142 replies to this topic

[BigSHinyToys]

with all the coders here I'm curious to know what programing / scripting languages you know.
I only stared programing in LUA at the start of this year I had previously tried C++ but couldn't get a compiler to install and never got off the ground. I know CMD commands and can operate a computer with out mouse using shortcuts.I Install new hardware in my computers but have never built one from the ground up (I hope to soon). I will be looking for a programing language to learn in the near future.

So enough about me brag about your self

What is you programing / Technical experience ?

[makerimages]

basically none, im coding with GM though, but i guess that doesnt count

[ardera]

a bit JAVA (but I don't like Java />), a bit PHP, html (its not a real programming languange but its the base-languange for the web), and the best:
LUA! />
(I tried to learn c++ but I didn't like it)

EDIT: Technical Experience: Redstone Computers! />

[Hackingroelz]

I kmow Lua and java (Made some Minecraft mods and I've made some 2d games). I've used c++ but I prefer java. And I know some javascript (unity)

[D3matt]

I took a BASIC course using VB.net in high school. I was learning HTML and LUA before that. I used LUA in a block building game called ROBLOX. I know a little Java, and I'm learning some C#.net. I know a little php and javascript as well. I've never really made any real programs, just little pet projects for fun. I've found that once I learned to program, at its most basic level, everything pretty much the same. It takes very little time for me to pick up a new language with at least a moderate understanding.

However, starting this fall, I will be taking an intro to computer science course alongside my computer networking classes. My technical capabilities are even more varied than my programming abilities and would be pointlessly long to type out here. I've built computers, fixed them, configured every windows OS since XP including server, I know switches/routers, wiring... Whole bunch of stuff. Which is good, since I plan to do computer stuff for a living.

My school experience is really business-oriented, which definitely influences the projects I write in Computercraft. A lot of client/server stuff.

[xuma202]

I've started with Delphi when I turned 9 and recently created advanced 3D Games using OpenGL see here and here. (I'ts German but you can maybe use the Screenshots and programs to get an impression)
Pascal (similar to Delphi) was a topic in computer science for me too.
I'm developed stuff using PHP, HTML, Java-Script and MySQL but I hate Java-Scripts DOM.
I started with Lua after I found CC.
I already tried C/C++ but never got beyond Hello World.
I have never made a program in Java though I've created some CC peripherals.

Have I missed smth? - O yes Brainfuck but that's rubbish.

[Kazimir]

I know a little Pascal, Delphi, trying to learn assembler and C-like languages. Until recently, did not like to be long, algorithms, but СС conquered my mind. />

I apologize for errors, I bad know English.

[Pharap]

I'm doing a GameDev course at college. I started learning programming about 8-12 months ago, starting with VB (being taught by an actual teacher) but I soon moved on to learning outside of college so by about month 4 I knew more about VB than nearly everyone else in the class and by month 6 I talked one of the other teachers into running me through the basics of Object Orientation. I now know most of the OO concepts (something we aren't supposed to start until next year, so I am now one of only 3 students in the class who know about OO ahead of schedule, and one of the only 2 who know how to do it in the language we will be doing it in. I taught the other one pretty much most of what he knows about how to do it in that language).

I have only started learning C# about a month ago, but I am currently dabbling in XNA and plan to create a basic game at some point. I started learning lua about 2-3 weeks ago and I think it's probably one of the easier languages to pick up, but slightly more annoying to debug without a good IDE (and I'm not a huge fan of how it handles Object Orientation compared to other languages). I also had about a 2 week period of looking into C++, but I couldn't get SFML to import. I managed to get another gaming library but I gave up mid-project as I found out I had to download an extra bit to let it handle non-bitmap images and it was another 'I'll do it tomorrow' job. I have a very shallow knowledge of GML, but generally I don't like game maker because I don't like the interface, a lot of it feels lazy and there is no decent listing of functions. Plus the way it handles objects is rather daft and frankly, I prefer the C-type languages over that lazy-awkward stuff.

As for the future, I'm planning to first make an XNA game in C#, then learn a bit of C++, and hopefully (when I've downloaded eclipse and seen if it's better than netbeans and when JVM doesn't throw a creation error) I will try to learn Java so I can do my own modding and create a mod that suits my wants and needs.

As for declarative languages, as part of GameDev, we did a bit on website creation and learnt the basics of html and touched on Css. One day I might come back to them and learn a bit of J-script to go with it (I know who I'm going to go to for lessons already).

Don't ask me about hardware though, I only recently learnt how much memory storage a byte is.
Also, a lot of my beliefs contradict standard programming practice and I often avoid learning the technical stuff that could speedup/simplify my code. I am good at problem solving though, usually, if someone is doing something complicated and they get a problem, I can figure out what it is without knowing much about what they are doing due to the angle I look at it from. However, it's usually that angle that stops me being able to do advanced stuff like that.

That's pretty much it for my bragging. In short I'm an average programmer and I'm probably better off just teaching future programmers who will probably surpass me in the end. At least I'll make some cool stuff along the way, even if half of it is pointless.

[Sammich Lord]

I always liked programming but never really got into it until a few weeks ago. I always put off learning to program but I felt like coming back with CC.
I used CC months ago but could barely make a password lock. Come back a few weeks ago and now I can make pretty advanced programs.
I plan on mastering Lua then moving on to C++ and going to start dev games. I know a lot about how computers function but not really programming I hope to learn a lot more advanced stuff then I already do.
That is basically what I know.

[nitrogenfingers]

Fantastic spread so far! Awesome to hear all the different programming stories...

I only started really programming when I reached university, completely by accident- before that I was on track to become a microbiologist but I took a semester in CS, loved it and never looked back. I've always struggled a bit, I often joke I'm "classically trained" as opposed to many of my peers who started when they were very young and are much more accomplished than I am.

At my uni, like many, Java is the language of choice and it's the one I'm the most fluent in. Though the course I also covered C as part of Systems and OS, Prolog, AIML and LISP as part of artificial intelligence, C++, Matlab and Fortran 77 as part of mathematical computing and a whopping list I love to recite when I remember for theory and practice of computation- Haskill, C++, Ada, COBOL, and a whole pile of others. The theory is exposure to lots of different paradigms makes other languages faster to pick up, though logic programming still gives me a headache.

My honours year I researched the use of Java with pedagogy, which gave me a bit of a passion for teaching; ended up creating a visualization of the JVM during runtime to help "dispel" the magic of IDE's fixing and inserting code, and helping students move from introductory to full-scale IDE's like Netbeans or Borland.

Once I graduated I stayed on at the uni as a teacher- mostly tutoring and demonstrating Java and C++ to students and even giving a few lectures which was really exciting. I worked a freelance job with some other academics, developing games in XNA for kids with cerebral palsy and later (and still) working with the devil of all programming languages, AS3, in developing some flash games for English as a second language students studying medicine. Pharap you mentioned you're an XNA dev? I think we're a dying breed- we should compare notes sometime />

Right now I've started my PhD in advanced gesture interfaces, and I think my passion lies somewhere between HCI and Pedagogy- certainly the way people interact with computers, and I find teaching and helping people understand the concepts that underlie programming to be immensely satisfying work. But as I say because I'm quite late to the profession I have to work very hard to keep up, both at uni and here with some of the other fantastically talented people on the CC forums.

Really excellent to see a lot of people so passionate about programming.

[BigSHinyToys]

nitrogenfingers, on 14 August 2012 - 11:05 AM, said:

Fantastic spread so far! Awesome to hear all the different programming stories...
-- snip --
Right now I've started my PhD in advanced gesture interfaces, and I think my passion lies somewhere between HCI and Pedagogy- certainly the way people interact with computers, and I find teaching and helping people understand the concepts that underlie programming to be immensely satisfying work. But as I say because I'm quite late to the profession I have to work very hard to keep up, both at uni and here with some of the other fantastically talented people on the CC forums.

Really excellent to see a lot of people so passionate about programming.

I have to second the "Fantastic spread so far! Awesome to hear all the different programming stories... " and "Really excellent to see a lot of people so passionate about programming."

I'm guessing you are talking about microsoft kinect or Leap Motion when you mentioned gesture computer control Like in the movie GAMER (< really awesome movie btw). It would be awesome to combine gesture controll with a mobile device like a smart phone so you could use a virtual key Bord to type Having applications in web browsing , software development ect.

[sjele]

I have been coding for 2 weeks.
I did once try to make a plugin, i watched a vid. I then relized. "Nope, to complicated for me"
A month ago i started playing tekkit, so i got to use computercraft and lua.
So lua is the only coding language i know.
When i get better at this, i realy want to learn how to make plugins etc. />

[zwap1233]

LUA of course i can also java. i have worked whit gml(can't do it anymore) and html
right now i'm the best a java. Technical well.. i can make litle devices using a building pack and a soldering iron.
so i know what thing like resistors do.

[Pharap]

Human0303, on 14 August 2012 - 10:28 AM, said:

I always liked programming but never really got into it until a few weeks ago. I always put off learning to program but I felt like coming back with CC.
I used CC months ago but could barely make a password lock. Come back a few weeks ago and now I can make pretty advanced programs.
I plan on mastering Lua then moving on to C++ and going to start dev games. I know a lot about how computers function but not really programming I hope to learn a lot more advanced stuff then I already do.
That is basically what I know.

You might want to do something else before C++. Loads of people know about C++, say 'hey, I'll learn C++' then give up really quickly because the difficulty of it breaks their spirit. Not saying you're not capable of doing it one day, just saying it's quite a jump up from lua considering it's Object Orientated and has much stricter syntax than most languages. I recommend trying something slightly easier like C# or Java. C# has XNA for making games (provided you download it, it is available but extra) and Java has LWJGL (what minecraft uses, again, download separately.

nitrogenfingers, on 14 August 2012 - 11:05 AM, said:

I only started really programming when I reached university, completely by accident- before that I was on track to become a microbiologist but I took a semester in CS, loved it and never looked back. I've always struggled a bit, I often joke I'm "classically trained" as opposed to many of my peers who started when they were very young and are much more accomplished than I am.

At my uni, like many, Java is the language of choice and it's the one I'm the most fluent in. Though the course I also covered C as part of Systems and OS, Prolog, AIML and LISP as part of artificial intelligence, C++, Matlab and Fortran 77 as part of mathematical computing and a whopping list I love to recite when I remember for theory and practice of computation- Haskill, C++, Ada, COBOL, and a whole pile of others. The theory is exposure to lots of different paradigms makes other languages faster to pick up, though logic programming still gives me a headache.

My honours year I researched the use of Java with pedagogy, which gave me a bit of a passion for teaching; ended up creating a visualization of the JVM during runtime to help "dispel" the magic of IDE's fixing and inserting code, and helping students move from introductory to full-scale IDE's like Netbeans or Borland.

Once I graduated I stayed on at the uni as a teacher- mostly tutoring and demonstrating Java and C++ to students and even giving a few lectures which was really exciting. I worked a freelance job with some other academics, developing games in XNA for kids with cerebral palsy and later (and still) working with the devil of all programming languages, AS3, in developing some flash games for English as a second language students studying medicine. Pharap you mentioned you're an XNA dev? I think we're a dying breed- we should compare notes sometime />

Right now I've started my PhD in advanced gesture interfaces, and I think my passion lies somewhere between HCI and Pedagogy- certainly the way people interact with computers, and I find teaching and helping people understand the concepts that underlie programming to be immensely satisfying work. But as I say because I'm quite late to the profession I have to work very hard to keep up, both at uni and here with some of the other fantastically talented people on the CC forums.

Really excellent to see a lot of people so passionate about programming.

I can relate to the no prior experience thing. Most of my GameDev class knew loads of stuff I didn't before joining the class. I guess that's probably why I got so in to programming: I realised I was able to grasp it fairly easily and part of me wanted to have an advantage over the rest of the class to make up for all the stuff I don't know about that appears to be common knowledge to them (Eg until a few weeks ago, had heard the name skrillex, but had no clue who he was. Generally not very up to date with memes.)

I know nothing about computer logic (the teacher who was supposed to teach us about serial buses and other hardware related stuff essentially said 'there's a computer, go look it up yourself'. Everyone else already knew most of the hardware stuff anyway, but hardware is not my forte. I can barely remember the hierarchy of byte measurements (don't ask me to tell you how many bytes are in a gb, I've only just got it into my head what the relationship between a bit and a byte is).
As for all those other languages, that's impressive, and I have to agree about seeing multiple languages, the main reason I picked up lua so fast is because I knew enough about how structure differs between languages to be able to identify the namespaces(APIs), functions and decipher how programs ran enough to pick up the equivalents without too much tuition.

I wish I had someone to teach me Java. I haven't found a resource as good as VB/C#'s MSDN for Java, but I hope to talk one of my teachers into teaching me some Java, and since he's doing a refresher on VB and teaching us Object Orientation when we go back, I might see if he'll do a trade: I take over a bit of teaching so he can have a break from his busy schedule, then in exchange he teaches me enough Java for me to start using it more comfortably and hopefully I'll then be making my own peripherals and then my own mods. I already know I'm capable of teaching VB since I've taught it to three people and the two who were actually in my class said I did better than the teacher who was supposed to be teaching us at the time, so if 2 of the class agree, hopefully the rest will follow. (If I'm lucky, and actually as good as these people claim I am, though I do have my doubts, I might be able to get a job teaching programming. Either that or I have to be a shopworker, so let's hope a programming teacher position is available lol)

I've only started using XNA recently, but I must admit, the logic is far easier to understand than GameMaker (from a programming point of view), and I've got drawing sprites and spritefonts to screen sorted, as well as keydowns and making my own 'overworld' object (at the moment a sprite with bounds, x, y, height, width draw() and soon PredictiveCollision()). Then I just need to get game timers and sound sorted and I'll make a little sprite-based game. Then I'll worry about 3D and more advanced stuff. Generally though, the sprite drawing and movement is very smooth (and after working with VB for so long it's nice to have some true transparency />) and I think our class should have been taught to use XNA/C# instead of game-maker since it's clearer to see what's going on and in my opinion it's more adaptable, or possibly they should have just taught us C# instead of VB in the first place. Not sure what it would have done for our confidence though. Maybe they should have just taught us both and got a better teacher lol

Speaking of HCI, one idea I've always had regarding interacting with a computer regards chromakeying technology. If chromakeying is good enough to track an actor's exact movements across a 3D plain and animate over the points, why don't they adapt that technology to interface with computers? Eg: have a green/blue glove with those white bits on as the hardware for interface, and have the computer track the white points using the standard Chroma-tech, then you can program it to respond to certain changes in the positioning of the points. If you have two gloves, you can have it so one is more of a current action glove (eg movement, selecting) and the other is more of an options glove(swapping what the other glove does basically) and then work the technology up until the point tracking is sophisticated enough to respond to more complicated things. It could even be used to allow the computer to interpret sign language eventually. As someone who knows about HCI, what do you think of this idea? So barmy it might just work, or just plain doo-lally?

[nitrogenfingers]

BigSHinyToys, on 14 August 2012 - 11:21 AM, said:

I have to second the "Fantastic spread so far! Awesome to hear all the different programming stories... " and "Really excellent to see a lot of people so passionate about programming."

I'm guessing you are talking about microsoft kinect or Leap Motion when you mentioned gesture computer control Like in the movie GAMER (< really awesome movie btw). It would be awesome to combine gesture controll with a mobile device like a smart phone so you could use a virtual key Bord to type Having applications in web browsing , software development ect.

The kinect at the moment, it's not quite adequate to my purposes but I'm wrangle up some techno-magic and make it do what I want. The comparison my supervisor made was to the movie "Minority Report" and to a section of "Iron Man 2", where in both gestures are used in interfacing with computers, data manipulation and UI control. It's been an immense challenge so far but a great one- having a blast with it.
And I have a friend working with gust that suggestion! He's doing work using a mobile phone as a 3D modelling device in front of a Kinect. I saw a prototype and was blown away, hope I can make something half that sophisticated.

Pharap, on 14 August 2012 - 12:18 PM, said:

I wish I had someone to teach me Java. I haven't found a resource as good as VB/C#'s MSDN for Java, but I hope to talk one of my teachers into teaching me some Java, and since he's doing a refresher on VB and teaching us Object Orientation when we go back, I might see if he'll do a trade: I take over a bit of teaching so he can have a break from his busy schedule, then in exchange he teaches me enough Java for me to start using it more comfortably and hopefully I'll then be making my own peripherals and then my own mods. I already know I'm capable of teaching VB since I've taught it to three people and the two who were actually in my class said I did better than the teacher who was supposed to be teaching us at the time, so if 2 of the class agree, hopefully the rest will follow. (If I'm lucky, and actually as good as these people claim I am, though I do have my doubts, I might be able to get a job teaching programming. Either that or I have to be a shopworker, so let's hope a programming teacher position is available lol)

It's interesting to hear that- lecture one of computer programming one was "Objects and Classes"- the OO paradigm has sort of been hammered into me from day 1. Universities tend to shift their feet about what to teach first- some say the OO abstraction gives us bad basics, others say it prepares us for later dev, I can't see any agreement in the literature. And after programming functional or procedural I can see picking up Java to be a little tricky at first but it begins to feel natural over time. I think game dev's history with OO has been a troubled one though- a lot of my friends are abandoning or limiting the use of OO in favour of a component based design. I can't decide which I prefer. But it's great to see it done both ways.

Pharap, on 14 August 2012 - 12:18 PM, said:

Speaking of HCI, one idea I've always had regarding interacting with a computer regards chromakeying technology. If chromakeying is good enough to track an actor's exact movements across a 3D plain and animate over the points, why don't they adapt that technology to interface with computers? Eg: have a green/blue glove with those white bits on as the hardware for interface, and have the computer track the white points using the standard Chroma-tech, then you can program it to respond to certain changes in the positioning of the points. If you have two gloves, you can have it so one is more of a current action glove (eg movement, selecting) and the other is more of an options glove(swapping what the other glove does basically) and then work the technology up until the point tracking is sophisticated enough to respond to more complicated things. It could even be used to allow the computer to interpret sign language eventually. As someone who knows about HCI, what do you think of this idea? So barmy it might just work, or just plain doo-lally?

I have so much to say in answer to that question but rather than hijacking BigShiny's thread (apologies for that by the way!) you'll have to catch up with me on the IRC or grab me on Skype.

Oh and on people disliking C++ I completely understand and sometimes it is the royalest of pains, but when you get into it you realize why it's the way it is- there are some things you can do with it that other programming languages just can't rival, even it it does them in kind of a strange way. Worth sticking with, even just to know enough to get by.

[ETHANATOR360]

im 13 years old and have no programing experience before computercraft however before i could program i used redstone and made a full qwerty keyboard that converts letters to binary code it also had a 8 bit ram module for storing conversions. i only know lua, BASIC, and a modern rendation of basic that is like lua and the syntax is derived from c, and i started learning some html (not real programing)butits still kind of like it

[Noodle]

I'm 17 years old
I started with my first desktop when I was 1 1/2 Years old.. (Proof from pictures)
I started "coding" with html at 5 years
When I was 7 I found Lua and ActionScript and I loved the combo. I also read a book on networking.. Used that experience to create a multiplayer flash game.
At 11 I started Java and still coding with it.
When I was 12 I started at C++ with no failure.. C++ and Java are very much alike. I also learned OpenGL
At 13 I passed out with a caffeine O.D. Had very bad headaches for the rest of the month..
At 15 I Learned VB and C# (mostly in that year) and went to Japan />
When I was 16 I worked with scripting in Lua and played a lot of games with Lua scripting (including gmod). Used to make Aimbots and wallhacks with Lua.
Today I work with my dad at his "company" coding C++, Java, and Lua

[BigSHinyToys]

nitrogenfingers, on 14 August 2012 - 01:07 PM, said:

I have so much to say in answer to that question but rather than hijacking BigShiny's thread (apologies for that by the way!) you'll have to catch up with me on the IRC or grab me on Skype.

Oh and on people disliking C++ I completely understand and sometimes it is the royalest of pains, but when you get into it you realize why it's the way it is- there are some things you can do with it that other programming languages just can't rival, even it it does them in kind of a strange way. Worth sticking with, even just to know enough to get by.

Please by all means hijack it I started this for discussion of ability and intended for it to stray into project discussion going off topic is exactly as it should be I find the project you are working on most interesting.

@Noodle
Impressive I think my firs computer was a win 95 and second hand at the time so I guess i have been around computers for about as long but not made as much progress where programing is concerned.

[basdxz]

I know a bit of Html, Php, C++, Java, Basic and some Lua, I only use Lua, and so far all I really made is a web site for 1Lann that installs Ebola when you run it.

[Cranium]

About two months ago, I installed Tekkit on my computer, and faffed around with all the other stuff, always meaning to control my stuff with computers. But only lastt month I started working with it, and it has COMPLETELY consumed my free time. This is the most interesting thing I have ever done, since I have never done ANY coding before CC. I want to thank the entire CC community for baptising me in the fires of code!