***** WHERE DO I START PROGRAMMING? *****

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Every forum I have ever been to has always had on more than one occassion, someone asking where they should begin their 
programming learning. And everytime, the replies and responses are different to each other. I will try to make it clearer 
for you.

NOTE: I will try to keep it simple (ie: lacking technicality) in case there are people who have no idea at all.

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-== Why Do I Even Want to Learn Programming/Coding? ==-

Simply because it gives you a deeper understanding of how things work that you take for granted. It will help you understand 
how trojans work, or how an exploit is found and written, or how certain programs like IP/port scanners are made.
When you read that hacking needs you to learn a language, it is true to an extent. You don't *need* to, I know people that 
survive without ever knowing anything about programming or coding, but it does help greatly when you understand more than 
just how to push the button.

And if you ever took the time and learny completely a language, you could code many small tools or program larger, more 
complete programs.

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-== What Languages Are There? ==-

Lots.
Programming, coding, and scripting languages go back to earlier than alot of us were born. In the '70's, to the '80's, the 
'90's, and into the 2000's, programming has developed and matured into many languages of different types:

=>Compiled
Ada
Assembly
Brainfuck
C/C++ (OOP)/C--/C# (OOP)
CHILL
Cobol/OO Cobol
Pascal (OOP)
D (OOP)
Delphi (OOP)
Eiffel (OOP)/Eiffel# (OOP)
Fortran
Java
Modula-2/Modula-3 (OOP)
Oberon (OOP)
QuickBASIC

[extra OOP languages:
o VBScript
o VisualBASIC
o Bistro]

=> Markup
HTML
MathML
SGML
SMIL
XHTML
XML

=>Interpreted
JavaScript
PHP
Perl
PL-SQL
Postscript
VBScript
VisualBASIC
Python

and there are many, many more languages. Be known though, not all of these are used these days--these are the more 
"well-known".

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-== What Does It All Mean? ==-

Compiled Languages/[u] are langauges that are written and then compiled in a program called a compiler. Basically, a 
compiler translates from the syntax of the language into computer language so the computer can run the final product. 
The written code is the source code, and can be found all over the internet as open source programming.

Markup Languages are more commonly used with interaction of the internet, such as HTML. They are merely written, saved as 
the appropriate extension, and viewed in a browser. They are usually not *too* hard to learn, and can prove to be useful 
at times.

Interpreted Languages are written as a script, and later run through an interpreter. This means there is no final 
executable file, and can be used on more than one OS much more easily.

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-== Which One Is For Me? ==-

That is entirely up to you and what you want to accomplish with it. Personally, I like to learn anything that comes to 
mind. I also like more of the typing-languages than the more common GUI languages like VisualBASIC. That is a personal 
choice, and means nothing on the standard or quality of VisualBASIC (as some people like to bash on it for no apparent 
reason).

Keep in mind some languages are slightly more difficult to understand in regards to syntax and structure, but overall if 
you take the time and put in the effort, it will end up being learnt.

The more common type of language to learn is the OOP--Object-Oriented Programming language. OOP is simply a type of 
programming model (pardigm) that is an evolution of procedural programming, where the procedures and data they act upon are 
encapsulated into objects.
Procedural programming is a programming pardigm that uses sub-routines that allow replacement of a group of statements with 
a single statement.

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-== Final Words ==-

Just do whichever one you want. Don't choose a language to learn just because your friend says so, or because someone says 
it's the 'easiest'--everyone learns differently and finds certain things harder or easier. Mess around with different 
languages and find out what you like yourself. 

--------------------------------------------

Info:
by Infinite_Reality, aka `uN[In$tall]`

Written under The Goon Squad [TGS], 
and with regards to HackersCenter [Hs'C]

http://www.tgs-security.com
http://www.hackerscenter.com
http://www.brain-hack.org

irc.brain-hack.org
#hackerlounge
6667