Where to start?

edit: So far, I've found a site I'm going to do more research on called GitHub.com. I'm going to find some good books to read, so if you could suggest some good programming books to read, that's be awesome. Also, someone said the best way is NOT by creating small, useless programs that no one will use, but create something that people will use, that will be on-going, that you can de-bug when there's issues, and update it. Which makes sense, because if you wanted to have a career in this field, you're going to have to fix software, update it, etc. I'd like to possibly learn how to design a RuneScape bot, or something of that nature.

I want to become a professional programmer, and I'm not sure where to start or how to learn.

I know the basics, and there's plenty of videos on YouTube, but the only tutorials I ever find are, 'Hello World!' tutorials.

Also, I want to eventually be able to make a career out of this (without college). So, what should I start with? I know they're all pretty similar, so once I learn one language, it's fairly easy to learn the rest. But, which one would you guys recommend?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but java and javascript are different.

I noticed there were 2 different section, 'Programming' and 'Web Programming.' Should I focus on programming, or web programming if I want to turn this into a career? I'm assuming web programming is going to be what's in-demand, and I was thinking javascript.

All the tutorials were how to make log-in pages, username & password, but there wasn't really anything beyond that. I'm just really confused on how I can go beyond basic programming, and truly become a professional.

To sum it up,

If I am wanting to eventually turn this into a career, what should I start with?

Programming or web programming?

Then, what language should I begin with?

And if you have any advice on how I can gain experience and become a better programmer, it would be greatly appreciated. Such as, websites, or online video tutorials, etc.

 

Web programming is to do websites. Other programming is to do anything besides websites. I would start with the web if that interests you. Start by learning HTML and CSS. Make some static pages. Then start toying with Javascript.

 

If you get a "For Dummies" book on the language you would like to learn they usually start easy and gradually get more complex as you progress through. They are great books and I highly suggest them. If you would like to make a RuneScape bot they are usually another language "edited" to work for RuneScape. For example, Powerbot is Java and Simba is Pascal.

 

I've taught myself to program as you are intending to do. I found that the courses on tutsplus.com were a great help of how to program properly and not use someone else's bad habits.

Youtube can be a good place to learn, but eventually you get to a point where it all pieces together and you manage to manipulate methods to work a different way. I found thenewbostons tutorials to be great, especially his objective-c range and php.

I would recommend that if you want to make a career out of it, then unfortunately college is going to have to be an option. As showing up for a job interview with no qualifications on your CV is going to get you rejected more often than enough when it comes to programming jobs.

I personally have a different career and program as a side agenda. I release my own apps into the app stores and make a healthy income off them, when I make one that is > my current income then I'll retire! Or at least that's the plan.

You stand uncorrected.

I personally do not think that the future is in web programming. It's already flooded with masses of people who know everything about it.
You want to be aiming for new markets like mobile and things in my personal opinion.

But it really depends on what sort of programmer you want to be.. Do you really want to be the guy creating the themes for websites and making bank, or do you want to be the guy nit picking every possible error handling snippet to make sure the code is safe..?

Start with either front-end or back-end web programming. I started with .php and moved onto html/css. Gives you a good idea of learning to program and there's loads of tutorials to follow out there.

Web programming, then programming.

HTML/CSS -> .php then see what you want to do.

www.tutsplus.com (premium site) but worth it.
Youtube/thenewboston

That's pretty much how I learned, then took on my own large projects and struggled through them.. Then made a new project, and so on.

But you'll find in the future that having a little bit of knowledge in each language comes in handy.

For instance, in my latest app..

App uses Objective-C ~ required data from a MYSQL database, so to get that the App needed to ;

Send a $_POST to my .php script, which connected to the database and retrieved the information. Then outputted that information in JSON ( Javascript ), which then had to be read by objective-c again.

So in that we had objective-c -> php -> mySQL:DO -> JSON -> Objective-C

For a really simple task..

But, the ability to create things is great, I personally love it. So don't give up if you find it hard, just struggle through and keep creating.

 

http://www.w3schools.com/ is the best place to learn about web programming, if you ever need help post here or send us a PM!