I'm a newfag programmer, so I don't have any experience, whatsoever. In other words, I'm a newfag still in the womb. What would be a good programming language to start on? I'm a mathematician, so I don't necessarily need huge 'user friendly' things.
>>6,7,8,9 I don't necessarily need huge 'user friendly' things.
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Anonymous2007-11-17 18:39
>>2,5 I don't necessarily need huge 'user friendly' things.
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Anonymous2007-11-17 18:55
Lisp, faggot. Although if you're a mathemetician you might find functional languages simple and relaxing.
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Anonymous2007-11-17 18:57
As a mathematician, you'll probably want to learn the functional language C. Functional languages treat computation as the evaluation of equations and eschew state, so they are closer to mathematics than imperative languages. Don't let the fully parenthesized syntax of C scare you away though, you'll learn to love S-expressions :).
Don't listen to the trolls at >>4 and >>10, Python's static typing is very unforgiving to newcomers!
Have fun with programming!
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Anonymous2007-11-17 19:04
As a mathematician, you'll probably want to learn the functional language PHP. Functional languages treat computation as the evaluation of equations and eschew state, so they are closer to mathematics than imperative languages. Don't let the fully parenthesized syntax of PHP scare you away though, you'll learn to love XML :).
Don't listen to the trolls at >>14 and >>15, C's static typing is very unforgiving to newcomers!
Have fun with programming!
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Anonymous2007-11-17 19:15
>>11 >>12 >>13
IDLE, anyone?
trolling aside, python is, IMHO, a nice language to start with since it's a multiparadigm language. Functional programming suits mathematicians? Sure, but also does assembler (cf. Don Knuth). So you must learn both imperative and functional programming, and after starting with python you can try C and Haskell.
>>18
/prog/ newfag. It actually goes ``One word, the forced indentation of code. Thread over.''
I would know; I invented this meme.
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Anonymous2007-11-17 22:12
>>19 YEAH, AND I BET YOU INVENTED THE "I INVENTED THIS MEME" MEME TOO, MEMEFAG.
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Anonymous2007-11-17 22:22
MEMEFAG
Failed attempt at starting a new meme.
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Anonymous2007-11-17 22:24
>>1
Haskell's pretty easy on maths types, I hear. It's also a huge trip, but I think maths people have quite a high tolerance for that kinda thing already.
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Anonymous2007-11-17 22:56
>>22
yes, but I don't know if it's a good way to start programming...
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Anonymous2007-11-17 22:57
>>23
For a person with a high tolerance for math, it's a good way.
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Anonymous2007-11-17 23:00
>>24
no, not because it's hard, but because it's a very special way of programming.
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Anonymous2007-11-17 23:26
qbasic
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Anonymous2007-11-17 23:27
But after one has had their fill of Haskell (if ever), they can just regard C, Java et al as Haskell's retarded little brothers that need lots more handholding.
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Anonymous2007-11-17 23:35
>>27
No. I don't care if you program or do not program in C. Every programmer must know how to program in C, and be able to do OOP, functional, logical, sql, etc. You might like it or not, but you should know how to do that stuff.
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Anonymous2007-11-18 0:23
>>28
I think that by learning Haskell well right off the bat, a programmer can learn to visualise their program in terms of the high-level tasks it will be accomplishing. The natural modularity of functional programming will help them learn elegant design. Any idiot can learn to sling for loops around and manipulate pointers... so why not save that stuff for such a time as you have some idea where you want to go?
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Anonymous2007-11-18 2:04
>>28
Object Oriented Progamming is good, Object Obsessed Programming is bad, the likes of Java and C#.
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Anonymous2007-11-18 5:33
>>29
Any idiot can "visualize their program in terms of the high-level tasks it will be accomplishing". That doesn't even take a programmer, any retarded MBA monkey can do it.
Difference between said retards and the EXPERT PROGRAMMER is that the latter knows how computers work and can therefore devise an effective and elegant way of implementing his program instead of just feeding crap to a bloated super high level toy language.
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Anonymous2007-11-18 5:40
Why do Haskellfags always sound like they're trying to sell me a copy of Visual Basic?
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Anonymous2007-11-18 5:53
>>31
Enjoy your OMG OPTIMIZED O(n2) algorithms, while I do it in O(n·log n) with my bloated high level language.
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Anonymous2007-11-18 5:59
>>33
Sure, keep dreaming and enjoy your silly little toy programs that won't ever run on a machine other than the tiny Linux box under your desk in your mommy's basement.
Haskell is dead, nobody uses it, get over it already.
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Anonymous2007-11-18 6:10
FORTRAN
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Anonymous2007-11-18 6:12
>>34
Even Simon P. Jones, Haskell's creator, admits it's a useless toy language, ``safe,'' but useless. Your response, haskfags?
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Anonymous2007-11-18 6:28
ASSEMBLY
Not only because it has ass and embly in its name but also because that's where all the mathematicians started.
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Anonymous2007-11-18 7:30
lurn the programming language lisp
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Anonymous2007-11-18 7:45
>>36
I don't see why I should write programs for other people when I can write programs for myself.
>>31
What? No they can't. Have you ever even watched people learn to program? That's the hard part where people hit a wall.
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Anonymous2007-11-18 13:41
>>42
That's the first hurdle that thins the herd, but it's far from the largest obstacle on the way to satori.
The fact that it's a hurdle, though, leads assloads of very mediocre "programmers" to believe that they are in fact already expert programmers, when in fact they're barely more than script kiddies. Which, if anything, is worse.