How to Get Started in Programming: Visual Basic and Javascript

Do you have that itch? It's the itch that all aspiring programmers have. It won't go away unless you're able to get at least a taste of what it is like to program. If you're in this situation, I envy you. While some people may find programming boring, my feeling is that learning to program is like finding a brand new world where you have control over everything, and the more you explore, the more fascinating this world becomes. It sounds a little grandiose, but that's what it's really like.

Before the internet, there were (and still are) the "traditional" languages of BASIC, FORTRAN, C, C++ and a few others. But as web pages became richer, various scripting languages also came into play including Visual Basic Script, Javascript, Ruby on Rails, etc. Although the hard core programmers may laugh when I refer to these scripting languages as programming languages, they really are languages you can use for programming, albeit in a relatively limited fashion.

So, where should you start if you are a complete novice wanting to get his/her feet wet for the first time. Well, it depends on what your purpose or the types of products you would like to develop. If your interest is in building dynamic web pages and other internet-centric programs, then your starting point should probably be to learn how HTML works with Javascript. Javascript will allow you to build rich and dynamic web sites that are fully interactive. As a side note, while Javascript may have similar syntax as Java, they are worlds apart. They really aren't the same language. So, if you do learn Javascript, don't think that you've mastered Java.

To learn HTML and Javascript, there are any number of resources you can access, not the least of which are how-to books, books, and more books that you'll be able at any major bookstore. You can also find plenty of resources on the web. From personal experience, I would recommend that you purchase a book in order to learn the language properly. While there are a lot of web resources available, they tend not to be as detailed or as methodical as many of the books are.

If you're interested in creating standalone programs (which can also run in the background of websites as well), then I would recommend that you learn BASIC. While one can make the case for starting with C/C++ or Java, I feel that the best place is to start with the BASIC language. No matter how much I think about the standardization of C/C++ and Java, I always come around to the simplicity of usage that surrounds BASIC.

And the package you should use to learn BASIC is Microsoft's Visual Basic.NET Express which is completely free! There are a lot of things that you can fault Microsoft for, but they have developed a wonderful programming interface with their Visual line of products. The Express edition may be free, but make no mistake, it is still an extremely powerful tool. Once you get over the learning curve involved with understanding how the an event-driven environment works, you'll be in for one heck of a treat as you find out more and more of what you can do with this free tool