[kenavt]

Originally Posted by Andrew Schreiber

Canada, 2337 will be running some training for programmers over the summer. I've just been busy with work and haven't worked it out with Clinton. As far as what you can do to get a jump on it. If you want to learn C++ there are a handful of books out there (check your local library). For Labview there are a series of tutorials available online. For Java, I'm not sure what resources exist but I have a handful of Java books I could loan you if you can't find anything. As far as I am concerned I will use whatever language the students want to use. At any rate, you can't go wrong with whatever language you pick. The thought process behind programming is the hard part. Run through Project Euler, finding primes has nothing to do with robots but it will teach you the syntax, it will teach you how to think through a problem too.

Good luck, have fun!

Thanks, Schreiber, I can’t wait for that. I wouldn’t mind borrowing a Java book (perhaps later on in the summer) if you don’t mind.

Learning a particular programming language is no where near as important as learning the basics of programming.

For example, learn some of the basic programming structures like:
Sequential code
Subroutine
GoTo or Jump
If-then-else
Case
Do While-Do Until

Learn how to define a problem through reiterative decomposition, a fancy way of saying: break down a problem into smaller components until you can solve it

Learn good programming practices like code reuse, code refactoring, encapsulation. There is a lot of good practices in the object oriented realm to help you write good reusable code.

Know your problem domain. If you are writing code for robots, you need to know different things than if you are writing code for an accounting system. I have yet to use the concept of debits and credits when writing for our robot, and never once needed to filter the noise out of a potentiometer for a AR Aging report ;>

So focus more on the fundamentals of programming, after that, picking a language is usually driven by the environment you are working in, or what you have available at the time. But if you know the fundamentals, it doesn't really matter much which language you end up in.

Oh and no matter what language you are learning, books and tutorials can only go so far. Real understanding of the language comes from looking at examples and analyzing every single line (or block) of code in it, knowing exactly how it works and what is happening in that line. That's where the "programmer's mindset" comes from. Not knowing to type in this line here, but knowing why typing this line here does what it does.

Thank you very much! That seems to be how to really become a programmer, especially from what I’m hearing from everyone. Thanks a lot, guys!
Just a quick question: What is the difference between high-level and low-level languages? Thanks!