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Learning a programming languge: good maths skills required?

I/////////,

Visual Basic I have never learned and never will learn. It teaches things a lot differently from other programming languages. My friends who studied VB have struggled when leaning Java and C.

Maths is needed yes, its only because of the logical thinking that is maths. If you are good with numbers then yeh you will be a good programmer. Its the fact you have to think logically more than anything (and when you study maths, this is what comes to you naturally).

I would start learning web languages first as the boundaries on this are less tight. HTML (not really a language but its a start), then PHP. Once you have learnt PHP you should go onto Java imo.

Reply 2

J4KE

10

To learn a language? Not really. But to apply the language to many problems in a useful way will require some mathematical knowledge.

Reply 3

acsi

13

Maths? no. Logic? yes

Reply 4

Orthala

What are you studying?

Maths? no. Logic? yes

Well Maths is logic, so if you are mathetmatically you are usually logically and vice versa. Although you do get weirdos who are logical but can't use numbers :smile:

Reply 5

Orthala

I wouldn't worry about that. Its just things like being able to work out brackets and things.

5 * (4 + 8 / (1 + 2) ) = what?

If you can work that out you will be fine. I would think its mainly because of things like nested if statements and how to get things in the right order to work most efficiently.

Reply 6

holdyourcolour

10

Anyone can learn a language.
Applying it effectively and efficiently is an entirely different issue.

Learning web mark-up is irrelevant, and server-side languages such as PHP/ASP are ultimately irrelevant unless you want to focus on the web.

Java is the best starting spot in my opinion, allowing you to get to grips with the basics and some object-oriented concepts. There are some good IDEs available such as Eclipse/NetBeans, the latter of which will also allow you to experiment with GUIs in Swing, rather than having to step through the waste of time that is 'VB'.

From there on in, the natural progression is C, C++ etc.

Reply 7

Talon

18

I recommend doing Java/C before VB.NET. The syntax of languages like C, C#, Java etc is mostly the same, whereas Visual Basic is quite different...well, different enough to confuse someone new to programming. Once you became half decent with Java you should be able to pick up VB rather quickly (if you so wish).

My language of choice atm is C#.

Reply 8

whitebuthotter

1

it's more logic. vb is a good language if you never plan to take it further, it's quick and easy to make a functional gui application. i began there and i don't regret it since any language will probably teach you programming TECHNIQUE, i.e. logically how to implement algorithms using the standard flow control present in almost any language.

one of the bad things i'd say about vb, though, is that its syntax isn't really shared with many programming/scripting languages, whereas you would find c/c++, java, php and others all have a lot in common.

if you really want to learn programming, i'd suggest python or java as a good first language.

Reply 9

Psyk

16

Can anyone remember how to do long division? :p:

Unfortunately it's something that comes up surprisingly often in computer science. Although it's fairly unlikely to come up if you're programming general applications.

Reply 10

leeming

14

General programming i wouldnt say you need to be a maths guru... just understand some basics such as simple algebra (variables been declared and assignments etc). Other than that, just need to learn the "Logical flow" of things, which would be maths yes, but also common sence in most simple stuff.

note on vb.. i dont like it, it seems messy to me, and has quite a lot of "unique" ways of doing things which no other languages use (not a good thing really)... only use it if you have to make some kinda of flashy database in access or spreadsheet in excel... otherwise i wouldnt recommend it.
You mentioned about HTML. I learnt most of my programming principles from learning PHP, as its quite a simple language to get a grips with at first, and has most structures of most languages (but doesnt have type definitions)

Reply 11

shuvle

12

Orthala

5 * (4 + 8 / (1 + 2) ) = what?

20

Reply 12

Orthala

leeming

General programming i wouldnt say you need to be a maths guru... just understand some basics such as simple algebra (variables been declared and assignments etc). Other than that, just need to learn the "Logical flow" of things, which would be maths yes, but also common sence in most simple stuff.

note on vb.. i dont like it, it seems messy to me, and has quite a lot of "unique" ways of doing things which no other languages use (not a good thing really)... only use it if you have to make some kinda of flashy database in access or spreadsheet in excel... otherwise i wouldnt recommend it.
You mentioned about HTML. I learnt most of my programming principles from learning PHP, as its quite a simple language to get a grips with at first, and has most structures of most languages (but doesnt have type definitions)

Thats what I suggested, PHP hasn't got many limits to it compared to other languages, but someone said don't bother unless you intend to be a web dev. Which I have to disagree with, its a very good language to learn and yes, maybe restricted to the web but you can still see what it does.

I still recommend you start off with PHP OP.

20

Woo woo you get rep!

Reply 13

Cromulent

12

If you are doing games. Maths is essential. There is no getting around it.

If all you want to do is write a word processor then sure you don't need it. You do need to be good at problem solving though.

Reply 14

Orthala

Cromulent

If you are doing games. Maths is essential. There is no getting around it.

If all you want to do is write a word processor then sure you don't need it. You do need to be good at problem solving though.

Indeed. Matrices are effort.

Reply 15

TSRreader

louiscbrooks

Maths? no. Logic? yes

Reply 16

RightSaidJames

16

Basic algebra is sort of a must, but that's logic rather than Maths, anyway.

Reply 17

-Em-

2

*bashes all of the logic isn't maths people on the head with novelty hammer* :p:

It's called Discrete Maths and it's the most awesome thing since sliced bread. Except it's older than sliced bread.

Now go read about it :biggrin:

Reply 18

acsi

13

-Em-

*bashes all of the logic isn't maths people on the head with novelty hammer*

It's called Discrete Maths and it's the most awesome thing since sliced bread. Except it's older than sliced bread.

Now go read about it
I know about discrete maths . The title of the thread is "Learning a programming language" which I view as a practical skill if the title of the thread was "learning how to program" that's different.
Edit:
You are correct. :rolleyes:

my bad, I was assuming the OP meant continuous mathematics.
Edit2:
I see learning a programming language as a practical undertaking whereas I see learning how to program as mostly theotetical. Eg learning a programming language = larning syntax, mainly, whereas learning how to program involves learning about algorithms, data structures etc

Reply 19

username207709

this thread was an interesting read. :smile:

i've always wondered about this point, not being the full fledged Computer Science student that i am. when i say i want study Computer Science properly/fully, given a 2nd chance, i always get told "don't you have to be very good at Maths?"...killjoys. meh.
suffice to say, i am not a Maths whiz for sure. but i did manage to survive the 'Programming for Business Applications' & 'Database Management Systems' modules back in uni unscathed.

Learning a programming languge: good maths skills required?

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