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Where to start with computer programing

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Ehtyar:
As long as we provide a reasoning for our suggestions, we're providing an opportunity for josephus to make his own decision based on the benefits of the specific language. I see no harm in that. He is, after all, perfectly welcome to disregard whatever we say.
in future you may want to consider backing up your opinion with more than a quote from someone with the same opinion.
-Ehtyar (October 12, 2008, 06:54 PM)
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Why am I obligated to provide more than one, when you provided no citations whatsoever? I was going to be a smarta** and post a search to 473,000 hits on "PHP sucks", but just consider this one:

First, let's try to be a bit more specific. Does PHP the language suck, or does PHP the environment suck?

They both suck.

In fact, they suck for the same reason: PHP-the-language and PHP-the-environment both grew by accretion of random features, not by any purposeful design for orthogonality. So you have idiot "features" like magic quotes ("Assuming it to be on, or off, affects portability. Use get_magic_quotes_gpc() to check for this, and code accordingly) and register globals (same disclaimer applies, only more so).
...

In short, PHP sucks because, PHP's authors are prone to confuse "pragmatism" (a fine design goal, if done well) with "adding random features without considering how they impact the language as a whole." Thus, its authors have found it necessary to correct obvious flaws in both minor and major releases, with the result that the recent PHP5 breaks with the past to an unprecedented degree while still leaving many fundamental flaws un-addressed.

--- End quote ---

I wouldn't have posted this whole quote, but I think it actually supports my point in the real discussion. Design issues are every bit as important as the programming language. If you don't know what you're doing, you may just wind up with a magnificent monstrosity. Knowing how to write a program isn't sufficient: you need to know how to decide just which program to write: what does the user really need; what are the best algorithms to achieve those goals; any design patterns extant where people have already proven the solutions.
-CWuestefeld (October 12, 2008, 07:11 PM)
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You're missing my point. Your previous quote was simply Jeff's opinion on PHP, an unsupported one at that. This one has a basis in fact, and even goes so far as to describe them in detail. I'll even give you that PHP is prone to adding random features and in a way that completely disregards any form of classification. I fail to see, however, how this flaw makes PHP such a horrifying language to use, how it breeds bad programming habbits, and why it's such travesty given all the other options available should one wish to be rid of this oversight. PHP does teach procedurally oriented programming, it is a highly marketable language, and it does complement HTML in (arguably) the most practical fashion currently.

Ehtyar.

Grorgy:
It was posted about here somewhere sometime ago, why not start with looking at the Stanford School of Engineering free computer courses.  They sound pretty good
Introduction to Computer Science
Programming Methodology CS106A
Programming Abstractions CS106B
Programming Paradigms CS107

--- End quote ---

The methodologies uses java as the programming language to teach, the next ones use other languages.

here is the link http://see.stanford.edu/see/courses.aspx

Ehtyar:
That is an excellent suggestion. I've done a few weeks worth of the paradigms course myself. Very impressive material, freely offered to the public, not much more one could ask for.

Ehtyar.

josephus:
Just wanted to say thanks guys you all have really helped me a lot :D

 

Ehtyar:
I'll try to behave myself more in the future. Let us know your decisions, perhaps we can offer some language-specific advice when you come to your decision.

Ehtyar.

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