OT: Re: learning programming

[Alec <alec1976nyc@yahoo.com>]

On Saturday 01 December 2001 06:26 pm, Mr. Jan Hearthstone wrote:
> --- Alec <alec1976nyc@yahoo.com> wrote:
> > On Wednesday 28 November 2001 11:01 pm, Mr. Jan
> >
> > Hearthstone wrote:
> > >      Where do I start learning programming so that
> >
> > I
> >
> > > can compile installs, etc.? Right now I am
> >
> > learning
> >
> > > HTML a bit, but what else should I start learning?
> > >   Thanks Hearthstone.
> >
> > You don't usually need to be a programmer to compile
> > things.
> > For non-debian GNU packages,
> > ./configure && make install
> > usually suffices.
> >
> > If you just want to learn programming, pick a
> > language depending on your
> > specific goals and your background and learn that
> > language. Either way, it's
> > probably OT on this particular mailing list.
> >
> > Alec
>
>     But let's suppose that I want to learn programming
> (perhaps to compile kernels, etc.) - what would be a
> good start? Symbolic logic? (Where to get a good
> instruction on that one?) C++? ... Slip? What language
> is the one most widely used for Linux?
>   Thnx, Hrthstn.

To compile Linux kernels IIRC all you need is
make xconfigure && make deps && make bzImage

OTOH if you want to *contribute* to the Linux kernel, you 
need to know C (I hope you also need to know it really well, 
for your contributions to actually be used in the kernel)

This should be a good start if you are clueless:
http://dmoz.org/Computers/Programming/Languages/

IMO C++, while not perfect, is usually a good language to know, but you need 
to have a somewhat high IQ to find it more useful than some other simpler
languages.

Alec
P.S. BTW, this is OT.

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