Author: Russell Reagan
Date: 18:54:32 04/22/02
I'm always talking about my chess programming adventures (and other programming projects as well) to a friend of mine, and I don't think she really understands much of what I'm talking about, so today she asked me if I would teach her how to program. Thinking back on how I learned to program, there as little structure or organization. I learned BASIC first and then in high school learned a hyrbid of C/C++. I had dabbled in real mode DOS graphics programming in mode 13h and had made several basic game clones (pong, asteroids, etc., etc.). So I wasn't a total newbie when I graduated high school, but looking back on it I wasn't solid at all in most of what I knew. IE I didn't know why a lot of stuff worked, I just plugged it in and it worked. I really got to be a better programmer in college (where I still am). So I don't think taking my approach is really what she's looking for. I think she's wanting to get up to speed ASAP to at least be able to grasp what I'm talking about. So where do I begin? I thought BASIC might be a good place to start, but looking back on my own experience, learning BASIC first made it more difficult to learn C/C++, and since I'm not programming in BASIC it won't do her much good as far as understanding what I'm talking about. The other idea that I had was to start at a more basic level and explain some about how the computer works, machine instructions, how the compiler takes your source code and turns it into machine instructions, etc. All in a general sense of course. Then perhaps after she understands the process of writing a program and how the computer ends up running the program, show some basic examples in different languages. For example, maybe start off with "hello world" programs in BASIC, C, C++, and other languages (suggestions on other languages?). Then do the same for another program example, writing something simple in 3 or 4 different languages so that she gets the idea of programming concepts instead of latching onto a language specific feature of BASIC or something. I think that was the hardest thing for me in transitioning from BASIC to real programming languages. I had only known BASIC and I didn't understand why we had to include everything and why everything was so complicated. Since there are programmers far more experienced than I and many who have had teaching experience, I ask for your advice in how to approach this problem. Anything at all will be greatly appreciated. Approaches, languages, simple example programs that are good teaching tools, anything really. As for her computer literacy, she's probably slightly above average. She mainly uses her computer for internet, email, surfing the net, chatting, school work, etc. So she is relatively familiar with the computer, just not programming. Thanks for all of your help in advance. Russell
This page took 0.01 seconds to execute
Last modified: Thu, 15 Apr 21 08:11:13 -0700
Current Computer Chess Club Forums at Talkchess. This site by Sean Mintz.