What is a good hobbyist’s programming language?
For a long time I have wanted to learn to write computer programs, mainly to write functional apps. I have a pretty decent understanding of how computers work. Years ago I messed about with VisualBasic.NET which was OK for writing simple productivity tools on Windows, but A) I’d like to eventually move beyond productivity tools and B) I’m on a Mac now.
I probably won’t ever write the next Adobe Creative Suite, but I would like to make smaller, simpler apps, like note taking software, a simple multitrack recording program, a simple image editor, etc.
One more thing, due to real life obligations, my time is limited. I am not able to spend many hours on end daily studying. Now, what cross platform (or at least Mac OS X compatible) programming language is relatively (I repeat, relatively) easy to pick up?
P.S.: I would like to actually be able to use it within a year, because from then on I’ll have even less time.
Ruby is great and fun.
Python is like the king of C,UNIX now.
Look at any good program, it is Python or C. and usually free.
Ruby is great and fun.
Python is like the king of C,UNIX now.
Look at any good program, it is Python or C. and usually free.
References :
Before you learn a language, learn programming. http://www-old.oberon.ethz.ch/WirthPubl/AD.pdf
You can learn English, but that won’t make you a novelist. If you learn novel writing, you can write a novel in any language you learn. Programming is like that. Learning a programming language gives you a language to do – er – you don’t know how to do anything with it, do you?
The ONLY cross-platform language (without doing some rewriting) is Java – and Java is not an easy language. PHP is an easy language, but it’s used mainly for websites (but it can be compiled into a desktop app – I run a mail server written in PHP and compiled to run under Windows.)
Learning programming will take about 6 months. Learning a simple language like PHP will take a couple of weeks. (Becoming really good at programming – in any language – takes years.)
A simple multitrack recording program or a simple image editor aren’t simple programs. You have to understand the thing before you can write a program to do it – and learning sound recording or graphics isn’t something you learn well enough to program for in a couple of months. (If you can’t lay out the steps for a one-track-minded moron to do it, you can’t write a program to do it. Computers are one-track-minded morons – fast, but incredibly stupid.)
References :
30 years of teaching programming