Nerdy programmer talk stripped from serious newbie discussion

[Marc]

EDIT: This discussion was split from the Newbie feedback thread
Now back to your regularly scheduled nerdiness.... BV

For me it's more the problem of time. If there were 36 hours in a day and sleep counted three times, I would probably post more often. Between working on NELSAP.org, Skilifts.org, Skisunapee.org (new release coming soon...), work at Mt. Sunapee, and teaching myself more coding languages I'm very busy. Whenever I post I try to make it more than just a one or two word answer.

I love reading all forums related to skiing as well as ski lifts. My passion is what drives me to contiually come to all these forums and support these organizations. The only downside is that there isn't enough time in the day to make it all work. But either way before I know it, I'll probably be up to 1,000 posts in no time.

All you really need to know is Fortran 76.

 

[Jonni]

Yeah, I know. I'm more a web person than a hardcore computer programmer. I took a Java class this past spring and that was fun. I'll have to take a C or C++ Programming class before too long so, I should get a little more experience with it before I complete discount doing that rather than just web languages. Unfortunately, LSC doesn't teach Fortran, which kinda sucks.

Sorry about getting off topic though...

 

[Marc]

Yeah, I know. I'm more a web person than a hardcore computer programmer. I took a Java class this past spring and that was fun. I'll have to take a C or C++ Programming class before too long so, I should get a little more experience with it before I complete discount doing that rather than just web languages. Unfortunately, LSC doesn't teach Fortran, which kinda sucks.

Sorry about getting off topic though...

Haha, don't worry, I was just kidding about Fortran 76 anyhow. The only people who still use Fortran are mostly using 90 and are scientists and engineers, and even then a lot of them have switched to some form of C.

C or C++ is def. the most versatile language you can learn.

 

[Jonni]

Yes, C is nice to learn, though I like Java a little better because there isn't nearly the amount of coding necessary to create and do everything than there is in C or C++. The only downside to that is that you need a Java Runtime Environment installed on the host computer in order for it to work.

 

[Marc]

Yes, C is nice to learn, though I like Java a little better because there isn't nearly the amount of coding necessary to create and do everything than there is in C or C++. The only downside to that is that you need a Java Runtime Environment installed on the host computer in order for it to work.

Yes, Java can be quicker, but C is far more powerful and stable.

Plus it's free on Linux.

 

[bvibert]

Now you guys have your very own nerdy thread, maybe some others will see it and join in.

Marc, I'm curious, what do you do for work? I'm sure you mentioned it before, but I'm too lazy to search..

I'm something of a programmer myself. I mostly use LabVIEW for work. Most 'real' programmers scoff at it, but it's actually pretty powerful. I've been teaching myself PHP and JS on the side too. Haven't done too much with C or C++, I know enough to be dangerous...

 

[Marc]

Now you guys have your very own nerdy thread, maybe some others will see it and join in.

Marc, I'm curious, what do you do for work? I'm sure you mentioned it before, but I'm too lazy to search..

I'm something of a programmer myself. I mostly use LabVIEW for work. Most 'real' programmers scoff at it, but it's actually pretty powerful. I've been teaching myself PHP and JS on the side too. Haven't done too much with C or C++, I know enough to be dangerous...

I'm a fire protection engineer. Computers are just a hobby. I actually don't have a lot of programming experience, but I did quite a bit of programming fluid dynamics modeling in college which carries over to computer fire modeling as well. I use C++ now and then and have been trying to teach myself object oriented C++, but it's been tedious.

IMHO, there's absolutely nothing wrong with LabVIEW. It's basically a GUI version of C. If you use it the way it was meant to be used, it is quite powerful. Often times, classically trained programers and software engineers with text blinders on scoff at anything that doesn't use a command prompt and code lines.

Hell, you can use Excel for programming calculations when you get right down to it.

 

[skibum1321]

I work with JOVIAL (which is as old as FORTRAN) and assembly code. If you want to talk about the most inefficient way to program - just look at assembly. Many high-level programming language statements will translate into 5 or more assembly statements.
I miss the good old days of programming in C, C++, and Java in school. I've also done a bunch of web dev with PHP, JSP and Servlets. I miss web programming a lot - it's always been my favorite.

Has anyone given Ruby on Rails a shot? It's the new "hot" language. If you want to sound like you are a serious web guru just throw Ruby on Rails and AJAX into all your conversations.

 

[andyzee]

If you want to talk about the most inefficient way to program - just look at assembly. Many high-level programming language statements will translate into 5 or more assembly statements.

I'm not much of a programmer, but have tinkered a bit with just about everything out there and I kind of have to disagree with the statement above. If anything I think Assembler may be the most efficient programming language you can find, it's as close to machine code as you're going to get. Assembler will cut back on lines of code the higher level languages incorporate into a program. The issue is it's not efficient with regards to writing programs, and then it's very tedious.

 

[skibum1321]

I'm not much of a programmer, but have tinkered a bit with just about everything out there and I kind of have to disagree with the statement above. If anything I think Assembler may be the most efficient programming language you can find, it's as close to machine code as you're going to get. Assembler will cut back on lines of code the higher level languages incorporate into a program. The issue is it's not efficient with regards to writing programs, and then it's very tedious.

That's not what I was referring to. I was referring to the actual process of writing the code - it takes far longer and is much more tedious to write assembly code than to write the same thing in Java or C. The point that you make is exactly why we use assembly code - to optimize certain aspects of a program in order to improve throughput.

 

[dmc]

Actually dealing with some assembler on IBM Mainframes now... Stuff is tight.. No room for error...

PS: The IEFBR14 utility on Mainframe is only 2 lines of assembler code..

Now - off to do some testing on an Itanium machine running Redhat Advanced with Oracle 10g....

 

[skibum1321]

We are such a bunch of dorks...

 

[ctenidae]

10 Print "BASIC rules!";
20 GOTO 10

RUN

/did all my programming on a C64, took FORTRAN in college.

 

[Jonni]

I remember creating all those fun programs in BASIC on my pimped out, super fast, Apple IIe! :lol: :-D

 

[andyzee]

10 Print "BASIC rules!";
20 GOTO 10

RUN

/did all my programming on a C64, took FORTRAN in college.

Some loops suck. I accidentally created one this past Friday and it caused an important program to crash. Had to come in Saturday night to resolve it

 

[YardSaleDad]

C or C++ is def. the most versatile language you can learn.

Perl meet Marc.

Marc meet Perl.

http://www.perl.org/

 

[andyzee]

Perl meet Marc.

Marc meet Perl.

http://www.perl.org/

Problem with Perl is that it's an interpreted language.

 

[YardSaleDad]

Problem with Perl is that it's an interpreted language.

Which is one of the reasons why it is

def. the most versatile language you can learn.

I didn't say it was elegant, or easy, or pretty

 

[Marc]

Which is one of the reasons why it is



I didn't say it was elegant, or easy, or pretty

Marc's commandments of engineering and mathematical programming:

1) Thou shalt not use Perl.

2) To be determined...

 

[Marc]

Granted, YSD, I did not qualify my previous statement with the above modifier.

However, I was under the impression that overall C was still the most versatile language out there.

If you claim otherwise, I submit to your superior knowledge in the realm of general computer programming. I claim not to be, nor have I ever, an expert in that area.






Nor in any other area for that matter.