Jade

[SMOKEU]

Who here knows much about Jade?

I've just started using it today as part of the course I'm doing (I'm a total n00b at programming). How hard is it to learn a basic understanding of it for someone who has never done any programming before (OO or otherwise)?

We've gone over basic theory of OO programming such as defining classes and objects but that's about it. It all seems a bit daunting for me.

[mashman]

Don't know much about it, but have sat through a couple of presentations and wasn't impressed...

[SMOKEU]

Don't know much about it, but have sat through a couple of presentations and wasn't impressed...

Have you had much to do with other OO programming languages?

[mashman]

heh, 1 or 2. Tis how I earn my living...

[SMOKEU]

Sweet....what tips have you got for me to help me get started?

It's good to chat to other people who are in this sort of industry as I plan on joining it soon enough. At the moment I'm just doing the very basics of programming before I decide what route I want to take (programming, networking or multimedia) as part of the degree. We're sort of doing a bit of everything in the first year then the specialization comes after that.

[jade911]

I think you'll find I am very hard to understand

[SMOKEU]

I think you'll find I am very hard to understand

Haha that was awesome - bling sent.

[mashman]

Sweet....what tips have you got for me to help me get started?

It's good to chat to other people who are in this sort of industry as I plan on joining it soon enough. At the moment I'm just doing the very basics of programming before I decide what route I want to take (programming, networking or multimedia) as part of the degree. We're sort of doing a bit of everything in the first year then the specialization comes after that.

Pick a mainstream language (the internet will be your friend in just about every sense then), read up on design patterns and best practice (I haven't but know I probably should), fuck around with writing code and find yourself a style that you're comfortable with (not that that'll matter as you'll be asked to code like your senior dev). Get an understanding of database design.

[sil3nt]

You should find Object Orientated programming is easy to pick up. Never heard of Jade but I would suggest Java or C# as a good starting point for learning OO. Plenty of help available online.

[Buyasta]

YMMV, but I've found that after learning the fundamentals of programming, picking up a new language is just a matter of learning the syntax and any oddities of the new language. Obviously the first time looking at an OO language will be different as you need to pick up the OO fundamentals, but once that's done, it's back to being same old same old, just learn some new syntax.

Opinions may differ a little here, but learning an OO language for your first one is probably going to make things a lot easier for you - I've been told by many people who used C for years before picking up an OO language that learning OO for the first time when you've already got programming experience makes it extremely difficult to wrap your head around the new paradigm.

Personally, aside from some basic scripting as a teenager, I began learning programming with Java, and transitioning to C wasn't too difficult - wrapping your head around pointers is pretty much the hardest part.

I can't offer any advice on Jade as I've never used it, and the fact that it's probably only used as a teaching language in NZ might make it a bit hard to find good tutorials or help. If that's the case, it sounds like it's fairly similar to Java, so while syntax will obviously be different, there's a good chance that if you run into a non syntax-related issue, having a Google for it in relation to Java or C# will likely offer some good advice that just needs some altered syntax.

If you do decide to learn another language on your own time to help pick up the fundamentals, as sil3nt suggested, Java is probably the way to go - it's probably the most commonly used as a first language to introduce people to programming and OO fundamentals so there should be plenty of tutorials and documentation.

[jrandom]

IMHO, OO in this context is a smokescreen. OO languages are still procedural, and fundamentally, it's all about algorithms and data structures. OO is just a different way of laying things out. Adds complication.

Although 'if it's getting too hard, add a layer of abstraction' is a good principle, I believe you need to learn how computers actually work before you can start usefully layering abstractions on top of them. If you don't have a model in your head of what you're actually causing to happen in the guts of the thing, you're lost.

Read The Art of Computer Programming by Donald Knuth. Your abilities will end up in a whole different ballpark to the guys who started out learning Java.

Edit: Guys who are learning to write software always think it's about 'learning the language', because that's what hits you first. It's not. It's about developing the skill of building complex formal logic systems that operate in a predictable and efficient way. The language you use... just doesn't matter, really, and while you're learning, the closer you are to the metal, the better. Either learn the assembly language of a popular processor architecture (ARM or x86), or learn C.