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The "Official" Computer Programming Thread

Thinking Skins

By Thinking Skins
in The Tailgate

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Thinking Skins

Thinking Skins

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I was thinking about this board and some of my favorite non-Skins threads and two come to mind immediately: http://LEARNINGlover.com)on Javascript and Python programming, along with some sample programs that can help you get started with programming.

I'd encourage other people who know of sites or references to key in as well. This was just an idea I had so we'll see how well it works. Hopefully it can help some people develop a to enjoy programming.

With that being said, go ahead and post your programming questions, ideas or whatever direction you think this thread should be taken.

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Thinking Skins

Thinking Skins

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I was impressed with Live Code http://livecode.com/

 

My daughter was creating apps for her phone.  A great way for kids to get interested in coding.  It allows you to quickly create applications/guis for multiple platforms.

That looks like a cool site. I'll have to check it out more when I have some more free time. WHat kind of apps is she creating?

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Thinking Skins

Thinking Skins

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I thought about learning Python a while back, and while I never got around to it, I was told that Stack Overflow is a great site for programming resources for a variety of languages.  

 

I haven't used it myself but the tip came from a pretty credible person IMO-- http://stackoverflow.com

Yeah, I use that site myself regularly. I probably should have listed it in the references as well, but I just went back and made the mentiona  hyperlink. Thats a good (to great) site.

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balki1867

balki1867

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Since you started this thread, I thought I'd ask a question I've been pondering for a few days:

 

I have an iPhone app idea I'd like to develop but I only have a PC at home.  Does anyone know the best way to be able to do this?  I keep reading about installing virtual machines with OSX on my PC but have no experience doing this.  Has anyone done this before?

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PokerPacker

PokerPacker

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I see a lot of scripting in the OP. Where are the fun languages like C, ASM, and VHDL?

I thought about learning Python a while back, and while I never got around to it, I was told that Stack Overflow is a great site for programming resources for a variety of languages.  

 

I haven't used it myself but the tip came from a pretty credible person IMO-- http://stackoverflow.com

Fun fact: I had an exam in a CS class some time ago, and we were allowed to use our computers, and we were allowed to do anything with our computers except go online during the exam. One enterprising student downloaded the entirety of StackOverflow to his computer before the exam.
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chipwhich

chipwhich

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Since you started this thread, I thought I'd ask a question I've been pondering for a few days:

 

I have an iPhone app idea I'd like to develop but I only have a PC at home.  Does anyone know the best way to be able to do this?  I keep reading about installing virtual machines with OSX on my PC but have no experience doing this.  Has anyone done this before?

 

Well running OSX in a VM doesn't do anything for you but run OSX in a VM :-)  Apple suggest using their Xcode IDE development in Object C.  If you aren't a software developer, app development isn't simple.  Unless you use LiveCode which I suggested earlier in the thread :)

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tshile

tshile

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CodeSchool.com is a great resource, though I think the really valuable courses cost money (not much, but they're not free.) The free ones are a great place to start.

Udacity and Coursera also offer free online programming courses - everything from theory to practical programming in a specific language - taught by professors from leading universities in the field of computer science. Almost all of the courses are free, with paid for options if your interest is in getting a certificate of completion of some sort. This is my #1 recommendation to someone who wants to start programming. It's free, and it's the information you need to be a quality programmer.

For those experienced in computer science (ideally with a BS CS, though not entirely necessary) Georgia Tech has put their MS CS program on the web. You can apply for the actual degree, or you can follow along for free. http://www.omscs.gatech.edu/

If anyone is actually considering that... I was accepted to the program (after originally being denied, lol) and it was great. I dropped out shortly after starting my first semester because my wife and i decided to have a kid and after the first few weeks, when the first project was due, I realized... I cannot put in the required work to get the grades I want and be a good parent for the first few years of being a parent, I do not have that ability. So I unfortunately decided to drop out, but the brief time I was enrolled in the program I thought it was absolutely a great content delivery system, and the teacher and TA I had were awesome (I was in Knowledge based AI - cognitive systems.) So if pursuing a MS CS was something you wanted to do, without having to go back to school full time, this is an excellent way to go after it :)

Since you started this thread, I thought I'd ask a question I've been pondering for a few days:

 

I have an iPhone app idea I'd like to develop but I only have a PC at home.  Does anyone know the best way to be able to do this?  I keep reading about installing virtual machines with OSX on my PC but have no experience doing this.  Has anyone done this before?

I've tried running OSX on a VM unsuccessfully. When I got into a MS CS program I went and purchased a mac book because the OS X in a VM is shaky at best in my opinion. It's not something Apple wants you doing, so they don't make it easy to do. (If apple changed their stance on this lately then I missed it and apologize for the incorrect information)

If you're truly interested in getting into iOS dev you'll need a mac to do it on :\

You'll also need to invest time in learning how to properly develop apps so you don't issues with security, or bugs, etc. It's not rocket science, but there's some effort you'll have to put into it :)

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GoSkins0721

GoSkins0721

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Let's see, computer languages & (dead) machines I have known:

 

NCR Mainframe - NEAT/3 - their proprietary assembler language, stolen & re-used in a different format by IBM 

IBM Mainframe - CSP, ASSEMBLER, COBOL

WANG Mini-computer - can't remember the crappy languages used on this awesome machine

Digital VAX - see WANG languages

 

Multiple databases, file systems, & operating systems that are no longer around. VSAM, MVS, VSE, RdB, DB2, PARADOX, so many db's & ops systems that I can't even remember. Crikey! The '80s & '90s saw a lot of software companies come & go. 

 

Now I see some HTML, SQL, C & other crap that I never coded but sometimes have to get dirty & read. 

 

The end of the road. No more computer languages for me. I may get into the SAP language if the stars align. Maybe, but only if it's my means to an end. 

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PokerPacker

PokerPacker

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Let's see, computer languages & (dead) machines I have known:

 

NCR Mainframe - NEAT/3 - their proprietary assembler language, stolen & re-used in a different format by IBM 

IBM Mainframe - CSP, ASSEMBLER, COBOL

WANG Mini-computer - can't remember the crappy languages used on this awesome machine

Digital VAX - see WANG languages

 

Multiple databases, file systems, & operating systems that are no longer around. VSAM, MVS, VSE, RdB, DB2, PARADOX, so many db's & ops systems that I can't even remember. Crikey! The '80s & '90s saw a lot of software companies come & go. 

 

Now I see some HTML, SQL, C & other crap that I never coded but sometimes have to get dirty & read. 

 

The end of the road. No more computer languages for me. I may get into the SAP language if the stars align. Maybe, but only if it's my means to an end.

Hey, don't lump C in with those other languages. :angry:

Maybe you'd be happier running ol' "gcc -S -c" on the code compiling it down into ASM :).

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GoSkins0721

GoSkins0721

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Hey, don't lump C in with those other languages. :angry:

Maybe you'd be happier running ol' "gcc -S -c" on the code compiling it down into ASM :).

 

Meh...all code is so freaking sloppy these days. Unlimited disk & memory have allowed gunslingers to write code without regard to standards & best practices. That & artificial deadlines to meet marketing demands have produced horribly written slop.

 

Buggy, buggy, slop. 

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PokerPacker

PokerPacker

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Meh...all code is so freaking sloppy these days. Unlimited disk & memory have allowed gunslingers to write code without regard to standards & best practices. That & artificial deadlines to meet marketing demands have produced horribly written slop.

 

Buggy, buggy, slop.

And I'm sure the youngin' keep playing on your lawn, too.
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DCSaints_fan

DCSaints_fan

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Been doing alot of LabVIEW (particularly FPGA and DAQ) and Matlab for my job recently, also a bit of Python scripting.  In the past I've dealt with PHP, Javascript and SQL (web development is a gigantic mess IMO that I"d prefer not deal with again)

 

As a hobby/side project from the visualization stuff I was doing in Blender ( a 3D modelling and animation program) I've dived into doing some coding for Unreal Engine 4 which uses C++ and its own visual scripting language Blueprint.  I've made some decent progress into making a "build your own castle and defend it" type of game based on a tiled world.

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Redskin4ever

Redskin4ever

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There are only 10 types of people in the world. Those who understand binary, and those who don't.


Let's see, computer languages & (dead) machines I have known:

 

NCR Mainframe - NEAT/3 - their proprietary assembler language, stolen & re-used in a different format by IBM 

IBM Mainframe - CSP, ASSEMBLER, COBOL

WANG Mini-computer - can't remember the crappy languages used on this awesome machine

Digital VAX - see WANG languages

 

Multiple databases, file systems, & operating systems that are no longer around. VSAM, MVS, VSE, RdB, DB2, PARADOX, so many db's & ops systems that I can't even remember. Crikey! The '80s & '90s saw a lot of software companies come & go. 

 

Now I see some HTML, SQL, C & other crap that I never coded but sometimes have to get dirty & read. 

 

The end of the road. No more computer languages for me. I may get into the SAP language if the stars align. Maybe, but only if it's my means to an end. 

 

Go work at a large bank. There is a lot of older languages still heavily used because so much data is on the mainframe. The front end applications have mostly moved to web apps, but there is a lot the background batch processes still running on the mainframe to do a lot of the work.

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chipwhich

chipwhich

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Since I keep seeing the "you need OSX to develop for IOS" here's a link to visual studios 2013 community that states you can develop for IOS using that IDE. Also, it's free.

 

http://www.visualstudio.com/en-us/news/vs2013-community-vs.aspx

 

I don't know where anyone said that.  You don't need IOS or Visual Studio for that matter to develop for IOS.  Visual Studio is just an IDE.

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tshile

tshile

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Hackernews is an excellent place to learn about current and new languages.

 

Yes.. hackernews (news.ycombinator.com) is a great place to read about the industry.

 

Just be careful... there's a lot of silicon valley bubble nonsense that circulates there. There's a lot of bad/misinformation because of that. It takes time to learn how to weed things out, but once you do it becomes a very interesting source of information. You can learn much more by reading the debates in the comments than the articles themselves sometimes, there are some incredibly smart and talented people there sharing information and experiences.

 

You just have to learn how to identify the little bubbles of isolated view points and avoid them :)

Since I keep seeing the "you need OSX to develop for IOS" here's a link to visual studios 2013 community that states you can develop for IOS using that IDE. Also, it's free.

 

http://www.visualstudio.com/en-us/news/vs2013-community-vs.aspx

 

 

 

I don't know where anyone said that.  You don't need IOS or Visual Studio for that matter to develop for IOS.  Visual Studio is just an IDE.

 

 

I said that... it was my understanding that you needed os x to develop on iOS. I know it absolutely used to be that way, I guess it's changed. Interesting.

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chipwhich

chipwhich

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No, just ****ty programmers

 

The one thing I learned over the last 30+ years as a programmer.  The programmer that is building the current code base thinks his code is the best written code.  The programmer to succeed the previous programmer thinks the old code is the worst code ever written, the new programmer rewrites the old code.  When the next programmer comes in, rinse, repeat.

 

Now programmers call it refactoring instead of rewriting.  Sounds more elegant :)  And less costly.

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