okaay... i just want to know what i need to start programing and where do i make these programs? do i need special software or what? what about linux? is that also a computer programing language or is it software i use to program?

In order to create a program, you usually need to write it up as code and tell another program to turn it into something that the computer understands. The are many different languages and types of code to use, a very popular one is called "c". You'd make a plain text file that looks like:

int main() {
return 1;
}

...and then you'd tell a program called a compiler to turn that into something that the machine understands (i.e. an executable file). For every different language there have to be different compilers (or, in the case of many others interpreters but let's not go there).

So there are many, many different programming languages and you can decide which one you would like to write your program with and then use a compiler to turn it into an executable. A lot of these compilers are completely free, too.

Linux is just a computer operating system, in the way that Windows is. Windows boots, and functions (very loose definition of function) to run as a platform for the programs on it. So instead of a start menu and pretty desktop icons I get to see something else and run different programs.

If you want to start programming, a much less cryptic language then C that you should learn would be python. It teaches pretty indentation formatting that you'll use in more advanced languages. It's website is python.org, and more information can be found at google.com

Or check http://wiki.tpu.org/coders/LearnProgramming

(although C/C++ isn't as bad as they make it look :)

I've just added a page that should answer your questions directly, and stick around for anyone else with the same questions.

http://wiki.tpu.org/coders/ProgrammingTerms

allright thanks alot.. but when i go to buy or download the software where do i go? and ill need a software and a complier?

The compiler is software, and depending on which language you wish to compile you would use a different compiler.

python.org is the home of a programming language called python, and you'll be able to download a compiler for python there. Actually, python isn't compiled to machine code as c would be, but just leave it at that for now for the sake of simplicity because something so trivial isn't worth learning yet.

hey i found somthing at sun.com i downloaded java 2 sdk standard edition 1.4.1 and if i learn java i can write programs with that. ( if im correct) is that all i need to beginners programing? as well as learning java language?

Yes. The java 2 sdk is all you need to start programming with the java language, although you might find programming more pleasant if you use eclipse (from http://www.eclipse.org/) to write your java code.

4CViper
IT REALLY look baaad 4 someone who writes in Qbasic & VBasic :)