<p>but I have no programming experience whatsoever. Do you guys have any suggestions on what my most practical option would be/where I should start?</p>
<p>I can’t comment on the “profit” part, but I personally like Ruby, Java, and C++ as first languages. Here’s why:</p>
<p>Ruby: I think this is the easiest language to learn. It’s very forgiving, the syntax is intuitive, and the documentation is excellent. Ruby on Rails is becoming very popular for web development and might be marketable. Ruby is strongly object-oriented.
[Ruby</a> Programming Language](<a href=“http://www.ruby-lang.org/en/]Ruby”>Ruby Programming Language)
[Documentation[/url</a>]
[url=<a href=“http://rubyonrails.org/]Ruby”>http://rubyonrails.org/]Ruby</a> on Rails](<a href=“http://www.ruby-lang.org/en/documentation/]Documentation[/url”>Documentation)</p>
<p>Java: Java is a very common language that I found pretty easy to pick up. There are lots of resources available (you could even use an AP prep book for the recent AP CS exams).
[The</a> Java Tutorials](<a href=“JDK 20 Documentation - Home”>The Java™ Tutorials)
[Amazon.com:</a> Barron’s AP Computer Science A (9780764143731): Roselyn Teukolsky M.S.: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Barrons-Computer-Science-Roselyn-Teukolsky/dp/0764143735/ref=dp_ob_title_bk]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Barrons-Computer-Science-Roselyn-Teukolsky/dp/0764143735/ref=dp_ob_title_bk)</p>
<p>C++: Some may not like this recommendation. C++ is not nearly as forgiving as the other two and requires a good deal more low-level effort. I think this is a good thing because it promotes more rigorous learning.
[C++</a> Language Tutorial](<a href=“http://www.cplusplus.com/doc/tutorial/]C++”>http://www.cplusplus.com/doc/tutorial/)
[Cprogramming.com</a> - Programming Tutorials: C++ Made Easy and C Made Easy](<a href=“C, C++ Programming Tutorials - Cprogramming.com”>C, C++ Programming Tutorials - Cprogramming.com)</p>
<p>Just take a class in Java at your local CC or online.</p>
<p>If you’re looking to get into web development, you should definitely learn XHTML and CSS markup as well as PHP. They’re not real ‘programming’ languages in the traditional sense, but for web development it’s very easy to pick up and there’s widespread support for them.</p>
<p>Otherwise, Java is a good start, and after you get the hang of the structure of object-oriented programming you could try and get into C or C++. It takes a lot of work to really get good at programming and mainly it takes time and experience so don’t get frustrated in the beginning because it’s not so easy. Once you get the hang of it, you shuld definitely try and write some small apps with the guidance of a tutorial (the internet is full of them, try [Photoshop</a> Tutorials, Flash Tutorials and More! P2L Tutorial Search](<a href=“http://pixel2life.com%5DPhotoshop”>http://pixel2life.com)) and the more you do that the more interested you will be to continue (since you’re seeing the applications of what you’re doing) and the more you’ll actually learn and for me it was the quickest way I could learn. Simply looking at code of various applications and sites is a learning experience, even if you don’t understand all of it.</p>
<p>I like the book Learn to Program. Its published by The Pragmatic Programmers and was written by Chris Pine. It is based on Ruby and is what I am using to learn to program. My uncle who works for a software company recommended it to me. Very helpful and easy to understand for a beginner. I think you can get it used for a couple dollars on amazon.</p>
<p>For profit: SQL or some variant (really a database or scripting language or what used to be called a ‘4GL’ – Forth Generation Language – not a truly full blown language).
For learning: Visual Basic or Java.
Take baby steps. Don’t try to swim all at once or you may sink and give up.</p>
<p>This question depends on your goal and how much time you want to spend.</p>
<p>Some people here recommend ruby, i also do, sort of.</p>
<p>I’ll admit I do not know how to program in ruby (my scripting language is Perl), but you will learn Object Oriented Prog. (useful skill when moving onto other languages) and ruby should be very easy to pick up. </p>
<p>BUT what sort of job can you get paid to do with knowing ruby alone? I’m sure its mostly web development</p>
<p>so for profit, very often theres local posting at my school looking for student web developers with so-and-so experience … so basically you would need to know:
- a scripting language: PHP, Ruby , or Perl (listing in order of popularity)
- a web-framework to go along with your language, ie. ruby on rails
- most likely will have to interface with SQL database, so minimal understanding of this would be necessary</p>
<p>I think thats the fastest way for some profit programming as a student</p>