Would Like to Learn Linux Programming. Where to Start?

[PaulyWally]

I've been programming as a small hobby for a long time. I learned with BASIC (way back in the 80's) and pretty much stuck to it's derivatives.

I learned a little C++ quite a while ago, but didn't keep up with it. I also took a PASCAL class at one time. The most advanced class I ever took was MOC: Mastering Visual Basic 6. And now, I'm using VB.NET.

I would really like to begin to learn how to program in Linux. I've poked around the internet, and it seems to be recommended that I start learning bash scripts and C. I tried using some online programming guides, but for a BASIC programmer a lot of things get lost in the translation.

Can anyone recommend a good book or online tutorial that I could benefit from? Or maybe point me in a better direction?

My ultimate goal is to be able to write digital audio manipulation programs.

[dmsnail]

Depends pretty much on what you want. If you're not an experienced linux user, I'd suggest you to do some bash scripting first. That will help you understand linux and its principles.

Linux has a variety of audio tools, maybe you want to check what's already available first, or you can use bash scripts to glue them together the way you need it.

I'm not a C programmer. Most things so far I have achieved with bash scripts and Python, but I'm nod doing anything with audio, though.

If you want to learn something about bash scripting, I'd recommend you the "Advanced Bash scripting guide". Unfortunately, I can't post links here, but you'll find it on Google.

[Joelito]

Hi PaulyWally...
Well..I, as also a Windows developer, when I switch to linux, I try C and C++, later use GTK+, QT, wxGTK, fltk, but now I'm just using perl...and if I want a quick GUI, I use perl-gtk2...

Basically is about GUI framworks or...shell-based scripting tools...just pick one..is a free world and OS

[ivanko]

Hello! Well, if you want to get the essence of Linux (and any other *nix), start with C, which can be used with GTK+ (if you want GUI and some other features). But if your task is not very platform-specific, I'd recommend Python.

PS In case of an audio manipulation program, it's better to use C because of the speed, but you can also use the available libraries with many other programming languages.

Regards!

[bocaccio]

Wanna ask a question and maybe it will help the poster too..

What IDE would you use for:

C#?
Python?

Thanks

[ivanko]

Wanna ask a question and maybe it will help the poster too..

What IDE would you use for:

C#?
Python?

Thanks

This question can cause a holy war here =) However, for C# MonoDevelop should be the indicated IDE, while for Python... Well, there are many options, like Emacs + some extensions (not an IDE, but can be tweaked to act like one), Vim (same thing), NetBeans or Eclipse. QtDevelop and Anjuta are pretty good too.

PS Personally, I prefer Emacs.

[bocaccio]

This question can cause a holy war here =) However, for C# MonoDevelop should be the indicated IDE, while for Python... Well, there are many options, like Emacs + some extensions (not an IDE, but can be tweaked to act like one), Vim (same thing), NetBeans or Eclipse. QtDevelop and Anjuta are pretty good too.

PS Personally, I prefer Emacs.

Nice reply!! I have Eclipse and Netbeans but a user in DIC forum told me that Netbeans runs on .net 2.0 so to be more up to date maybe Emacs is a better choice. I heard that Mono would be better than Eclipse too. Like you said; it starts a Holy War!!

[ivanko]

Nice reply!! I have Eclipse and Netbeans but a user in DIC forum told me that Netbeans runs on .net 2.0 so to be more up to date maybe Emacs is a better choice. I heard that Mono would be better than Eclipse too. Like you said; it starts a Holy War!!

Thanks! Actually, NetBeans, being a Java IDE, is written on Java (that's why it's cross-platform). Also, Mono is basically a open-source .NET implementation, while Eclipse is an IDE, so they are just different things and can't be compared (but can be used in conjuction).

Regards!