Did you teach yourself programming or learn from a class?

[Cloud Strife]

I'm 18 and just started to learn C++ . I feel old compared to others who have learned it at an earlier age.

 

[FoBoT]

both
just a few classes, then just use references to define all the commands and syntax

 

[DaShen]

both...

Took Computer Science in High School and the teacher was lazy and didn't know a thing, so I taught myself. Then in college, I learned more from schooling.

 

[archiloco]

neither took java in college as an elective and got a C (3 different profs in same semester (one quit, one was driven insane by all the stupid little freshmen wannabe programmers that thought they where uber leet, 3rd was established prof that taught honors programming), was fine with the first one got 2 b's on his tests, but the second and third profs where uber tough and there was much coding in their tests) .....i did ok in lab i was good at looking at code and finding errors...unable to write my own code though, i think the only thing i ever made was a stupid program to change colors in a box when you click a button. hehe.

 

[VTHodge]

A mix. I took a C++ course, but I taught myself HTML and Visual Basic. But I am far from proficient in any of them. Just the basics.

 

[SurgicalShark]

I was taught Pascal/Basic in junior college and ForTran in UG...but I learned C in during my PhD...but mostly learned programming on my own.

I remember my classes about Pascal/Basic...they were more about syntax than about how to think logically and develop programs!

 

[mugs]

I taught myself C from a book when I was in 9th grade, but I never really did anything with it. Then I took a C++ class in high school and everything was much easier for me because I already knew C. Then in my first programming class in college everything was easy for me because it wasn't anything I hadn't learned in high school.

But don't sweat it, you're not behind. If you're doing computer science in college, most of the people will probably be on the same page as you. A lot of kids these days are just teaching themselves PHP, which isn't much harder than VB.

 

[letdown427]

I've taught myself some VB6, I don't know how one could gauge at what level I am, but I'm confident it's not particularly high. I'm learning some JavaScript too at the moment. I'm interested in getting some C/C++ under my belt, not sure whether to teach myself using the internet, or do a course or something.

 

[DT4K]

I taught myself some basic on the Commodore 64 when I was like 10 years old.
Then I took a couple of computer classes in middle school and high school.
Then 10 years after graduating high school, I went and got a degree in Computer Science.

 

[DaShen]

Originally posted by: Cloud Strife
I'm 18 and just started to learn C++ . I feel old compared to others who have learned it at an earlier age.

BTW OP,

By the time you get out of school, C++ will not be used by most companies. Great language to learn because it covers everything, but now a lot of things are automated.

Unless you want to program for Google or Microsoft or IBM, chances are you will be doing Java or .NET.

**EDIT**
But you should still work hard at learning C++, because if you know that language front and back, you can almost instantly expand that to any other programming language.

 

[UncleWai]

I took a class and still don't know programming.

 

[SurgicalShark]

Originally posted by: DaShen

Originally posted by: Cloud Strife
I'm 18 and just started to learn C++ . I feel old compared to others who have learned it at an earlier age.

BTW OP,

By the time you get out of school, C++ will not be used by most companies. Great language to learn because it covers everything, but now a lot of things are automated.

Unless you want to program for Google or Microsoft or IBM, chances are you will be doing Java or .NET.

what...! I am flabbergasted by this statement.

 

[TheoPetro]

I am actually in a C++ course at the moment and IT BLOWS. The prof is a complete dick. I grabbed a book over the summer and started teaching myself. I went quite quickly through the book (150 pages in 2 days) I dont feel that I learned alot from it though. That is why I decided to take the class but the class goes increadibly slow and holy hell I cant explain the annoyance of geeks competing in a programing class....its amazing.

 

[DaShen]

Originally posted by: SurgicalShark

Originally posted by: DaShen

Originally posted by: Cloud Strife
I'm 18 and just started to learn C++ . I feel old compared to others who have learned it at an earlier age.

BTW OP,

By the time you get out of school, C++ will not be used by most companies. Great language to learn because it covers everything, but now a lot of things are automated.

Unless you want to program for Google or Microsoft or IBM, chances are you will be doing Java or .NET.

what...! I am flabbergasted by this statement.

I have found that many mid-sized companies out there are switching over to .NET and Java.

Large tech corporations still have a large group of C++ programmers, but there is a growing push toward C# and Java, and the sad thing is many of these companies are starting to outsource, so what does it matter.

If you go into financial/oil institutions, you get an array of different programs from C++ to Legacy to Cobol, but again for many midsized companies C# and Java are completely just as capable of handling the workload.

 

[Apathetic]

I read a lot and taught myself Applesoft basic and 6502 assembly on my Apple IIe as a kid. Then I went to college and picked up a BS in computer science.

Dave

 

[DT4K]

Originally posted by: DaShen

Originally posted by: SurgicalShark

Originally posted by: DaShen

Originally posted by: Cloud Strife
I'm 18 and just started to learn C++ . I feel old compared to others who have learned it at an earlier age.

BTW OP,

By the time you get out of school, C++ will not be used by most companies. Great language to learn because it covers everything, but now a lot of things are automated.

Unless you want to program for Google or Microsoft or IBM, chances are you will be doing Java or .NET.

what...! I am flabbergasted by this statement.

I have found that many mid-sized companies out there are switching over to .NET and Java.

Large tech corporations still have a large group of C++ programmers, but there is a growing push toward C# and Java, and the sad thing is many of these companies are starting to outsource, so what does it matter.

If you go into financial/oil institutions, you get an array of different programs from C++ to Legacy to Cobol, but again for many midsized companies C# and Java are completely just as capable of handling the workload.

That may be true for some types of development. Certainly, it is faster and easier to produce custom business apps in .Net and if you are talking about database-centric systems, the performance difference isn't really a factor. But IMO, C/C++ will still be in demand for a long time because it is a much better choice than .Net or Java for a lot of applications where execution time is critical or more direct lower level access to hardware is required.

 

[DaShen]

Originally posted by: DT4K
That may be true for some types of development. Certainly, it is faster and easier to produce custom business apps in .Net and if you are talking about database-centric systems, the performance difference isn't really a factor. But IMO, C/C++ will still be in demand for a long time because it is a much better choice than .Net or Java for a lot of applications where execution time is critical or more direct lower level access to hardware is required.

Very, very true.

But the one thing you don't take into account is that most of these companies outsource that development now. I mean, you take any person and train them specifically to program from 15 and they will almost always be great programmers by the time they start working.

I have a friend who is in a project group at IBM. He says the two best programmers in C++ in his group alone are from India. The only place I haven't seen that much of that is Airline companies (I interviewed for a position), and financial/oil companies. But many times these two instituations contract work in which case contracters will have an contracter analyst and then partially outsource the work.

I mean there will be a need for C++, but a lot of those jobs are taken care of now.

 

[SurgicalShark]

Originally posted by: DaShen

I have found that many mid-sized companies out there are switching over to .NET and Java.

Large tech corporations still have a large group of C++ programmers, but there is a growing push toward C# and Java, and the sad thing is many of these companies are starting to outsource, so what does it matter.

If you go into financial/oil institutions, you get an array of different programs from C++ to Legacy to Cobol, but again for many midsized companies C# and Java are completely just as capable of handling the workload.

The speed offered by C/C++ can not be compared with any other programming language. Sure C# and Java are more business-centric but when it comes to developing robust applications which must be supported on wide variety of platforms, C/C++ remains language of choice. In my opinion, C/C++ will always remain as langauge for developing backend apps while other new languages will continue to emerge as we evolve around Web/Internet.

 

[DaShen]

Originally posted by: SurgicalShark

Originally posted by: DaShen

I have found that many mid-sized companies out there are switching over to .NET and Java.

Large tech corporations still have a large group of C++ programmers, but there is a growing push toward C# and Java, and the sad thing is many of these companies are starting to outsource, so what does it matter.

If you go into financial/oil institutions, you get an array of different programs from C++ to Legacy to Cobol, but again for many midsized companies C# and Java are completely just as capable of handling the workload.

The speed offered by C/C++ can not be compared with any other programming language. Sure C# and Java are more business-centric but when it comes to developing robust applications which must be supported on wide variety of platforms, C/C++ remains language of choice. In my opinion, C/C++ will always remain as langauge for developing backend apps while other new languages will continue to emerge as we evolve around Web/Internet.

Agreed.

But who does the programming for the backend now? Most things today are mainly developed and for the most part, it is upkeep.

Then most development of new products in C++ for backend interfaces are outsourced. It is a Catch-22.

 

[Descartes]

I learned Turbo Pascal 7 when I was about 12-13, QBasic around the same time, C about 2 years later, C++ when I was about 16, and VB4 when I was about 17. I started working professionally at 17 in Objective C and ASP (odd combination, I know). Throughout the years, C, C++ and VB had been my primary languages used. Since ~2001 it's been largely C#, VB.NET and still some C++.

 

[DaShen]

Originally posted by: Descartes
I learned Turbo Pascal 7 when I was about 12-13, QBasic around the same time, C about 2 years later, C++ when I was about 16, and VB4 when I was about 17. I started working professionally at 17 in Objective C and ASP (odd combination, I know). Throughout the years, C, C++ and VB had been my primary languages used. Since ~2001 it's been largely C#, VB.NET and still some C++.

QBasic! Do you remember Nibbles? :thumbsup:

 

[Descartes]

Originally posted by: DaShen

Originally posted by: Descartes
I learned Turbo Pascal 7 when I was about 12-13, QBasic around the same time, C about 2 years later, C++ when I was about 16, and VB4 when I was about 17. I started working professionally at 17 in Objective C and ASP (odd combination, I know). Throughout the years, C, C++ and VB had been my primary languages used. Since ~2001 it's been largely C#, VB.NET and still some C++.

QBasic! Do you remember Nibbles? :thumbsup:

hah, yeah. My favorite was gorilla.bas though

 

[tfinch2]

I started to dabble with VB when I was 13, then I took 2 CS classes in HS in c++. It was so easy because I had already picked up a few programming concepts.

 

[Mark R]

All self taught - BASIC, a variety of types of assembler (starting with 6502, and later ARM and 68000), Pascal, C, C++ and C#.

At high-school we did have some programming classes, but they concentrated more on LOGO and AMPLE.

 

[Wildapes]

How feasable would it be too teach oneself programming at the age of 25? I'm thinking of doing something on the side and have a lot of free time...