How did you learn to code?

[Evolution]

Hey guys. Over the years my interest for coing has increased, and since I now have a few hours to kill each day after work, I thought this would be a good time to learn some about it. The problem is I have NO idea where to start and I do not know anybody who does either. I've done some searching on google, but God, it's a mess!

So my question is how did you learn to code? And what language suites my interests?
What I want to accomplish are scripts for games. Like, perhaps create a basic Mario game to begin with.

I looked around for some evening courses here in Sweden, but they all costed a ridiculously amount of money and seemed to only be for a couple of days. And yeah, I don't even know what language I want to learn  :roll:

So is it possible to learn this by yourself with the help of the Internet? Are there any good websites out there?

Thanks,
Evo

[hyakkimaru]

In my opinion, SQL is the simplest language for Wow and in general ^^

You don't really need Internet, here is my first experience :

I've opened a sql file and I've read the content, it's just it ^^

Is seems evident after one or two read

Well, after I became lazy and I used truice ... But SQL is the base of all

[schlumpf]

In my opinion, SQL is the simplest language for Wow and in general ^
 ... But SQL is the base of all

SQL is a querying language, not a programming language and it really isn't a great beginning, as you don't have querying concepts in most programming languages.

You may  want to prefer a simple c-style language with a great API, as well as a fast code to result time. Scripting languages are great for that. You may try lua in the context of WoW addons. It is simple, connected to an already existing hobby, and is extremely fast in code->result. You may use an ingame-code editor like wowlua.

[hyakkimaru]

It's a simple beginning, I've never said it was the best beginning but it's not very useless

After, I'm sorry, I often put the SQL in the "programming section" ^^ my bad my bad..

[noc]

You may  want to prefer a simple c-style language with a great API, as well as a fast code to result time. Scripting languages are great for that. You may try lua in the context of WoW addons. It is simple, connected to an already existing hobby, and is extremely fast in code->result. You may use an ingame-code editor like wowlua.

This is the best way that you have.
Need some documentation to start??

[Evolution]

Alright, thanks for the replys and thanks for the documents noc I'll read them and see if I understand anything. But what could I do with lua? What is the difference between all the different languages?

Thanks,
Evo

[Gamh]

You can do many things in Lua : your own scripts for system tasks, tiny games or interfaces with its simple but good enough graphic API. On Linux you even have a window manager written in Lua so you can modify every part of it, to give you an idea about its usages. The PSP modding scene used to code in Lua and C too.

The differences with other programming languages is that they doesn't always have the same concepts, the same goals. For example, C / C++ are somewhat complex languages but they offer great speed. Javascript is much slower, but can be executed in a web browser, without thinking about the operating system of the users or deploying binaries. Different goals, different languages

Start by finding documentation and tutorials, then improve what you know by reading code done by other people. Don't be afraid to ask about something you don't understand, if you actually searched by yourself before.

And have fun !

[Evolution]

You can do many things in Lua : your own scripts for system tasks, tiny games or interfaces with its simple but good enough graphic API. On Linux you even have a window manager written in Lua so you can modify every part of it, to give you an idea about its usages. The PSP modding scene used to code in Lua and C too.

The differences with other programming languages is that they doesn't always have the same concepts, the same goals. For example, C / C++ are somewhat complex languages but they offer great speed. Javascript is much slower, but can be executed in a web browser, without thinking about the operating system of the users or deploying binaries. Different goals, different languages

Start by finding documentation and tutorials, then improve what you know by reading code done by other people. Don't be afraid to ask about something you don't understand, if you actually searched by yourself before.

And have fun !

That made it all a bit clearer. Thanks for your time!

[Steff]

If you want to start real coding I would suggest you .net and c#.
Even if many will not share this because microsoft is bad

It is modern, easy to use, save you from many mistakes you can do in c++ and lead also to fast results if you want to develop UI applications. Its like jave because it base on the concept but includes many modern stuff out of the box. The only thing is that its mainly for developing windows applications. ut if you are on windows then its the best start.

If you want to go to cross platform development c++ & QT & some boost stuff and other libs are one way.
Perpahs in QT developer. For beginning not the worth choise.

Or jave as its used by many big companys like Oracle or SAP.

[XxXGenesisXxX]

Personally I started on HTML years ago, which is a very basic scripting language, again while no programming exactly, it does give a good feel for using correct syntax. However I did that when I was only a young teenager. If you are older, you are more than likely to pick up some better lanugages quicker.

Personally, I would start with either, LUA,, .vb or .net. LUA has many guides for WoW meaning you'll have a comfortable affiliation with it, and a sense of doing something constructive towards something you like. However, .vb and .net both have great interface programs (Visual Basic and I forget the exact name of .nets), with a huge amount of basic tutorials for a large amount of basic programs, such as calculators.

All up, I had the easiest time learning the rules of basic syntax from LUA through ArcEmu. But .net and .vb are good choices. I haven't used much C#, but from what I have, if their is a lot of documentation and tutorials, it is the superior of the ones I mentioned and better in the long run. I just think it's a small step up in difficulty too.

[Evolution]

If you want to start real coding I would suggest you .net and c#.
Even if many will not share this because microsoft is bad

It is modern, easy to use, save you from many mistakes you can do in c++ and lead also to fast results if you want to develop UI applications. Its like jave because it base on the concept but includes many modern stuff out of the box. The only thing is that its mainly for developing windows applications. ut if you are on windows then its the best start.

If you want to go to cross platform development c++ & QT & some boost stuff and other libs are one way.
Perpahs in QT developer. For beginning not the worth choise.

Or jave as its used by many big companys like Oracle or SAP.

Okay, good to know that .net and c# doesn't reach out of Bill Gates empire!

Personally I started on HTML years ago, which is a very basic scripting language, again while no programming exactly, it does give a good feel for using correct syntax. However I did that when I was only a young teenager. If you are older, you are more than likely to pick up some better lanugages quicker.

Personally, I would start with either, LUA,, .vb or .net. LUA has many guides for WoW meaning you'll have a comfortable affiliation with it, and a sense of doing something constructive towards something you like. However, .vb and .net both have great interface programs (Visual Basic and I forget the exact name of .nets), with a huge amount of basic tutorials for a large amount of basic programs, such as calculators.

All up, I had the easiest time learning the rules of basic syntax from LUA through ArcEmu. But .net and .vb are good choices. I haven't used much C#, but from what I have, if their is a lot of documentation and tutorials, it is the superior of the ones I mentioned and better in the long run. I just think it's a small step up in difficulty too.

Oh, yeah I also did some reading on HTML when I was a kid, I didn't get really much of it though, since my english was really poor. Well, I think I'll go with the LUA and try to make a simple wow add-on to start with - then I can play around with my favorite game while I'm doing something productive

[schlumpf]

I dislike how programming languages are mixed with markup and querying languages in here.
Also, as you decided already, using a small, well documented environment that also is in context with your othe interest, surely is best. The concepts and basic ideas are the same in any language of the same category. Starting with c# or some other "big" language seems like a horrible choice. Especially with c# or other highly library based languages. In the end, you would learn using some Microsoft specific library more than the ideas behind it. Those environments also mix up language and library a lot.

Of course, given that you learn lua in a wow API environment has similar issues.

[Steff]

You are right Bernd. But if you start you would like fast results. And its good to use the libs then.
And many concepts in .net are not realy MS idea. Its theyr implementation of independend design patterns and well tested technics

Later you will get deeper and learn the stuff behind.

I also think that the problem of c++ is that there are too much bad tuts and informations out there. Mi point is that you should use always the newest techs and as c++ grown out of c and flow through many changes, you can do awful stuff with it. And many books and tuts also teach you this dirt

I know that other people have other attitude in this. But thats as always. Even guys with height skills in c++ have here different once. Like Scott Meyers and googel coding gude often went different ways

[XxXGenesisXxX]

I just went with exactly what the question was: "How did you learn to code?"

I learned (In order) HTML, LUA, Javascript (Basic), C++ (Basic), VB, Javascript (Intermediate), C++ (Intermediate, still learning). Probably a very strange order and probably missed some stuff, but right or wrong, that's the order I learned in. Programming or not, I think all of them helped me in some way.

The thing I think was most important part to my learning was complete interest in learning it. When I was younger, I loved making web pages, I found WoW modding and fell in love with ArcEmu and LUA. Still hate Javascript lol... And now I mostly work with C++ for gaming purposes and I love it.

If someone wants to learn for WoW modding and have something to show for it, sometimes jumping straight to LUA can work in their favor. Sometimes motivation and determination trumps difficulty.

To each his own I guess though.

[Steff]

The problem with c++ is to learn what you should not do.. and not what you can

The only way to get into something is always a goal to reach. If you start learn something jsut to learn its always hard. But if you want an app that do xy you will dig deeper and deeper because you want to get this to work.

So think about an project and start it.

I started coding 22 years ago with c64 basic Then went to Amiga basic.
15 Years ago i get to HTML and PHP for coding part.

In this time i did more stuff in Photoshop and Movie editing because of my job in this busines.
Als 3d modelin was alway something I loved.

The last few years I spend again time in coding.
First java then c# and 3 years ago learnd c++ for developing noggit and still try to get better.

Often the syntax of a language is not the problem. For me coding form also called design patterns and OOP was not so easy in the beginning and sill is not. Also there are so much bad book out there for c++ ist horror.

I read now 18 books and only 3 where realy good.