New to Programming

[janderson]

Walter Prescott wrote:
> Greetings,
> 
> With little to no programming experience I�d like to get into programming. I�m
> somewhat experienced with running server and client side variations of the
> windows operating system and mainly client operations on linux distributions.
> The only programming languages I know are Markup Languages such as HTML/XML
> and its subset AIML (for fun, and yet AI has its limitations in a Markup
> language whereas implementation in a solid programming language might be better).
> 
> I�d like to learn a flexible, fast and powerful programming language that�ll
> have near limitless possibility. My main interest with programming lies in
> computer security and writing programs simply to effectively manage and run
> background processes I see fit (as time expands so too would I like to expand
> my programming knowledge).
> 
> Would Digital Mars be a good first step?

My 2p
I think it would be a good step.  D has less pitfalls then languages 
like C++.  Also I think the people on the D newsgroups are a great 
resource and generally much nicer then *other* newsgroups for other 
languages (at least in my experience).

The only problem I see for learning is stability and design changes 
which effect newer languages more then old.

One of the advantages of joining D at this stage is you get to be a 
pioneer. Talk directly to the language writers and people who 
contributed ideas to the language.  See how a language evolves. 
Actually theres a still record of it in this and the old D newsgroup.

You'll learn a lot more about other languages.  I've learn a lot about 
C++ due to this group.

As far as easy, it depends on what u want to do.

I suggest you learn the basics then volunteer for one of the projects on 
www.DSource.org if you don't find something that you'd like to play 
with. (Note that some of these will require someone with loads of 
experience (ie Mango) however I'm sure there are projects that will 
happily take you on.)

Maybe you could write down your experiences learning D as a guide to 
others.  I mean, only if you want to contribute in that way course.

* D is more like a religion then a language.  Lots of reading, a lot of 
hype and a little bit faith *

PS:
Ok, I hope that didn't sound like a marketing pitch.  I'd recommend C# 
as your next best choice.  Also always have a goal in mind before you 
begin coding, it helps a lot.