Simple Programming Question
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Printed Date: 09 May 2026 at 5:18pm
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Topic: Simple Programming Question
Posted By: Rambino
Subject: Simple Programming Question
Date Posted: 03 August 2007 at 4:52pm
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So - I want to do some simple programming. As in coding. I don't have any ambitious projects, so I don't need anything elaborate or expensive. What I want is the functional equivalent of what I could do with my old Apple II, and just sit down a whip out a few lines of code to solve some problem or perform some minor task. So need a simple programming language/compiler/something that would allow me to do this. Just something to have on my PC (or online?) for quick easy mini-programs. Hopefully that makes some sense... I don't even know what the cool languages are these days, so any pointers and information would be helpful. Thanks. ------------- [IMG]http://i38.tinypic.com/aag8s8.jpg"> |
Replies:
Posted By: travis75
Date Posted: 03 August 2007 at 4:55pm
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ACtool is a macro program I use for keyboard-mouse repetition. I know a good bit if that is what you are looking for. As for number crunching, I don't know much more than C. Also, in b4 Sandman. ------------- Hey MPAA, Guess what? 09 f9 11 02 9d 74 e3 5b d8 41 56 c5 63 56 88 c0! |
Posted By: SandMan
Date Posted: 03 August 2007 at 5:03pm
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LOL... Who, me? Pretty much everything I work with requires you to have a purchased programming environment and / or a server to run it on.
I wonder if there's a version of QBasic out there as a free download for Windows or something. Let me look into it a bit. ------------- Real Men Love Cheeses |
Posted By: Rambino
Date Posted: 03 August 2007 at 5:05pm
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Thanks, guys. Yeah, I am looking for a little more than just scripting. I really want a free-form environment for general use. Low-level stuff, but unrestricted. ------------- [IMG]http://i38.tinypic.com/aag8s8.jpg"> |
Posted By: SandMan
Date Posted: 03 August 2007 at 5:08pm
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Can you describe the project a little better? Also, what OS are you running? If you're running XP Pro, I can prolly show you the basics of how to serve ASP programs directly on your PC. Then people could connect to them over the internet or you could just access them locally. ------------- Real Men Love Cheeses |
Posted By: Rambino
Date Posted: 03 August 2007 at 5:28pm
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I don't really have a project. I just miss having the easy capability to write up something if I suddenly wonder what the probabilities are of certain poker results, for instance, or what the relationships are between the numbers in the Fibonacci sequence. Sadly, I often wonder about these things. Mostly math nerdy stuff, but not exclusively. The occasional graphic exercise, perhaps. I run XP Pro and XP Home. The XP Pro machine is behind a pretty serious firewall, though. ------------- [IMG]http://i38.tinypic.com/aag8s8.jpg"> |
Posted By: holysmartone
Date Posted: 03 August 2007 at 5:30pm
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C++? Visual Basic? |
Posted By: travis75
Date Posted: 03 August 2007 at 5:30pm
------------- Hey MPAA, Guess what? 09 f9 11 02 9d 74 e3 5b d8 41 56 c5 63 56 88 c0! |
Rambino wrote:Posted By: Rambino
Date Posted: 03 August 2007 at 5:35pm
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That's kind of where I was defaulting, unless Pascal is still around. Somebody also suggested that Java would be more versatile for modern use. Last time I looked at C compilers, however, they were expensive and elaborate. I would like to avoid both expensive and elaborate. ------------- [IMG]http://i38.tinypic.com/aag8s8.jpg"> |
Posted By: SandMan
Date Posted: 03 August 2007 at 5:41pm
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Well... I mean, Visual Basic is definitely your best bet if you're open to buying the programming environment. ------------- Real Men Love Cheeses |
Posted By: SandMan
Date Posted: 03 August 2007 at 5:42pm
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Actually, now that I think about it, if you want to learn the .NET architecture, you can download Visual Basic Express 2005 for free from Microsoft. ------------- Real Men Love Cheeses |
Posted By: procarbinefreak
Date Posted: 03 August 2007 at 5:42pm
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I used to have a java program on my old school's laptop... not sure what it was. oh... and... nerd.
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Posted By: SandMan
Date Posted: 03 August 2007 at 5:57pm
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I know your plight quite well, actually, Rambs... I was getting really frustrated not being able to find a good amortization calculator online for the new auto purchase I am considering. So I rolled my own.
Nice freedom to have. ------------- Real Men Love Cheeses |
Posted By: Rambino
Date Posted: 03 August 2007 at 6:04pm
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That's exactly the type of thing I want. An easy program to throw together, but only if I have convenient access to a programming environment. [OG] Maybe I should just wire up the old Apple II in my office here. [/OG] ------------- [IMG]http://i38.tinypic.com/aag8s8.jpg"> |
Posted By: Macabre
Date Posted: 03 August 2007 at 6:06pm
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Might could get a copy of Visual Studio 6 on EBay or something if you looked. VB6 would be real similar to older versions of Basic. Yup, yup.
------------- Rambino has poop for brains. Yup, yup. |
Posted By: Monk
Date Posted: 03 August 2007 at 6:17pm
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JavaScript my friend. Its simple, but can perform very elaborate tasks such as games. I remember seeing an entire javascript OS once. All you need is a text editor and a browser. No need for a compiler unless you want to get into java. |
Posted By: Macabre
Date Posted: 03 August 2007 at 6:29pm
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JavaScript? For someone from a Basic background who doesn't want to learn an ENTIRELY new language? What you be talkin' 'bout Willis???
------------- Rambino has poop for brains. Yup, yup. |
Posted By: Rambino
Date Posted: 03 August 2007 at 6:36pm
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I have no problem learning a new language. If Javascript fits the bill, that is. And the text editor only part sounds good. What's the difference between Javascript and plain old Java? ------------- [IMG]http://i38.tinypic.com/aag8s8.jpg"> |
Posted By: travis75
Date Posted: 03 August 2007 at 7:05pm
------------- Hey MPAA, Guess what? 09 f9 11 02 9d 74 e3 5b d8 41 56 c5 63 56 88 c0! |
Posted By: Rambino
Date Posted: 03 August 2007 at 7:16pm
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Ah - how silly of me to think that the name similarity had any significance... :) ------------- [IMG]http://i38.tinypic.com/aag8s8.jpg"> |
Posted By: Shub
Date Posted: 03 August 2007 at 8:29pm
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Yeah, it's weird. Java was built by Sun Microsystems. JavaScript was created by the Netscape people. The name is the only real similarity between the two.
You also said the occasional graphic thing, ColdFusion is great at graphs and charts and stuff, and isn't much harder to learn than html. You can download the personal dev server free from adobe. |
Posted By: Darur
Date Posted: 03 August 2007 at 11:22pm
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Might want to check out http://www.python.org/ - Python . Its simple to learn and ideal for your situation. ------------- Real Men play Tuba [IMG]http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/1859/newsmall6xz.jpg"> PH33R TEH 1337 Dwarf! http://www.tippmann.com/forum/wwf77a/log_off_user.asp" rel="nofollow - DONT CLICK ME!!1 |
Posted By: choopie911
Date Posted: 03 August 2007 at 11:30pm
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I had to do python, if you figure it out I can send you the craptastic hockey game I made.
Also, learn Max MSP, you'll probably hang yourself in the process. |
Posted By: Monk
Date Posted: 04 August 2007 at 2:46am
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Javascript and Java are fairly close as far as building an environment. The tags are different though. If you're looking for something to make some quick programs to run some calculations that look nice and can be saved for future reference with little memory use. Then Javascript is the way to go. The problems with other languages is the time it takes to write and compile. And then run them. With javascript all you have to do is open up Notepad write your code, save it, open firefox(or any browser) and view it. I've made countless small programs to help me with some physics stuff. You'd be amazed at what a small language can do when you put it all together. |
Posted By: Hitman
Date Posted: 04 August 2007 at 5:59am
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I would say go with Java. I just finished a high school course in it. Use the JCreator application. ------------- |
Posted By: Enos Shenk
Date Posted: 04 August 2007 at 7:12am
GC++, open source. Im a huge proponent of PHP. Sure its mainly used for web stuff, but you can run programs command line as well just for text output. Not to mention it plugs into database servers, and with GD you can manipulate images on the fly, its how I used to do my random changing sigs and such. For really fast basic stuff, maybe try tinkering around with LUA. Its really tiny, but incredibly flexible. http://www.lua.org/ - http://www.lua.org/ World of Warcraft uses LUA as the logic engine behind the user interface. Actually quite a few games do, because its so tiny but powerful. I could show you a ton of example LUA code that I wrote for UI addons for WoW. Sure half the functions wouldnt do much for you, but its a good demonstration of the syntax of the language. ------------- 
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Posted By: .Ryan
Date Posted: 04 August 2007 at 7:47am
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I've always wanted to learn some simple programming, just never knew where to get started.....I love the idea of making my own apps, and I'd really love to develop some mobile apps, but taking that first step seems daunting....I'm good with computers, so I have faith that I could do it, I've just never had any exposure here....Any tips on where to start? ps Sorry for the hijack, but it looked like they helped ya out already Rambs, and I figured this would be better than a new thread....  -------------  |
Posted By: daniero
Date Posted: 04 August 2007 at 11:32am
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A good open source .net IDE - http://www.icsharpcode.net/OpenSource/SD/ - SharpDevelop . C# is a good programming language, you just need to learn your way around the .net framework. Feel free to ask. I don't use SharpDevelop, but it's about the same as Visual Studio 2005. If you want, you can download http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/visualcsharp/ - Visual C# Express Edition, which is a trimmed down version of Visual Studio 2005, but still good enough for small projects. For web projects however, you need a separate version of the Express Editions, which is http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/vwd/default.aspx - Visual Web Developer . ------------- Silver Invert Mini Yellow 'Cocker 
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Posted By: Rambino
Date Posted: 07 August 2007 at 4:56pm
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And the winrar is ... JavaScript. At least for now. I like the price, and the syntax is familiar. Once I have a dummy script set up, it is simple to modify-save-run, modify-save-run with very little effort. So far it appears to be able to easily handle my meager needs for text-based iterative/conditional calculations. We'll see how it does if/when I want to do some graphing, but for now this is just what the doctor ordered. C++ is still on the list of stuff to get around to, though. Thanks for all the help. As usual, the forum comes through. And ryan - I would recommend this as a decent place to start learning programming concepts. I found a good tutorial http://www.webreference.com/programming/javascript/diaries/ - here , which does not assume any programming background. ------------- [IMG]http://i38.tinypic.com/aag8s8.jpg"> |
Posted By: Brian Fellows
Date Posted: 07 August 2007 at 5:02pm
People do some pretty cool stuff with Lua for Garry's Mod. |
Posted By: Mehs
Date Posted: 07 August 2007 at 5:04pm
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Visual basic is very simple to learn, and it is, at least to me, very similar to other programming languages. Just download visual studio from Microsoft, it's free, although there are probably better choices of compilers out there. ------------- [IMG]http://i27.tinypic.com/1538fbc.jpg"> Squeeze Box ☣ |
Posted By: Rambino
Date Posted: 07 August 2007 at 5:08pm
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Maybe I'm just getting old, but it seems like most languages generally have the same look and feel these days. They may have different strengths, but the basics are pretty similar. Not like back in the day, when we had to deal with Assembly or (horrors!) machine code. You kids have it easy. :P ------------- [IMG]http://i38.tinypic.com/aag8s8.jpg"> |
Posted By: SandMan
Date Posted: 07 August 2007 at 5:18pm
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Have fun with that... You'll find it very challenging when you actually wanna do something graphical, but for simple string and math functions it should be fine.
Lotsa free resources for learning it, too. ------------- Real Men Love Cheeses |
Posted By: __sneaky__
Date Posted: 07 August 2007 at 5:27pm
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I've got a question, about computers, I have an old HP desktop I'd say its at least 5 years old, and my mom recently got a new EMachines desktop that she never uses, she wont trade me computers for whatever reason, so can I sneakily trade processors and will they work? other than actually putting them in the computer is there anything else I'll have to do? ------------- "I AM a crossdresser." -Reb Cpl Forum Vice President RIP T&O Forum |
Posted By: Mehs
Date Posted: 07 August 2007 at 5:39pm
If there is a five year difference between the two, it will more than likely not work because they have different sockets. Just buy a new computer if it matters that much, build your own! ------------- [IMG]http://i27.tinypic.com/1538fbc.jpg"> Squeeze Box ☣ |
Posted By: SandMan
Date Posted: 07 August 2007 at 5:41pm
Um... Not a chance in hell. ------------- Real Men Love Cheeses |
Posted By: __sneaky__
Date Posted: 07 August 2007 at 5:42pm
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well I thought I'd ask... ------------- "I AM a crossdresser." -Reb Cpl Forum Vice President RIP T&O Forum |
Posted By: whack-a-mole
Date Posted: 07 August 2007 at 10:38pm
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You asked about a compiler, I use jgrasp. It works especially well for java, but I'm pretty sure it works for some other languages too. Do a google search for it and you should be able to download it for free. ------------- NASA and the Americans spent millions of dollars and hundreds of hours to develop a pen that would write in space.....The Russians used a pencil. |
Posted By: procarbinefreak
Date Posted: 07 August 2007 at 10:57pm
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i hate programming... probably because i just don't understand it. |
Posted By: Benjichang
Date Posted: 07 August 2007 at 11:10pm
I know a little C++, QBASIC, and Visual Basic. -------------  irc.esper.net #paintball |
Posted By: Rambino
Date Posted: 10 August 2007 at 4:19pm
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Well, JavaScript just got it's first little usage here, and passed with flying colors. I was able to throw together a little genetic drift simulator in a few minutes with perfect results. I must say, though, that it is a bear for debugging. As best I can tell, if there is a syntax error, the script does nothing at all - not even an error message or partial performance. Not a lot of help. I guess you get what you pay for. And added bonus - I am being forced to learn a little html-coding, which I have been meaning to look into. So definitely satisfied for now. Very happy to have this added capability at hand. :) ------------- [IMG]http://i38.tinypic.com/aag8s8.jpg"> |
Posted By: SandMan
Date Posted: 10 August 2007 at 4:21pm
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Yeah, HTML is easy-peasey... And a must to know IMO. ------------- Real Men Love Cheeses |
Posted By: Monk
Date Posted: 10 August 2007 at 7:08pm
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Debugging can be made easier. When using Internet Explorer as your browser, you can go to tools->Internet Options->Advanced Tab->Check "Display Notification on every script error" This will throw an error dialog box when there is scripting problems. It will also show the exact line in the document that the error is on. |
Posted By: Rambino
Date Posted: 10 August 2007 at 7:40pm
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^^^ Very cool. Thanks for the heads-up on that. Woulda saved me some time earlier today... :) ------------- [IMG]http://i38.tinypic.com/aag8s8.jpg"> |
Posted By: Shub
Date Posted: 10 August 2007 at 7:44pm
| It also helps to use a code editor that shows you line numbers when you get an error message. I love a sweet little program called http://www.flos-freeware.ch/notepad2.html - Notepad 2 . It is about all I use when working on html. It color codes syntax for you, numbers the lines, etc. And it's a very lightweight program, no bigger than Windows Notepad. |