Please steer me in the right direction

[gwarguy]

Im a newbie programer with very limited experience. Ive been fiddle faddling around with a couple different languages to see what I best, and then i started thinking that maybe im going at it backwards. I need to figure out what i want to program, and then use the right language for the job.

I sat down and pondered what i wanted my first "end project" to be. After awhile I decided that i want to create a program for the company i work for. We are in need of a "master" program that will store data. Names, part numbers and stock of our inventory, a list of clients and vendors, Invoices and so on. Our comapny is spread out in multiple states, so the program once installed on the server would need to be able to be accessed and modified via the internet. All this needs to be done in a nice handy GUI package.

Now i know some of you are thinking "First time programer to do all that? No way possible" And im sure your probably right, but you know what they say, shoot for the moon and even if you miss your still among stars... or something like that ;)

What im looking for is what language and inside the languages, besides basics, what areas should i focus on to achieve this goal ?

[majestic0110]

Well if you want this program installed on a server and accessed over the internet I would recommend you take a look at ASP.NET, which enables and aids construction of websites/services.
http://www.w3schools.com/aspnet/default.asp
Now I am not sure if you are comfortable with OOP (Object Oriented Programming) but I would recommend you use C# (OR visual basic) as the code - behind for your webpages.
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa288436.aspx

C# and ASP.NET are both components of Microsofts' .NET framework and work side by side together. You will need to download VIsual Studio 2008 Express (free):

http://www.microsoft.com/express/product/default.aspx

You will also need to use SQL (Structured Query Language) to construct a back end database to store all of your data. There are many great SQL tutorials out there and if you use Microsoft SQL Server Express (again free, at above link) these three technologies work Very well together.

I hope this helps, it may seem a little overwhelming but Visual Studio is very intuitive and is a developers ally!After all that lol this is JUST one approach, I am sure there are hundreds of others! THis may not even be the BEST approach but it is one I have used before and will again. Cheers!

[majestic0110]

p.s. If you are going to dive into C# (without knowing anything about OOP) I would severely recommend this book, I used it and loved it!

http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9780596514822/

[Narue]

>I need to figure out what i want to program, and then use the right language for the job.
When you're first learning you need to just pick a language and go with it. You can't use the right language for the job if you don't have experience with the language, and certainly not if you don't have much experience writing software.

>Now i know some of you are thinking "First time programer to do all that? No way possible"
Yes, too much, too soon. Mistake #1 is thinking that as a newbie you can write a viable application for a running business. You need to learn how things work before throwing yourself to the wolves. Mistake #2 is picking a project that is way out of your league.

>shoot for the moon and even if you miss your still among stars...
But not before you run out of air and die of asphyxiation.

[majestic0110]

I agree with you there Narue, quite right! Start small then build up, otherwise you'll end up with an unmanageable heap of garbledy gook

[gwarguy]

>I need to figure out what i want to program, and then use the right language for the job.
When you're first learning you need to just pick a language and go with it. You can't use the right language for the job if you don't have experience with the language, and certainly not if you don't have much experience writing software.
*
Thanks for the advice but I disagree. Why would i learn Perl or Python, when i dont want to write scripts. If i want to eventualy write phone based games, why would i learn anything besides the current java standards. Why would i learn sql or asp when i have no desire to deal with databases or web applications. I think deciding what you want to do as an end
result, and then learning the language that suites your needs makes perfect sense. My experience, or lack there of, is irregardless as all major programing languages have beginner tutorials for people like myself who are trying to find the right langauge and starting from the ground up.

*
>Now i know some of you are thinking "First time programer to do all that? No way possible"
Yes, too much, too soon. Mistake #1 is thinking that as a newbie you can write a viable application for a running business. You need to learn how things work before throwing yourself to the wolves. Mistake #2 is picking a project that is way out of your league.

*
Now im not some pie in the sky kid who thinks hes gonna write a monster program or the next new MMORPG his first time out. But while im learning C# Ill have it in the back of my head, what i want my end product to be. I didnt say " How can i skip to the end and not learn the basics" I said, besides the basics, what areas should i focus on. As i learn arrays or structures or dictonarys in the back of my head ill go " oh i could use this in my program" or "oh so thats how you do that" and file it away for future use.

*majestic0110 I agree with you there Narue, quite right! Start small then build up, otherwise you'll end up with an unmanageable heap of garbledy gook*

*That is what im trying to do. I just want to know that when i build up, ill be using the right language for what i want to do in the end, not the wrong langauge, or an out dated language that will be useless or antiquated by the time ive mastered it enough for my end project.

Majestic, your first post was great, it was excatly what i was looking for. a starting point that aims me in the right direction, and i appreciate the time you took to provide the links.

Narue I think you misunderstood the intention of my post. But thanks for your time and point of view as well.

[Narue]

>Thanks for the advice but I disagree.
You can disagree, but that doesn't change anything. You need to learn how to program first, then you can delve into the niches of languages, find out where you want to be, and learn the languages that take you there. Your lack of experience is causing you to make another mistake, which is thinking that learning a language unrelated to what you want to do is a waste of time.

[majestic0110]

Narue, yet again you are right. In the development world, you NEED to know as much as you can about as many programming languages (to some extent) as you can.