Programming In C?

[enteng]

Hi! Would you recommend C as my first programming language? I haven't got any experience (unless you consider HTML hehe) in programming and am planning on learning C!

If so what books would you recommend for someone like me?
If no what programming language would you recommend?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Psalms34]

Yeah C is a good place to start, and stay if you find it of use for what you want to do. Book I like the most is SAMS Teach Yourself C in 21 Days (21 lessons). Then you want to apply it to something, when I was learning C I studied MUD programming - Multi User Dungeon - for running game servers like mmorpg’s but they were text based. Now I deal with BlitzBasic and C++ for regular graphical mmorpg programming (see my CF page link below). I’m not really a great programmer though, personally I’d rather be doing other things than programming when I am (3D modelling and animation at the top of the list).

Other than that, BlitzBasic http://www.blitzbasic.com/ is good if you like games, take a look at BlitzMax, though it is not quite finished being developed yet, it is much like C. If you want to get down and gritty, really understand programming, then assembly is a good place to start, I studied that back during high school (not at high school, it was too advanced) here are some free books http://www.computer-books.us/assembler.php

But if you learn C, it is a good idea to move to C++ or C# from there, though there are many reasons to just use C alone. If you learn C first, it will be easier to understand C++ since C++ is a bit more simplified with it’s visual tools that make it a bit too easy.

 

[Apex]

Hi! Would you recommend C as my first programming language? I haven't got any experience (unless you consider HTML hehe) in programming and am planning on learning C!

If so what books would you recommend for someone like me?
If no what programming language would you recommend?

Thanks in advance!

I had a C class last semester and it helped me with learning how to program. I would suggest it as a first language. Although it wasnt really my first language, I "learned" MATLAB freshmen year in college but that class was a joke, it confused me more than it taught me. But when I learned C, MATLAB just kind of clicked.

 

[enteng]

Cool! I'm planning on learning from "C Primer Plus". I'm also planning on contributing to an open source project! Anyone here who can hook me up? Thanks!

 

[Psalms34]

Cool! I'm planning on learning from "C Primer Plus". I'm also planning on contributing to an open source project! Anyone here who can hook me up? Thanks!

Mmm yeah, you could check out the sword project, it's in C, I was involved with this for a time. http://www.crosswire.org/index.jsp
They are always looking for people to help, it was a very big group when I was in it.

 

[raphink]

Cool! I'm planning on learning from "C Primer Plus". I'm also planning on contributing to an open source project! Anyone here who can hook me up? Thanks!

C is useful to learn because most Linux apps are written in C. However, there are easier languages to begin with. Ada is an interesting language to begin with as it's very strict and teaches a lot of concepts that you also find in C.

There are lots of other open-source projects that need developers. As FaithWarrior said, you could get involved in the Sword project, either on the libraries themselves, or on the various GUIs and tools around them like GnomeSword, BibleTime and so on. I think there is currently a need on Aletheia, which is being rebuilt with Sword, too.

Don't hesitate to contact me if you need more infos on Christian open-source projects to get involved in

 

[RobyG]

I guess it depends on your level of interest.

I tried CGI (with PERL) and found it hard. I had no structured way of doing it back in 1995. Just trying to put together bits and pieces. I moved to PHP and it was super great. Asked on the list if learning C would help me understand PHP and got a mix of answers.

In short, C Is better than a scripting language like PHP because it forces you to think ahead. PHP lets you 'just do it' and that can be disastrous in the long run. It allows the nasty habit of coding before thinking.

I was lucky and went to college after all that and our structured programming class was in C and we spent 2 hours a day 5 days a week on it. Very fortunate. Hard to find a class like that. I went on to work and worked with a couple guys who were script hacks trying to write in C and had nothing but problems and memory leaks. I went back to school after being frustrated with the environement and took a C++ class but found that the teacher makes a big difference. The teacher I had basically told us to declare the biggest variable possible to hold a number. !!!!!! Not even!!!!

So yes, C is a good language to start with from my point of view. If I could, I would do all my work in C. It is my favorite.

 

[Apex]

The teacher I had basically told us to declare the biggest variable possible to hold a number. !!!!!! Not even!!!!

He didnt teach you how to use pointers to delare the variable after you know how big it needs to be? Not a very good teacher.

 

[enteng]

What books would you guys suggest for my journey as a c programmer? Also where do I start (book suggestions for a beginner like me)?

 

[rdale]

What books...

Not a book, but a link to some more links:
http://www.thepeoplestoolbox.com/programmers/c

If no what programming language would you recommend?

From what I hear/remember, Object Pascal was/is used specifically to teach/learn programming. Delphi (the IDE), uses Object Pascal, and alot is available for free:

free - TurboExplorer - The latest Delphi IDE
http://www.turboexplorer.com/delphi

Delphi Training Series - 9 downloadable lessons starting with getting/installing the IDE to creating your own MP3 player:
http://www.3dbuzz.com/vbforum/sv_delphi.php?f=1269

Thirty Camtasia Demos in Thirty Days - will give you the hang of many basic concepts
http://blogs.codegear.com/nickhodges/articles/26687.aspx

#1 - Intro to the IDE
#2 - Hello World
#3 - Basic Application Development
#4 - Language Introduction
#5 - More Lanugage Intro
#6 - Basic String Manipulation
#7 - Basic Datatypes
#8 - Sets
#9 - Arrays
#10 - Records
#11 - Basic Data
#12 - Simple Class
#13 - Procedure and Functions
#14 - Units
#15 - Inheritance
#16 - Polymorphism
#17 - Why OOP
#18 - Properties
#19 - Member Visibility
#20 - Constructors and Destructors
#21 - TurboPad: About Box
#22 - TurboPad: File Open
#23 - TurboPad: File Menu
#24 - TurboPad: Saving
#25 - TurboPad: Edit Menu
#26 - TurboPad: Toolbar
#27 - TurboPad: Word Wrap and Fonts
#28 - Live Templates
#29 - Refactorings
#30 - Debugger

 

[BobSevenEleven]

I always liked the safari oreilly books ( http://www.oreilly.com/). However, if you are starting, I don't know if I would go with C. It is a procedural language, and not really used much anymore. I would start with something like C# or Java. Something object oriented as these are used more in the world.

 

[RobyG]

C is still used very, very much. It depends on your application. If you plan to work in Linux, program, understand or administrate mail servers, web servers, real-time systems, embedded, etc then C will likely be your choice.

C has a lot of advantages, one of which is speed. It also doesn't have the overhead associated with C++ so it is perfect for nuts like me who like to think and program efficiently.

Also, object oriented is not used MORE than procedural for a logical reason. That is, one is not better than the other. I used to work with some guys who used OO features of a language simply because they liked notating objects rather than arrays. There was a report a few years ago on project management and why so many projects ran over budget and over schedule. There was a line in there that stated the whole shift to objects could be traced back to aggressive marketing by Borland on their Turbo C++ compiler. As a result of good sales tactics at trade shows and the likes, business managers were having programmers convert old projects to OO even though there was no need to use objects for that project.

Trust me, I had this same argument with the Dean of our college regarding their lack of OO classes. 10 years later it turns out he is right.....and so was the board of industry advisors. I still haven't encountered a project for which I actually *need* objects.

So as far as C versus object oriented C or the likes, I'd still start with C. Why? Cause if you get the structured thinking of C then moving to OO methods is no problem. After all, a method is just a procedural function in an object, right?

 

[enteng]

Cool, that's insightful.

 

[AWorkInProgress]

C is still used very, very much. It depends on your application. If you plan to work in Linux, program, understand or administrate mail servers, web servers, real-time systems, embedded, etc then C will likely be your choice.

C has a lot of advantages, one of which is speed. It also doesn't have the overhead associated with C++ so it is perfect for nuts like me who like to think and program efficiently.

Also, object oriented is not used MORE than procedural for a logical reason. That is, one is not better than the other. I used to work with some guys who used OO features of a language simply because they liked notating objects rather than arrays. There was a report a few years ago on project management and why so many projects ran over budget and over schedule. There was a line in there that stated the whole shift to objects could be traced back to aggressive marketing by Borland on their Turbo C++ compiler. As a result of good sales tactics at trade shows and the likes, business managers were having programmers convert old projects to OO even though there was no need to use objects for that project.

Trust me, I had this same argument with the Dean of our college regarding their lack of OO classes. 10 years later it turns out he is right.....and so was the board of industry advisors. I still haven't encountered a project for which I actually *need* objects.

So as far as C versus object oriented C or the likes, I'd still start with C. Why? Cause if you get the structured thinking of C then moving to OO methods is no problem. After all, a method is just a procedural function in an object, right?

Thanks for insight too. Wanted to start with C++ but wouldn't hurt to check out C first. Specially since like to migrate to linux.

 

[enteng]

I'm also migrating to linux! Iuse windows rarely now.