I am just starting in programming

[Eh520]

Hey all
I'm new to this forum and programming as well.

I'm pretty interested in programming and a few months ago, I tried to learn some C++. I've bought C++ for dummies and the sams teach yourself C++ book. I slowly stopped with the book because of school and problems between friends and those were what bothered me the most at that time. Now that I want to return to learn these, I thought that it'd be good to find a site like this first so I can ask for help on my progress.

Is there any recommendation on how I should start learning?
I would finish the books when I have time starting from these days but I don't think thats anything, like its just really basics isn't it? I wanted to take classes at school but the school seem to go really slow on teaching. I browsed a lot of tafe courses that offers certificate in IT and stuffs, but I'm not sure whether self learning is faster and more worth it or not. I'm only 15 atm, turning 16 this year.

My main goal was to focus on network security but I just thought that I probably need to learn some programming languages first because I though that being able to write programs is necessary in network security? Please do correct me if I'm wrong, that was just my guess. if I wanted to learn network security, should I be learning C++ first? Or maybe learn languages like javascript, HTML first?

Thanks all

[comperr]

Starting with c++ is hard.

for /any/ language
Just start coding - that is the only way you will learn.

Don't bother taking classes - you won't learn anything - especially in high school.

[bradd512]

How about starting with c? c is very easy to learn. Very straight forward in structure.

[nathandelane]

I you want to learn network security, then (not coming from an expert, but somebody who has work with network professionals) you probably need to understand network architecture, systems (operating systems, router systems, server systems, etc.) and what you're trying to secure. Getting an understanding of Linux and UNIX would be helpful, as well as Windows. You should also learn how to configure CISCO routers and blade servers, learn about redundancy, and database servers and how to secure databases.

Collectively you will definitely need to learn programming. Some languages you should learn include (for Windows) Batch/Shell (cmd.exe and associated utilities, AT the windows scheduler), VBScript, JScript, MSSQL, (and for Linux) BASH, Perl/Python/Ruby or another scripting language, grep, cron, and other command-line utilities. C++ is also a good skill to have around, but ideally you should probably focus on dynamic languages (like the ones I've listed) that don't require compiling. You'll need to create small programs quickly that do one thing and do them well, as well as long automation scripts that do a number of things. In Windows I would also get an understanding of OLE/COM (ObjectLinking and Embedding/Common Object Model), WMI (Windows Management Instrumentation), and for both Windows and Linux an understanding of SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol). You'll also likely need to learn about server technologies such as IIS on Windows, Apache HTTP server, Windows Services and Linux Services models, and configuration utilities for routers and what you can do with them remotely.

Also as Bjarne Stroustrup, inventor of C++ said, C++ is a better C. So use it, and I think it's much simpler to use.

[bradd512]

Also as Bjarne Stroustrup, inventor of C++ said, C++ is a better C. So use it, and I think it's much simpler to use.

That would be why its called "C++", its C plus an increment of one(++, much like 1++ or i++). It's one step better than C.

[Defience]

Check this out: http://coolnamehere.com/geekery/python/pythontut.html It's an excellent beginners walkthrough on Python programming.