want including animation, dialog boxes,ect and have the functionality to talk to other programs, FTP functions, as well as basic I/O file operations. It is a basically a software package for "artsy" people who want to be programers.

I can create anything from Director!