Jeber Posted February 27, 2004 Share Posted February 27, 2004 I'm ashamed to say that I haven't spent much time here. Everytime I think I'll come in and read a bit, something pops up to distract me. So if what I'm asking has been covered elsewhere, point me in the right direction and accept my apologies.The background: I learned COBOL and FORTRAN in the Army in the 1970's. During the 80's and 90's I managed to forget 99% of what I learned. I haven't studied a programming language since. Today, one of the fellows I work with at our temporary job told me he wanted me to start learning a language like C++ or even better, C#, so that when this gig ended, he could hire me to help him with a bunch of software projects he's got lined up. He's a former corporate programmer, wants to start his own company, and only wants to hire people he knows and enjoys working with. I guess I fall into that group.So I'm wondering where to start. With a grounding in machine languages and cryptography, you'd think I'd have a head start. Not from what I've seen thus far. None of the current languages look familiar at all. And since I'm looking at a fairly short timeframe, I don't want to just buy a bunch of books and try to start from scratch.Any suggestions, recommendations, alternatives?Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed_P Posted February 27, 2004 Share Posted February 27, 2004 cryptography Army cryptography? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SonicDragon Posted February 27, 2004 Share Posted February 27, 2004 You included HTML in your title.... which i'm sure would be very easy for you to learn. Then again, that doesn't sound like the type of programming that you want to do.As for the short time frame, you could always go with one of those "Learn C in 24 Hours" books. I have one of those for perl, and i actually really like it. 24 hours is not at all realistic though. 24 days probably is still cutting it short. But, worse comes to worse, you can quickly scan it just to get a feel for what's going on and how it's syntax is formatted. Since you already know a few languages, you at least already understand how programming works and how to get things done. That should give you a big head start ;)As for C vs C++ vs C#, i'm afraid i have no idea what the difference is Good luck Jeber! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poincare Posted February 27, 2004 Share Posted February 27, 2004 Here's a C++ tutorial that covers a lot of the basics. It might help as a review.http://www.cplusplus.com/doc/tutorial/index.htmlThis C# site has some links for free d/l & seems to have a good number of examples & links for more info.http://www.programming.de/index.php?learn_cs.phpI haven't tried it myself, but it seems worth a look for you.Good luck ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeber Posted March 2, 2004 Author Share Posted March 2, 2004 Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I'm gonna check out those links and look at a copy of the "24..." book. Anything may help. As of tomorrow the job quest starts, so the clock is already ticking.EdP...kinda sorta. I was in the Army Security Agency but the crypto work we did was for the DoD, not just the Army. BTW-I'm currently reading Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon. Fascinating book. A great read, and fairly accurate for a novelization of the history of modern crypto. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted March 2, 2004 Share Posted March 2, 2004 Jeber,Happy Hunting! And may you find the job you always wanted, but were afraid to ask for! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed_P Posted March 2, 2004 Share Posted March 2, 2004 I was in the Army Security Agency but the crypto work we did was for the DoD, not just the Army. I was in "the field" maintaining and repairing the equipment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
epp_b Posted March 2, 2004 Share Posted March 2, 2004 As for C vs C++ vs C#, i'm afraid i have no idea what the difference is More Features. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jodef Posted March 3, 2004 Share Posted March 3, 2004 Not sure whether I should have started a new thread or not decided to post here because along the same lines of Jeber's initial question.Anyway no programming experience (I'm not counting the few simple Pascal programs that I wrote for a school course once ) I consider myself fairly adept at learning stuff once pointed in right direction.Want to get into programming where's a good place to start and maybe some resources to look at.Sorry if my question sounds really general but all I know about programming languages is they have short names and are spelt differently.Just start me off with a few suggestions I'll take it from there and will post back if I require further assistance.Thx. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeber Posted March 3, 2004 Author Share Posted March 3, 2004 I was in "the field" maintaining and repairing the equipment.I spent a little time out in the field myself, in an MLQ-24...the old milky.Those things needed lots o' fixin'.Another one of those brilliant military concepts.A closed box, obvious as to purpose, operator with headphones on, parked beyond the front lines.Have you heard that the first man killed in nam was from A.S.A.? I don't recall his name, but he's even got a plaque in NSA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed_P Posted March 3, 2004 Share Posted March 3, 2004 My "field" was a/c'd comm centers with rack mounted equipment the size of small refrigs. The older stuff was tube based and the new stuff was solid state. Our intergrated circuits were transisitors and resistors and diodes in tar filled plastic modules. But I always felt our communications were secure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeber Posted March 3, 2004 Author Share Posted March 3, 2004 Except from vibration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SonicDragon Posted March 5, 2004 Share Posted March 5, 2004 Want to get into programming where's a good place to start and maybe some resources to look at.I was in that same situation last year. The best advice i have is to pick a popular language (Perl, C, C++, etc) and get a book and dive right in! I have a "Learn Perl in 24 Hours" book that i'm really enjoying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FuzzDuckie Posted March 16, 2004 Share Posted March 16, 2004 That the same Jeber I know?? Can't help ya as I am in the same situation...15 months out of work now...with 4 years experience as a QA Tester in mainframe environment. I've been working on Visual Basic and SQL although I don't know how "self learning" will get me in the door when I don't even have a degree- just two diplomas (one in computer programming-- that was the COBOL one...and one in Visual Basic 6). Do have a BA degree in something wildly different from Computers though.Say..think your friend will hire me?? :-D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teacher Posted March 16, 2004 Share Posted March 16, 2004 We have some wonderful folks here with all sorts of abilities. I wonder if we could coerce them into starting a tutorial thread???? LilBambi? Arena???Julia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed_P Posted March 16, 2004 Share Posted March 16, 2004 How about a job postings thread? Maybe some of the Highlanders know of openings or soon to be openings, at their companies and could provide an email address of the IT/DP dept's mananger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teacher Posted March 16, 2004 Share Posted March 16, 2004 Jobs disappear almost as fast as they are posted anywhere. Somehow I don't think we would have too many folks that could post listings here. Julia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed_P Posted March 17, 2004 Share Posted March 17, 2004 Don't know where you work teacher but in the corporations I've worked in in the US hiring always took weeks. The HRs needed time to ensure all the EEO requirements and etc were met. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted March 17, 2004 Share Posted March 17, 2004 Jobs disappear almost as fast as they are posted anywhere. Somehow I don't think we would have too many folks that could post listings here. Julia You are so right Julia ... there are lots of websites that handle job listings anyway.That's not what the forums are for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FuzzDuckie Posted March 17, 2004 Share Posted March 17, 2004 While jobs seem to disappear the minute they hit job boards like Monster....maybe some sort of networking folder...? I am HORRIBLE when it comes to networking because a) I don't know how and I'm deaf so its a tad hard to readily and easily "network" outside of the home.Tips, ideas and suggestions on how and where to get jobs would be a great addition to this board, especially for the IT folks. I am not about to have to move to another country just to get a job..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted March 17, 2004 Share Posted March 17, 2004 I'm ashamed to say that I haven't spent much time here. Everytime I think I'll come in and read a bit, something pops up to distract me. So if what I'm asking has been covered elsewhere, point me in the right direction and accept my apologies.The background: I learned COBOL and FORTRAN in the Army in the 1970's. During the 80's and 90's I managed to forget 99% of what I learned. I haven't studied a programming language since. Today, one of the fellows I work with at our temporary job told me he wanted me to start learning a language like C++ or even better, C#, so that when this gig ended, he could hire me to help him with a bunch of software projects he's got lined up. He's a former corporate programmer, wants to start his own company, and only wants to hire people he knows and enjoys working with. I guess I fall into that group.So I'm wondering where to start. With a grounding in machine languages and cryptography, you'd think I'd have a head start. Not from what I've seen thus far. None of the current languages look familiar at all. And since I'm looking at a fairly short timeframe, I don't want to just buy a bunch of books and try to start from scratch.Any suggestions, recommendations, alternatives?Thanks.Getting back to what this Topic is about ...The topic title: HTML, C++, C# Of course, HTML is a markup language that can include scripts, where as C++ and C# are true programming languages in the traditional sense.All are certainly worthy choices. And you certainly have an advantage since you already learned other programming languages in the past.Persistence and perserverence are certainly a very important part of learning any language, whether it is HTML, C++, C# or learning to speak in a second language. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeber Posted March 17, 2004 Author Share Posted March 17, 2004 I thank you all for your suggestions. I'm following up on all of them, as best I can.I didn't mean for this to morph into a help-wanted thread, nor do I want this to become a debate over the merits of the different languages...so I'm going to close this thread with appreciation for the advice offered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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