I have decided to start taking a computer systems tech course here in canada. I have always enjoyed working with computers and programming in the past, in high school especially. Where i have been out of high school for 3 years, and only recently decided to take this course, i was wondering if anyone had any good ideas as to preperation. I know I have forgotten quite a bit of things since high school. Does anyone know of any GOOD free sites where I can increase or improve my abilities in mathematics, programming theory etc? I have a good 3 months until i begin, and i would like to get a head start in learning things about c+ Java, VB. Any ideas or links would be appreciated.

Applicants are strongly recommended to having a fundamental working background in computer programming, through course work and/or industry experience. Examples of recommended programming platforms include Java, C/ C++C#, Visual Basic, Pascal, COBOL, or FORTRAN. Where would be the best place to learn as much as possible about these platforms? any advice?

I run a programming site for newbies in VB mainly, but there is some other stuff too: Mod Port (Powered by Invision Power Board)

I doubt you will jump into anything too difficult straight away, I finish my programming course next week and there hasn't been anything to challenging as far as the programming side goes, my advice would be not to jump into anything huge straight away, just learn the basics and work your way up rather than trying to make huge programs from the start

I learned C++ by googling "C++ tutorial" I don't know if that's the right thing though...

Extreme Coder

That is how I learnt too, I still have it saved somewhere in an old backup of my harddrive.

I just bought a book, read it, and did all the programming examples in it. I can't learn anything from ebooks, at least not until I get a Sony Reader!

I cant stand reading programming books, I own a few mainly for references, but I used one to learn Python a while back and I found it very tedious.

It is a good idea to get a book or two though, you tend to get a lot more information from them as opposed to online tutorials.

I've just now started to teach myself Ruby. It's my first language so it's going kind of slow, but I'm slowly making progress.

How are you learning it? Book? Tutorial? (just asking)
And why Ruby?(not that it's bad, just asking why)


Extreme Coder

I'm using a combination of a book and some online tutorials. I chose Ruby because of how it can be implemented through the Rails framework for web applications. Also, I've heard that it's a pretty good language to get into for a first time programmer.

Good for you then. I would've suggested Python though(or even Lua), but that's only because I don't hear about Ruby that much(not that its bad or anything)


Extreme Coder

wow, thanks for all the hints guys. Im going to be busy for a while now, just reviewing.

I have taken a look or two at Python, but I stopped before I learned anything of interest. I should probably pick that one back up.