Hello, you guys have a village idiot yet?

Vacuous Luddite

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I think my name says it all. I think I have an average IQ, but I seem to be a little slower than most, but I am happy to be here. Although I may not the brightest person, I have a few things I have decided to learn, and they are no simple task. I wish to learn programming and system admin stuff as well as programming and building projects for this Arduino micro-controller I recently bought. I already know how to do very basic programming in C++ such as basic I/O commands and variables, using functions etc. I have not ever studied about classes or the OOP aspects of the language, but I am working up to it. When It comes to sysadmin stuff I know all of the very basic Linux commands and how to use them but that's about it. I have always been a little apprehensive when it comes to learning tech because I always thought that I needed to have extensive knowledge in math, which scared me away for years. BTW, in case you have not noticed, I have strong feelings of inadequacy regarding my intelligence, and I don't know why, so if I preface all my posts with " I am a little slow but ... " you will know why. Now that all my skeletons have been let out, I am happy to say, Hello everyone.
 
Welcome to the forums! OOP in C++ is when it gets fun ;)
To help you along the way, this would have been helpful to me during my algorithm and data structure design class...

Data Structure Visualization
Hey, the fact that you know basic *nix commands and C++ programming shows you are leaps and bounds ahead of a LOT of people, so be proud of that fact :tongue:
 
Welcome to the forums! OOP in C++ is when it gets fun ;)
To help you along the way, this would have been helpful to me during my algorithm and data structure design class...

Data Structure Visualization
Hey, the fact that you know basic *nix commands and C++ programming shows you are leaps and bounds ahead of a LOT of people, so be proud of that fact :tongue:

C++ wishes it it could be OOP :p.

C# is where OOP really shines ;).

Also, welcome to the forums OP!
 
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iFargle, thanks for the link, I am looking it over right now. This still seems a bit above my level but it will just motivate me even more.

CarnageX, Are there many differences between the two languages? If I know C++ will most of the commands be the same? Are they similar like C and C++ or is it similar in name only?

Mac_Mogul, I bet I end up giving you a run for your money. I have never been out idioted ... see? That's not even a word!
 
CarnageX, Are there many differences between the two languages? If I know C++ will most of the commands be the same? Are they similar like C and C++ or is it similar in name only?

Similar, but different. C# is a .NET language (one of the languages in Microsoft's family of programming languages). It's originally based off of Java, but has syntax similar to C++. C# and Java are examples of "true" OOP languages, IMO. C++ is more like C with object libraries tied onto it. Generally it's used for software, not hardware. If you're going to be doing things with hardware, C/C++ is going to be more beneficial to stick with.
 
I have been in a bit of a rut regarding languages. I want to stick to C++ because I just like the syntax and the structure of the language. I also wanted to start with C++ because I would be, as you said, closer to the hardware, thus, allowing me to fully understand all elements of programming while picking up good habits. That was my theory anyway. The problem is that I am not likely to use any programming language for creating apps or games and I don't really expect to ever need to do programming tasks that require extensive memory management. I do expect to use a language for admin type tasks and it seems like Python, Ruby, or Perl may actually be what I should learn instead. What would you suggest?
 
If you're sticking with a linux environment, and wanting to do more "admin / IT" related fuctionality, you're more-or-less simply writing scripts, not really applications. But yes, Python, Ruby, Perl, and just simply bash (Linux command line) would be beneficial. If you want to do Windows, however, then it would be best to learn more batch and PowerShell.

If you're wanting to make actual user applications, then it depends on if you're doing a web-based site or application, or a normal desktop application. If a desktop application, you'll need to decide if you want to be multi platform, or OS specific. Since C# is a .NET language, it's fully supported under Windows. It can only be run on a Linux platform if you use the Mono libraries (ports of C# and .NET libraries to Linux). More platform-independent (multi-platform) languages would be Java or C++.
 
Well, I do have another question now that you bring up BASH. If I want to ensure that I never encounter any shell code that I cannot work with, would you recommend learning the original Bourne shell (Sh) as well as Bash and Ksh or could I realistically get by on just BASH. What If I have to admin a BSD system?

As far as the scripting languages which would you recommend? I know that Perl comes on all Unix like systems out of the box so that seems like a good choice but I don't want a language that limits me to text parsing.
 
I don't do much in terms of scripting languages, so I'd be the wrong guy to ask lol.
 
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