Hello & some questions

[adv1k]

alright so, in the fall i will be attending UBC for a comp sci major, ive always been really interested in computers(built my own as a kid), problem solving, mathematics, and just acquiring knowledge in general, but i have a very minimal background in actual programming as my high school had absolutley no CS related electives. Once as a kid i did a hello world tutorial in c or c++ or something but that was half a decade ago and i haven't done much regarding any language since than.
and that is one of the reasons why i have stumbled upon the wonderful community that is CompSci.ca, im wondering what language/languages should i dedicate myself to learning this summer, would a basic understanding of C be most useful, or should i run over ruby or turing, i just want to have some idea of what im doing when i get to uni in the fall.
the program im in offers a few introductory type courses:
CPSC 101 (4) Connecting with Computer Science
Fundamentals of computer science and their connections with the arts, psychology, and biology. Historical, cultural, and gender perspectives of important contributions to the field will be discussed. No prior computing background required. [3-3-0]
Equivalency: WMST 201.
CPSC 110 (4) Computation, Programs, and Programming
Fundamental program and computation structures. Introductory programming skills. Computation as a tool for information processing, simulation and modeling, and interacting with the world. [3-3-0]
Prerequisite: Principles of Mathematics 12.
CPSC 111 (4) Introduction to Computation
Basic programming constructs, data types, classes, interfaces, protocols and the design of programs as interacting software components. [3-2-1]
Prerequisite: Principles of Mathematics 12
so maybe ill be ok without a deep knowledge of a basic language, but its still something im constantly worrying about and would like to come to some conclusion on so i can find some books to start reading.

on top of that ( just in case this wasn't enough of a annoyance already )
Im going to be purchasing a MPB or a Thinkpad T series in about a month and have been spending alot of time thinking about which operating systems to include on what i choose, Im leaning pretty hard towards the macbook pro with a os x and linux combination, but would it be smarter to include XP?

thanks alot guys and i promise i used the search function for about an hour before i typed this up and dint find an answer that was closely enough tailored to my situation. I really cant thank you enough in advance and im super excited to start posting here all throughout the journey that is post secondary education.

[wtd]

How to Design Programs

[saltpro15]

Welcome!

I would recommend an OS X/Linux combination for your laptop. Can't really help you with the rest, looks like wtd covered it though.

Great Introduction to C++ that covers everything
http://www.cplusplus.com/doc/tutorial/

and learning Graphics with SDL, which will later extend to OpenGL
http://lazyfoo.net/SDL_tutorials/index.php

Hope these help

[wtd]

Don't try to learn C++ first.

[DemonWasp]

I second what wtd says: Don't try to learn C++ first.

Or ever.

Start with Python, probably. It's a simple, clear language that abstracts away a lot of the machine-level complexity and the issues that's caused in C++ and similar languages. You'll be able to learn the real basics without the language swatting your hand away from the cookie jar over silly syntax issues or your executable terminating with the cryptic error message "segfault; core dumped".

Eventually, you will get dragged into C but there's a time and place for that, and it's after you've had an introductory course in hardware design (probably a 200-level CS course).

[adv1k]

alright cool!

thanks for all the input guys, much appreciated.
and keep it coming to anyone else who sees this thread, even if its advice on topics i dint ask about, im listening.

<3

[andrew.]

Go for the MacBook Pro with OS X and Linux. Those are the best OSes for programming. Also, the MacBook Pro is insanely powerful.

[adv1k]

andrew. @ Mon Jun 22, 2009 5:39 pm wrote:

Go for the MacBook Pro with OS X and Linux. Those are the best OSes for programming. Also, the MacBook Pro is insanely powerful.

perfect

should i bother tribooting (cause i do have a spare copy of xp home) just in case or do you think between os x and linux/wine ill be covered? sorry for the seemingly idiotic questions im a effing worry wart
p.s. would i have to partition my drive 3 times or how does bootcamp work? ive never used a mac outside of school.


p.s.s. anyone else have any recommendations on introductory programming books i should pick up, at soon as i finish my last diploma this Friday im gonna start reading um so let me know if anyone thinks of any that may benefit me.

thanks again everyone

[jernst]

I've done triple booting before, it never hurts to have another OS on really...Just make sure you have a large enough hard drive / carefully plan your partitions so that you don't run out of space on any of the OS's because that can be a pain.

[wtd]

The UNIX nature of Mac OS X will make Linux less necessary than you might be anticipating.

[rizzix]

Yea, just install something like MacPorts once you get hold of a mac.

[apomb]

not intending on hijacking the thread or anything here, but when i went to update my macports, it fails horribly, does macports not work with the newest revisions of OSX?

[rizzix]

If it seems to keep failing I suggest just deleting /opt/local reinstall macports (latest) and you should be fine.

[andrew.]

If you want to triple boot, just use Boot Camp to resize your Mac OS partition to what you want. Then use GParted to split that new partition into 2. Install Windows, then Linux. Boot into Mac OS and install rEFIt (it's an EFI bootloader much like Boot Camp). With rEFIt, you can boot all three.

[x-ecutioner]

im a big fan of turing as a first language but i also recommend www.htdp.org. I personally started off with html but thats specially because im interested in website programming.