Greetings,
In my daily job, I use SQL (which is obviously not an object oriented language) on a daily basis, and enjoy it quite a bit. However, for quite some time now, I've wanted to learn about object oriented programming-- it seems quite powerful, and it seems to be where to go for application development. Unfortunately, I've found that it's a bit difficult, as I have no formal education in programming (I was a philosophy major in college, so at least I have a strong background in formal logic), and my only experience with programming has been with non-OO languages.
I've invested about 12 hours, so far, learning about OO programming and C#. I downloaded Microsoft's XNA framework and have dabbled with creating basic Windows games. I'm getting it, but it's coming really slowly. I can explain what certain concepts (void, static, private, etc) mean, but knowing when and not to use them outside the context of a tutorial is quite difficult. As far as I can tell, my SQL experience has no substantial crossover with C#/OO knowledge.
So, I'm curious: am I going about this the right way? Is it unusual for it to still be extremely difficult after ~12 hours of study/work? I've spent quite a bit of time at http://www.functionx.com/csharp/index.htm for my training-- is that a good place to go?
Ultimately, my goal is to have the ability to develop basic applications in my spare time. I don't see myself using this regularly in my job, but I'm close friends with an independent application developer (who primarily creates Android/XBox/WP7 apps) and would love to be able to help him out, on occasion.
Thanks! I know it's a somewhat ambiguous topic, but I'm here to learn. Any advice/recommendation you can give me is welcome, even if it's not directly on-topic. Feel free to heap on the criticism, too. Whatever works.
In my daily job, I use SQL (which is obviously not an object oriented language) on a daily basis, and enjoy it quite a bit. However, for quite some time now, I've wanted to learn about object oriented programming-- it seems quite powerful, and it seems to be where to go for application development. Unfortunately, I've found that it's a bit difficult, as I have no formal education in programming (I was a philosophy major in college, so at least I have a strong background in formal logic), and my only experience with programming has been with non-OO languages.
I've invested about 12 hours, so far, learning about OO programming and C#. I downloaded Microsoft's XNA framework and have dabbled with creating basic Windows games. I'm getting it, but it's coming really slowly. I can explain what certain concepts (void, static, private, etc) mean, but knowing when and not to use them outside the context of a tutorial is quite difficult. As far as I can tell, my SQL experience has no substantial crossover with C#/OO knowledge.
So, I'm curious: am I going about this the right way? Is it unusual for it to still be extremely difficult after ~12 hours of study/work? I've spent quite a bit of time at http://www.functionx.com/csharp/index.htm for my training-- is that a good place to go?
Ultimately, my goal is to have the ability to develop basic applications in my spare time. I don't see myself using this regularly in my job, but I'm close friends with an independent application developer (who primarily creates Android/XBox/WP7 apps) and would love to be able to help him out, on occasion.
Thanks! I know it's a somewhat ambiguous topic, but I'm here to learn. Any advice/recommendation you can give me is welcome, even if it's not directly on-topic. Feel free to heap on the criticism, too. Whatever works.