I know that there are several programmers here, so I'll put this out there to my CF brethren. I started a new job in September, and after the initial setup of my responsibilities (some Citrix stuff), my new job turned out to be pretty low maintenance and left me a ton of free time. To fill that time my supervisor decided to turn me into a programmer. I don't have a ton of experience there as I took some C and Javascript classes in college, but aside from some basic scripting (most of which Google provides for me) I'm a complete coding noob. Edit- I am competent with HTML and CSS from some web design and web mastering work. I usually pick everything up fairly quickly so I tried to just throw myself into it and learn by mistakes and using Google but that approach just isn't working. I'm doing some self-paced video-based training now but it's not getting me to the level I feel that I need to be at fast enough. I can do basic crap but I get frustrated staring at code at work. My supervisor give me 'simple' stuff that I don't find simple at all. When I went back to school I had to shift gears when it came to math and completely immerse myself to conquer it. I've come to the conclusion that I need to do the same with coding. So that's what I need help with: Mostly VB.net and SQL: Recommendations on books, websites, forums, journals, podcasts, training, classes, boot camps, hangouts, gin joints...whatever you think will help me to that end. Thanks.
I just installed MSSQL on my workstation at work and will need to query a database for listings for courses, IDs, etc., to write either command-line batch scripts or any other Windows-based scripting language (Powershell, Java, etc.). I just found out I can tap that (MSSQL 2008 r2 instance) and get data out, run with that, and exit, flawlessly archiving stuff for our web-based online course tools. I'd like to learn me some MSSQL, too. I'm a back-end kind of guy (sorry, no pictures) who knows mostly Linux administration with bash and web-style scripting, but will need to switch gears as well and still do some CLI entries for solving issues. Here's where I am getting some help, myself: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms162773.aspx (didn't know about this utility... was using Management Studio until I found I can do command-line). First time caller. Great show, Charlie, Russ, and Rich (circa 1990's)! I'll hang up and listen.
take a look at this site: http://teamtreehouse.com/library/programming/introduction-to-programming i just learned of it yesterday.
Unless your doing a lot of VB scripting for Office, use C#. It'll be better for you professionally. Other than that, there's tons of resources on Google. Are you just focusing on web programming? If so, learning HTML5, CSS3, and javascript/jquery is a definite must.
Thanks, Swoly- I bookmarked that. Ah, that's very good! Bookmarked as well. I've been told that before. I'm mostly working with pre-existing VB so I need to stick with that for now. It's .Net 2.0. I amended my original post- I'm fair with HTML and CSS. I'm working on an asp.net page that uploads an excel file then put it in a SQL db. Most of what I'll be doing is websites with heavy code behind for various intranet utilities and databases. So for now, yep, web programming.
I second C# as a pretty easy, practical language with a pretty high demand. Not sure that I can recommend any books cause I haven't read any programming books is years, but after a quick search on Amazon, I see one of the best sellers is the "Head First C# book" I've actually had pretty good experiences with the Head First series in the past. It's a more entertaining take on some dry subjects, but really it helps to explain concepts in a relate-able way, which is nice. I mean, I still use the Head First Design Patterns book as a reference, and those are some more advanced Software Engineering concepts.
By the way, I would steer clear of the "In a Nutshell" series, until you know enough of what you're doing to get by with just a reference manual. Those are more like an encyclopedia than an instructional text.
I don't know C#, but the "Head first..." and "... in a nutshell" series is pretty good for learning. With Google, it's tempting to copy and paste code, but try to rewrite the code as you intended. It also helps when you have an immediate goal in mind when you want to learn something.
If you want to learn something that's in high demand these days, go for Rubys on Rails 3. I just picked up from scratch about 5 months ago, and it's pretty awesome. You'll need to learn a SQL for some calls, but for the most part, Active Records makes database querries pretty easy. You configure how the tables relate to each other then call it like a class. i.e. shoes = Shoe.mens.find_by_size(9).limit(20) . I'm by no means a pro yet, but it's pretty easy to learn.
I third the C#. Write some stuff on the side. Simple fat client stuff. Learn what does what. Then write some web site and again pay attention to the foundational pieces. If you want to continue on, use those 2 sample apps call some simple custom windows services and web services (that you wrote). The should give you enough of a foundation to pass some interviews and land a job. Certificates might also help...though I am not a believer in them.
All of this is right. C# or Java, both work (and both are very similar anyway). HTML, CSS, and Javascript are must-haves these days, though. A lot of applications are moving to the web or cloud (software-as-a-service), so understanding how those applications work is crucial. The industry seems to be leaning towards RESTful services on the back-end (program those in whatever) with the HTML/js/CSS front-end.
Since your code base is VB, here is a great code converter to handle your snippetts. Http://converter.telerik.com
