Society of Robots - Robot Forum

General Misc => Misc => Topic started by: Kyle on July 05, 2011, 10:13:17 AM

Title: What is programming languge "C"... Or a programming languge in general?????
Post by: Kyle on July 05, 2011, 10:13:17 AM
I have no idea what a programming languige is or how to learn one or anything on that subject yet I take it that it is pretty important for robotics, is it not? Ease help as I an cluless -Kyle 
Title: Re: What is programming languge "C"... Or a programming languge in general?????
Post by: Kyle on July 05, 2011, 10:16:06 AM
From Kyle: please excuse my horrid spelling :-\
Title: Re: What is programming languge "C"... Or a programming languge in general?????
Post by: joe61 on July 05, 2011, 11:28:38 AM
I don't think you're going to get the answer to your question here because you're asking too big a question and don't seem to be doing anything for yourself. Google is your friend. Go to google.com and type in "programming language" into the query box. You'll find lots of information there.

Joe
Title: Re: What is programming languge "C"... Or a programming languge in general?????
Post by: corrado33 on July 05, 2011, 02:20:23 PM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C_(programming_language) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C_(programming_language))
http://einstein.drexel.edu/courses/Comp_Phys/General/C_basics/ (http://einstein.drexel.edu/courses/Comp_Phys/General/C_basics/)

Google is your friend, use it.   ;)
Title: Re: What is programming languge "C"... Or a programming languge in general?????
Post by: brainwave on July 06, 2011, 10:43:00 AM
A programming language is a tool to instruct a machine like a computer or a microcontroller how to do what u want it to do. There are many programming languages. Pm me if u want guidance, as i happen to know a bit about this.
Title: Re: What is programming languge "C"... Or a programming languge in general?????
Post by: CompChemEng on July 12, 2011, 02:25:49 PM
DreamSpark (https://www.dreamspark.com/default.aspx) is your friend.  It's a website setup by Microsoft to teach newbies how to program.

If you're a student and you have an email address that ends in *.edu in the US, you can download Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Professional (https://www.dreamspark.com/Products/Product.aspx?ProductId=25) for free.  Otherwise, you can get Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Express (https://www.dreamspark.com/Products/Product.aspx?ProductId=29) for free.  Both are at DreamSpark.

Visual Studio is a Microsoft "IDE" (Integrated Development Environment) which is kinda like a word processor that you program in.  There's an initial learning curve to using Visual Studio, but once you have it down, it's great.  The best part about it is that it automatically checks your code for errors and it's pretty darn good about finding them and making programming easier, which is great for a beginner.

Also on DreamSpark, you'll find a link to the Beginner Learning Development Center (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/beginner/default.aspx).  This place will show you how to program.  Go to Windows Development (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/beginner/dd435692.aspx) and start with Tier 1.  You'll have three programming languages to choose from:  Visual Basic, Visual C++, and Visual C#.  Visual Basic is probably the easiest for a beginner to pick up since it looks more like English.  Once you learn a programming language, though, you can pick up any other pretty easily; they're pretty much the same conceptually.  So just learn an easy one to introduce yourself and then you can move on if another language would be better for you.

Good luck!

PS- The programming language "C" came out a long time ago (around 1972) and is still used today.  The programming language "C++" is an extension of C (it has more stuff in it) and it came out around 1983.  The programming language "Visual C++" is an extension of C++ which only works on Microsoft Windows (but if you learn it, you'll know C++ for other systems) which came out around 1993.  The programming language "C#" is a newer language that came out around 2003.  C# isn't an extension of C or C++, but it was designed to look and feel like C and C++ to help those who know C and C++ to transition more easily.
Title: Re: What is programming languge "C"... Or a programming languge in general?????
Post by: corrado33 on July 12, 2011, 03:29:53 PM
Totally forgot about dreamspark.  Do that.   ;D

And honestly, once you know ANY programming language, you'll be able to pick up other languages VERY easily.  It's all syntax (the wording of the program) that's different between languages. 

Example:

Language = Basic/Qbasic

print "Hello"
end


Language = C++

int main()
{
cout << "Hello"<<endl;
}

These two programs do EXACTLY the same thing, but in different ways.

If either of these is wrong please correct me, I haven't programmed on the computer in a while.