Anyone else hate not being a programmer?

Yeah it's the most rewarding thing I've found to do with ones time. There's far more cool shit to do than time to do it.

Anyone can learn, for some it just takes longer.

Best way to learn is to have a project that gets you interested in digging deeper along the way.

When I wanted to be fluent in javascript I made a little game using notepad and plain old js and learned how to make an animated sprite, then how to move it, then how to detect collisions, then how to shoot at things, then how to have loot, then how to raise skills, how to craft items, etc.. and from there I was hooked.
[ame]www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fLODEM_0ls&list=UUuPUwB98LX-ir9PKx1aN6Mw[/ame]
 


Shindig, why aren't you busy using your skills to build the most realistic virtual sex technology on the market? With everything you've shared about your background, I'm pretty sure you could do it.

See ya on Forbes list d00d!
 
I'll post three of the most helpful books I have found for learning.

These are a little more abstract than the average "Learn to program with [insert language here]" type books and do a great job of teaching things common to all languages.

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/The-Little-Schemer-4th-Edition/dp/0262560992"]The Little Schemer - 4th Edition: Daniel P. Friedman, Matthias Felleisen, Duane Bibby, Gerald J. Sussman: 9780262560993: Amazon.com: Books[/ame]


[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Illustrating-C-Donald-G-Alcock/dp/0511624174"]Illustrating C: Donald G. Alcock: 9780511624179: Amazon.com: Books[/ame] (this one is $185 because it is out of print and a classic collectors item now, but you can find the pdf version pretty easily if you google around)


Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (i hope this has already been posted but I didn't check)

Edit: I'll also add these two interesting books related to the mathematics involved with computers and programming as well, if you take the time to reread them once or twice and really wrap your head around what is in them then your (design) skills will improve, guaranteed.

Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid: Douglas R. Hofstadter: 9780465026562: Amazon.com: Books

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Laws-Form-George-Spencer-Brown/dp/3890945805"]Laws of Form: George Spencer-Brown: 9783890945804: Amazon.com: Books[/ame]
 
Andrew Scherer said:
I tried Ruby and couldn't stick with it.

I recently started trying to learn again and stuck with Javascript. Why? Because Javascript is no longer just client-side anymore, you can do everything with it. I don't want to learn a ton of different languages, but I do want to get competent enough to where I can code my own apps. Javascript allows this.

I did a short post about my journey last week, a helpful read for beginners I hope.
Coding for Marketers: A Skill Building Guide | Passive Profiteer.
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For marketers I think javascript is a very good first language, as you've said you've got client side javascript in the browser but you can also transfer those javascript skills over to things like node.js for the server, actionscript for flash, adobe air for desktop apps, unity3d for mobile games, phonegap for mobile apps, etc.

These aren't always the best solutions, but if you need something for your business or you want to prototype something they'll get the job done.
 
^ Unity is adding webgl as a platform to export to in the next release for free, which will be amazing.

If anyone wants to give unity a shot I'll set you up with content/plugins/advice for whatever genre of game you could want to make....
 
mpbiz said:
Programming is seriously the best. I am so glad I decided to learn. I am convinced that anyone can learn if they are willing to put in the time and be patient.

It takes a lot of trial and error. Learning the syntax, building stuff, refactoring, learning proper software architecture, design patterns, OOP, class structure, etc.

Really hard but extremely rewarding. There's nothing better than being able to sit down at your computer, and "magically" build something out of some code on the screen.

I just wish I would have started sooner and been able to cash in on Adult ;)
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Same here, just scraping stuff is a massive time saver. I can scrape a thousand row large semi-government database and save myself countless of hours or outsourcing monies. Then of course, it's even more fun when people block your IP and you must learn to use proxies and rotate spoofing user agents. I understand why some people become hackers for sure.

I wish there had been more support for learning programming back in the early 90s when I dabbled in it as a kid, but back then it really wasn't 'cool' and people still thought that pursuing uni education was a good move.
 
rusvik said:
I wish there had been more support for learning programming back in the early 90s when I dabbled in it as a kid, but back then it really wasn't 'cool' and people still thought that pursuing uni education was a good move.
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I think about this all the time. When I was younger, I remember being able to find a good amount of photoshop tutorials online, but I was never able to find a lot of programming tutorials, or at least ones geared towards games which is what I really wanted.

I also remember trying to go through a C++ for dummies book and I had a really hard time understanding what the book was saying, but that's what I had access to.

Now, any kid can go online and have instant access to places like Treehouse, Lynda, and an endless amount of stackoverflow posts, blog posts, and random tutorials. Plus, look at GitHub!

Github itself is fucking amazing. Want to see what expertly written code looks like? Just go dig into some repos on GitHub!

That's why nowadays, there is absolutely no excuse for not learning if you really want to. There's nothing holding you back anymore.
 
rusvik said:
I wish there had been more support for learning programming back in the early 90s when I dabbled in it as a kid, but back then it really wasn't 'cool' and people still thought that pursuing uni education was a good move.
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No shit, I went to community college instead of the last 2 years of high school and we had to take 2 visual c++ classes, as well as a procedural language COBOL on the as/400 operating system.

I really wanted to stick with c++ but at the time there wasn't a lot of documentation online, or at least I couldn't find it, it was hard to find much of anything before google. I made lots of little console programs with it, but had no idea about opengl or how to do anything with visuals....

I said fuck this computer shit (lived in rural ohio) got my real estate license and ran with that until my mid 20's I finally got back into it and spent 3 years learning before I got a real 9-5 as a programmer.


Github is amazing.... I've been in the kinect 2 dev program and Microsoft's beta samples/documentation were terrible compared to what was floating around github and the community....
 
shindig said:
....
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Why didn't you respond to my virtual reality sex comment?

I was being totally serious. I remember you talking about working on VR stuff for Oculus and you even shared a video of nude sprites dancing around or something like that.

You should get on that and make something. Its only a matter of time before we're all fapping with VR goggles on.
 
mpbiz said:
Why didn't you respond to my virtual reality sex comment?

I was being totally serious. I remember you talking about working on VR stuff for Oculus and you even shared a video of nude sprites dancing around or something like that.

You should get on that and make something. Its only a matter of time before we're all fapping with VR goggles on.
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Couldn't tell if you were being serious, but it got me thinking about it again.

I was recently thinking of making an online(multiplayer virtual world) lounge/strip club for the oculus rift 2, but I only know 1 other person who has one heh... could hook up voice chat so it'd be like you're in the same room.

I found a cheap source for 3d girls (poser and daz3d) and this is a site dedicated to virtual porn asset packs that work with poser/daz3d girls. Renderotica - home

But mainly I've just been too busy lately and haven't felt inspired towards anything in particular. Strip club is kinda compelling because it'd be really simple.
 
shindig said:
Couldn't tell if you were being serious, but it got me thinking about it again.

I was recently thinking of making an online(multiplayer virtual world) lounge/strip club for the oculus rift 2, but I only know 1 other person who has one heh... could hook up voice chat so it'd be like you're in the same room.

I found a cheap source for 3d girls (poser and daz3d) and this is a site dedicated to virtual porn asset packs that work with poser/daz3d girls. Renderotica - home

But mainly I've just been too busy lately and haven't felt inspired towards anything in particular. Strip club is kinda compelling because it'd be really simple.
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Yeah I was completely serious. You probably thought I was kidding because of the Forbes list comment, but I feel like VR Sex/Porn is going to be huge eventually so now would be the time to get started.

I visited renderotica. What's up with the demons/goblins theme?

This shit is pretty weird:

Blackadder_ThePerilsOfMiriam_800.aspx
 
For years I assumed programming was far too time consuming to give a positive return. So I'd just outsource and buy pre-packaged stuff. Then when I peaked at the code I was like the bald dude looking at the matrix: "Redhead, brunette, blonde."

But after reading some of the O'Reilly Series I found out how easy it was. Kind of like looking at the keyboard for years while typing, then realising you inherently know where the keys are anyway.
 
I would welcome some skills but its not making me worry much. Doing own biz , being free and making money - thats what matters.
When building the house you can be bricklayer or architect - programmer is that bricklayer.
 
nydahl said:
When building the house you can be bricklayer or architect - programmer is that bricklayer.
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If you're a decent software engineer you're the architect.

Oh wait you said programmer, sorry my mistake. Now get back in your cubical, those 2000 lines of spaghetti code aren't going to write themselves!
 
Since my last post, learning programming has consumed most of my time. A glint of 'the big picture' began appearing, and it's wonderful to begin understanding the magic behind the curtains.

I just finished the Codeacademy.com JavaScript course, tiny scratch on the surface but still proud of it. The courses aren't perfect, but if it does one thing right it's demonstrating concepts and creating discussion about those demonstrations(on the forums).

0SYdXMg.jpg



Also watched 'Foundations of Programming: Fundamentals (Lynda.com)' series, which was coincidentally based on JavaScript. Great watch for beginners. Now I'm going through 'JavaScript Essential Training (Lynda.com)'.


JavaScript resources I used alongside the course...

These quickly point you in the right direction for syntax errors, unused variables, and other debugging wizardry. Codeacademy was severely limited on troubleshooting what went wrong with your code, perhaps on purpose.
JSHint, a JavaScript Code Quality Tool
JSLint,The JavaScript Code Quality Tool

Make ugly JS code readable.
Online JavaScript beautifier

edit: I wanted to post several more resources but 'incapsula' which appears to be proxying posts on WF is blocking me from doing this for 'security reasons'... I'm simply trying to link a subdir of stack overflow, w3schools.com for js, and mozilla developper network, along with 2 subreddits(javascript and webdev)....

Must. Go. Deeper!
 
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