Computer Programming and Computer Engineering

mercedes1166

I have the opportunity to go back to school. I'm just undecided on what to do. In 2003 I started computer programming but had no choice but to quit. Since then I have learned through friends how to build and format computers, replace the internal parts, ect. I also can read and understand some programming. Here's my problem - I like doing both programming and fixing computers which is making it hard for me to decide. Can someone PLEASE give me some insight on both programming and engineering?

sally12

Both are different and even good career paths. But i personally suggest you to go for Programming if you can think logically and if you are a creative person. Because programming needs it.

mercedes1166

I appreciate your opinion. Thank you. A friend gave me a book, Beginning Programming with C++ and I have been doing it on my own. I cant start school til September so I'm giving myself a jumpstart.

echo off

C++ can be very hard at times, but it's a good language. I've been there myself.

If you want to go into low level stuff (i.e. processor operations and memory) you will need to use Assembly code. If you want to go into graphics programming, you will need to learn C++ and Shader programming. If you want to go into web development/web design, you will need to learn PHP, CSS, HTML, SQL, JS (Web design/development is my field of expertise).

Remember for web development, PHP is not the only option. You can use Python, Ruby on Rails, Perl an even C++ if you want to go hardcore, but you would need a few libraries and programs.

For programming applications for Windows, you can use VB, C#, C++, C and even Python.

For programming applications for Linux, you should use Python, C++ or C.

For programming bootloaders for operating systems, you should use Assembly, as it needs to all be 16-Bit code, however you can get C compilers that compile C into 16-Bit code. But you can't use C++ for bootloaders, as it uses some built in OS specific functions.

If you simply want to get into programming in general from a complete beginners point of view, learn a bit of Python, then you can go onto some more advanced concepts of programming with C++.

Hope this helps.

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mercedes1166

It does. I do appreciate your input. I have been doing the work from the book my friend gave me (Beginning Programming with C++ for Dummies) and I kind of understand it. What I dont understand I reread and write down key things and it helps.
As far as what I want to do. I want to learn programming in general and have some experience in all areas of programming.

I will give python a try. I have visual studio, codeblocks (it came with the book), and a few trial programs like RealBasic, LibertyBasic, and whatever else came with the disc.

Thank you for your time and your advise.

echo off

No problem, A very good IDE for C++ is Netbeans, if you want free that is.

Wolfie276

IIRC computer engineering is more along the lines of the low-level hardware, not just replacing components. If you're interested in electronics then you might want to consider CE.

You can do OpenGL in pure C, in fact, there's even wrapper libraries written in C.

C is horrible under Windows. They have their own implementations and names for standard functions, and the MSDN tells you to use wprintf() for example even though it does the exact same thing. Everything is shoved under windows.h and MSVC doesn't support C99, mingw32 is really the only sane choice, and even that is lacking under Windows.

Anything. Perl, Brain****, CLISP, Haskell... Everything has a compiler or interpreter in Linux. All of these are used (except Brain****, everyone knows its a joke).

Much of the C standard lib is implemented with system calls too. Barebones C should be able to do it though I suggest ASM for this.

Python is an excellent language to begin with.

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Arch Linux

Chef

I think Pascal should be the first programming language to learn before moving onto anything a bit more harder such as C, C++, C Sharp and even Javascript. Although it is not used in the working industry, Pascal more so than Python is a great way to dip your feet wet before moving onto the more focused object-oriented programming languages such as Javascript or so.

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sally12

I learned C without knowing nothing about Pascal. I think there is no need to learn Pascal. But better to learn C first than C++.

mercedes1166

I have til September to learn. Thats when I start school. I have plenty of time on my hands to learn as much as I can on my own. I will take your advise and learn C first as well as C++. I have a book on C++ Thats why I have chosen that. I do understand some of the C++ but it does get confusing at times. Do you know where I can get information or even a learning guide on C?