Slashdot Mirror
Best Websites for Developers?
Recently, I've been entertaining the idea of getting into a little Java programming for a side project I'm working on, and I realized that I really don't know where to start. This led to a larger question of what the best books and websites are for pepole new to a language. What about for the experts in a language? So this week, I was wondering what slashdotters thought are the best websites to go to for information on the major languages (like C, C++, PHP, Perl, etc) and the important topics in programming (x, gtk, win32, etc). I obviously have some opinions on some of the better places to visit, but I wanted to see what slashdotters thought. (hence the paucity of links in this story) Where do people find the authorities? My intention is to ask about web sites this weekend, and books next weekend.
The site w3 has tones of information, including all objects and such for ADO, ASP (VBscript/Jscript) and what not. Even how to make SQL queries in case you forget :)
I see that Word-a-day calendar is really coming in handy for you, huh?
For PHP stuff checkout PHPBuilder. developer.com sometimes has good stuff too for all languages and technologies.
acutally its http://www.w3schools.com but sorry.../me forgot
msdn.microsoft.com
Programmer's Heaven has tons of information on Assembler, Basic, C / C++, C#, Delphi & Kylix, Java, Java Script, Pascal, ,Perl, PHP, Python, VB, and VB.NET.
Computer Science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes. --E. W. Dijkstra
While not the most comprehensive site I've ever seen, devx.com has great discussion groups on just about every language I've ever used, and then some. I've never failed to get an answer to a question or a suggestion on a new algorithm from any of the groups I've posted to there. I'm sure there are better language-specific sites out there, but I've never seen a better site that covers so many languages.
Perl - $Just @when->$you ${thought} s/yn/tax/ &couldn\'t %get $worse;
www.w3schools.com
very cool
Looking for Book Reviews? Check out Literary Escapism.
Here are my favs:
http://busa.village.virginia.edu/devlinks.html
i used to go to phpbuilder.com many times a day and answer all the questions in forums...
after they sold the site, i don't visit as much, but it is still the best place for a newbie PHP developer to go and get some good help.
MARIJUANA, SHROOMS, X: ONLINE?! - E
For Java news, I turn to http://www.cafeaulait.org/ and for XML news, I go to http://www.cafeconleche.org/. Eliotte Rusty Harold does a really good job on these sites. They tend to be no BS, and keep you updated on what's goin' on in both the open source and payware worlds (with definite props to open source). Highly recommended.
just my blog and pix
I was (am) a big PHP, MySQL, ASP, Perl, etc newbie. i found most of the stuff on Devhed.com to be of great value. Kind of like webmonkey for big kids.
I owe my job to the wonderful
online documentation at php.net
php documentation
I have bought a few PHP books,
and nothing compares to having
a bookmark to the online documentation.
I have noticed, that books tend
to write examples in an OO style,
and that is not something that
comes across from reading the
code snippets in the comments
in the online documentation.
If you are new to the language make sure you visit the tutorials page and the api javadoc documentation.
All your favorite sites in one place!
Java, Cocoa, Objective C, Free BSD (Darwin) ......
http://developer.apple.com
Not only does it provide reference guides, but tutorials, examples etc. The quality of the information is as good or better than professional publishing houses. And the developer took kit (i.e., IDE) is free.
You do need to sign up for most of the features, just like it is for New York Times (blah blah blah)...
Well.. Did you!?
Unable to read configuration file '/bigassraid/htdig//conf/14229.conf'
Geocrawler error message.
Developer Shed (all about using open source technologies):
http://www.devshed.com
Webmonkey:
http://www.webmonkey.com
Both are VERY good.
"... the advance of civilization is nothing but an exercise in the limiting of privacy" - Janov Pelorat
The following sites I use daily (I'm a prof. programmer, currently in Java):
http://java.sun.com
- tutorials, reference API's and language spec.
http://www.theserverside.com
- information about server-side programming,
news, general interest
http://otn.oracle.com
- SQL & PL/SQL reference, free account
http://jakarta.apache.org
- tools, toolkits & infrastructure
http://www.w3.org
- RFC's (like HTTP), HTML specs, CSS, etc.
http://www.slashdot.org
- when running tests or building (goofing off)
I find places like php.net confusing so I turned to forums and newsgroups. There can be some really helpfull people at these places. Phpbuilder is the one forum I can think of I have gotten good help from. Even the dumbest questions they try and help. Trust me, I've asked quite a few dumb ones I'd like to kick myself for but they still help. Newgroups, as old as they may be, are still one of the best resources there is. Searching through archives of programming newsgroups can reveal our answers to details questions you have, ones that would not be answered by a book. All these are great when you are still starting and even when you're becoming more advanced. Nothing can beat one of those "Teach Yourself in 24" hours books for a good starter.
http://www.maximum-cars.com - My little hobbie.
If you're doing MS SQL development, this site is awesome.
http://www.sqlteam.com
www.clarke.ca
For PHP-related information, php.net is easily the most comprehensive language resource I've ever seen. Frankly, if every language out there had such an easy to use/easily available language reference, we'd see as many real programmers coming up out of the woodwork as we have seen php programmers (not discounting the skill of PHP programmers, just that it is, predomanately, a "web-only" language.
-9mm-
most respectable languages have good online documentation (java, perl, php, python, ruby) -- manuals are great for "small" questions like getting the equivalent of switch/case to work. however, if you really want to master the language -- read a book.
Anyone that is programming for Unix (or a POSIX compliant system) should definately have a bookmark for (or download a copy of) the Single Unix Specification from The Open Group. The SUS version 3 was recently released on the web and for download here. You do have to give your name and email address (although I don't think they are validated), and you can bookmark the resulting page.
This was me about five months ago, when I wanted to learn Java myself. I went to the bookstore, and bought a fat java book; then I read it.
/usr/share/doc.
Later, I ended up browsing the Java API documentation on java.sun.com, then I found out that the entire documentation kit can be downloaded; which I did and I now have the entire Java API in
I'm quite happy with the results. When I have some free time, I spend it playing with the java app that I wrote, which I use to keep track of my checkbook (no need for quicken); Swing, JDBC (Postgres), RMI, and the new SSL/TLS classes in Java 1.4. All of the documentation one can possibly need can be grabbed from java.sun.com.
For technical questions about C++, you really can't beat comp.lang.c++.moderated. I browse it a lot, but rarely post. Despite studying the langauge for 3 years, my knowledge of the langauge is like nothing compared to the better posters there.
Google Groups for the comp.lang.c++.moderated
A lot of very knowlegible people post there, people who have sold quite a few books about C++ and members of the C++ standardization committee.
Another good site for advanced C++ stuff is the C/C++ Users Journal, a lot of the aforementioned C++ authors post articles, often that are chapters from books.
for java the best place to start is www.java.sun.com, sun's official site that has the API of the entire language which is a great and necessary reference once you know what you're doing and the site has excellent tutorials on how to start nearly everything you want to do with the language. If you get stuck on a problem i've usually found the forums hosted there are pretty useful and fairly prompt too.
For C++ I'd really recommend reading over the K&R C book first and then pick up the C++ language by Stroustrup and an STL book. In particular I like the one by Plauger (who also wrote an excellent treatise on the C-standard library), all three are great for references but K&R is the easiest to read and learn from. I think despite the object oriented paradigms of C++ it's easier to learn C first. (C++ really isn't object oriented the same way java is, it's a hybrid of imperitive, functional, and object oriented paradigms.)
www.codeguru.com is usually pretty good for C++ questions, some forums like there are at the java site.
For gaming in either language you should check out www.gamedev.net which has tutorials and forums in everything ranging from AI to directX and openGL. Hope this helps.
I like the Shareware Courseware site. There are self-study courses for servlets, JSPs and EJBs.
http://code.box.sk
I do web stuff - mostly IIS related...
i d=14161E1D191D211C
My exhaustive collection can be found at: http://www.syncit.com/tree/cview.asp?ref=SEARCH&p
I have been using SyncIt for years now and love it... great for keeping all my favorites sync'd at home/work/travel/etc. Also nice for finding what other developers bookmark - nice search too...
good thread - hope there's some good responses (and not about Bush or global warming you crybaby liberal wanks!)
frixion
---- suck it trebek
HTML Help
.asp sites out there, but my guess is that's not what slashdotters are looking for....
WASP would be a good place for all newbs to start.
WASP
Find Tutorials is a good general tutorial finder.
PHP
First LAMP tutorial
PHP.net
PHP Help
There are tons of good
But for arcane Win32 API calls you can't beat Google Groups. The Microsoft MVPs hang out in the developer groups and give useful information from time to time. (And wrong information sometimes too.)
The only downside to Usenet is when you find the only post with the same problem as you is from 1996 and received 0 replies.
Random is the New Order.
Zend has some great articles on things you can do in PHP, including ways to get better security, graphics, site logins, etc. Check out the articles and tutorials sections.
Hold your breath and try MSDN. It's got everything about everything for MSIE, from HTML to scripting, from tutorials to reference. I'm not a big fan of Microsoft, but MSDN is truly useful. It's also a good reference for CSS2 properties, since these are thankfully the same (and reasonably well supported) on both MSIE and Mozilla.
To ensure cross-browser DHTML compatibility however, cross-reference with the Gecko DOM reference from the Mozilla project. It's DHTML for Mozilla; the model is completely different sadly but it works, and it's possible to write code that works for both MSIE and Mozilla/Gecko simultaneously with a little thought -- I learned most of what I know from Dan Steinman's excellent dynamic duo site.
If you're also using PHP, then you'll probably end up using MySQL as well. I learned most of the SQL I know simply by reading the MySQL manual. It's just as useful as the PHP Manual.
Until a couple of weeks ago, my only experience in Java had been an introductory course last semester. Since then, my job has required Swing, JDBC, and JSP. Everytime I have a question, I use Sun's Java Tutorial (which is great for pretty much everything) or The Java Almanac (mostly just examples).
As of about 5 minutes ago, this thread! :-)
Books and documentation sites are great for reference, but I like to see code, expand upon and snip it. Planet Source Code has a bunch nicely organized with user ratings.
for pepole new to a languagem
I'd suggest
- For newbies: http://www.geocities.com/gene_moutoux/diagrams.ht
- For experts: http://www.dictionary.com
Cheers,
Gerry.
Devshed has to be one of the best sites I've come accross for PHP Programming. It has great articles and the forums are fantastic, I've always been able to get help there. It's got other sections besides the PHP and MySQL stuff, but I have no idea how good they are. If your into PHP and/or MySQL or just general web development and you haven't been to devshed.com, then by all means check it out!
--Aaron
http://www.internet.com Specially for Java, JavaScript and everything "web" related (whatever that might mean)
http://www.devshed.com Mostly Everything, PHP, ASP, DHTML, Zope, etc.
please excuse my apathy
http://www.oreillynet.com http://www.devshed.com http://www.linuxdoc.org -- all linux related docs. http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/ -- For linux/java/xml/web services...
http://www.ibm.com/developer
Let me plug my favorite developer site: Perlmonks: the online community of Perl developers. Don't come expecting your hand to be held, but a little effort will be repaid several times over. Very many nice, knowledgeable people.
This isn't as much "normalization" as it is "don't take so many drugs when you're designing tables."
Though it's not (yet =) one of the "major" languages, but it's pretty awesome. Here are some things I've learned and resources I've discovered.
What is OCaml? In a sentence, "fast modern type-inferring functional programming language." But not only does it support the functional programming paradigm, but also imperative and object-oriented models. (These can be mixed in a single program.) OCaml is type-safe and garbage collected. (But even though it's garbage collected, it runs at speeds comparable to C and C++.)
Why use OCaml? Here are some good reasons:
What kind of things have been implemented in OCaml? Check out the Caml Hump.
OCaml was developed in France, so the "bible" of the language (O'Reilly's Développement d'applications avec Objective Caml - the camel book) is written in French, but a translation of the work by volunteers has been created. Check out Developing Applications with Objective Caml.
The language's official page at INRIA in France.
Another good OCaml page
Yay OCaml!
The Online Slang Dictionary
comp.lang.php is a good resource for php info. It's fairly new so you might have to harass your isp's nntp admin to get it.
I don't read it, but you might try alt.php as well.
--
pants ahoy
Now that ObjC is making a minor comeback with OSX, here's a site that might be pertinent to some people:
http://www.cetus-links.org/oo_objective_c.html
And even if you don't know ObjC, it's always a good time to start. Object Oriented! C! Not C++! 3 big wins!
Perlmonks is by far the best Perl resource. And in my opinion, it's one of the best of any programming site. For a similar site aimed at Java, try out JavaJunkies.
I go to the Web Developer's Virtual Library frequently and read up on any given topic. There is an enormous amount of free tutorials and articles here, all very enjoyable, informative and--this one's a rarity in the world of programming articles--grammatically correct.
--Rick "If it isn't broken, take it apart and find out why."
The Python home site is the place to go for any information on the subject. Links and documentation galore. And you Java guys should check out Jython -- a wonderful way to write and work with Java.
If you use Windows (I know, I know - "boo hiss!") and do web development check out HTML-Kit it's a fantastic editor. It as all sorts of plugins for javascript, perl, php etc and can use the online annotated PHP manual for context sensitive help (and probably others too). And it's Free as in Beer!
I teach java a our community college, and stopped requiring a text years ago. Sun's java site has great documentation for begginers and the whole api documentation online for proficient programmers. If you have specific implementations issues, the best place to go is Google groups. I teach a whole class on how to use google to answer programming questions. Chances are, your not the only one with a specific question, and you'll find the answer on google.
http://www.jalfrezi.com
Whenever I need to lookup a quick command spec, he's got it there for me.
As for Javascript:
http://developer.irt.org/script/script.htm
Always has answers to many different aspects of JS.
"TK-421, why aren't you at your post?"
No, I'm not an O'Reilly employee, I'm just a big fan . O'Reilly has the best technical manuals I have ever seen from one place. But Safari is even better, it's a collection of 100's of good O'Reilly books, put into online format.
Of course something like this isn't free, but its not expensive either. About 10 bucks a month gets you the ability to "subscribe" to about 5 books for 30 days and read them online, or print them! (yes, the terms allow for printing). At the end of the 30 days you can trade in your books and subscribe to new ones. There are other levels of subscription also. It's been one of the best programming resources I've used in a long time. Not just articles and tutorials like you normally find, but real, published, books online, chapters of information. You can even bookmark pages, and add notes to them.
..There's a-dooin's a-transpirin'
Since for me, anyways, Perl's usefulness is at least 50% about the HUGE body of modules already out there, I'd say the single most valuable Perl resource is CPAN. In fact, there are so many modules there and the numbers are increasing so rapidly that there are almost TOO many modules, creating an embarassment of riches...it's getting difficult to find just what you need because there is often more than a few modules out there to do it.
It's probably no suprise that the best place to learn java is http://java.sun.com/. Why? Because of the Java Tutorial and the Java Developer's Connection.
/mike.
The Tutorial will ease any programmer familiar with similar-level languages in to doing Java devlopment in a few hours, and given a couple of days to go through the pertinent parts of the Tutorial, said devloper will be able to sart accomplishing a lot. The JDC has a bunch of tips, many forums and the bug database. Getting answers to particular problems at the JDC is pretty damm easy.
The Java-specific sites are probably going to be the next best resource. Javaworld usually does well, so much so that I rarely need to go elsewhere.
HTH,
-- "So, what's the deal with Auntie Gerschwitz et all?"
People
Richard Stallman -
Eric S. Raymond -
Larry Wall
Linux Programming
Linux Programming Resources -Kernel Traffic
Unix
Unix Review -Sys Admin -
Art of Unix Programming
Programming Methodologies
Extreme ProgrammingC Programming
Programming in C -Standard C -
C Library Reference -
GNU C Library
C++ Programming
David Beech's Introduction to C++ -C++ for C Programmers
Perl Programming
Perl Doc -Perl Monks -
Perl.com -
VMS Perl -
Use Perl
Network Programming
Beej's Guide to Network ProgrammingOpen Source
Open Projects -Sourceforge -
Slashcode -
The Cathedral and the Bazaar
A little off topic, but http://www.wotsit.org/ is a good resource for file format documentation.
Your question is rather broad and lacks any specifics, but I get this feeling you're looking for information regarding web site programming, hence the "My intention is to ask about web sites this weekend". In that case:
Sitepoint
A fantastic web site dealing with everything from learning new programming languages to design ethics to search engine tips.
Cool Home Pages
Stuck? Out of ideas? Check out some other fantastic designs. "The only known cure for designers block"
PHP.net
Even though it's the languages official site, there is a wealth of information here. Every function is very well documented and you'll recieve a ton of information.
PHP Builder
Possibly the single best resource to ask your questions - but before you do that, search the forums. Chances are your question has already been asked and has a fantastic answer.
w3schools
Great resource for all things HTML, CSS and so much more. Remember CSS is your friend on the internet - print the quick reference!
And if you're looking to getting into some open source databasing:
MySQL
Once again, the developer of an open source project has a fabulous web site just rigged with useful information.
To make a pun demonstrates the highest understanding of a language
Except for java, which lives nicely at java.sun.com. And sometimes I poke around perl.com but usually the included docs (perldoc, man perl*) are enough.
.tar.gz of the API docs and the language spec and I'm pretty self contained there too.
Otherwise, during the bulk of my time where I'm C and Objective/C++ programming, all I need is K&R (rarely anymore) and Bjarne Stroustrup's C++. That and the API documentation that came with the OS.
And really, for Java I download the
Start Running Better Polls
My vote to CodingStyle
There's a really good site out there called slashdot. You should post a question to their ask.slashdot section, and you're certain to get some really knowledgable replies.
The previous has been a secret message to my comrades.
The DOM between IE and Mozilla is almost exactly the same, the only major difference between them is the events model. Thankfully IE's event model can very easily be emulated in Mozilla, so this isn't even really an issue. Where did you get this idea that the DOMs are "completely different"? Assuming you have done any amount of work with them, I really fail to see how you could come up with this.
http://groups.google.com
- Go to book store.
- Find computer section.
- Find white book with nice sketch of animal (ignoring the weird photo ones) on the cover.
- Find one that matches whatever you want to learn.
- Buy it.
If you want, you can buy other books by O'Reilly on other subjects you're curious about. They always seem to end up being worth the money.As for PHP, the best resource for that is the plain and simple php.net. Not only is the entire language documented, every function definition contains examples and discussion on it. What more could you ask for?
. . .when webmonkey was he best thing out there for newbie web programmers. It's sad, but they sort of fell off at some point. But in the beginning, when it was all about client-side scripting, wasn't none better than Thau! The dude still cracks me up.
They even had a UNIX cheat sheet and tutorial for when we grew up and began working on the server-side of things.
for a neato (actually, the best I've found) gaming resource check out Flipcode. Has excellent articles on many other relevant subjects.. check it out. C, C++, etc is well represented and theory too. Dig it.
Why the in the world are you asking Slashdot? You realize that this is just going to get you confused. 500 posts say "Java SUX, use Linux!", 200 posts will send you to www.willywonkaland.com as the BEST developer resource, and at least 10 will tell you to "Use the force young padiwon!" At the end of the day, the real answers will be so buried, that you will have NO chance of ever finding them.
.Net, C#, VB, etc.: msdn.microsoft.com
That being said, if you want to learn to be a good developer, first you are going to have to be as self-reliant as possible. If you need documentation for something, go to the source. For example:
Java: java.sun.com
Here you'll find a tutorial and JavaDocs. Millions of developers (myself included) learn everything they need to know about Java, right here.
PHP: php.org
Like Sun's Java site, this is a no brainer. Everything you need to know about PHP is right here.
HTML, XML, CSS: W3C
Hold this one close. A good portion of Internet standards are passing through this commitee. The best part is that the specs are right there for everyone to see.
Ugh. Shell out money, get a bone. There is no other way to develop for M$.
If the documentation and/or support you need doesn't exist at the source, you may want to re-evaluate your usage of a language/product. Why should you waste your time on a meaningless hunt for info when you should be getting work done? The company you buy from should be providing you with what you need to use their product, otherwise you're just giving them money to do their job for them.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
Bruce Eckel's Thinking in Java, now in it's third edition, is in my opinion the best book for learning Java. Thorough, thoughtful and thought-provoking: Available online free at www.bruceeckel.com.
This week I started a job working to develope java solutions myself. Java is one of my stronger languages but my SQL stuff was weak including JDBC. Here's a list of references I used to work and reference for Java and SQL.
r ai ning/ -- Tutorials
p le s/ --- Code samples.
http://java.sun.com/apis.html -- Great place to get API info.
http://developer.java.sun.com/developer/onlineT
http://developer.java.sun.com/developer/codesam
http://www.jspinsider.com/index.jsp --- Jsp insider
http://www.javaworld.com/ --- Java World
O'Reilly has a boat load off good books (Yeah I know books is another day but what the hell.)
Database Programming with JDBC Java - George Reese
Java Servlet Programming Jason Hunter W/William Crawford
Java Server Pages - Hans Bergsten
Java: How to program 3rd edition (4th might be out) - Deitel & Deitel
Java Treads - Oaks and Wong (O'Reilly)
Core Java Vol 1 and 2 from Sun.
~~ Behold the flying cow with a rail gun! ~~
A most of the links seem good here is some stuff that didn't get mentioned that might make for good add ons:
m s , slashdot isn't taking it right) If you need any information on legacy systems or are looking to see how the mainframe world handles issues not yet handled by the Unix world this site is amazingly useful.
99 Bottles of Beer This site has the same program in several hundred languages which is useful for easy language comparison.
Oracle Docs Tons and tons of information much of which applies beyond Oracle (full SQL dictionary, full documentation for ODJC and JDBC...)
IBM developer works A mixed bag of articles on a wide range of topics
IBM redbooks (link is http://publib-b.boulder.ibm.com/Redbooks.nsf/cdro
Developers edge by Netscape Good stuff on web programming.
Two sites I refer to frequently for C++:
SGI's reference to the STL.
cpluslus.com, most notably the "standard libraries" reference link on the left there (for looking up bits and pieces of the iostreams library).
-Rob
Codeproject is the best site for MFC and Win32 programming. No Linux or Unix info unfortunatly. It does have a fun lounge that I frequent often though. :-)
for medium-advanced unix things builder.com is great. they recently had a article about how sendfile works, and the differences of select and poll
http://builder.com.com
Check out the robocode website: "Build a robotic tank applet in Java and send it into battle!" Haven't done much of it myself but it was an interesting way to get started with Java.
I'm amazed that there is nothing here about Tcl. I use everything from shell to C to Perl, but Tcl is consistenly one of my favorite languages. I don't know why it doesn't get more respect.
Anyway, Activestate is a great place to start, especially the cookbook. The weekly Tcl-URL is published at Dr Dobbs. The Tcl Developer Xchange also has a lot of resources. Most of the major Tcl developers hang out in comp.lang.tcl (probably one of the most civil newsgroups there is). Quick answers to questions are always available there.
Not the best site to find a lot of information, but the FAQ on Bjarne Stroustrup's homepage has a lot of good answers to some more arcane C++ questions.
For a more comprehensive resource, also in FAQ format, check out the C++ FAQ-lite by Marshall Cline.
There is no shortage of materials, free and commercial, that you could use to bring yourself up to speed. What are you really looking for here? A job offer?!
If you really want to be a developer, then learn how to learn how, dig in, and get busy. Those of us who are serious know this for what it is: a plea for attention.
If there were no good materials from which to learn, I would be more sympathetic. As it is, you're just wasting time.
Please mod this post only if you think others should/n't read this. I have enough ego^H^H^Hkarma. Thanks!
WebMonkey.com is where I started when I wanted to learn how to be a web developer. I even sent my mom there. Great tutorials, and good humor too.
- Visit MyGeekdom.com and geek out!
Geek out
I have found it incredibly useful, and searching for functions a breeze. If you need to find out a function to perform a particular task, then do a quick google search or go onto irc.openprojects.net or some other server and join a channel and ask for a function - then look that function up on php.net.
If you don't know programming, then a resource I have found useful for web based programming (mysql & php specifically) is www.devshed.com, with tutorials on a few different topics.
For game related programming and a number of topics related to that (opengl, directx, ai, etc) then www.gamedev.net is excellent. For opengl you can't go past NeHe Productions.
You can't beat the perl manpages. They are organized like a book, and are easily the best introduction to programming in perl I have seen anywhere.
They may also be in perldoc format, but I haven't bothered checking. . .
thau
Since one of the major things in C++ is it's libraries, I find the two best references for that are:
1. SGI's STL Reference
2. Reference for iostreams and standard C library
And don't forget man pages in unices and msdn in windows.
javaranch.com is pretty good.
I think www.ibm.com/developerworks is a wonderful place. I thoroughly enjoyed articles by Gentoo Robins especially the ones on threads on Linux. And the security section is fabulous. I think it is a must read
If you're going for windows programming at all, of course you need a few sites:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/.
http://www.codeproject.com/
http://www.codeguru.com/
I recently discovered another site which has saved me alot of trouble, though I doubt a linuxweenie would ever need it: WinForms FAQ
[o]_O
http://geocities.com/tablizer/oopbad.htm
(Back, evil moderator, back! Sit!)
Table-ized A.I.
Fantastic Visual FoxPro watering hole.
Also has forums for Linux, VB, Java, Oracle, and several more.
Running with Linux for over 20 years!
Not exactly a "developer" site but I use http://www.hotscripts.com all of the time.
Take a look at someones else's code relating to what you are working on, improve it, change it, fiddle with it, you'll end up learning faster (at least I did) by looking at someones elses code to get ideas.
I've been reading Bruce Eckel's
u re s/
"Thinking in C++" (available online)
Can't recommend it highly enough (if you need to code C++).
For Scheme (and Computer Science in general), the book Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs is hard to beat, and available online at MIT Press homepage, as is the book "How to Design Programs" (www.htdp.org). I also enjoyed reading Gary Knott's "Interpreting LISP" which can be downloaded off the web. For a nice intro to designing programming languages, check out the lecture notes available at:
http://www.cs.brown.edu/courses/cs173/2001/Lect
They've got full linux support, community edition of Forte (IDE for Java), and the latest JDKs.
Huge amount of tutorials, tips, tricks, etc.
It's flat out the best programming site on the web.
Treatment, not tyranny. End the drug war and free our American POWs.
See my user info for links.
It's a great place to post/respond to windows programming questions. It uses a point-based system, so everyone's encouraged to help each other out. I once was stuck in a rut with a complex problem and received a well-detailed response in a matter of minutes! High on my list.
-jc
This place is a very good reference for practically any web language you want to work in.
ADO, ASP, CSS2, HTML, JavaScript, Jet SQL, VBScript, WML, WMLScript, WSH, XHTML, XML DOM, XSLT are all covered.
ActiveState and DDJ are both excellent resources.
irt.org has always gotten me out of tight jams when trying to implement fancy JavaScript. They have a HUGE section for almost any question/trick/hack you need for DHTML, JavaScript, and a few other languages.
Those who laugh at you for you having a Mac.. are the people who constantly call you to fix their PC.
Surf over to lernasp.com and check out "Classic ASP" if you're a vb programmer who hasn't bit into
[/flame suit]
PHP: PHP.net
Comments: If you've got a programming background, this website is all you need. If you don't have a programming background, an introductory book and this website is all you need.
HTML, Javascript, DHTML, XML, DTD, etc.: W3Schools.com
Comments: Good introductions to a ton of topics on the left-hand side.
SQL: SQLCourse.com
Comments: The first place I ever pointed my students to for SQL and probably the perfect quick source for anything up until the level of stored procedures, transactions, etc., which vary depending on the DB implementation anyway.
C++/C/Java textbooks: ACCU.org
Comments: Lots of book reviews on a bunch of topics. To be honest, I still haven't seen a website that covers these three languages as well as good books do.
After all this, hone your google and google.groups skills and you should be able to solve any problem.
--------
Bleah! Heh heh heh... BLEAH BLEAH!!! Ha ha ha ha...
The Brainfuck programming language
If tits were wings it'd be flying around.
Well, for those like myself who are forced to beat their heads against the wall that is Fortran, there's a great introduction over at the Queen's Universoty of Belfast. So far it's told me all the basic syntax stuff I need, so it makes a really handy reference.
As for Fortran 77 [shudder] (and yes, I have to work with it regularly...), a search for prof77 readily yields a relatively tiny document that contains pretty much all the F77 information you'll ever need -- it's shockingly complete considering its size. I recommend finding a .ps version.
-Erf C.
Cthulu always calls collect...
deja.com, the usenet archive, is hardly ever mentioned as a programmer's site even though it holds the answers to nearly any programming question you might have. I use it more often than any other site. Search for a problem and you'll find that a dozen people have experienced it and solved it already.
How to download movies, music and pictures from newsgroups while you sleep.
-Chris
It's still really useful. I'm usually able to find what I'm looking for via Google's interface.
-Bill
SlashSig Karma: Excellent (mostly affected by moderatio
Check out the "X topic For Dummies" series... They are great. Humorous, straightforward, great for beginners. Though they are aimed at newbies, they aren't as insultingly barney style as the title makes them seem. Obviously, you eventually will want to seek out more advanced texts, but the Dummies series provides a great baseline, they don't just teach you how to do something, but also how it happens behind the scenes in general terms- specific enough to have an idea what your computer thinks when it sees your code, but not where each and every bit goes and what it does when it gets there.
Great books! I learned more in 5 minutes with the C++ for dummies book than I learned with the other 5 or so C++ books I have tried to use. I'd recommend getting a Dummies book, and get a large reference(rather than tutorial) book... the Dummies book will give you the basic knowledge and fundamentals, and the reference book will give you the specifics.
...just add content
http://www.c2.com/cgi/wiki
They really screwed up the MSDN search engine, I type in words in the MSDN search engine. I get either no hits or unrelated hits.
I type the same words into Google, I get a list of relevant web pages at MSDN.
So now I use Google for all my MSDN searches.
"For a successful technology, honesty must take precedence over public relations for nature cannot be fooled." -Feynman
Just a recommendation on mysql books. In general I love O'Reilly books but stay far far away from the one on MySQL and mSQL. The information is not useful and poorly organized. If you want a good MySQL book, get MySQL by Paul DuBois published by New Riders.
Java API
PHP Manual
Can't go wrong with those.
if(!cool) exit(-1);
The sister (brother?) site of Developerworks is Alphaworks. It's a great place to find cutting edge software and several open source projects.
"For a successful technology, honesty must take precedence over public relations for nature cannot be fooled." -Feynman
Article Central - a collection of articles related to web development from all over the web. Updated sometimes every day, some times only every other day but always updated. They cover everything from Java to PHP to Macromedia products. Really a must if you are a web developer.
Devshed - I think someone already posted this link, but it's a really good source of tutorials and real world applications.
Freshmeat - Whenever someone tells me that they need a certain functionality, I look here first to save me some time.
Index.html and Index.css at Blooberry.com - no doubt the BEST HTML and CSS references available on the web. Tells you what elements and tags are supported by every browser out there, what version of the browser supports them, and any strange behavior that the browsers might exhibit related to that tag or element.
IBM Alphaworks - Lots of cutting edge software.
"For a successful technology, honesty must take precedence over public relations for nature cannot be fooled." -Feynman
When I decided to learn PHP, I just grabbed a copy of the documentation from the php.net website and started looking at code that can be found around on the net.
Sometimes the best way to learn a particular language is by example and trial-and-error
There are only 10 kinds of people in this world... those who understand binary and those who don't
Why rely on on websites and book? There is invariably at least one comp.* group for each programming language. The moderated lists are a great place to Learn By Lurking (tm) IMHO.
As for websites and books, I would suggest starting with a solid textbook style teaching reference and then moving onto websites. Programming websites tend to be heavy on advocacy and examples but lacking on background and theory.
there's a web page showing the complete table of contents here and the main site in support of the book including examples and all the exercises here.
just make sure if you buy it you are buying the 3rd printing. the 2nd and first are out of date at this point.
ResearchIndex is the best resources on the web when looking for anything pertaining to computer science technical reports. Learn it. Use it. Love it.
I find http://www.cplusplus.com to be a handy reference for C/C++ standard libraries and syntax/operators.
BlackGriffen
This kinda stuff seems very tough to find. The only one I found depended on using a commercial IDE which did not interest me. All free software please. thanks.
Liberty.
In response to diving in to a bit of Java... Java is a full blown language that can be very complex. I would recommend checking a few books (such as O'Rielly Books) on Java Servlets, Java Server Pages, and JDBC.
Good luck.
kha0z
Master of ImportChaos.com
-rq
Hes a good game programmer but hes not the worlds best C programmer.
IF he did write a book on C it would be good for game programmers to read maybe.
If you use Linux, please help development of Autopac
The Stanford CS Library has lots of docs of interest for beginning CS students (C, Perl, linked lists, ...), and the Binky Pointer Video is a funny animated introduction to pointers
For a new topic, I usually go to www.cetus-links.org, which is a very comprehensive collection of links,books, articles,... for almost any language, buzzword, and technique...
And well-maintained, too.
C-C
DevZone
The DevZone has a very large collection of free compilers, books, and SDKs available for download.
If you're leaning more towards game development, GameDev.net is an excellent resource. It's more a game development community but you can find help for anything programming related in the forums.
Ben
Work Safe Porn
Joel on Software
Many texts to read, some of them really insightful
Devshed
Many tutorials, focus on scripting languages
The best resource from java, besides the sun's various documentations is http://www.jguru.com, not only do they provide tutorials for basic things like Java Exceptions, but also allow you to post questions regarding different issues like various configurations of servers like Apache tomcat, Weblogic, etc. Jguru is an excellent way to see what the real life problems are, and what solutions are there.
[alk]
groups.google.com
www.dilbert.com
My intention is to ask about web sites this weekend, and books next weekend.
Good thinking! If you'd asked about the books first, they'd be obsolete by next weekend!
Garg
Garg
Alumnus, Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters
Dive Into Python, a free online book for advanced programmers
Python FAQT, user-expandable knowledge base with great questions and answers
Python Library Reference, ed. by Guido van Rossum and Fred L. Drake, Jr. [need I say more?]
Python Tutorial, ed. by Guido van Rossum and Fred L. Drake, Jr.
The Whole Python FAQ
except the fucking standards only existed AFTER the browsers had already been implemented and the web already popular
Advanced users are users too!
Since I cannot see them, my .02:
http://www.theserverside.com -> J2EE news, great level. Also J2EE patterns and book drafts. Great community.
http://www.jguru.com -> great faqs (quite in-depth content) and introductory texts also. Not any news, though
http://java.sun.com -> search for the blueprints, and the javaOne slides each year to follow the state-of-the-art on java technology, resumed. The community sucks, though.
http://c2.com -> not java, but great pattern repository, great community, and take years to read *part* of it.
I found http://developer.java.sun.com/developer/onlineTrai ning/ a very invaluable tutorial site. It is written in big part by the actual Java developers, and explain almost anything you'd like to do with Java, going from the pretty basic to the most advanced.
Gets 5 stars from me.
Well where is theoretically the best place to learn something? At a University. As a student I know that lecture notes are the EASIEST possible way to teach yourself something. They'll do it better than books, IMO.
So just google for the programming language and the name of your favourite university and check out some of the notes, and save yourself thousands of $$$ in tuition while learning the same stuff as the coders of tomorrow.
That's rich. Next explain how CSS relative path references are more secure than inline style or HTML. Oh wait, that's right, you don't know what you're talking about.
I often find CodeGuru and Codeproject useful for sample code, expecially for Windows development.
.NET development, the Windows Forms FAQ is a useful resource.
However, I usually just end up searching with Google to find the information. Links turn up so often to Codeproject and CodeGuru, that I often go there first now.
Finally, if you're getting into
C8H10N4O2 | Developer > Code
I like www.webmonkey.com for everything you need for web development.
The problem with on-line C++ is that many people who claim to write about it don't know their subject, and consequently write superficially correct code that actually sucks. I'm sorry to name names, but the much-recommended-here CPlusPlus.com is one such site; their "Hello, world!" program at the start of their isn't even correct. I'd give sites like that a miss if you're seriously interested in learning C++.
One good source of information about C++ (and many other programming-related subjects) on-line is the related Usenet newsgroups, particularly the group specifically for learners if you're just starting out, or the moderated C++ group for more advanced subjects.
Many of these groups also have helpful FAQs, available (as usual) via the Internet FAQ Consortium. Again, for those just starting out, I'd particularly recommend the alt.comp.lang.learn.c-c++ FAQ, which has links to helpful on-line resources, free compilers, etc.
There are a few web sites of which anyone in the C++ field should be aware.
There are a few decent on-line references to the standard library:
About the only decent on-line C++ tutorial I know of the electronic version of Bruce Eckel's "Thinking in C++" books. You can find a complete copy of these, and several of his other books, at his books web site. (He also has books on Java, C#, Python amongst other things, and all of his work I've read has been reasonably good.)
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
The reference for server side java is The Server Side.com
Also, JGuru has quite a lot of stuff about general java
And of course, the Sun Java site is an excellent reference to, and they recently redesigned the web site which is now much more intuitive IMHO...
Also, get a copy of Thinking in Java by Bruce Eckel (Free PDF version on the web), this is the best book on java ever written!
I'd rather be sailing...
I find Cppreference.com to be very simple and to the point. It's got information on both the standard C library, the C++ STL, and a few other common core components of both C and C++. Definitely just a lookup resource for people already familiar with one or both languages, and not entirely complete, but a quite useful resource nonetheless, especially for mundane but necessary things like function names and parameter order/datatype.
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
Bill Catambay provides this indispendable website for experienced and beginning Pascal programmers. There's plenty of code samples, tools and projects for Macintosh and Windows.
...which is a shame, since IMHO it beats the pants off of most of the languages you mentioned, especially with the new stuff like generators. I'm not sure what the best website would be (www.python.org and the links there have been good enough for me so far), but there is an awesome tutor mailing list for Python that is full of people who are helpful, friendly, and witty. Haven't had a question yet that they couldn't answer. See here for details.
bought a fat java book
With the exception of standards documents (which are not intended to be read by many people anyway), and without wishing to insult you, I must say that fat books suck. The fatter, the worse, with few exceptions. They tend to be written quickly, by non-experts, and tend to be poorly designed. It's no coincidence that the fat books tend to come from the same companies, who specialize in fleecing the book-buying public.
My favorite Java book is The Java Programming Language by Gosling, et al. The first edition was actually short at 373 pages. With the continual enlargement of the Java libraries, it's now getting a little hefty, but the text of the book is still only about 625 pages, plus a long index. It's a highly correct and beautifully designed book. It's an Addison Wesley book; they have good taste in selecting writers and book designers.
Hi,
It might also be a good idea to point to *really bad* reference books out there, so that you don't get confused.
My "favourite" in this category is the O'Reilly `practical C++ programming' book by S.Oualine. While the book reads fine enough it is completely out of date (published 1995!) and does not refer to standard C++ in any way.
The truly appaling fact is that it is just about the only C++ book available from O'Reilly. This publishing house has such a good reputation that a lot of people have picked up this book assuming it would be good also. I can't believe O'Reilly doesn't have a more recent C++ book given the importance of this language.
I O'Reilly has a policy that they don't want to keep up to date with C++ they should pull this book out their collection. At the moment it only confuses people.
They use #include <iostream.h> and ignore the std namespace. This is wrong both in theory and in practice.
In theory, they claim to teach ANSI C++, which this never has been.
In practice, on most platforms that have both the old-fashioned <iostream.h> and the standard <iostream> headers, there are subtle differences between the two. There is the obvious, but usually non-fatal, namespace issue. More seriously, many of the <iostream.h> implementations were different (duh -- that's why we have a standard now :-)) and so code using them is likely to suffer from subtle problems if it's used with a different compiler, or even a new version of the same one, or if it's ever converted to use the standard <iostream> header instead.
These are clearly no more than irritations in the trivial example, but the use of the non-standard header could have nasty consequences in real world code. There's just no reason to do it with any modern C++ compiler, and yet here they are illustrating it as "ANSI C++" on page one. :-(
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
great for IC developers