Beginner coder

[Renevatia]

Started like a month or so ago because I had to take a fortran class for chemistry. I quite like fortran now and I will probably use it for anything that has to do with computing/optimization.

The problem I have with fortran is so far it seems very standalone, for the lack of better words. It doesn't really interact with other programs, kind of just does its own things. Also, the version I use, fortran95, has no internal GUI library. So everything is CMD bound.

Is it a good idea to try to learn java(or if anyone has a better suggestion) and do fortran computation portion as subprocess and use java interface.

What I am trying to make is a simple calculation program where you put in some stats in each box, press some button(s) and it gives you a calculated number after some analysis with those numbers. I know it would probably be easier to write the whole thing in Java but I want to leave the computation parts to fortran, and actually know how to build something like this.

I did find an external library that can be accessed by fortran. Its called DISLIN but it looks kind of limiting. I also like java's capability to run very portably. Also, would running a subprocess in another code limit that portability?

[rushyrulz]

pick up visual basic if you want to create easy to use programs with GUIs (and seems perfect for what you're trying to accomplish). Java is a good language to learn the ins and outs of programming, but it's complicated to get out of the terminal with it and other similar languages such as C and fortran.

scripting languages such as perl, python, ruby would might be worth learning if you're interested in programming on the internet. These languages are very easy to pick up as well and can do a lot of things that other languages are incapable of.

[Renevatia]

Originally Posted by rushyrulz

pick up visual basic if you want to create easy to use programs with GUIs (and seems perfect for what you're trying to accomplish). Java is a good language to learn the ins and outs of programming, but it's complicated to get out of the terminal with it and other similar languages such as C and fortran.

scripting languages such as perl, python, ruby would might be worth learning if you're interested in programming on the internet. These languages are very easy to pick up as well and can do a lot of things that other languages are incapable of.

I think I am okay if the coding itself is done without an interface. I just want to be able to make programs with simple interfaces, like buttons for controlling input to make it more user friendly

[rushyrulz]

Visual Basic would be perfect, to be honest.

Here's an example of a simple program I wrote in visual basic if you want to get a grasp of the look and feel of the graphical interface:
http://puu.sh/czHP7.zip (169 kb)

It's a basic kill counter for a monster in RuneScape that provides statistics on personal drop rates of certain items, nothing spectacular. If you would like the source files for this I can provide those as well.

[Renevatia]

Originally Posted by rushyrulz

Visual Basic would be perfect, to be honest.

Here's an example of a simple program I wrote in visual basic if you want to get a grasp of the look and feel of the graphical interface:
http://puu.sh/czHP7.zip (169 kb)

It's a basic kill counter for a monster in RuneScape that provides statistics on personal drop rates of certain items, nothing spectacular. If you would like the source files for this I can provide those as well.

That does look pretty much like what I want to make.

What language is it based on in visual studio?

[Doug31]

I'd recommend C sharp. It's like Java but better in most ways. And if you want to make simple GUIs, you can use something like Microsoft Visual Studio which lets you just drag and drop common controls from a toolbox onto a form directly, and then generate all the code to make it look like that for you. So you can just write the code under the scenes that does what you want it to without having to do all the annoyingly hard GUI coding.

Java can do a similar thing if you download the Netbeans IDE. It lets you make a swing GUI pretty easily but the drawback here is that almost every company is going to try to tell you how bad swing is and they're not going to use it, but it's still a good place to start if you don't care about that stuff. And you can get Netbeans for free and start making these things, unlike any good way I know of doing an equivalent for C sharp.

[TC_Halogen]

Originally Posted by Doug31

I'd recommend C sharp. [...]

I very highly second this. For someone who is learning programming, I am against Visual Basic only because the syntax is actually somewhat anomalous compared to other programming languages (your typical semi-colons and closing brackets cause syntax errors in VB!?).

[Renevatia]

Originally Posted by TC_Halogen

I very highly second this. For someone who is learning programming, I am against Visual Basic only because the syntax is actually somewhat anomalous compared to other programming languages (your typical semi-colons and closing brackets cause syntax errors in VB!?).

Originally Posted by Doug31

I'd recommend C sharp. It's like Java but better in most ways. And if you want to make simple GUIs, you can use something like Microsoft Visual Studio which lets you just drag and drop common controls from a toolbox onto a form directly, and then generate all the code to make it look like that for you. So you can just write the code under the scenes that does what you want it to without having to do all the annoyingly hard GUI coding.

Java can do a similar thing if you download the Netbeans IDE. It lets you make a swing GUI pretty easily but the drawback here is that almost every company is going to try to tell you how bad swing is and they're not going to use it, but it's still a good place to start if you don't care about that stuff. And you can get Netbeans for free and start making these things, unlike any good way I know of doing an equivalent for C sharp.

Got any pointers as where is a good place to start with C#? Book or online sources. How come C# instead of C++?

[Zageron]

C# has powerful Visual Studio support for GUI out of the box. C++ is command line for a fair number of years before you'd be ready to integrate DirectX or OpenGL / SDL and understand what you're doing. Search for Visual Studio C# forms.

[choof]

since who already have people posting about picking up a C language, I will use this chance to say "lmfao fortran"

[Renevatia]

Originally Posted by choof

since who already have people posting about picking up a C language, I will use this chance to say "lmfao fortran"

whats wrong with fortran. So much hate fff.

[rushyrulz]

C languages disgust me. I like VB :)

[21992]

I'm currently in AP computer science and my teacher's website has everything you need to learn java! Good Luck!

[Renevatia]

Started doing C# in VB. Still using the console in it to get the basics down though.

Edit:

What is the "This." keyword in instantiated variables.
Why wouldn't you just use a variable with a different name inside the constructor instead of using something like

class
int num;

constructor
num = number;

Instead of:

constructor
this.number = number;

[Zageron]

For clarity. Many prefer precise variable naming. I prefer Hungarian notation.
There are other reasons, much much more advanced, for the this keyword to exist.

[shenjoku]

Building off of what Zageron mentioned, one super important thing you need to learn is how to name member variables differently from parameters and other temp variables. If you can't immediately tell if a variable is a member just by the name then you need to rethink your naming convention. I've run in to way too many problems due to poor naming conventions.

For example in your class sample:

class
int num;

Make it m_num or something similar to make it very obvious that it's a member and not just a local temp variable. That way if you have a function that takes in a number that you want to call num you won't be confused as hell trying to figure out which num is the member and which is the input parameter. For example, try to guess what happens in this situation:

class SomeClass
{
    int num;

    void SomeFunc(int num)
    {
        num = num;
    }
};

Sure you could do this.num = num, but even that is kinda ugly. Do you really want to have to remember to prefix every member with "this."? If you forget then you'll completely screw yourself and have to hunt down a really hard to find bug.

[SKG_Scintill]

I don't see the problem with using "this.", it's just a way to get the variable with that name of "this" class.
Otherwise you're referring to the argument of your method, which has the same name.

[shenjoku]

If you make sure your members don't clash with the names of parameters or local temp variables then you shouldn't need to use "this.whatever" ever. If you can remember to always use this to lookup members then I suppose it works, but I've had to debug many bugs caused by locals and members having the same name so I feel like it's safer to have a solid naming convention that doesn't do that ever.

[FoJaR]

i know i'm like 6 months late, but you're all wrong.

python is the answer. qt if you want a gui.

i'm less anti c# now that .net is going open source, but python is simple and easy. definitely something for someone who is just getting into coding, especially if integrating fortran code is something that you're looking for.

[rushyrulz]

Python disgusts me.