Re: newbie asks: Where do I begin?
Re: newbie asks: Where do I begin?
- Subject: Re: newbie asks: Where do I begin?
- From: has <email@hidden>
- Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2007 23:09:05 +0000
katherine p wrote:
I've been on the list for a week or 2, and now would like to dive
in and
start learning to become a developer. Any suggestions - How did you
start?
I started by learning AppleScript, then Python, then C/ObjC, picking
up various bits and pieces of other languages along the way. (In
retrospect, this maybe wasn't the quickest or easiest way to do
things, but hey-ho, live and learn.)
I have a little javascript, and am also interested in PHP. What other
languages and scripts are worth checking out?
Depends what you're wanting to do.
If you want to become a good general programmer then I don't
recommend AppleScript as a good starting point; it's an eccentric,
underpowered and heavily obfuscated beast, and while the English-like
syntax is easy for non-programmers to read, it's frequently much
harder to write. It's also one of those languages where you tend to
pick up more bad habits than others. More conventional scripting
languages such as Python and Ruby (while not perfect) are much
cleaner and more logical in their design, not to mention much more
powerful and robust, so once you get used to their more formal syntax
they're much less frustrating to work with.
(Python and Ruby also have very good web programming [1] and
application scripting [2] support, btw.)
If you specifically want to become an AppleScript developer and
you've already got a bit previous programming experience (know your
values from your variables, etc.), you'll probably want to get a copy
of Matt Neuburg's AppleScript book (http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/
applescpttdg2/), which provides a more technically-oriented guide to
the language, warts and all.
What projects are good for starters? Other resources besides this
list?
For AppleScript resources, links, etc. <http://www.macscripter.net/>
is a good place to start.
I'd also recommend getting yourself a copy of Steve McConnell's 'Code
Complete' <http://www.cc2e.com> for brushing up on good general
programming knowledge and techniques. Very easy to read, and you
don't need to go cover-to-cover; just flip to the sections you're
interested in as you need them.
(Oh, and don't forget to bookmark <http://thedailywtf.com> for a
daily dose of shadenfreude, if you enjoy that sort of thing.;)
HTH
has
[1] See <http://wiki.python.org/moin/WebFrameworks> for Python,
<http://www.rubyonrails.org> for Ruby.
[2] See my sig.
--
http://appscript.sourceforge.net
http://rb-appscript.rubyforge.org
http://appscript.sourceforge.net/objc-appscript.html
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