Arrekusuof93

Alright... Well I'm new to programming. I can't get my hands on Visual Basic right now and I've heard you can write C# programs in notepad as long as you have a compiler. Well I need a free C# compiler, or perhaps just C because I don't know which is the smartest to start out in. Any help or advice would be appreciated, thanx!

uman

C# is very useful in the real world and also good for newbies. As for notepad, I have good news! You don't need to use notepad, you can use a free IDE (integrated development environment) that is similar to Visual Studio (which you erroneously call "visual basic") but that is free! It's called SharpDevelop, and loads of people use it. Check it out here: http://www.icsharpcode.net/OpenSource/SD/

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Arrekusuof93

I've heard of IDEs before but I've wondered. On installation will they change anything major on my computer or will it just be a program that can help me with writing programs?

uman

It won't do any harm to your system. Here's what an IDE is:

A compiler.
A fancy editor that has lots of nifty features to help you write code.

Some IDEs, Visual Studio for example, also have other tools to help you write code, but the two above are the main ones.

With an IDE you also don't have to compile things from the command line, generally you can just press a button in the IDE and it will compile it for you.

So the bottom line is, IDEs are great! And #Develop won't do any harm at all or make any drastic changes to your system. Give it a go, and welcome to the world of programming!

__________________
Few people deserve to be compared to (Rush) Limbaugh, most of them were convicted at the Nuremburg trials.
--WilliamSChips on Slashdot

Arrekusuof93

Thanks, I'll try it now. But if my dad happens to notice something, I'll remember who told me. :-)

Arrekusuof93

Also I have another question. I'm a web designer, and I fancy myself pretty good. I've often wondered if such elements as you can create with HTML are similar in syntax with programming languages.

uman

I would think that your dad would be glad that his son is learning to program, a lifelong and exceptionally useful skill.

__________________
Few people deserve to be compared to (Rush) Limbaugh, most of them were convicted at the Nuremburg trials.
--WilliamSChips on Slashdot

uman

In response to your second question:

No, generally they aren't, except in some relatively minor programming languages like XUL.

__________________
Few people deserve to be compared to (Rush) Limbaugh, most of them were convicted at the Nuremburg trials.
--WilliamSChips on Slashdot

Arrekusuof93

I'm bothering you again, but on the page before the download: http://www.icsharpcode.net/OpenSource/SD/Download/, under the download for the source code, it said, "In order to be able to either compile (source code) or run (executable) SharpDevelop, you must have the Microsoft .NET SDK 1.1 installed on that machine (the Runtime will also do, however, it comes without the SDK documentation)." I downloaded the executable file not the source code. I was wondering if that meant I had to have the .NET SDK to compile the programs?

uman

you need the .net framework to run your applications. You can download it from microsoft.

__________________
Few people deserve to be compared to (Rush) Limbaugh, most of them were convicted at the Nuremburg trials.
--WilliamSChips on Slashdot