First steps in programming

For discussions about programming, programming questions/advice, and projects that don't really have anything to do with Puppy.
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Antipodal
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First steps in programming

#1 Post by Antipodal »

Recently, some acquaintances of mine, who began using Puppy four years ago and who have not much more knowledge about computers and computing than me, have been offered to be taught (personally and apparently free of charge) the basics of ANSI C programming.

At the same time, their potential professor was introduced to Puppy, but he seems more comfortable teaching in another Linux distro environment than in a Puppy one.

The couple is very excited about the offer but are now fearing that they might be walking in the wrong direction and that their acceptance might loosen the binds that tie them to Puppy (something they don't want to do) and they have come to me seeking for advice.

Because I know nothing about the subject...would you mind posting here your thoughts for us?

Thank you for your time
:)
Antipodal

amigo
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#2 Post by amigo »

Yeah, well it *is* best to learn about things elsewhere -since Puppy is highly-based on exceptions and re-inventing the wheel. To see how the real world operates will actually show them then exactly what puppy is -and is not.

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sunburnt
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#3 Post by sunburnt »

Agreed...

Thoughts; Puppy could be more main stream, but it`s not.
There`s nothing abnormal with an O.S. based on a unionfs.
But Puppy`s "setup" is completely unique and nonstandard.

I`ve looked for a reasonable cousin to Puppy, Ubuntu based, etc.
Most are CD size, but there are a couple of them that are close.

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6502coder
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#4 Post by 6502coder »

My 35 years of experience programming in C says that a course in "the basics of ANSI C programming" can't possibly enter into topics where Puppy's deviations from "the mainstream" become an issue. We're not talking GUI programming, or systems programming, we're talking about basic C, right?

An ANSI-compliant C compiler and a text editor should be all that's needed. If the course instructor is hanging the course on a particular IDE, and a particular source-code management system, that's poor course design, IMHO. I grant that for a free course, he's entitled to call the shots.

Antipodal
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Thank you very much!

#5 Post by Antipodal »

Grateful beyond words for your insight!
:)
Antipodal

amigo
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#6 Post by amigo »

6502coder, I think it does make a difference -just getting a workable puppy development environment up and running already deviates greatly from the normal way of things.

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6502coder
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#7 Post by 6502coder »

amigo wrote:6502coder, I think it does make a difference -just getting a workable puppy development environment up and running already deviates greatly from the normal way of things.
Amigo, my apologies for being a dummy, but I don't understand what you are getting at. These people have apparently been using Puppy for four years, so they must be reasonably familiar with the Puppy desktop and almost surely have used Geany. If they have a frugal install, then all they need is to add the devx SFS, at which point they have a C development environment which is perfectly "normal" as far as I can see.

Again, they're not trying to learn Linux system programming, just basic C programming. Last I checked, "Hello, world!" compiles and runs on Puppy Linux exactly the same way it does on every other UN*X/Linux system I've used.

PaulR
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#8 Post by PaulR »

I agree with 6502coder, Puppy with devx has everything required to write, compile and run any standard C (C-99 or C++) program.

In fact, it's a great learning environment as you aren't distracted by complicated GUI stuff or learning how to use other libraries, you can just concentrate on the language itself.

I haven't used C for about 10 years but I've written a simple 500 line program using just Geany in a couple of days.

Paul

Antipodal
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Thank you guys!

#9 Post by Antipodal »

:)
Antipodal

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