[Noisebridge-discuss] Fwd: Seeking info about Intro to C Programming class

Sat Jun 18 04:11:54 UTC 2011

GNU Step. Good idea. I do most of my C learning on a little Linux
netbook anyway. I have a MacBook Pro but it is showing its age and I
find it easier to work on the netbook unless I am doing something
specific to Cocoa and/or Xcode.

Erik

On Fri, Jun 17, 2011 at 20:14, Brian Morris <cymraegish at gmail.com> wrote:
> oops, sorry
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Brian Morris <cymraegish at gmail.com>
> Date: Fri, Jun 17, 2011 at 8:14 PM
> Subject: Re: [Noisebridge-discuss] Seeking info about Intro to C Programming
> class
> To: Glen Jarvis <glen at glenjarvis.com>
>
>
> Yes I think it's Monday 6pm. Or anyway I ran into them a couple times there
> recently.
>
> There are some excellent intros to Cocoa for mac of course GUI not my thing.
>
> There is also GNU Step (you can install it on Mac via fink , or on linux as
> an alternate desktop)
>
> On Fri, Jun 17, 2011 at 7:51 AM, Glen Jarvis <glen at glenjarvis.com> wrote:
>>
>> There's also an iPhone developer group that used to (and maybe still does)
>> get together for helping each other with similar goals. I went a few times
>> just to meet them. They're a great bunch of people and very helpful. They'll
>> definitely help you get on the right track for learning objective-c and
>> iPhone development.
>>
>> Find then on meetup.com. And they may still have noisebridge as their
>> meeting location.
>>
>> Glen
>>
>> On Jun 16, 2011, at 10:37 PM, Erik Schneider <eriktrips at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> > Thanks all you wonderfully helpful people!
>> >
>> > I am learning C because I wanted also to learn Objective-C and
>> > eventually develop for OS X and iOS. That's a long ways off though--I
>> > am self-taught in programming and have not yet made the leap from
>> > simple command-line toys to GUI application programming. Also I know
>> > it is not necessarily necessary to learn C before Objective-C but I am
>> > a nuts-and-bolts kind of person and like to start at relatively low
>> > levels. Relatively. I know I could go lower still, but I have only so
>> > many lifetimes to live.
>> >
>> > I have the K&R and will probably go back to it soon. It was a bit
>> > terse for a relative newbie; it was also frustrating that all the
>> > examples in the first few chapters are for processing input but they
>> > do not teach you how to input input until much later, so I was not
>> > happy not being able to test my code. I could have looked ahead I
>> > suppose, but I have a thing for starting with Chapter One and
>> > following with Chapter Two, etc. unless I am reading poetry, in which
>> > case starting in the middle is always recommended.
>> >
>> > Thanks for the video links. I will check those out!
>> >
>> > Erik
>> >
>> > On Thu, Jun 16, 2011 at 19:19, ashish makani <ashish.makani at gmail.com>
>> > wrote:
>> >> My suggestions :
>> >>
>> >> 1.If you like video lectures, here is a harvard course where all the
>> >> video
>> >> lectures & assignments, are available online for free.
>> >> They are a bit long, but are pretty engaging , in both content &
>> >> delivery,
>> >> IMHO.
>> >> http://cs50.tv/
>> >>
>> >> 2. If you are trying to learn programming , and don't care about the
>> >> language, MIT's introductory programming course 6.00 is also a great
>> >> place
>> >> to start.
>> >> http://mit600.mit.edu/blog/course-info/
>> >>
>> >> http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-00-introduction-to-computer-science-and-programming-fall-2008/video-lectures/
>> >>
>> >> All the Best,
>> >>
>> >> cheers
>> >> ashish
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> On Thu, Jun 16, 2011 at 6:01 PM, Brian Morris <cymraegish at gmail.com>
>> >> wrote:
>> >>>
>> >>> To me, the advantage of K&R is that it is small and can work / review
>> >>> through it quick.
>> >>> It is maybe hard to find newer books which go into relevant topics
>> >>> which
>> >>> are not huge and heavy.
>> >>>
>> >>> For me, C++ is an advanced language to work with, tools have been
>> >>> developed to make it easier to work with large projects, eg cmake and
>> >>> QT but
>> >>> not everybody uses and there are other choices. It was the first OO
>> >>> language
>> >>> and IMHO compromise between C and the higher level OO languages such
>> >>> as Java
>> >>> and Python, which have become standard for learning OOP.  Also most
>> >>> other
>> >>> languages have OO extensions.
>> >>>
>> >>> C is close to the metal as they say and that may be kind of
>> >>> interesting.
>> >>> Also fast. Depending on your interests you could find possibly an
>> >>> application oriented book to go along with K&R. In general many langs
>> >>> have a
>> >>> foreign function interface (FFI) for speed or hardware interface which
>> >>> people mostly use C functions. So you can look there at small
>> >>> functions that
>> >>> do specific things. To give you some motivating or interesting
>> >>> examples.
>> >>>
>> >>> What is your motivation for learning C ? Mine was originally for
>> >>> numerical
>> >>> programming (because required for a job), then later as a bridge to
>> >>> C++
>> >>> (which I found disappointing, wish I had gone with Python).
>> >>>
>> >>> One approach to learning a new programming language which may work for
>> >>> you
>> >>> is to translate something. For instance take a Python function that is
>> >>> central to your/ some code and rewrite it in C, simply plug it in and
>> >>> see if
>> >>> it works, and see if it is any faster. I don't know how common this is
>> >>> in
>> >>> Python (being new to it) but it is pretty ubiquitous in Perl (which
>> >>> can have
>> >>> slow downs pretty bad).
>> >>>
>> >>> On Thu, Jun 16, 2011 at 12:12 PM, Erik Schneider <eriktrips at gmail.com>
>> >>> wrote:
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Hi I'm kind of new but not entirely but enough so that I don't know
>> >>>> if
>> >>>> this is the right place to ask but since they do not have a list of
>> >>>> their own that I can find:
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Is anyone from the Intro to C Programming class reading who could
>> >>>> answer questions like could I start attending next week?
>> >>>> And if yes:
>> >>>> Is the class using a text or texts, and if so what is/are the
>> >>>> text(s)?
>> >>>> And is there a particular thing the class is working on for next
>> >>>> week?
>> >>>>
>> >>>> If you can answer my questions but it would be more polite to email
>> >>>> me
>> >>>> the info than to use this list, then:
>> >>>> eriktrips at gmail.com
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Thanks!
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Erik JM Schneider
>> >>>> _______________________________________________
>> >>>> Noisebridge-discuss mailing list
>> >>>> Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
>> >>>> https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> _______________________________________________
>> >>> Noisebridge-discuss mailing list
>> >>> Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
>> >>> https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
>> >>
>> >>
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > --
>> > Erik JM Schneider, PhD
>> > blog.eriktrips.com
>> > eriktrips at gmail.com
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > Noisebridge-discuss mailing list
>> > Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
>> > https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
>> _______________________________________________
>> Noisebridge-discuss mailing list
>> Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
>> https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Noisebridge-discuss mailing list
> Noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
> https://www.noisebridge.net/mailman/listinfo/noisebridge-discuss
>
>

-- 
Erik JM Schneider, PhD
blog.eriktrips.com
eriktrips at gmail.com