Computer Programmers?

[Yugure's Goddess]

hey, peoples! I was just wondering how many people here have an interest in and/or knowledge of computer programming. This year I've gotten into the computer Science and programming class instead of the normal computer class and I feel all superior and stuff! (XP) But it is a pretty difficult subject. Probably the most difficult I've ever had but that's what makes it even more fun for me cause this is like the first class ever where i have to actually read the chapters and pay attention to be able to pass!

This programming thing start off small, we just got to looping basics and have created about 15 VERY SIMPLE programs. It's kind of like... well Algrebra with words instead of numbers and is almost like learning a whole new language at the same time. It's kind of boring right now because the only programs we have done are testing and learning programming basics like programming a simple math problem or drawing a square. We're learning the Java programming language, btw.

I get so frustrated all the time because our teacher penalizes us for not adding comments which are used to make the progam more readable and usable by other programmers and it's kinda tedious to describe every other line of coding before we do it like

//define necessary variables

or

//draw the square

But overall i'm happy with the class because it challenges me quite a bit. So, are there any other people here that are interested in the subject, learning it or masters of it? (I envy you.) But really. this is for the REAL computer nerds! ...yeah! NERD POWER!! O.o

love
dani
dude

[lucky leprachaun]

Programming is FUN. and i like pi.

[Rageling]

It's strictly a hobby for me but yeah I know a bit about programming. They even sent me to some training center in Little Rock, I found it to be a waste of time but they paid for it and I got to stay in a suite so I didn't complain.

[Ami~chan]

Many of my friends have expressed a HUGE interest in computer programming, and I'm mildly interested. Only as a hobby though, never as a career.

[Yugure's Goddess]

Just a hobby, huh? *pouts* No, that's cool. It's something that I'm pretty interested in, not ubberly obsessed with but now that i've started it is kinda fun and there's a part of me that want's to be a video game programmer (which is why I'm taking them in the first place).

A simple but kinda of interesting question: How much can you guys program as in... I suppose, what's the most complicated program you've created and/or been a part of creating?

The most I've done is a program that takes the number of minutes a person has talked to Lexington Virginia and based on the cost and time and different factors (if-else statements come in here) and gives the cost of the call as output. Meh, pretty simplistic but, hey, I'm learning!

love
dani
dude

[Manhattan_Project_2000]

Yeah. I program. I plan on being a computer engineer.

Right now, I'm taking a C++ class. C++ is very different from VB.Net.

If VB.Net was an efficient, yet boring, Japanese-made compact car, C++ would be a giant pick-up truck. It's cantankerous, wasteful, and drives like a tank, but it's more powerful, which makes up for some of its faults.

And although I agree that commenting your code on small assignments is stupid, when you get into more complex code, it becomes REALLY IMPORTANT. I was making a program for fun that was a lot longer then the stuff I was being assigned, and managed to lose what little hand-written notes I had on it. After a week’s hiatus, I looked at my code, totally mystified as to how, where, and why I put the functions the way I did. And that's with VB.Net, which has its code written in such a way as to be readable by non-programmers.

[Yugure's Goddess]

Actually Java is supposed to be like C++, just modified to be more user friendly. They did it from C++ cause it was one of the best/easiest to use and most people know C++ so now that lots of things are turning into Java programming It'll be easy for programs to switch between Java and C++. (that's what the text book said)

Java, apparently isn't as difficult to write/use as C++ but is more programmer and reader friendly.

And the teacher did say that comments would be necessary one day when we're doing 5,000 lines of coding instead of 50! ^_^;; Makes sense that it would be, I suppose but it still kinda annoys me. I guess cause i'm cocky and I understand my coding NOW. But it was kinda necessary when I was doing a turtle graphics program where... you know it's (I forgot what it's called and am too lazy to go and get my text book and find out) it's the two arrows on top of one another one with two point and the other with two tails. (That one was an SOB!! but I still did it all on my own... i felt so special...even though I wasn't I still felt good about myself!)

But that's cool! (lot more people turned up faster than I had expected actually! I don't feel so alone in my nerdiness, anymore! yay!)

love
dani
dude

[Manhattan_Project_2000]

I'm not saying C++ is hard... honestly, the problems I have with it is probably the compiler use more then the language itself. VB.Net uses Visual Studio, which is nice.

[Yugure's Goddess]

hee... I wasn't suggesting you were talking down to me... just kinda quoting the text book cause it said Java was one of the easiest. And you know? I've never used(or actually even heard of) VB.net or visual studio so I wouldn't really know. heh.

um. Either way, whatever works. I know next year i'm taking the next course and then the web mastering class my Senior year. I'm making sure I know the most about computers as humanly possible by the end of high school cause I don't just wanna program video games and such there are other ways I'd like to put such knowledge to use with... like right now I'm strenuously trying to work with building a page for my forum with a very low tech site building program that... well has lots of HTML coding that I don't really understand and I kinda need to know to work with it.

I know some of the basics like I understand <HEADING>, <TITLE> and such but the coding for puting in pictures is odd and I can't seem to color the background one color or put a picture as a background and it makes me all angry cause I think I'm smart going "I FIGURED IT OUT!" *types in <BACKGROUND> </BACKGROUND> and puts pathway to picture or number code for color inbetween and previews* ... #$@%&*$!!

^_^;; yeah, I'm kinda immature...

EDIT: I feel so dumb putting in pointless crap sometimes and posting without checking myself... *dies laughing*

It's frustrating especially for some one like me who gives up too easily when somethings not really important to me. (I feel like such a slacker! lol)

...

love
dani
dude

[Ouroboros Anarchy]

I'm currently in my second year of a Computer Science (Games Development) course. Out of all the subjects I have been finding all the programming classes to be the easiest. Probably cause I've been programming for a few years now, I know the basics for VB6, VB.net, C#, Java and am now learning C and C++.

I have to agree though. commenting is tedious. I end up forgetting most times to do it.

[Wolfwood]

if ya like it, its very much worth studying with all you got ^^ lol
programmers are very highly paid. but it can be hard to get into that line of work since companies will only higher the best and you'll need to show that you are.
so it wouldnt be a bad idea to do some work for free for people while studying it just to show you have workplace experiance when going for a full time job.

i did it a little, but got distracted by little programs designed to overload comps
and i got bored of it >_>

still, i'd recommend going for it professionaly. they're paid even more then 3d desingers in most cases and the options in that career path are growing fast.

=[[Wolfwood]]=

[wizz-o-matic]

mhm, I'm kinda obligated to study it ... eventho I dislake it. So far I've studied Pascal (high school) and now Java and C (university).
And yes, Java is easy to learn ... much more than C, but overall C is much better in the final result. Java sucks in performance.

[Eris]

I'm into C and C++ these days. In linux naturally (visual studio eats children). As a hobby that is.

Wizz: That depends on your level of programming. C has a LOT less theory. It's syntax is somewhat messy when it comes to pointers, but it's really not -that- much information you have to absorb to understand it.

Java however, it's full of object orientation, generics, stuff that requires a load of theory before you can even begin to grasp it. To put it this way: To learn C, you need one book: The C programming language by K&R (it's the bible of C). You've got it, you've got all you'll ever need. It's about a thumbswidth thick. As for java, my library contains a good couple of palmswidths of Java books totalling a good couple of thousand pages (as well as about the same ammount of C++-books).

[wizz-o-matic]

Wizz: That depends on your level of programming. C has a LOT less theory. It's syntax is somewhat messy when it comes to pointers, but it's really not -that- much information you have to absorb to understand it.

Yeah, I haven't programed much in C, just the obligatory stuff needed for classes, so my knowledge is rather low xD.

The only thing that really bothers me in Java are all that long syntax/command names ... like, you have a nifty command in C for open a file [fopen("name", r/w atribute)]... in Java opening a file is more complicated and has a longer syntax x_X
Tho it's true ... Java has already some nifty libraries for formated reading/writing with files.

[Eris]

Yeah, I haven't programed much in C, just the obligatory stuff needed for classes, so my knowledge is rather low xD.

The only thing that really bothers me in Java are all that long syntax/command names ... like, you have a nifty command in C for open a file [fopen("name", r/w atribute)]... in Java opening a file is more complicated and has a longer syntax x_X
Tho it's true ... Java has already some nifty libraries for formated reading/writing with files.

Using the java libraries might be pretty easy, but to actually understand the language, not just use it, that's a whole different matter.

[Regex]

I am a programmer, both as a hobby, and professionally.

Commenting your code is very important. So it shouldn't surprise you that a class would try to instill that habit in you by having you comment everything. It may look ridiculous, but it's important to any company you work for that you make your code in a way that any coder after you will be able to read and understand it.
Of course you won't be commenting every thing you do, but it would get pretty close to that. This is all about creating the habit in you..

Nonetheless, programming is a lot of fun, if you are interested in it. I've done a lot of work with computers, from network administration, to computer engineering, and programming is where my passion really lies.

As for the different languages, C++ and VB.NET shouldn't be compared like that. C++ has the capability of being streamlined far better than .NET is. The real faults that C++ has lie more in the compilers being too picky, not in it being wasteful. .NET was created in typical Microsoft fashion, with the philosophy that they should load too much in case you need it, rather than have you manually add every library you need. Goes perfect with Windows, really. Most of the actual work in .NET is done in common libraries, rather than C++'s fashion, with included header files. What this does is make it so you can keep your own programs small, but it requires more to be installed on the end user's machine initially..
Of course you can use C++ with .NET too... I just don't see the point.


At any rate, now I'm just rambling.
Right now, my professional work is in C# with ASP.NET, because that's in highest demand. It's definitely easy to use, and still lets me get my creativity out, while earning me good money.

For fun, most of my work ends up being in PHP, doing web work once again. But it's all about where the winds take me, so to speak. I go with what it occurs to me to do.
And I love every moment of it.

Some people love to draw, or play an instrument, or take photos, and they would love to be able to get a job in that field. I consider myself truly lucky that my creative passion is in a field that is not only in high demand, but is also well paying. To me, programming truly is a form of art. I pour myself into every line of code that I write, and I love every moment of it.

[Khanxay]

Well, I plan to study in computer science when I get in UTA. Programming looks fun to me. C is complicated for me right now...so I got to take it in a bit slower. Also learning binary and hexidecimals. I tend to have a bad habit of opening many things with notepad now.

[Apostolos]

its not really for nerds.. i'm not one but i can make programs and hack and any thing i want on a computer...

[Manhattan_Project_2000]

its not really for nerds.. i'm not one but i can make programs and hack and any thing i want on a computer...

You are posting on an anime forum... Face it, you're a nerd.

Also, I guarantee you can't hack.

[haishaban]

I study Computing Science (I'm about to graduate actually!). I'm a professional programmer for 4 years now. I currently work with xBase and I'm into C++ for my projects (they haven't given me as much money though!). I've also worked with Delphi but gave up cos that sucks... really! but Pascal is cool. I also use PHP for web. Never been interested in Java.. but wanted to learn it sometime. and im currently learning COBOL. omg this is fun lol.
Programming is my life... the only thing I do well... and the 2nd thing I like best to do (right after reading manga)

[Eris]

You are posting on an anime forum... Face it, you're a nerd.

Also, I guarantee you can't hack.

Also, the fact that he uses the word hack in the context he does guarantees he's got no idea what the word even means.

[Regex]

I study Computing Science (I'm about to graduate actually!). I'm a professional programmer for 4 years now. I currently work with xBase and I'm into C++ for my projects (they haven't given me as much money though!). I've also worked with Delphi but gave up cos that sucks... really! but Pascal is cool. I also use PHP for web. Never been interested in Java.. but wanted to learn it sometime. and im currently learning COBOL. omg this is fun lol.
Programming is my life... the only thing I do well... and the 2nd thing I like best to do (right after reading manga)

It looks more like you were a programmer 10 years ago, not now. Delphi, Cobol, Pascal... They're all old, and to be frank, effectively obsolete.

It's good to see someone else who is in the business though

[Eris]

It looks more like you were a programmer 10 years ago, not now. Delphi, Cobol, Pascal... They're all old, and to be frank, effectively obsolete.

It's good to see someone else who is in the business though

Academically they're still interesting, even though nobody actually uses them in the buissness world. Studying C-Sci in academia-land largely isn't about becomming the ideal employee-to-be, but about learning concepts, which old languages are good for (except perhaps Delphi, which is too close to pascal to make any sort of difference.)

[sapphiredragon]

I'm currently taking a computer science class in high school. It's been pretty easy for me so far, but we haven't gotten very far in it yet.

I think we're programming in J# or something like that, but we use Visual Studio.

I've also decided to join my school's robotics team for some odd reason, and I'm going to be working in the group that programs and wires the robot and stuff like that. From what they were saying at one of the informational meetings, it seems that they program in some form of C, but they didn't seem to know exactly what to call it.

My brother is majoring in computer science in college, and he's probably a large part of why I'm doing all of this.

[Ashminigun]

*joins in the frenzy...

Let see now... I have rusty knowledge on C/C++ and VBasic. I've gained some basic assembly machine language on 8086 machine also HC11 (both has nearly the samecommand string, the difference its system architecture and register present in the system also function execuation) and HDL also VHDL during my Electrical & Electronic Degree study. Most probably I use them if I'm planning working in System Design/Microeletronics industry.

'nough said...