where to start?

ok, im thinking of going into computers for my life's work

im in 9th grade, and wanna get started early. I am (self declared) very bright adn good at solving problems. I do really well in school and learn things and committ them to memory fairly easily. i am in all advanced placement classes taking sophomore classes so that i can take freshman year at a local college for free during senior year. I have kinda started getting into computers further and further. I also love computers which may come in handy

i am just so overwhelmed by the amount of info that is out there, that i have no clue where to start. I feel like someone is handing me the work for grades 1-12 and just saying LEARN but not teaching


a little help/advice on where i should start/ where u started would be helpful. I am good at teaching myself things when pointed in the right direction

Well, what exactly are you looking to do? If you want to try programming, I would give Python and C a try. They should offer you a nice introduction to programming itself, and later you could always move onto object oriented languages, like C++ or Java.

Linux is nice if you want to learn more about the workings of *nix, or are interested in learning how to set up various types of servers. It, and its compilers are also free, so that's good if you want to get involved in programming without spending lots of money on software (although free compilers are available for other platforms too).

BTW, Welcome to the Forums!

err im not really new to forums lol... i used to register with my friend's aol account for stuff just incase they spam my email, and he changed the pw, and my pw wont work on this site for some reason (still wont even with new account, but now i can get it on my email)... so this is my 2nd registered user, i just couldnt get on ne more on mine


but ne way....

I know so little about what i wanna do with my life, and like i said this is my carreer goal when i grow up (or maybe during highschool if possible). So i dont really know exactly what i would like to do in computing. I know that i dont wanna have a job thats mundane in purpose u know... like writing a program that counts boxes of cerial at general oats i was hoping that u could direct me to a programming language that could intorduce me into the world of programming i would like to familiarize myself with unix just because it would be a good tool to be able to navigate in, but i dont really know why i would need it. i dont know the advantages/applications, and was hoping that i could get help in here. i know how to partition/instal operating systems, so dont wrry bout that.

i would like to know java and html for sure, and prolly whatever else u think is nessisary for web programming. i would eventually wanna get into beign able to write in C++, but dont think i can just start there right?

ne help is appreciated

sure, you can start with c++, and in my opinion, that is one of the best ways to start. you must be dedicated though, and i would recommend learning it through a class. you may want to check out "C++ How to program" by deitel & deitel, and then as a follow up, "C++ and introduction to data structures" by Nyhoff. Not only will you learn a decent amount of c++ from these books, but you will have a solid foundation in general programming concepts like data structures and types. if you do all this, java will be very easy to learn. and to learn java, after you allready know c or c++, may i recommend "On to Java" by Winston and Narasimhan. This book is made for people who allready know c/c++. it is fast paced and highly recommened by all of my profs.

also, maybe get yourself an A+ certification book( or something else that would give you a good overview of basic hardware, connectors, networking, etc...). this way you could dabble in a little bit of everything and see what most interests you.

have fun

esau said:

sure, you can start with c++, and in my opinion, that is one of the best ways to start. you must be dedicated though, and i would recommend learning it through a class. you may want to check out "C++ How to program" by deitel & deitel, and then as a follow up, "C++ and introduction to data structures" by Nyhoff.
have fun

Click to expand...

Wow, I used the same exact books. I recomend both of them. The deitel & deitel book is pretty good and it goes at a reasonable pace throught. I felt when it got to virtual functions, it wasn't very clear but besides that its a great book and perfect for starters wanting to learn C++.

i talked to the teacher at my school that teaches the A+ certification class (one year cause its a small request class), and he said that i should take the class just to get the A+ certification and that i already knew pretty much everything prolly. He just wants me to take it so taht i have an hour and a half to go and fix broken computers in the school with him to make his amount of work less, so i dont really need it i dont think. Im not a complete scrub when it comes to computing, and i believe i have a good foundation (ESPECIALLY in hardware). I just was looking for where too go next, and it seems like this is where i should look

A+ is very basic. Basically installing RAM, and recognizing certain parts of the inside of the computer. About 90% of that test you probably already know, or people in this forum can teach you.

lol...i have built like 20 computers in the last 6 months... i think my hardware knowledge is fine

Take AP Comp Sci. If collegeboard knows anything - then good starting languages would be PASCAL, C++, Java. Thats what the ap test was on (till 1998 it was pascal, till 2003 it C++, and Java indefinately). I would think that collegeboard knows what its doing and would teach good starting languages in high school. Also, i imagine that it wouldnt be that hard to learn java (since ap comp sci is gonna be java next year) with just a textbook and no class - then take the test. The other 2 languages listed above are probably the best to start from if you dont want to learn java.

Well, I'm currently taking a course designed to prepare students for the AP test in Comp Sci, and from my experience, it has been a disaster. Java relies heavily on the concepts of OOP, and most students in my class who were never fully able to grasp proceedural programming are totally lost with OOP. I guess its noteworthy to say that the only other exposure they've had to computer programming is Visual Basic. Its my personal opinion that background with procedural languages is important before trying OOP.

Otherwise, its difficult to understand the differences between the two approaches, and you often misuse OO in Java (or any OOP language for that matter). If you've never programmed in something like C, it might not be obvious why using a sea of public variables in Java is not a good idea.

Also, my teacher doesn't have much experience with the subject, so I guess not all the blame rests on the course itself. I personally had to purchase a book on OOP concepts to set me straight.

If you do want to learn Java, check out the Java Tutorial on http://java.sun.com . Its excellent, IMO.

im a freshman, and the only courses offered at my school that have to do with computers are keyboarding, bcis (use word and power point), intro to computer maintance, and computer maintance which are the A+ classes. I dont really wanna take a computer credit until i can take AP cs I and II in junior and senior year. I play baseball and cello in the orchestra, so my schedule does not have room for 4 computer credits. I am gonnna take AP cs I and II in junior and senior year tho. I'll check out C++ prolly as a 1st language or Java