software developer

[lee8040]

is this something that could easily be learnt at home for someone who has no experience in software developing?

also what is the best software development package to learn at the start?

[Alexio]

Easily no - to start to approach professional levels of being able to develop software from learning at home will take you years. It is certainly possible though. I now happily earn a fair bit from software development and I'm self taught over the last 6 years (I'm now 21). It really depends on what you want to develop as to what you're going to start really getting in to. Of course, once you know how to program then hopefully your skills should be mostly transferable across any language.

If you want to go down the web route then you'll end up learning html, css, js, sql, asp (c# / vb) / php / rails / perl / python.

If you go down the route of making Microsoft applications you are likely to learn c#. If you want to do mac software properly you will learn objective C (for developing iPhone apps too) and if you want to develop for any platform you will learn Java.

What is meant my learning a language also is often learning to use the libraries available for it and best practices. Syntax really isn't hard to learn by it's self.

On top of this there are hundreds of IDEs and tools available which you may have to get to grips with (depending on what you choose to go in to) as well as lots of object orientated programming methodology and practices to study.

Good luck.
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will never give up his CG. I look at my fuel gauge more as a progress bar than a fuel gauge.
G: With my GSXR I do often effectively use it as a scooter with a clutch in town.
ms51ves3: why does it need 500 miles? Are you teaching it how to be a piston?

[lee8040]

I think i was looking into the microsoft software.

Is there anything free out there that you can have a play with?

[Kickstart]

Hi

As above, although everything changes rapidly. Languages you learn now might be unused in a few years. Same for libraries / frameworks for languages that are still in use (there are dozens for Java for example, and what was state of the art 5 years ago is now unused).

To be honest in the UK it is also a dieing industry. Far cheaper to just ship off programming work to a cheaper country (management in many large companies don't care too much if the result is dire as they don't have to use it, just so long as it was cheap and can just about do what they want and can be operated by some temp in a call centre).

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[Kickstart]

[The Shaggy D.A.]

No, it's really hard, stay away from it, the market's too crowded.



If you want Microsoft, then have a look at the free Express editions of VB, C#, and ASP.NET.

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vbasic/default.aspx

You can also download a 90 day trial of Visual Studio (or source it from somewhere else <cough>
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[snomag]

It's definitely possible, but not that easily - as Alexio said.

I'm self taught, but it took me quite a long time. Now I'm almost 26 and been working as a web developer for around 5 years. (asp.net webforms + mvc (c#), ms sql, html, js, css, and all the usual garbage)

If you're planning to go down the Microsoft route, you can download the free version of Visual Studio, which's called something like Visual Studio Express. If my memory serves me right, there's also a free version of the MS SQL too, including a management studio. (so you can write and execute queries, manage databases)

As for learning material, there's tons and tons of out there, even on the official asp.net site. Most of the time I would say they're pretty decent too.

On a sidenote I would highly recommend to read (a book maybe, I know it's oldschool) about the programming principles. I've seen my share of developers (especially web developers) who had no deep understanding of their language/computer/programming in general. I think that's a big mistake.

Good luck with it.

[Kickstart]

[MarJay]

[supZ]

[The Shaggy D.A.]

I've been developing software since 1983. As much as I love computers and programming, the whole political bullshit, wank word bingo and superfluous documentation requirements that has seeped into the job has killed any enthusiasm I've got for it as a career.
____________________
Chances are quite high you are not in my Monkeysphere, and I don't care about you. Don't take it personally.
Currently : Royal Enfield 350 Meteor
Previously : CB100N > CB250RS > XJ900F > GT550 > GPZ750R/1000RX > AJS M16 > R100RT > Bullet 500 > CB500 > LS650P > Bullet Electra X & YBR125 > Bullet 350 "Superstar" & YBR125 Custom > Royal Enfield Classic 500 Despatch Limited Edition (28 of 200) & CB Two-Fifty Nighthawk > ER5

[Kickstart]

Hi

Similar to me. Been at it since 1987, and now land up working for a tiny company where I have a lot of freedom to do what I want.

Former employer had charged headlong towards maximising bureaucracy and minimising productive work. It had become a case of if it moves document it, and keep documenting it until it stops moving. And then spend twice as long as it took to do justifying why it was done, to a manager who was only interested in getting you to lie to justify his bonus, even if the lies just meant that anything getting done took even longer.

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[pa_broon74]

I did one year of an Msc which included SQL and Java. The SQL was fine, it seemed to make sense so was straight forward once you got the hang of it.

On the otherhand, what marjay says about having a knack for programming is so true, I could never get my head round Java, I could tell you what a program did but I couldn't write one for toffee.

I knew that because I could never do algebra at school either, my brain just doesn't seem to work that way. Someone said it was like learning another language but it's actually worse than that, it's like learning another language that uses the same alphabet. Not only do you have to learn all the new syntax but you have to some how disengage everything you learnt about English to begin with.

It just gave me a massive headache.

I suppose its like loads of things, I can't draw either, rubbish at maths, spelling is ok, I can't dance, play music, rubbish with arts and crafts... Actually, I'm shit at most things...

Mmm...



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Didn't catch anything.

[chris-red]

Just knowing the code isn't all employers are looking for you they would also want someone who has experience working in a team, writing testing plans sticking to deadlines interpreting what people actually want, etc.
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[Frost]

If you just want to get a feel for programming i recommend Visual Basic. Its piss easy and lets you draw the user interface directly meaning you get results quickly. After VB I highly recommend Visual C#, it uses object orientation (big boy programming ), is basically identical to Java, and again lets you just draw the user interface onto the screen.

[Kickstart]

[Frost]

Ah, back in my day it was VB5

[Kickstart]

Hi

Even VB 5 was object orientated. Just didn't try so much to force you into it when it wasn't useful.

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[Alexio]

I started programming with VB3 on windows 3.1 and 95. As I recall that was also object orientated but as said didn't force you in to having to create objects in code at all if you didn't want to, which was really nice for a beginner.

I miss my 16 bit days, I have several games I made back then that I still enjoy playing.
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will never give up his CG. I look at my fuel gauge more as a progress bar than a fuel gauge.
G: With my GSXR I do often effectively use it as a scooter with a clutch in town.
ms51ves3: why does it need 500 miles? Are you teaching it how to be a piston?

[panrider_uk]

VB.Net is great if you like using acres of code to achieve not a lot.

Bring back COBOL I say

Mark
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Current bikes: Honda ST1100 Pan European. Moto Guzzi V85 TT Travel

[The Shaggy D.A.]

No, don't.


____________________
Chances are quite high you are not in my Monkeysphere, and I don't care about you. Don't take it personally.
Currently : Royal Enfield 350 Meteor
Previously : CB100N > CB250RS > XJ900F > GT550 > GPZ750R/1000RX > AJS M16 > R100RT > Bullet 500 > CB500 > LS650P > Bullet Electra X & YBR125 > Bullet 350 "Superstar" & YBR125 Custom > Royal Enfield Classic 500 Despatch Limited Edition (28 of 200) & CB Two-Fifty Nighthawk > ER5

[G]

[Kickstart]

[ncrn]

One option is becoming a model based developer, basically using matlab to create what are effectively logic flow charts that can be converted fairly easily into code. Its very good for rapid prototyping and is being adopted by a few engineering firms at the moment. You need to be a logical thinker to do it well, and have a good understanding of binary and binary functions to do it well. But from an actual coding perspective you don't need to know a lot of syntax.

Failing that buy a book on the language(s) you want to learn, get a compiler on your PC and dive on in. I personally started with C, its a language that a lot of compilers are built from so understanding how C works can help a lot with higher level languages. Its also easy to get working on linux.

But as has been mentioned above it can be very boring and tedious, but it can also be very rewarding and interesting. It can be a headache to work out why you are suffering a bug, but at the same time its very satisfying to solve it .
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[Ariel Badger]

How do you spot an extrovert software developer?
He will stare at your shoes when you talk to him.
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