Can I Become A Programmer?

[Ahsaniqbalkmc 0]

I am a student of medicine and surgery but I have extreme love for computers and programming and other similar things. When I was in the tenth standard I used to spend my whole day in front of the computer learning basic programming languages like GW basic etc. I had spent a lot of time in learning the Macromedia Flash action script and when I used to do it I did not even know that macromedia is a web development tool not an application development tool. Although action script took a lot of time from me but still I should say that it developed my concepts of programming. Now that I have to study huge books of anatomy and physiology etc can I still hope that I can become a programmer by giving only a maximum of one hour a day to do so because it is the maximum amount of time I can spare. If so then how? Pleas tell me and share your ideas and suggestions with me.

[FirefoxRocks 0]

I'd have to say anyone can be a programmer.It depends on what you want to program and what language you are learning. For application programming, you may consider learning C/C++, or Java as I am learning in high school right now. To develop iPhone/iPod touch apps, I believe it is Objective-C that you need to learn. For web development, you learn HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP and so on.You referred to learning ActionScript before. I'm not sure of how ActionScript works, but you must have picked up basic programming concepts there such as decision statements (if/else) and repetition statements (for/while). This knowledge can be useful for other programming languages such as C, Java or PHP for example.I personally enjoy web development, as many applications are now moving towards the browser/cloud computing, so it is an area of interest. For the sake of my experience, I'll talk about web development as "programming".It is almost necessary to start out web development by learning HTML. Without HTML you would have no web pages on the Internet. Throughout learning HTML, you learn how to use CSS to style your pages (color, positioning, etc). These languages go hand-in-hand when designing a page. If you want your page to "do something", then JavaScript would be a necessity. And finally, to do server-side work on your site, I recommend the use of PHP, unless you're a Microsoft fan then ASP. Both PHP and ASP allow you to use databases (SQL) and perform more complex tasks that require server processing (data storage, user authentication, etc).With an hour a day, you can probably develop a good knowledge of HTML in a week and learn the most commonly used CSS quite quickly.It's up to you whether you want to pursue web development or application development or both.

[Ahsaniqbalkmc 0]

I'd have to say anyone can be a programmer.
It depends on what you want to program and what language you are learning. For application programming, you may consider learning C/C++, or Java as I am learning in high school right now. To develop iPhone/iPod touch apps, I believe it is Objective-C that you need to learn. For web development, you learn HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP and so on.

You referred to learning ActionScript before. I'm not sure of how ActionScript works, but you must have picked up basic programming concepts there such as decision statements (if/else) and repetition statements (for/while). This knowledge can be useful for other programming languages such as C, Java or PHP for example.

I personally enjoy web development, as many applications are now moving towards the browser/cloud computing, so it is an area of interest. For the sake of my experience, I'll talk about web development as "programming".

It is almost necessary to start out web development by learning HTML. Without HTML you would have no web pages on the Internet. Throughout learning HTML, you learn how to use CSS to style your pages (color, positioning, etc). These languages go hand-in-hand when designing a page. If you want your page to "do something", then JavaScript would be a necessity. And finally, to do server-side work on your site, I recommend the use of PHP, unless you're a Microsoft fan then ASP. Both PHP and ASP allow you to use databases (SQL) and perform more complex tasks that require server processing (data storage, user authentication, etc).

With an hour a day, you can probably develop a good knowledge of HTML in a week and learn the most commonly used CSS quite quickly.

It's up to you whether you want to pursue web development or application development or both.

Please can you help me that how should I start? I am eager to learn web development and to make my pages more complex then they are now. Have i o buy some books ar download some e-books. What should I do ?

[FirefoxRocks 0]

W3Schools is an excellent resource for learning many web technologies. Start with HTML and CSS.

http://www.w3schools.com/

[Quatrux 4]

Yeah, I agree that W3Schools is a good place to start learning programming, especially with web, but also I recommend to read some books, especially with names like: "Learn PHP in 24 hours" or "Learn PHP in 1 week" or "Learn PHP in 24 days" ;]Those books usually tell much more about programming habits and how to avoid mistakes, than a simple tutorial.

[Ahsaniqbalkmc 0]

Yeah, I agree that W3Schools is a good place to start learning programming, especially with web, but also I recommend to read some books, especially with names like: "Learn PHP in 24 hours" or "Learn PHP in 1 week" or "Learn PHP in 24 days" ;]
Those books usually tell much more about programming habits and how to avoid mistakes, than a simple tutorial.

I visited the site w3schools and first of all i liked the wonderful simple design they have. I then visited the page HTML tutorial and I found it very easy to understand. In one of my other posts a user told me that HTML is very easy to understand and learn and now I come to know the weight of that sentence.
By the way please can you suggest me the title of any book you would like me buy to learn css and HTML.
Also please tell me that is frontpage not good for webdevelopment?. I read in a lot of places that Frontpage is very bad because it generates codes that can actually harm your website. Is it correct? If yes than what should be the alternative to Frontpage

[FirefoxRocks 0]

Also please tell me that is frontpage not good for webdevelopment?. I read in a lot of places that Frontpage is very bad because it generates codes that can actually harm your website. Is it correct? If yes than what should be the alternative to Frontpage

I answered your question about FrontPage in the other post, but as for being harmful to your website, it really depends. The latest version of FrontPage is almost 7 years old. I've never used FrontPage 2003 before, only FrontPage 2000.

(Please note that I may be wrong about some things here.)

Back then, CSS 2 became a recommendation in 1998. FrontPage had no clue what CSS was. Styling things used <font> tags, and tabular layouts were popular back then. These things considerably slowed down your page, the more complex the layout was, the more nested tables, the slower the page. FrontPage was not critical about the code, accessibility (blind users/difficulty using mouse) or validity of your page, but rather the appearance of the page in Internet Explorer. Also, back then mobile devices were very rare.

Now as for coding the page, of course you can code as bad as FrontPgae, but you can also learn how to code better, as to using FrontPage, you rarely need to touch any HTML code.

[Xarex 1]

Such an interesting question.When I was 10, I had gotten my first computer, and I wanted to make games. I wanted to do it so bad. I had learned about a program called "Visual Basic 3.0" that allowed you to make games and anything else. I downloaded a trial version of it, which allowed you to make files but you just couldn't make the EXE file (which I would later purchase VB to do). But I remember spending hours and hours, just staring at it and being lost. But I wanted to do it so bad! I could do nothing but open up the program and look at it, but I really had no clue what to do! One night, I went to sleep, and I had a dream.. I had made a successful program. I was writing code, I was doing it all, and I completely understood it all! I woke up, realized I didn't do anything.But this time, I opened up the program.. and just knew what to do. I made my first program when I was 12 years old.. just a simple calculator, and then an 8-Ball that gave you random messages if you were lucky or not or whatever.Anyways, to make a longer story short, I grew tired of it.. tired of staring in front of a screen all day, and I went into psychology, never really looking at a computer for programming or gaming again. But I still had this desire, this itch, this urge to want to do it.And well, after almost 7 or 8 years - it has been -- I just got back into some form of programming. I took a college course in Python -- after not programming for years, I managed to pick it up immediately, because once you know one language, you pretty much know them all -- the logic stays the same, but the "words" of the "language" change, but not too much. I never forgot how to program in VB. I used those same concepts in Python and got through the class.I have recently gotten back into HTML and PHP.. never thought I'd ever get into PHP. I avoided website programming and design for years, and I just made a beautiful website in about 3 weeks. So my point is.. you can go for your dreams! Even if it takes you a little longer, go for it!Honestly, the best way to learn, is to do it little by little. If you can create a button that you click and it gives you a message of "Hello World." You have already done more than most people ever will when it comes to programming. So take your time, be patient, and learn little by little.