Are you a beginning programmer?
There are some programming languages like Ruby and Python that are not too hard for beginners to learn. Of course you could dive right in to C++, but once you know one programming language it is much easier to learn a new one.
A good beginner's programming book helps to learn programming fundamentals and you'll find many beginning programming books here that don't assume you know another programming language first. I will also update this page with beginning programming links and videos that I find.
Teach Yourself Programming in 24 Hours
Sams Teach Yourself Beginning Programming in 24 Hours (2nd Edition) (Sams Teach Yourself)
Amazon Price: $23.09 (as of 10/07/2008)
This book is good for beginning programmers, going over the fundamentals of programming. If you have no experience programming, this is a good book to get first! Don't expect to become an expert in 24 hours, but it's a good place to start.
Beginning programming links
these aren't for a specific language
- How to Design Programs: An Introduction to Computing and Programming
- Online book about programming from MIT. Starts out with why everyone should learn how to program.
- Erratic Wisdom: 5 Tips For a Beginning Programmer
- 5 Useful tips for beginning programmers
C++ Without Fear
C++ Without Fear: A Beginner's Guide That Makes You Feel Smart
Amazon Price: $19.79 (as of 10/07/2008)
C++ may not be the easiest language, but if you want to start out with C++ and don't have prior programming experience, this may be the best book for you. It doesn't have everything you need to know about C++ so use it as a starting point.
Beginner C++ Programming Tutorial Videos
Beginning C++ programming links
- Programming Tutorials: C++ Made Easy
- C++ tutorial that "Includes basics, pointers, arrays, classes and structs, recursion, linked lists, encryption, OpenGL graphics, and more."
- Should I learn C++ First?
- Article that examines if you should learn C++ before C, and has information on procedural programming languages, and object oriented languages.
- C++ Language Tutorial - cplusplus.com
- C++ tutorial with working example programs, no programming experience necessary.
Beginning Programming with Java for Dummies
Beginning Programming with Java For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech))
Amazon Price: $16.49 (as of 10/07/2008)
This is a good book on programming fundamentals to get your feet wet with programming and Java. It doesn't assume you know how to program yet so it helps you get a basic understanding.
Beginner Java Programming Tutorial Videos
Beginning Java programming links
- Java Programming Beginner Lens
- My Java Programming Beginner lens with more Java links, including Java video tutorials.
- Getting started with Java
- Beginner Java tutorials to help you get started with Java
- JavaRanch - A Friendly Place for Java Greenhorns
- Learn Java with the Cattle Drive, has some good programming exercises you can try, and Java forums.
- The Java tutorials
- Java tutorials on Sun's site
Ruby: Learn to Program
Learn to Program (Pragmatic Programmers)
Amazon Price: $13.57 (as of 10/07/2008)
This book by Chris Pine is a great way to learn Ruby if you don't have any experience programming. It teaches the basics, and is easy to understand. You can also check out Chris Pine's tutorial below which is free before deciding if you want the entire book.
Beginning Ruby programming links
- Learn to Program (using Ruby) by Chris Pine
- Excellent online tutorial for learning to program using Ruby. The tutorial has expanded into a book that you can buy as well.
- try ruby! (in your browser)
- You can try Ruby right in your web browser--it has a 15 minute basic interactive tutorial.
- Learning Ruby
- Beginner's Ruby tutorial
- Ruby Home Page - Download Ruby
- Download Ruby - it's free. It also comes with some documentation.
Python Programming for the Absolute Beginner
Python Programming for the Absolute Beginner
Amazon Price: (as of 10/07/2008)
If you are an absolute beginner to programming, this book can help! It is for the Python programming language, but you can find Absolute Beginners books for your language of choice as well. Absolute Beginners books make learning programming fun as they tend to use games as examples.
Beginner Python Programming YouTube Videos
Beginning Python programming links
- Beginner's Guide to Python
- "New to programming? Python is free, and easy to learn if you know where to start! This guide will help you to get started quickly." Includes Has python tutorials and some videos for beginners.
- Python Babysteps Tutorial
- Python baby steps tutorial--great for if you have never programmed in your life!
- Beginner's Python Tutorial
- Teaches a beginner the basics of the Python programming language.
Microsoft Visual Basic 2005 Express Edition Programming for the Absolute Beginner
Microsoft Visual Basic 2005 Express Edition Programming for the Absolute Beginner (For the Absolute Beginner)
Amazon Price: $19.79 (as of 10/07/2008)
This is a good way to start programming in Visual Basic without spending a lot of money. Hopefully they will come out with a good beginner's book for Visual Basic 2008 soon. In the meantime, this is a good book to learn the Visual Basic 2005 Express edition if you are new to programming.
Beginner Visual Basic Programming Tutorial Videos
Beginning Visual Basic programming links
- Is Visual Basic a Good Beginner's Language? - Slashdot
- Is Visual Basic a Good Beginner's Language? Slashdotters will let you know what they think.
- Visual Basic 2005 Express- Absolute Beginner series
- Free collection of over 10 hours of video tutorials for learning Visual Basic using Visual Basic Express 2005.(msdn.microsoft.com)
- Microsoft Visual Basic .NET tutorials for Beginners
- Visual Basic .NET tutorials for complete beginners, and you can use the free Visual Basic Express 2005 for these.
- CESPage.com Visual Basic - Tutorials
- Has some beginner Visual Basic tutorials with nice pictures!
- Visual Basic 2005 lessons at hello-world.com
- Has downloadable (pdf) Visual Basic 2005 Express lessons.
C Programming for the Absolute Beginner
C Programming for the Absolute Beginner, Second Edition (For the Absolute Beginner)
Amazon Price: $19.79 (as of 10/07/2008)
If you want to learn C as a first language, check out C Programming for Absolute Beginners. It makes learning fun with games as examples. C is not an object oriented programming language like C++, so if you want to learn object oriented programming from the beginning go with C++ instead.
Beginning C programming links
- C Made Easy Programming Tutorial
- C programming language tutorial, based off the C++ Made Easy tutorial at cprogramming.com
- Programming Language Tutorial
- C programming language tutorial (Published in Computer Buyer: June 1998)
- The C Book
- C Programming Language Book that was originally published in 1991 by Addison Wesley, but is now online for free.
- Common C Programming Errors
- Common C programming errors, including beginner errors.
- C Programming Notes
- C Programming notes, part of UW Experimental college course on Introduction to C Programming.
Learning Programming Videos
- Summary of Over 700 Programmer Videos
- This is an organized summary of over 700 programmer videos that are referenced on Ideal Programmer.
Beginning other programming languages links
- Rebol Programming For The Absolute Beginner
- Rebol is supposed to be a very easy to learn programming language; this tutorial shows you how to program in Rebol.
- Leopard Programming
- A beginner's programming language--easy to learn if you have trouble with other languages, then you can move on to other programming languages once you've learned leopard.
- Pascalite (Pascal) Programming Tutorials- PLTut
- Pascal programming language tutorials. (Pascal is pretty much a teaching language, and Delphi, based off of Pascal, is more advanced. )
- Welcome To Pascal for Programming Illiterates!
- Pascal Tutorial and reference guide for the beginner
Source Code / Example programs
- Google Code Search
- Search for public source code. Could come in handy for a beginner to find examples.
Reader Feedback
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Posted August 10, 2008
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Posted July 28, 2008
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hamutie28
Great lens! Posted July 18, 2007 |
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Lady_Gotrocks
Congratulations! You are now a member of the Raising Stars group Posted July 12, 2007 |
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BobSteen
I've started a new group and was hoping you would add your Lens on programming to my group. Posted May 23, 2007 |
