Hello, I'm new!

[widdlemethis]

What's up. I'm a first year computer science student at the university of kent in canterbury, england. I'm in love with linux (currently with fedora 14/15 beta) so I figured it's about time I joined a linux community.

My interests include mostly software development. Right now I've only dabbled in Python and Java, but I'm interested in getting a start on C soon as my long-term 'goal' is to be some kind of linux system developer, so I'm interested on diving into kernel development and such, i'm just not sure where to begin! so any pointers would be welcome.

Thanks for reading.

[rokytnji]

Howdy and Welcome. Happy trails, Rok

[PrinceSharma]

Welcome in Computer Science plus Linux bash style :

#!/bin/bash
X="Howdy and Welcome to LF!"
echo $X

[terrykiow]

Well done on finding your way home to Linux. I did a joint degree in Computer Science and Law at Keele University back in the late 80s. It is only recently that I have become a Ubuntu user, after finding that I wasn't that impressed with Windows 7 Home Premium. Ubuntu is brilliant, but what is even better is the vast amount of high-calibre software available for Linux. And I don't have to pay vast amounts to Microsoft, Adobe and others.

There are two office suites out there for free that are worth exploring. The most popular free suite is Open Office 3.3 (openoffice.org), which I have used for a long time on both Windows and now Ubuntu 10.04. However for those with perhaps more technical needs I would recommend Lotus Symphony as a great office suite.

Also make great us WINE (wine-hq.org) as there are bound to be MS Windows programs that you will need to use as part of your degree. Also there are others, like iTunes, which have shunned the Linux operating systems, so you need the emulator to run this program.

Otherwise, enjoy exploring. Avoid C programming if you can as it is complex; rather look for GUI developer programs.

Best of luck

[kurtdriver]

Welcome to the Linux world. Since you're a Fedora user, why not start by helping with Gnome 3 development? Much of it requires nothing more than javascript and css and so would be perfect for a beginner, and there's nothing like pitching in with a helping hand.

Not exactly a scripting question, but the one above has two more steps than required. Economy being a good thing, I'd like to offer a suggestion.

 [you@yourbox ~]$ echo "Howdy and Welcome to LF!"
Howdy and Welcome to LF!
[you@yourbox ~]$

[ramin.honary]

Welcome!
Indeed, Linux is the computer scientist's paradise. Thanks to Linux's open source philosophy, anything you can imagine is possible.

You're more clever than me, I waited until my second year of graduate school to switch to Linux. I know if I had switched sooner, it would have been much easier for me to have completed my thesis on time. I was using Mac OS X before that, and once I got the hang of using Vim (which comes with every Mac), switching to Linux was easy. As soon as I had some spare cash, I got a nice Linux netbook which I have been using for everything to this very day -- I am proud to be 100% Linux.

Python, Java, C, and C++ are all incredibly important languages for any computer scientist. But if I may give you some advice, you should learn the fundamental Linux languages as soon as you possibly can -- languages fundamental to Linux are: Bash, Sed (specifically "regular expressions" or Regex's), and Awk. Bash scripting is especially important. Don't put it off, learn it right away!

That is the one thing I would change about my life, if I had to do it all over again, I would have learned Bash first thing, and then branched off to Perl and Python.

[selco]

Welcome buddy!

Am also a LF newbie also and is interested in embedded applications. And just as others have suggested, and which is what am doing currently, is to learn the art of shell scripting (specifically Bash).

[widdlemethis]

Thanks for all the replies! Looks like I may have to start learning some BASH then. Also, good shout on the Gnome 3 development, I hadn't thought of that. So far I've beeen focused on contributing to Firefox but it seems a bit advanced for me right now.

[MASONTX]

Welcome to the forum. Glad to have you join us.

[PrinceSharma]

Not exactly a scripting question, but the one above has two more steps than required. Economy being a good thing, I'd like to offer a suggestion.

 [you@yourbox ~]$ echo "Howdy and Welcome to LF!"
Howdy and Welcome to LF!
[you@yourbox ~]$

Yes! but that was just a basic example of BASH scripting for the OP, just for fun.
Plus I said HI