Okay, if this is not an appropriate thread please tell me so, but I have used EE for about a year now, and you guys are the only thread I feel comfortable using as your answer time and quality are unparalleled.
So, this is my plan. I have about 60 days free and I want to learn some programming to an acceptable level of proficiency for my goals (listed below). I have a grasp of various languages and have read up to chapter three in more programming books than I care to admit. However, I have always seemed to get off track and start something new or lose my motivation, so a group of experts that I can be committed to and also that I can get help from, will make it much more likely that I succeed, I hope.
I will post a new question a day, and to make it useful for other EE users I will make a Title as applicable to my questions for the day as possible. And add the " - Help David learn to program in 60 days (xx of 60)" to it so it's obvious about the thread.
I will make each day worth 500 points and split it as I feel is fair. I'd make it worth more points if I could, as you guys/girls are always so very helpful. Today will be in the general forum, I will move to a specific language one, once I've settled on my goals (based on your suggestions)
So, let's get started.
My goals are varied, and I need to figure out which language to focus on. As I said I've worked with various C++ mostly, and VBA, VB, Windows Shell Scripting (yeah not really programming I know), Perl, Assembler and Java a little.
I'm considering the following, or any suggestions you make.
C++ - I have worked with it the most, and I know if I learn it I will be able to create some powerful, fast programs, but I also know, that to do a lot of the things I like to do, will take quite a while before I can do them well in C++ (those things are mostly mentioned in the languages below). The main reason I wanted to learn C++ was because I am a trader/investor and I use a program called Tradestation and it's scripting language called EasyLanguage to write my trading systems, I have read some books on trading strategies that use C++ and this increases the speed over 100 fold so, I want to learn it for this and for making DLLs and stand-alone programs that are fast.
VBA - I use MS Office everyday, and I think that knowing how to do some good macros on my own will make my work much more efficient, I could learn this much faster than the equivalent processes in any other language (I think) plus I will have some knowledge that will carry over into VBscript and VB.net for later exploration.
Windows Shell Scripting - I know it's not a "real" language, but it's still coming up with algorithms and writing code so that a computer automates it. I worked on a project a while back to make an HTML pages based upon a Hard-drive directory structure and images....
Perl - Spidering! I worked a little on this when I had Linux installed on my system. I love collecting stuff and the main goal of learning Perl would be to write spiders/bots. However I got away from it as it's much more popular on Linux than on Windows and I wanted something that I could use on more computers, though I know I could use it in Windows too.
Assembler - Reverse Engineering! I know it's bad, but it was also something that I was interested in, I worked a little bit on Assembler, but not much, I also like the fact that it's very low level and helps me understand a computer from the bottom up.
Ideally I will eventually learn how to design and test fast trading systems (mostly just test my strategies on historic data, I don't need execution), Spider and grab media from the web automatically, Increase my MS Office and MS Windows efficiency by using Macros and Scripts, Be able to reverse engineer programs (please don't call the NSA just yet!)
I don't expect to learn it all in 60 days, this is just giving a dealine to stick to for scheduling and goal setting purposes, I don't expect to stop after 60 days, but I want something concrete, and I want a date for measurement.
1. Is it possible to edit the title if the day's questions change?
2. Based on the goals and experience I mentioned above which language would you suggest that I would be able to get the most from in 60 days?
3. Are any of my findings/statements about the languages inaccurate, or are some of the goals I've stated just as easy in one of the other languages.
4. What books do you suggest for the language you suggest.
5. I want to set a project goal for the 60 days, any suggestions.
thanks guys/girls
david
iridius@verizon.net
