Start with scripting. Something like Javascript. You can see the
results immediately and you get that instant gratification. Cue
Middle Aged Programmer Talk: "Back In My Day", I taught myself
BASIC when I was 11 and it was the basis for everything. Learned
Pascal, another obsolete language - and in short, learned a LOT
of languages that would end up becoming obsolete. Anyway, start
with something that has immediate gratification. LUA is also a
great possibility if you do gaming. In fact, LUA might even be
better because it's very flexible. In short, start with
hacking/scripting then move up to programming when the scripting
languages fail you. The benefit of scripting is that you don't
have to write the bulk of things; you're fulfilling the needs of
programming by accomplishing a task. The difference is a lot of
the work is already done for you, because you have huge worlds
to manipulate. Also, I would suggest PHP, as it's again, instant
gratification (web based) and quite simple. THEN start working
on other languages. Maybe try hacking something together with
JAVA (many games are JAVA based) or, if you have a phone, use
programming languages that allow you to go straight to the
phone. Learning CSS/HTML is also a huge plus if you don't have
them under your belt already. Beyond that, skies the limit. Once
you get the basics of how one scripting language works, you've
pretty much gotten the 'gist' of all of them mastered more or
less. The rest is translation and quirks related to the
languages in question. Yeah, I wouldn't worry about learning a
language _unless_ you have a good reason to. You want it to DO
something. Otherwise you'll just be bored and give up. Start
with hack scripts. You don't have to _use_ them (but whether you
do or not is up to you; consequences are obvious of course, and
they've got bots sniffing around for hacking patterns which will
permaban your IP address/account, etc. In short; somebody's
ALWAYS watching But they're a great way to learn. Chat bots are
a great way to learn programming. Make something that can talk
to you. Or talk _for_ you. Macros. Then have the macros answer
questions in a chat window. You know, go straight to human-like.
You spend a LOT OF TIME talking to yourself when you're
programming - believe me - so it makes a good possible first
project. Python I've heard is a great choice - it's getting more
and more popular. I know kids - 8+ who taught themselves
programming because they wanted Minecraft to do something it
didn't do. By 10 years old, they're the masters of all things
JAVA and Mod making - all because they had goals and they didn't
care what got in their way. it's the secret right there. hacking
has light side/dark side and sometimes they overlap. I have a
friend who writes these amazing programs and scripts (mostly
through batch files but with advanced scripting and programming)
that are designed to entirely WRECK an enemy's hard drive, or
just taunt them as they use it, invisibly. He doesn't actually
send them OUT, but he takes his *hatred* - of a friend that
betrayed him - into wicked evil plans that he never carries out,
but meanwhile, he's mastered so much programming, script making,
networking protocols.. all fueled by a goal: utter destruction.
He WON'T do it, but he _could_. That's payback enough. I'm not a
fan of vengance, but it's a great motivator, as long as one
knows when to stop. But I know you can do it. Programming isn't
hard when you have a reason that's powerful enough. Trolling is
a great motivator too. I mean, these are quasi
darkside/lightside, depending how far you take trolling.
Lightside hacking is busting copy protection that seems unfair,
snatching protected content, stuff like that. At least, I
consider it lightside, unless one wants to profit from the
digital theft. Then it's darkside Yeah, I mean I don't have a
problem with most hacking/trolling unless it's permanently
destructive. I hate lost data. My mother's computer got wrecked
by CryptoLocker v2. Has a lot of my stuff trapped on it too. All
because she clicked on a link in an email. Scrambled NEARLY
every FILE on her computer with super-advanced encryption. The
guy is in jail; he's never getting out. But it put a ransom note
in every directory. The only way to fix it? All the experts out
there, all they can say is, "Go to his website (which is still
running) and pay the ransom. It's the only way to get your files
back". He was _that good_ of a hacker. Huge profit too - he
raked in millions before getting found. All her stuff is trapped
on there, and thousands of *my files* that I hadn't gotten
around to backing up are also scrambled. And... I can't fix it.
That's the worst part. I could just get her computer to limp
along 'til somebody out there finds a cure. So, that's wicked
dark side evil to me. But anything that _isn't_ destructive, eh,
go for it. Anything up to the point of release is fine. Working
with computers my whole life, there's really _nothing_ you can't
get it to do. The trick is figuring out HOW. Simple ways to
control games: Keyboard/Mouse macros. Great thing to learn. Come
up with some scripts that automatically press the mouse button
27 times for every click, for example. Stuff like that. But you
have to time it right; if it's TOO fast, their hack-detection
things will catch you and _boom_, you're out, banned, gone, etc.
So, do it on a temp account, go through an IP anonymizer if you
really want to hide, install the software on a separate
directory - stuff like that. As long as you're not being evil, I
don't see the harm. Or skip the hacking if you want and learn
the languages. But my main point is about having a goal, that's
all Hope I helped inspire you a little. Also, don't be afraid to
try the "Programming for Kids" things out there too. There's
nothing wrong with them. They're expertly designed and they get
you to "Think like a programmer". One GREAT resource is:
https://scratch.mit.edu/ - I mean it's _intended_ for
elementary/middle school kids, but it's advanced stuff in there.
Everything you'll need for programming is in there. Whether it's
words you type, or puzzle pieces you move around - it's the same
logic. You'll learn. And some of the projects these kids/teens
(and adults - I know adults that use scratch to learn) are
amazing. Awesome If you succeed in making some stuff, shoot me a
msg here on FB with a link or something. I'll check it out! If
you accept the challenge, I know you'll do great! [and if you
find it boring and say "screw this!" that's ok too You're not a
better person for knowing programming. You might like it, you
might not. I like making my computer do impossible things, which
is what keeps me going ]
