[ale] I've decided again to learn programming again

[Richard Bronosky]

I'm going to second the idea of learning Android for the sake of the short
positive feedback loop. If you want to do something a bit simpler and skip
the GUI programing, use Python. I can't, in god conscious, recommend
starting with Arduino. Even I get frustrated with the data type landmines.
On Oct 14, 2011 6:44 AM, "Ron Frazier" <atllinuxenthinfo at c3energy.com>
wrote:

> Hello all,
>
> Those of you that have read some of my prior posts know I've been
> threatening for some time to relearn programming after 16 years out of
> the loop.  I discussed it here before, and we had discussions about the
> various merits, or unmerits of different languages.  I really was
> planning to learn C++, after you guys convinced me to not target C#.  I
> have, sitting next to me, some of the best C++ textbooks out there,
> including one by the inventor of C++.  The problem is, no disrespect to
> the authors, that these things are BORING, and intimidating.  I mean, I
> have to go through 400 pages of for next loops, if then's, and variable
> setting, etc. to even get to putting a GUI hello world program on the
> screen.  And, that's IF they even discuss GUI programming.  Now, I know
> you have to learn the basics, and I know these things are foundational,
> but I think this is the least enticing way to teach it.  Not only that,
> programming desktop computers doesn't excite me nearly as much now as it
> did a decade and a half ago when it was relatively new.  Embedded
> programming interests me to a point, and I could do that in C++
> sometimes, but I don't necessarily want to be programming thermostats
> and microwave ovens either.  Robotics interests me, but it can be very
> difficult and expensive to develop your own robotics lab.
>
> The other thing that interests me that I might be able to start
> development for on my own, is mobile computing, specifically Android.  I
> recently heard that Android is the most popular smart phone OS on the
> planet.  And, it's pretty much the only game in town for non IOS
> tablets.  The thing is, you program Android in Java.  So, I have to
> choose between Java and C++ since I cannot really learn two languages at
> once.  So, I've decided to jump over to Java, before investing lots of
> time in C++, which I may come back to later.  By the way, my
> introductory Java and Android books are just as boring as the C++ books,
> but I guess I'll muddle through.
>
> So, having said all that, do you guys have any thoughts on setting up a
> cross platform Java development environment, learning Java, learning
> Android, etc.  I'm thinking using the Sun / Oracle JDK on both Windows
> and Linux, plus the Eclipse IDE, and whatever device emulators the
> Android books recommend.  When I can, I'll get an Android tablet to try
> things out on.  I have two good books on Android 2 from Apress.  They've
> now come out with similar books on Android 3.  All of them say to learn
> Java first though.  I think there will be a lot of Android 2 out there
> for a while, so it might be fine to start with the books I have.  Any
> thoughts and advice are appreciated.
>
> Maybe, someday 8-( I'll see a GUI hello world that I created on a tablet
> device.  The very large learning curve for this is intimidating and
> frustrating.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Ron
>
> --
>
> (PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to
> call on the phone.  I get about 300 emails per day from alternate energy
> mailing lists and such.  I don't always see new messages very quickly.)
>
> Ron Frazier
>
> 770-205-9422 (O)   Leave a message.
> linuxdude AT c3energy.com
>
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