Poll: Your programming experience

[Esotera]

So I thought it'd be interesting to gauge the programming skills everyone has on the escapist. Do you write your own programs daily, or not have the faintest clue over where to start? Assembler hacker or just beginning to learn javascript?

Programming general I suppose. Post with how long you've been coding, what motivates you, any particular achievements you're proud of, and any questions you might have that someone could answer/observations/funny anecdotes. And most importantly of course, funny images related to the discussion:

For anyone who's interested in learning how to program, but doesn't know where to start, I've included a few really useful tutorials:

Spoiler: Tutorials

Python tutorial [http://docs.python.org/tutorial/introduction.html] - a really easy first language, that's also really powerful, but most importantly fun.

W3schools [http://www.w3schools.com/] - for those put off by a traditional programming language and want to try out an in-browser language like Javascript first.

EDIT: HTML5 can be considered a programming language because apparently it's Turing Complete [http://lemire.me/blog/archives/2011/03/08/breaking-news-htmlcss-is-turing-complete/]. Any previous HTML versions would be considered markup languages, so using them isn't really programming...but feel free to discuss it anyway!

 

[Nopodop]

I haven't really done much at all. I started with HTML (not really programming) but stopped because I had no use for it. Then I started learning python from python.org but my functions weren't working for some reason and I gave up when I got bored.

 

[Esotera]

I haven't really done much at all. I started with HTML (not really programming) but stopped because I had no use for it. Then I started learning python from python.org but my functions weren't working for some reason and I gave up when I got bored.

If you still have the code around somewhere I'd be happy to look through it, Python's my main language.

 

[Melon Hunter]

I'm an engineering student, so I've been through a few programming courses so far. My biggest piece of work was with my lab partner last year, where we wrote a program in C++ to buy and sell electronic components over 50 days as prices changed to try and make a profit. This year I've also hacked together some fairly complex programs in Octave.

 

[Hazy992]

The closest I've ever come to programming is making something in LittleBigPlanet or spawning a helicopter in Scribblenauts. In short, I suck at anything technical.

 

[deathninja]

Taught some C at uni, but they basically tried to get us to memorise the keywords by rote and that was it, so I can't program.

I'm pretty good at designing classes and variables, but I've never had the chance to 'learn' the language by applying it.

 

[Hawk of Battle]

I tried using that YABASIC program that you got on the demo disk you got with new a ps2 a few times. A few games mags had sections of code you could use to slowly build up a game or 3, but I don't think I ever actually finished any of them and all I actually learned from it was how to make some coloured lines.

 

[TheIronRuler]

Been doing C# for a while but since it isn't open source I might move to Java.

 

[Zombie_Fish]

Started off with Basic about two years ago before moving onto Visual Basic for my A2 Computing Coursework. Also did a bit of basic HTML coding but not much.

Since October this year and starting Uni I have also learned C and Verilog and am at this moment actually working on my last project in C for at least this year.

As for what I put together, mainly console programs given my language experience. (Visual Basic gave me some experience with apps but I'm much more experienced with console currently) So I'd put myself down as somewhere between simple and complex console programs.

 

[Lectori Salutem]

I'm studying informatics for half a year now. Unfortunately, so far we're only taught to write in C#, so atm I'm trying to find out what would be a good language to learn in my spare time.

 

[DaJoW]

Studying Computer Science at a top university. Math is giving me some trouble though.

 

[Ddgafd]

I went to a Programming course a couple years back. Turned out I had a knack for it, I was the best in the class and even received a small amount of money along with a diploma. Now I'm taking a more advanced course, in which I'm just barely scraping by. We're learning Java right now, but I'm not listening at all. Instead I'm reading stuff on Cracked. I know, I know, I shouldn't be doing it, but the course is BORING. We do nothing but listen to the teacher prattling on about Java. If we actually did stuff, like in the previous class I was in, I'd be learning a lot better. But NO, everything is left for homework. Too bad my computer was broken for month and a fucking half so now I'm way behind everyone else.

 

[SuperSuperSuperGuy]

I know some stuff in Visual Basic, but you can't really do too much there.

I also have a very basic knowledge of Java, but my Computer Science teacher at school is really bad. We've been working since September and my class still hasn't gotten to looping! That being said, I've looked up looping myself so I kind of know how to do it. Still, we haven't done anything with multiple classes and I don't have the motivation to do anything about it at home. So my knowledge of Java is very limited, at best. I've got a knack for programming, though, and I'm frequently far ahead of the other students in class. It gives me a lot of time to practise my Touhou skills.

I want to at least be good enough to make a visual novel or something by the time I'm done. I dunno. Probably something horror-themed. I've been kicking around an idea for a while, but I really don't know where to go with it. Picture a game where the player goes insane. Not the player's in-game avatar or the other characters, but a game that makes it seem like the player himself is hallucinating. I'm not sure how I'd pull that one off.

 

[General Vagueness]

I got started with QBASIC when I was about 13 and slowly progressed with that, and then learned some C++ at about 16, eventually got a Pascal book and a C book and read those but didn't do anything substantial with them, and I just finished a Python course (got a 4.0). Somewhere in between those I got an assembly language book and looked into it, and tried some simple stuff but wound up leaving it behind. I also had my own ideas for a programming language that I refined off and on for a few years and I'm currently letting that kind of hibernate. I'm about at the point where I'm considering getting into assembly again.

 

[oZode]

I only know basic HTML (I am trying to learn more, but the most interesting thing I can do with HTML is make a polygon shape).

 

[Nalbis]

I hate programming with a passion. I enjoy IT and I was studying it at University, programming made me literally fall apart as a person and as a result I left the course. Fuck programming.

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

I can stare at a program and not break down crying.

That's it.