What to learn?

[Yuseff]

I was wondering about which programming languages should be learnt to assist in hacking? Im a beginner, and want a good foundation to start on. So any advice will be appreciated.

[mShred]

I was wondering about which programming languages should be learnt to assist in hacking? Im a beginner, and want a good foundation to start on. So any advice will be appreciated.

Different languages can be used for different things. But in hacking/computers, you can really just use any kind of language. It all depends on you and your level of knowledge. Try searching around the forums. This question has been asked a lot.

[Goatboy]

Python is generally accepted as the "best" language for beginners. It's fairly high level, so you don't have to do a lot of boring stuff by hand such as memory management. It's got a nice, clean syntax so you can focus more on getting it to do what you want instead of fumbling over cryptic language. I'd recommend it for starters, along with HTML/CSS/Javascript. HTML and CSS aren't really programming languages, but they are so important (and pretty easy to learn) that you'll want to pick them up. Javascript is a little more advanced, but it goes along nicely with the other two.

[Defience]

Python is generally accepted as the "best" language for beginners. It's fairly high level, so you don't have to do a lot of boring stuff by hand such as memory management. It's got a nice, clean syntax so you can focus more on getting it to do what you want instead of fumbling over cryptic language. I'd recommend it for starters, along with HTML/CSS/Javascript. HTML and CSS aren't really programming languages, but they are so important (and pretty easy to learn) that you'll want to pick them up. Javascript is a little more advanced, but it goes along nicely with the other two.

I 2nd it. Here's a site I usually point beginners to: http://coolnamehere.com/geekery/python/pythontut.html. You'll also want to become familiar with PHP and SQL.

[terencemckenna]

Ok so everyone who posted replies before me clearly know much more what they are talking about than I do. I don't know much,but I know enough to be able to tell you this: Learn C as your first programming language. It is fairly easy even though most people would think otherwise. C is the basis of many programming languages or atleast many programming languages have very much the same syntax as C. Next learn PHP and SQL (Assuming you have read enough on CSS & HTML). When you learn PHP you will see how similar the syntax is to C and thus it will be much faster to learn PHP for you when you have some experience in C. After learning PHP,SQL and C either learn C++ or Java would be a good idea. Hope this helps.

[ReiKo]

Maybe C++ is good starter.

[mShred]

Maybe C++ is good starter.

I would have to disagree with that. I mean, you can do it. But i don't recommend it at all. In my opinion, it's better to start off with Python or Perl. It's nice to know C or C++ though. Having learned a little bit of C before i switched gears, i do have to say that it helped me understand more about what was going on with Python or Perl, but i still think it's better to start out easier than to dive right into C.

[ReiKo]

Maybe C++ is good starter.

I would have to disagree with that. I mean, you can do it. But i don't recommend it at all. In my opinion, it's better to start off with Python or Perl. It's nice to know C or C++ though. Having learned a little bit of C before i switched gears, i do have to say that it helped me understand more about what was going on with Python or Perl, but i still think it's better to start out easier than to dive right into C.

Hmm, basically if you start with C++ and you get overwhelmed with it's complexity you can get fed up and just give up. But if you go trough it you will be on the top. I mean, C++ is most powerful programming language there (alas there is Assembly but let's not go into that.). Yes, Python or Perl is easier but it depends on who is learning...

[insomaniacal]

Python is my favorite language, I can jump in and start writing useful code within a minute or two. I learned the basics of C when I first started programming, and I think it's a good starting point. It's not impossibly difficult, and you'll learn some lower-level stuff right off the bat.

[neuromanta]

It all depends on what one wants to accomplish. If you want to write hardware-close code, it's better to start with assembly, and then move on to C (and maybe on C++ later), because it's easier to understand it that way. But if you want to write high level programs with gui and stuff, it's better to start with python or perl, and then maybe java or C#. It helps if you know the inner workings of the hardware for high level programming too, but it's not a must.
Of course, if you want to become a true Hacker, you'll have to learn all of them .