I want to learn to program software, any suggestions?

I have been wanting to for awhile, but haven't been too into it. Now I'm really getting into wanting to do it though, and I just wanted to hear any suggestions you might have. I've been using PHP/CGI/Ect./Ect./BlahBlahBlah for a couple years and have been mostly into internet programming and stuff. Now I want to be able to make things like image editors or HTML editors for offline use. Is there any languages you suggest I look into or books you think I should read?

go to http://java.sun.com and check out their tutorials section. Start with the intro to java. This will give you a really good introduction to the C++ style syntax and also object-oriented programming techniques. Then you can move to the harder-core stuff based upon what you want to learn.

If you want to do real (professional-style) Windows apps (like an image editor or some such), you'll have to get Visual C++ and start learning MFC. Figure about 4-6 months of heavy use before you really start getting good at MFC apps.

Just my opinion.


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Thanks, I will take a look at Java and C++.

If you are going into object-oriented programming for the first time, consider Python.

It's open source as well and you can also make graphical stuff with Tkinter tools.

Cheers!