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The Computer Science Club

Dinru

Dinru

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A place for people who are interested in the various facets of Computer Science to come and talk about computers and code and get help with their newest projects or college exams or what have you.

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So, to start a conversation, since most CS people started with programming, what was your first language? Mine was Visual Basic, but at this point I don't remember any of it 'cause I haven't used it in over two years.
 
I'm familiar with Visual Basic, I can do various non-advanced things in TI-basic, and I'm taking CompSci next year to learn things. I'm interested in learning Java and C++, that latter of which I also have a tiny bit of experience in.

So yes, I'd love to join!
 
Javascript. My heart has always been in web development.

As a result I'm as a rule partial towards the JS way of doing things - dynamic, weak typing, etc. The worst thing about Javascript is the general terribleness of the DOM and all the stupid, stupid differences in browser implementation, but luckily both of those problems are fixed by jQuery, which is more or less the best thing ever and makes writing Javascript almost 100% non-irritating, so that's awesome. :D

I am similarly aghast by the sheer convolutedness of programming graphical user interfaces in anything that isn't HTML/CSS/Javascript. It mystifies me why anyone ever has put up with Java freaking Swing.
 
I'm studying maths and at the moment programming is the subject I'm enjoying most and am doing best at. A lot of other people seem to find it hard, but I think most of those people didn't take computing in school. Plus I do programming in my spare time sometimes, so there's that too. However I generally don't do it that much because I don't feel like I'm very good.
I know some VB from school, C++ from messing about at home, and I'm using Matlab and R for uni work. I'm thinking of giving Java a go as well.

I remember when I was small I messed around with QBASIC but I couldn't do much at all beyond if statements.
 
Butterfree said:
I am similarly aghast by the sheer convolutedness of programming graphical user interfaces in anything that isn't HTML/CSS/Javascript. It mystifies me why anyone ever has put up with Java freaking Swing.
Click to expand...

Swing is pretty annoying, but when you're making actual GUIs again after 2 years of console-only programs and no real choice in the matter it's pretty amazing. That being said, if anyone knows of a GUI class set for Java other than Swing I'd love to know.
 
Python here, though I only know very basic stuff, since I'm probably heading into physics instead of computer science anyway. I guess I know a tiny bit of Matlab too; I kind of suck at everything I do in Matlab, but I suspect the problem is more with the mathematics than with the language itself.
 
Music Dragon said:
Python here, though I only know very basic stuff, since I'm probably heading into physics instead of computer science anyway. I guess I know a tiny bit of Matlab too; I kind of suck at everything I do in Matlab, but I suspect the problem is more with the mathematics than with the language itself.
Click to expand...

No the problem is with Matlab itself use Maple instead
 
First language I dabbled was probably qbasic. First language that I ever actually got into was visual basic. First language that I ever did anything useful with was PHP. Fairly advanced in PHP, Java, JavaScript; intermediate in python. Python is what they should be teaching in schools, not Java. :/

Swing is kind of shit but I'd rather have it over freaking HTML and CSS.

edit: Language-wise, I'd take JavaScript over Java any day. You can run JavaScript inside the JVM with Mozilla Rhino. I just don't think HTML and CSS are suited for the same problem domain that swing and GTK+ are. Either way you shouldn't code a GUI by hand, there's plenty of visual tools for that.
 
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Butterfree said:
I am similarly aghast by the sheer convolutedness of programming graphical user interfaces in anything that isn't HTML/CSS/Javascript. It mystifies me why anyone ever has put up with Java freaking Swing.
Click to expand...

well, is undiffivult to whip up a gui with code generators. they make unreadable crap but that's why you separate presentation from logic, right?

I think I started with perl and then then picked up ti basic? now I'd do thing mostly in ruby or haskell. I like haskell. strong, static typing, sure, but it mostly gets out of you way unless you screw something up, in which case it is likely to yell at you when it compiles.

uh I spent a lot of time learning with functional programming in between and now I can't write c or java without hating them. or well actually most languages that don't have a map :: (a -> b) -> [a] -> .
 
Adrian Malacoda said:
Swing is kind of shit but I'd rather have it over freaking HTML and CSS.

edit: Language-wise, I'd take JavaScript over Java any day. You can run JavaScript inside the JVM with Mozilla Rhino. I just don't think HTML and CSS are suited for the same problem domain that swing and GTK+ are. Either way you shouldn't code a GUI by hand, there's plenty of visual tools for that.
Click to expand...
I think it's just a matter of where I started, really. I mean, I completely agree that HTML and CSS are horribly limited and annoying in more ways than you could count, but because I started there I got used to the idea of having a dedicated language for semantic structuring and a dedicated language for applying high-level styling rules to sets of elements that can be changed without too much fuss, and perhaps most importantly to being able to write the goddamn code by hand without losing too much of my sanity. The very idea of code that practically needs me to use visual tools to produce it makes the hair rise on the back of my neck.
 
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I could have gotten it for mostly-free if I had realized about one month sooner what I wanted to do with my life. I don't have one but I'm looking into getting one within the next few years.
 
Butterfree said:
I think it's just a matter of where I started, really. I mean, I completely agree that HTML and CSS are horribly limited and annoying in more ways than you could count, but because I started there I got used to the idea of having a dedicated language for semantic structuring and a dedicated language for applying high-level styling rules to sets of elements that can be changed without too much fuss, and perhaps most importantly to being able to write the goddamn code by hand without losing too much of my sanity. The very idea of code that practically needs me to use visual tools to produce it makes the hair rise on the back of my neck.
Click to expand...

I completely agree with having a dedicated UI+layout language. It's just that HTML+CSS isn't it, especially for applications. HTML is meant to mark up documents. Something like XUL would work. Someone even tried this with Swing... but for some reason it needs a J2EE webapp container?

CSS is passable for styling, but not for layout.

Or if you feel masochistic you can actually develop a web app with Swing if you so choose.
 
So how to people here find/think of things to do?

I really enjoy programming, in fact one of the courses I'm doing at uni is a programming one and it's the one I enjoy most and and doing best at. I always liked to write things in my spare time but I've always been at a loss for what to actually do.
I've done a handful of Project Euler problems but that's got to the point where the ones I haven't done are either much too hard, or don't really feel rewarding.

Does anyone have any ideas? D:
 
Thanks, I'll have a shot at something there once my exams are over. To be honest I have no idea why I asked that question at a time when I knew I wouldn't be able to do anything anyway.
 
That frustrating moment when you're trying to compile a program and the pictures on your buttons, for no logical reason, won't show up. I swear, the more I learn about computers, the less I know.
 
well, if you didn't need the pictures as acrutch, that wouldn't be such a problem! memorie the hotkey! you'll use it lots anyway. or the relevant commands, in any case.
 
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