Wanting to move into development - which area?

Tander said:
PHP may be a bit of a mess - however it may be just the thing to get me into the right state? (Mind wise )

But thinking about it now.., maybe C# is better to start with?
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PHP is easy to pick up, but then you get to OO programming within PHP etc that helps a lot in learning more as you go along (don't forget to pick up sql / database design etc)

Once you're familiar with that, switching to C# is easy peasy. I'd go that route instead of c# first.

You need something easy to train with. Then move on to the heavier/"harder" ones. Same thing, I'd always recommend VBScript (classic ASP) before going into vb.net etc
 
roguemat said:
BTW DON'T do VB.NET. If you want to, just do C#.
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lol, let me guess, c++ fan? :p

It really doesn't matter in .NET, same thing at the end of the day, if they gave me a chisel and some rock to do the code on, and it compiled exactly the same as vb or c#, it wouldn't matter
 
Thanks gents.

Decided to start with some PHP first. Done a small amount of reading / learning / programming this afternoon in it - pretty easy stuff.
I will move to SQL / DB design along the way and then into C#. I think from there, I will look into iOS maybe and Java.

When I get to C# - I will use Notepad++ and not an IDE (Visual basic) - I think this will be better to cement my understanding of the language, rather than VB doing all the heavy lifting for me?
 
Tander said:
When I get to C# - I will use Notepad++ and not an IDE (Visual basic) - I think this will be better to cement my understanding of the language, rather than VB doing all the heavy lifting for me?
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As mentioned VB.NET is actually very alike C#. Which is why you should just goto C# - the syntax is much tidier, and it just makes more sense.

And in terms of using Notepad++, I disagree. Use Visual Studio, and let it do it's magic. Most of the people here will probably disagree with my way of thinking, but in production all that matters is that you code well, and fast. If Visual Studio can save me time, it means I have more time to spend on other areas.
Learning with Notepad++ might be a good idea - but discounting tools like Blend and VS for production scenarios is silly (IMO).
 
Whatever language you choose I suggest getting some good books on that language because the internet is full of bad advice.

I also suggest a good OOP language instead of a scripting one to help you with learning good design and implementation.
 
Tander said:
I decided a long time ago, that I would not develop for Android. It's far too fragmented and there are just too many devices, with all difference flavors of the OS to make it worth doing. Seems like a lot more work for no apparent reason.
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Note, the fragmentation for Android is very much over hyped in my opinion. The tools Google supply make it fairly easy to write an single application that will run on any Android device. Fragmentation only becomes an issue if you do fairly exotic stuff. In general I would recommend separate designs for phone and tablet, even through that is not always needed, but the same applies to iOS.

That being said, I would also recommend starting out on C#. Also, stay with one language for a while until you have a fairly deep knowledge of it before branching out. "Jack of all trades, master of none" is not so good in the programming world.

And I agree with the advice above. Get a good book. Learning to program from the internet is a waste of time in my opinion. The information is just too fragmented and until you know what you do not know, a book is the best guide.
 
gkm said:
Note, the fragmentation for Android is very much over hyped in my opinion. The tools Google supply make it fairly easy to write an single application that will run on any Android device. Fragmentation only becomes an issue if you do fairly exotic stuff. In general I would recommend separate designs for phone and tablet, even through that is not always needed, but the same applies to iOS.

That being said, I would also recommend starting out on C#. Also, stay with one language for a while until you have a fairly deep knowledge of it before branching out. "Jack of all trades, master of none" is not so good in the programming world.

And I agree with the advice above. Get a good book. Learning to program from the internet is a waste of time in my opinion. The information is just too fragmented and until you know what you do not know, a book is the best guide.
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+1 on the fragmentation nonsense.

Books on C# and .net the CLR/CLI is a must.
 
Thanks gents.

Does anyone have any good suggestions for good books on PHP / C# for beginners?

Lastly - is it advisable to be reading these books on an iPad - or must I find a hard copy, somewhere?
 
Tander said:
Thanks gents.

Does anyone have any good suggestions for good books on PHP / C# for beginners?

Lastly - is it advisable to be reading these books on an iPad - or must I find a hard copy, somewhere?
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Head First PHP and MySQL is good as an actual learning tool if you follow through and do the exercises rather than being a pure reference. They also do Head First Programming which uses Python as a vehicle for teaching general programming skills (as opposed to being a book about coding Python.)
 
Tander said:
Thanks gents.

Does anyone have any good suggestions for good books on PHP / C# for beginners?

Lastly - is it advisable to be reading these books on an iPad - or must I find a hard copy, somewhere?
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Pick up any C# book and just start. Everybody will have an opinion of which books are the best. Just start somewhere.

I prefer hard copy books.
 
Tander said:
Well, the issue with that is I don't know enough C# to be considered for employment in a junior position. That's why I would like to
grow my skills first before job hunting in that arena.
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You could build programming skills by participating in open source projects appropriate to your level of experience (or maybe even starting your own.) Not necessarily starting in a large project. Say you're learning PHP, you could write plugins or extensions for existing apps such as Joomla, Wordpress, SugarCrm or something relevant to your current work (IT support?) like OCSInventory, Nagios or Zabbix. There are also many open source projects written in C# and othe MS technologies if you go that route.

If you are able to build up a portfolio of sorts over a period of time, it will show that you are committed and proactive in your career choice and could make you stand out from the crowd and get your foot in the door.

Nothing is going to replace experience of working collaoratively to deadlines in a development team but at least you can get yourself to a stage where you can do useful work in a Junior role while you extend your experience.
 
Tander said:
Howzit guys,

So, I want to get out of the I.T field. Currently, I am a field technician.

Last year, I played with some iOS mobile development and enjoyed it but since I no longer have a Macbook,
I cannot carry on with it.

However I will get another one soon

My question is though, is mobile development the best way to go?
I was thinking along the lines of PHP and C# / Java maybe?

Any thoughts and advise?

Thank guys
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Mobile application development is in demand now a days and for that you need to know, java, javascript, PHP. C# is an added advantage so yes you can go with these languages.
 
klausmmia said:
Mobile application development is in demand now a days and for that you need to know, java, javascript, PHP. C# is an added advantage so yes you can go with these languages.
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I do not think I have seen PHP used for mobile development? :confused: (Or are you maybe talking about .mobi sites.)

Mobile platforms:
Android = Java
Apple = Objective C
Windows Phone 7/8 = C# (and probably some other .Net languages)
Then you can also use some tools that use HTML 5 and Javascript to do Mobile applications. These are subject to a lot of debate, whether that as a good or bad idea, that I am not going to go in here.

But that being said, I do not think mobile dev is such a great place to start. Mobile involves a lot of extra things that increase the learning curve. Therefore I stand with my suggestion above to first go for C# on PC platforms. Or if you prefer Linux/Mac then pick one of Java, Ruby or Python. For Mac Objective C also becomes an option.
 
The number of jobs available for inhouse software development still far exceeds the jobs available for consumer software. Most mobile apps are consumer software.

By inhouse, I mean software that the company uses internally as opposed to software it sells to consumers. In case that isn't clear :)

In not sure that trying to starting your career in mobile development gives you the best chance of getting a job.
 
Zippy, I am starting to realise mobile development is not a good place to start.

I've decided to start with some C# / PHP. Not sure which one I will do first at this stage, however I am leaning towards C#.

@gkm - PHP does not belong in the mobile development arena, you're correct there.

I will just look up a few book and their reviews and just start. The only thing holding me back at the moment, is not having a laptop - so, I am working on that first, then will move on from there.

Thanks for the suggestions, guys!
 
So, I am looking at different books online to start reading. What I would like to know, is there a difference in reading a book on C# and a book on C# .Net?

I assume the latter is, learning to program using Microsoft's IDE (Visual Basic Express ) ?
Also, I assume that the code syntax between C# and C# .Net are the same? (Besides the IDE difference?)
 
klausmmia said:
Mobile application development is in demand now a days and for that you need to know, java, javascript, PHP. C# is an added advantage so yes you can go with these languages.
Click to expand...

Sorry, why is Java and PHP in there? Mobile site != mobile app. Sorry.
 
FarligOpptreden said:
Remember, Android SDK is based on Java and, AFAIK, BlackBerry as well...
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Yes, Android, Blackberry and basic Nokia type phones use Java. The basic phones use JavaME which is a bit of a dialect. One can use other languages on Android, but the bulk of development there is in Java.
 
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