Where should I try for learning programming?

[Billing Tom]

Hello all,

I am newbie here. I am interested to learn about programming like- HTML, CSS, Java, mySQL and many more. So looking for a reliable place to learn. Is there any reliable website where I can try for?

Please let me know. Thanks!

 

[QuantumQuest]

Hi Billing Tom

You mention a lot of things that fall into different categories namely web design, web development (I suppose you mean this as well) and programming. Before telling you about resources - plenty of them, what is your current knowledge / level about all these?

 

[FactChecker]

For use by a beginning programmer, I was impressed by the combination of Raspberry Pi and the Raspberry Pi User Guide by Upton and Halfacree. The user guide will only get you started and it is a Linux system, not Windows. That being said, it introduces a lot of basic computer concepts and supplies a lot of tools (for the Linux OS). It introduces the Python programming language, which is popular these days.

PS. The User Guide is available in PDF form at http://www.cs.unca.edu/~bruce/Fall14/360/RPiUsersGuide.pdf so you can get an idea of what the Raspberry Pi is like.

 

[Billing Tom]

Hi Billing Tom

You mention a lot of things that fall into different categories namely web design, web development (I suppose you mean this as well) and programming. Before telling you about resources - plenty of them, what is your current knowledge / level about all these?

Thanks for the reply mate. At present I am totally new and don't have enough knowledge on those I refer. But honestly, I know something about HTML5.

 

[Billing Tom]

For use by a beginning programmer, I was impressed by the combination of Raspberry Pi and the Raspberry Pi User Guide by Upton and Halfacree. The user guide will only get you started and it is a Linux system, not Windows. That being said, it introduces a lot of basic computer concepts and supplies a lot of tools (for the Linux OS). It introduces the Python programming language, which is popular these days.

PS. The User Guide is available in PDF form at http://www.cs.unca.edu/~bruce/Fall14/360/RPiUsersGuide.pdf so you can get an idea of what the Raspberry Pi is like.

I hope this could be helpful. But as a first timer I have heard about w3schools for programming. What about this one? Can I start there and side by side see some video tutorials from the YouTube.

 

[phinds]

I recommend this as a start, since you clearly don't understand the different kinds of languages:

https://www.physicsforums.com/insights/computer-language-primer-part-1/

 

[FactChecker]

I hope this could be helpful. But as a first timer I have heard about w3schools for programming. What about this one? Can I start there and side by side see some video tutorials from the YouTube.

The original goal of the Raspberry Pi and the associated User Guide was to provide an inexpensive computer and introductory tutorial for a beginner. I don't know how successful they were for a beginner, but I thought that it was well done and the Amazon reviews of the Guide are positive.

That being said, keep in mind that this is for the Linux operating system. It might be confusing if you are simultaneously learning from Youtube videos about the Windows OS.

 

[Billing Tom]

I recommend this as a start, since you clearly don't understand the different kinds of languages:

Yes exactly! Thanks for understanding.

 

[Billing Tom]

The original goal of the Raspberry Pi and the associated User Guide was to provide an inexpensive computer and introductory tutorial for a beginner. I don't know how successful they were for a beginner, but I thought that it was well done and the Amazon reviews of the Guide are positive.

That being said, keep in mind that this is for the Linux operating system. It might be confusing if you are simultaneously learning from Youtube videos about the Windows OS.

It's okey! But a link to the target would help enough. Thanks!

 

[QuantumQuest]

Thanks for the reply mate. At present I am totally new and don't have enough knowledge on those I refer. But honestly, I know something about HTML5.

My recommendation is to do things one step at a time. As phinds recommends, you can read through his excellent insight following the link in post #6, in order to get a good picture about the different kinds of languages. If you want to start from web design / web development - I really recommend this as: it is easier in general than going directly to some hardcore programming, it will serve as a good preparation for the latter and it gives more opportunities for a job if you want to do it professionally, I would recommend w3schools - as you have already mentioned. Also, a good textbook is always a good idea. There is plenty of them for each particular web technology so I won't do a particular recommendation. The only one I would like to recommend in order to get a good general picture about programming for the web is Deitel's "Internet and World Wide Web How To Program". For an official reference about web standards you can always go to World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). There are also many websites for each particular web technology and I recommend going first to the official ones.

Take note that web design - web development are not the same thing: in a nutshell, web design is all about the presentation of a website / web application and in recent years also about some (extensive) client side scripting while web development is mostly about programming client and server side, with the knowledge of any kind of database being a crucial thing. That said there is a lot going on regarding the interplay between them and I really recommend learning both to the best extent you can.

Now, for programming, whether you choose to learn it later or not, I'd recommend first learning C programming language by all means. It will give you a great head start in order to learn other languages later. Of course this is just my recommendation and you really can start from any other language but I think that it stands to reason if you take into account how many programming languages are really based on C. Later on you can choose some platform to follow meaning going open source - that is what I professionally did or follow Microsoft platform that is also a very good choice given the current trends in software and I talk about the two major / general platforms. There are really many smaller platforms that you'll encounter inside each of these. For resources always google is your friend and you can always ask here at PF for any other specific thing that you may need.

Finally, I'll give you the route that I personally chose not because it is something special or extraordinary but as a general picture of a potential route: I first learned a little Basic back in the 80s but my main programming education / experience began with Pascal. Then I went to C then Java. After learning Java I went to C++ and then Python. For web development - that is my main thing professionally, I followed the path (X)HTML - XML, CSS, JavaScript, Perl, Flash, CGI, PHP - MySQL, VBScript and finally went to Enterprise Java that is what I currently work at, along with PHP. Taking into account the evolution / current trends in programming / software development , the path you'll choose will be somewhat or maybe entirely different.

 

[|Glitch|]

Hello all,

I am newbie here. I am interested to learn about programming like- HTML, CSS, Java, mySQL and many more. So looking for a reliable place to learn. Is there any reliable website where I can try for?

Please let me know. Thanks!

My advice would be to pick up the language reference manual on the subject matter you specified, sit down and start reading. Start with something very simple, like creating an HTML page with some text. Nothing fancy at first. Just work on getting two or three things right. Don't try to take on too much at one time or you may find the complexity to be frustrating. When everything works, expand upon what you did. But before you move on to more complex code, make sure you understand why it worked.

Often these language reference manuals will include snippets of code to show you how to use a command. At the very least language reference manuals are handy to have until you have memorized the correct syntax of a particular language.