"Rune S. Johansen" wrote:

> I would like to come into programming.

<snip>

> A description of which languages have which advantages and disadvantages
> would be appreciated.

<snip>

What platform do you use ?
That is always relevant because some platforms have softwares others don't.

Talking broadly :
What use do you want to make out of programming ?
Is it just for fun ?
Do you want to be able to write software quickly ?
Or do you have time on your hands.
What is your budget ?


The best way in my opinion is to take the fun approach and to make time if you
don't already have it, so you take it leisurely enough.

I started a long time ago with Basic and the like, they do not help much for
programming. A few days with them is more than enough. The basic style languages
only bring bad habits, so is best avoided. The only thing basic can do for you
any other language can do it as well and this is to start grasp what a program
is and what sort of simple actions you can do with a program.

One choice is important though.
When you start programming you want to see the result straight away. So it is
usually easier to start with an interpreted language.
Once you are confident enough, then add another layer of knowledge and put in
the compilation & link stages.


My second step was Logo, there is a Logo interpreter available for Windows
somewhere on the net, I don't remember the URL. Maybe more than just Windows.
You may try to locate it at
http://union.ncsa.uiuc.edu/HyperNews/get/computing/lang-list.html  as this lists
many (most ? all ? not all, no) languages available in the computing world.
This is really great for toying and getting you into very good programming
thinking although pretty simple to use.

Then there is two broad routes :
1-fun/toying
2-work/net/useable fun/games

Route 1 :
I would strongly recommend looking into Prolog and Le Lisp. Two great sets of
concepts. It is actually nice to follow this Route first, then go on to Route 2.
Or maybe just stay on Route 1 if you can afford it (timewise, if computers don't
feed you for instance).

Route 2 :
Next step I would strongly advise Pascal as it is a pretty simple conventional
programming language. If you look closely at the way it enforces you to define
your programs you will understand pretty clearly and pretty quickly what is
happening in the machine and in the compiler. Pascal is one of the best
(self)teaching languages.
Borland (not free) has developped turbo pascal with object oriented features and
that is much easier to use than C++. Again very good for teaching purposes not
always as powerful as C/C++, always cleaner than C/C++.

C is a disgrace to methodical, pretty, safe, reliable computing but it has grown
so big that you just can't avoid it. So whenever you want to seriously take up
programming and merge your efforts with stuff that floats on the net, then C/C++
are unavoidable. They are powerful languages but they can be pretty messy and
you need a lot of experience to cope with sizable applications.

I would like to advise ADA but unfortunately too few companies/programmers use
it or know how to use it. ADA is pretty complex but allows to write nicer,
safer, more reliable apps than C. There is one big bad point with ADA though :
string manipulation is poor in the standard package - and string manipulation is
a very strong point of C.

A lot of very powerful tools like awk/sed/lex/yacc/bison/python/java borrow from
the C/C++ spirit and/or interface easily with C/C++.

If you are into maths to a high degree then you will not be able to avoid
Fortran (f77 mostly). It is pretty bnackwards but so many maths libraries have
been coded in fortran that many people just gave up trying to port it all to
another language.

I'm sure there must be free versions of all languages I quoted. Sometimes free
versions can be a headache as you have no one to blame for doing things wrong
and not being helpful. But in the long run you find out that these are the best
for finding helpful people - big companies do not help much.
Starting off with a free tool can be hard in the beginning, but if you hold on
and get over it, they really reward you with satisfaction.

Best of luck in your quest,
Alain.

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