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Just trying to spark a controlled explosive discussion to see whose firing on all cylinders this New Years Day.
The best way to improve Windows is run it on a Mac.
The best way to bring a Mac to its knees is to run Windows on it.
~ my brother Jeff
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I have a hunch you may get be right. I’ll get back to you
I'm pretty sure I would not like to live in a world in which I would never be offended.
I am absolutely certain I don't want to live in a world in which you would never be offended.
Freedom doesn't mean the absence of things you don't like.
Dave
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In my continuing self-learning regarding MVC and ef6 (both of which I still find abhorrent, btw), I've established a way to create much of the content on my personal website from a database, and discovered how to pass multiple models to a given view. I've also managed to reduce the lines of code in my links pages from 20-100 lines, to just eight (counting the using statements and model definition, due mostly to my efforts regarding the database and HtmlHelper extension methods).
My only real sticking point right now is understanding how the bootstrap navbar works.
".45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly" - JSOP, 2010
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You can never have too much ammo - unless you're swimming, or on fire. - JSOP, 2010
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When you pry the gun from my cold dead hands, be careful - the barrel will be very hot. - JSOP, 2013
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I'd like to learn more about what you're building, John. Oh, by the way, Happy New Year, my friend...
Will Rogers never met me.
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Hello, my name is Jon. I am 30 years old, i was looking to learn coding and possibly make the career jump into the technology world. Was hoping to get turned into the right direction, what’s popular? What’s the best path for steady job outcome? I can only do online schooling since i have a family to provide for and a full time job at the moment. I appreciate any input! Thank you all for your time!
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If you are just starting out, then the best method is to find a night-school course, or failing that a good book: Addison Wesley, Wrox, and Microsoft Press do good ones (and you may find your local library can lend them to you). Follow from the beginning to the end, and do every exercise - you should learn enough to get started on building experience (but don't expect to be a top-notch programmer in a week, it takes quite a while to build up the "mind-set" that you need).
I'd suggest starting with C#: it's flexible, relatively simple, and is used for everything from websites to desktops, to mobile devices.
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Quote: I'd suggest starting with C#
I agree 100% But would add that the best development platform to start with, will be Visual Studio 2017 (Community Edition.) VS2017 CE is a free download. I would also suggest he learns Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF). However, it is a lot to learn for a newcomer. He will have to be seriously motivated. 
Get me coffee and no one gets hurt!
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Definitely agree on VS: there is no better dev platform anywhere! 
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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While I do love me a good programming book designed to be read from cover to cover, is anyone still publishing valuable books on recent topics? Seems to me now that documentation is all online, but documentation is not a replacement for good tutorials...and those have moved on to random blogs. So while you can find answers for very specific questions, I find it's not as easy to find an organized series that progresses on a given topic like a book does. In other words, a lesson plan.
OTOH, it seems like the Microsoft Virtual Academy has a substantial number of good places for a beginner to start, if one was interested in video.
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The trouble with online tutorials is there are a huge number of them, and they are mostly total rubbish produced by people who know little more than the people they are "teaching" (and who have no idea how to teach, it's a skill, and a difficult one to learn as well).
But you don't need the "latest and greatest" to start with anyway: get a damn good grounding in the basics and learn to think think a developer; you can pick up the latest bells and whistles later on.
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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My problem in my case is that I need to "unlearn" over 2 decades worth of traditional desktop/server development habits and start thinking like a web developer (if I was to get in that area). I mean, I can put together some HTML/CSS/scripts, but the result would be "a web site obviously done by an old-school developer". It's not just "the latest bells and whistles"...it's an entirely different mindset. It can obviously be learned, but (personally) I'm having a hard time finding something that will teach me to leverage what I already know, and make good use of it in a web environment. Blogs generally do a terrible job of this sort of thing. And web development books waste too many pages going over the basics that the totally inexperienced need--and those books end just as it starts getting interesting.
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Have you tried searching on Codeproject?
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Richard MacCutchan wrote: DotNetBookZero[^]
I always recommend that book first too. If you are just going to learn the basics it is a great place to start and written by a master writer.
However, for the same reason that Petzold starts the user out with command-line work (because VStudio can be overwhelming itself) I also think that beginners should start with...JavaScript.
As long as they keep the caveat in mind that JS doesn't provide much guidance in the way of structure and organization of code, it is a good language to learn because there are such low barriers to entry. ie - You can write code right in your browser and see it run.
But, of course, I also understand the inherent dangers of a newbie learning JS and thinking it is a perfect language.
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So true. It's always difficult to recommend a good path to people with little or no programming background. Especially as they can be misled into thinking that you can become a top developer in a couple of weeks.
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Richard MacCutchan wrote: Especially as they can be misled into thinking that you can become a top developer in a couple of weeks.
That is the root problem, really.
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When I retired around 2009, I really got stuck into C# and Windows Forms for the first time. Prior to that I did a lot of embedded C and C++ with MFC. Working most days in retirement it took me years to get reasonably proficient in C# and WPF, including MVVM and the Prism platform. Lately I am getting into UWP. The frigging learning never stops. I've been at it for 8 years! 
Get me coffee and no one gets hurt!
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Cornelius Henning wrote: Lately I am getting into UWP*. The frigging learning never stops. I've been at it for 8 years!
I agree. I remember, back around 1998/99 I we had these huge Netscape Enterprise Server (old dead web server) logs (in excess of 5GB per day) and we needed a good way to extract data.
PERL bubbled to the top and I started looking at it and hated the syntax.
I was resistant for about 1 week, then I jumped into learning PERL.
I decided at that moment that was what the IT world was all about. Learning new stuff continually.
Fortunately (as I'm sure you know too), much of the foundational knowledge really is there in every language and things just repeat themselves.
*Gratuitous self promotion --- Have you read the 15 chapters of my book here at CP?
I just completed Chapter 15: Programming Windows 10 Desktop: UWP Focus (15 of 15)[^]
You can get the Kindle version at Amazon too ($1.99).
The articles / book contains over 350 screen shot images which walk you through the material.
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I wasn't aware of your book. I'm going to check it out right now!
[Edit] I don't have a Kindle. I'm way too old-fashioned for that! So I ordered the paper copy from Amazon a minute or so ago. (Shhhh: Don't tell anybody, but I also learnt your real name in the process!) 
Get me coffee and no one gets hurt!
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Cornelius Henning wrote: Don't tell anybody, but I also learnt your real name in the process!
Oh no, what will I do? 
Thanks so much for checking out my book.  That is very kind of you and I really hope you enjoy it.
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Quote: I really hope you enjoy it.
I'm sure I will. I will let you, and others, know!
Get me coffee and no one gets hurt!
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Cornelius Henning wrote: I will let you, and others, know!
Thanks, again, very much. really nice.
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dandy72 wrote: While I do love me a good programming book designed to be read from cover to cover, is anyone still publishing valuable books on recent topics?
Yes. O'Reilly.
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This is not something that is easy to get into without a good degree in the discipline, and some experience - typical Catch 22, I'm afraid. However, if you still want to proceed I would agree with OriginalGriff that C# is probably the best route. Get hold of a copy of Visual Studio Community 2017 from Visual Studio Express | Now Visual Studio Community[^]. And a good starter teaching guide is Dot Net Book Zero, by Charles Petzold[^], although it does assume a reasonable understanding of the basics of programming.
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I have found that books containing exercises have helped me a lot.
In particular the 24 Hour series of books(SAMS teach yourself series), although not hardcore manuals, have helped me a lot by taking me through projects within the books learning as I go.
I agree with others who say to start with C#. C# will teach you good programming habits and knowledge if you are disciplined and from there you will be able to pick up javascript and sql as you go along.
We all have different ways of learning and I find the best way for me to learn is to decide on a project which is beyond my current ability and to complete that project - of course if you are just starting out it probably helps to have some background first.
You don't have to decide which direction to take from the very beginning - thankfully, or maybe not, nowadays in IT one is generally expected to understand a lot of different areas but not necessarily in depth, so you don't have to become an expert in communication protocols unless of course that is want you want to be an expert in.
“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”
― Christopher Hitchens
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