[NTLUG:Discuss] Programming

[Fred James]

Good sound advice.  The only thing I would add is that I believe that 
shell scripting is a good thing to have under your belt no matter what 
other language you care for, and while normally I would recommend Bourne 
shell, if it Linux go with Bash.

Reasons?
(1) Know the shell - it is good to know what is OS, and what is program, 
  and how the two can and do interface.  Also, shell can save you a lot 
of time and effort - save you from having to "reinvent the wheel" all 
the time.  Let's face it - I'm lazy.
(2) Which shell?
     (a) Bourne - the most commonly available shell on any UNIX system 
(i.e., portability).
     (b) Bash - looks like it is here to stay, and the shell of choice, 
on Linux.  Also available, or available to install, on a lot of UNIX OS's.

Side note: I am almost always finding something "new" in shells that 
makes my day easier, take "expect" for example - when you are ready for, 
or need, it.



brian at pongonova.net wrote:

> Patrick--
> 
> My recommendation is to pick an area that interests you, and learn the
> language that's appropriate for the area of interest.  Intrigued by
> the kernel?  You'll need C to hack on it.  Interested in writing
> widgets/apps for a desktop?  Probably C++ is your best bet here.  Have
> some sysadmin tasks you want to automate?  Shell scripting and Perl
> would be very useful.  Want to create a GUI-based user application
> that isn't system dependent?  Perl, Tcl/Tk, and Python are all good
> candidates to start with.
> 
> The idea here is that the best language to learn is the one you're
> most interested in learning...and that's usually the one that (1) pays
> your bills, or (2) allows you to do something fun.  Me telling you
> that I recommend language "X" doesn't mean you'll derive the same amount
> of satisfaction (or income) from it that I do.
> 
> You'll find that once you learn the basic programming tenets
> (sequence, selection, iteration), all progamming languages become
> easier to pick up.  Your experience with Javascript has probably
> already made your learning curve a little less steep. 
> 
> So pick something that looks fun and go for it!
> 
>   --Brian
> 
> On Mon, Mar 25, 2002 at 02:48:31PM -0600, Patrick Parks wrote:
> 
>>I want to learn a language for linux, and dont know where to start. I am
>>experienced with HTML and Javascript. Any suggestions?
>>
> 
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> 
> 
> 


-- 
...make every program a filter...