Help with computer programming

[FreakWave]

I am 15 years old and i would like to ask a few questions about computer programming. 1: am i too old to start computer programming and to understand it and whether i would be able to have a computer programming carrer. 2: Are there any programms which i can use to learn which are good. 3: Are there any good books to read on computer programming?

 

[cl-scott]

1: No
2: Assuming you mean an editor or IDE, that would be highly specific to your personal tastes
3: It would depend on the language, but as a general rule, O'Reilly Publishing makes some of the technical books around, and plenty of people recommend them sight unseen

I would suggest taking a look at a number of different languages that are out there, and then picking one to get started with. So you might want to look at some of the major players in the programming world today: C, C++, Java, Perl, Python, Ruby, and JavaScript. I might suggest Perl, Python, or Ruby as a first language, then you can branch out into some of the others. Just make sure to learn multiple languages, because the idea is to learn the how of programming. Once you understand programming as a concept, it should be fairly trivial for you to learn the syntax of a new language and get started. While different languages may structure things like loops or object oriented programming differently, the basic underpinnings are the same regardless of language. So just don't fall into the trap that Cobol programmers found themselves in when the world passed them by.

 

[FreakWave]

thanks for that. Could you give me a link to a python cook by O'rielly if thats okay because there are loads of them.

 

[cl-scott]

I would start with something like Learning Python, then you can move on to something like Programming Python.

 

[dmroeder]

If you want to start tinkering with Python to see what you think, check out Learn Python the Hard Way. The HTML version is free and the PDF version is $3.