In all you do, always remember there are just two types of programmers: the 1s and the 0s. Be that 1!

I'm a very useless programmer without google 

dont let anybody deceive you, with or without resources you can be a programmer if you aspire, i started with no one and nothing, mine is the most challenging, am a mobile phone programmer, i have to make softwares and get them to communicate with phones, which means i have to know the type of algorithm coded in phone chips by removing and reading via pony prog, i started making faulty programmes after 2 weeks of reading books, surely VB is best for a newbie, check out gsmforum now and see my works. i decrypt even blackberry crypto algorithm

I really wish to be an MQL4 programmer, I want to be able to be designing my own custom indicators. I just need a guide to put me through the learning process.

@Goodmuyis

Hi, I'm here to tell you tat you already have all it takes to become a programmer-namely zeal.

Let me put it into perspective:

When I started learning programming, I had no computer of my own. Only one family I knew had a computer and I had to travel almost 50 kilometers to get there. I had no generator,and neither did they. Power was non-existent.

I had no internet access. I had no means of communicating with the world overseas, not even a telephone. What I had, were books, mostly gotten from people who didnt care about them, and a pen with which to write down my programs so I could type them in and test them whenever I got access to a computer.

Obviously, times have changed now and you definitely have better access to technology than I did then. Afterall, you posted on Nairaland. What this means is that all you need now is for the desire to be genuine, and you WILL excel.

Programming is not like graphic design and so forth where you need 1 million dollar equipment and powerful software to be effective. Programming is universal to all computing machines, and it is what creates the powerful software so of course NO SOFTWARE IS NECCESARY except maybe notepad.


IN SHORT:

* Get zeal
* Get books (or reading material, start with wikipedia, since you have time/internet to spend on nairaland)
* Get pen and paper

And start writing your code.

Whenever you have a chance to use a computer, you need to following:

* ANY computer, even the oldest, slowest, most useless 386 is good enough. In fact, for a programmer, the slower the better. Fast PCs are not for learning to code.

* On that computer, you need only 2 things: A text editor (notepad already exists,and you can use notepad++ if you have internet) and a compiler (every language has a free compiler you can download. Wikipedia will give you links to free compilers for any language and instructions on how to use them)


Let me warn you of something: If you are afraid of the command line or dont want to go through the 'hassle' of configuring something with notepad files and command line instructions, then I'm sorry but you are not the kind of programmer we want in Nigeria.

There are too many PHP cut-and-paste monkeys in Nigeria masquerading as 'programmers'. I met many TRUE PHP gurus at the recent garage48.org competition and I hope you want to become one of them, or perhaps learn another language like C-sharp or Java

Good luck! Call me when you make your first million ;-)

Dual Core:

In all you do, always remember there are just two types of programmers: the 1s and the 0s. Be that 1!

Oga i be day expect ya comment. How biz na. Can someone please list the different types of programming language and their application. Eg C++ for system. not 2 sure oo cuz  i dont know anything about programming but what to study computer science.

Gsmxpert:

dont let anybody deceive you, with or without resources you can be a programmer if you aspire, i started with no one and nothing, mine is the most challenging, am a mobile phone programmer, i have to make softwares and get them to communicate with phones, which means i have to know the type of algorithm coded in phone chips by removing and reading via pony prog, i started making faulty programmes after 2 weeks of reading books, surely VB is best for a newbie, check out gsmforum now and see my works. i decrypt even blackberry crypto algorithm

i like your post. I am into mobile repair at the moment maybe i can start with the VB, probably it will help in my field at the moment. Can you code unlocking software for mobile phones? What are the things i will be needing to get started. I do have a Laptop and PC and Internet connection. What is next in my quest to be a Programmer starting with VB.

blindcopy:

@Goodmuyis

Hi, I'm here to tell you tat you already have all it takes to become a programmer-namely zeal.

Let me put it into perspective:

When I started learning programming, I had no computer of my own. Only one family I knew had a computer and I had to travel almost 50 kilometers to get there. I had no generator,and neither did they. Power was non-existent.

I had no internet access. I had no means of communicating with the world overseas, not even a telephone. What I had, were books, mostly gotten from people who didnt care about them, and a pen with which to write down my programs so I could type them in and test them whenever I got access to a computer.

Obviously, times have changed now and you definitely have better access to technology than I did then. Afterall, you posted on Nairaland. What this means is that all you need now is for the desire to be genuine, and you WILL excel.

Programming is not like graphic design and so forth where you need 1 million dollar equipment and powerful software to be effective. Programming is universal to all computing machines, and it is what creates the powerful software so of course NO SOFTWARE IS NECCESARY except maybe notepad.


IN SHORT:

* Get zeal
* Get books (or reading material, start with wikipedia, since you have time/internet to spend on nairaland)
* Get pen and paper

And start writing your code.

Whenever you have a chance to use a computer, you need to following:

* ANY computer, even the oldest, slowest, most useless 386 is good enough. In fact, for a programmer, the slower the better. Fast PCs are not for learning to code.

* On that computer, you need only 2 things: A text editor (notepad already exists,and you can use notepad++ if you have internet) and a compiler (every language has a free compiler you can download. Wikipedia will give you links to free compilers for any language and instructions on how to use them)


Let me warn you of something: If you are afraid of the command line or dont want to go through the 'hassle' of configuring something with notepad files and command line instructions, then I'm sorry but you are not the kind of programmer we want in Nigeria.

There are too many PHP cut-and-paste monkeys in Nigeria masquerading as 'programmers'. I met many TRUE PHP gurus at the recent garage48.org competition and I hope you want to become one of them, or perhaps learn another language like C-sharp or Java

Good luck! Call me when you make your first million ;-)

i do love ya post.

@pelumiv
coding an unlockingsoftware is such a heavy soft, but not beyond been done, as it is done my many. i was self thought by free books and total devotion of time. you will need to get scripts and algorithms from chips you wish to commuicate with your software. contact me on msn i can guide you better. i will also show you make i have done

odersity@gmail.com

the gsm programming is mostly made up of pre programmed arrays and controls, instructed to perform a certain task whenever an activity is detected.

you are specifying the activaties to be detected, and the actions to be performed. algorithms from chips are the most challenging. but u will get over it.

when i retire from rim will surely make it rampant in nigeria. planning to build an unlocking box soon.

My interest is in telecoms(HW) but I want to learn programming. Someone said to be a programmer you must start early but I'm 31 is it too late?

starting early is not the issue, the rigamarole is the planning, in the telecoms soft wares, planning is the major deal.
you must bring back economics in those days in school

@pelumiv

open torrentz.com

easy leraning visual basic

download the torrent

a book i started with was from there, about 450 mb

easy with pictures

Gsmxpert:

the gsm programming is mostly made up of pre programmed arrays and controls, instructed to perform a certain task whenever an activity is detected.

you are specifying the activaties to be detected, and the actions to be performed. algorithms from chips are the most challenging. but u will get over it.

when i retire from rim will surely make it rampant in nigeria. planning to build an unlocking box soon.

I really do appreciate your replies. i will try download d book wen nepa bring light. It will b cool if u can make an unlocking box. But d bb phones is been unlock by code, y not do that for a start and if possible try find solution to bb used counter.

or try finding solution to iphone4 untethered unlock. lol

hey man, what book do u want to download? post the list with your email address and i will download and email it to you!

Thanks to all of you for the ideas and advice

In terms of reading i love computer related that chemistry of physics

since i have share from view i will have to stop complaining as from now

lol good

Welcome 2 da world where yu call mistakes bug, where yu spend 22hrs+ behind your computer, where yu have a lot of caffein in ya blood. and don't forget to hang your social life somewhere.

that sounds more like it, lolololol

where yu have a lot of caffein in ya blood.

i would say strong determination

@Fayimora, thank you so much for those programming books, I just received them, and believe I'm set for the journey now!! loool

many phone programmers has self made soft they dont share, people claim only dm3 reset mep counter on blackberry phones
cus they are afraid of having to decrypt the bb crypto algorithm

check out this was my first, for personal use. (codes removed for safety)


http://www.4shared.com/file/WRQbA3UT/blackberry_tool.html

advanced phone programmers like hackrack of furious dongle, and legiga of cyclone, even manole asked me to sale the codes to them on a huge amount, wasent hungry, just dont know how to protect my dongle from being cracked if not i will have a dongle or box by name.

Forget about iphone unlocking, it almost drove me crazy, i became abnormal for almost two weeks, those chips contains alien codes


also see this link


http://forum-gsmworld.com/showthread.php?t=1932

Hey. . .I wrote a piece on this topic in April

http://javamylove./2011/04/17/so-you-want-to-be-a-programmer/

I made it as simple as I could. . .

This Article is already published in the Digital Natives Newsletter (Links In The Chain) April 15, 2011 Vol. 4 Best Practices issue

So you want to be a programmer? You want to write web and desktop applications. You want to develop software for the iPhone and the Android market You want to be a solutions provider to companies and individuals alike. Let me share tips that will help in your quest to be one of us – the geeky do-gooders!



Like any other profession, IT requires determination, patience and willingness to persevere. The begining could be very challenging and intimidating because you might find it hard to figure out some ugly looking write-ups called “codes”. You would wonder why a line – JButton buttonObject = new JButton(“Click Me”) – should create a button with “Click Me” written on it in Java (a scripting language). You might even be thinking about wireless internet connections as some voodoo from the west.

Being a PROGRAMMER or a SOFTWARE DEVELOPER is not rocket science. It’s not as hard as many make it seem. Those codes that scare you seem to me as the easiest part of our profession. Once you understand the structure, the rules and the syntax, basically the ‘logic’ of why codes are written in programming language, the rest is easy.
Also, note that the more you code, the more you try out examples in the book you are reading, the eaiser it will be for you to master the coding techniques of the language. I remember my NIIT (an Indian school in Nigeria) days. I would always volunteer to do the coding, ever willing to help a mate identify errors in his/her code. By the end of the first semester, my coding skills was actually faultless.

Once you master coding, the rest depends on how well you can think. Don’t wait for your instructor to tell you what to do. Go ahead and give yourself a pet project. It could be as simple a project as creating a database of students in your college with information on their names, grades and activities. Build it in bits. As your knowledge grows, let the software you are building grow in functionality as well. Who knows, it just might turn out to be a gold mine for you.

In my case, the pet project I did at NIIT, Hospital Management System, kick started my career and put me on the IT radar in Nigeria. I travelled different states, met high-profile people, addressed a cross section of medical practitioners, all at the age of 22! Since then, it’s been one challenging project or the other.

You also need to start thinking like a computer. Start viewing life and events around you with an IT lens. You walk into a resturant, order a pie and a drink totalling $10. If you pay less than the total, the computer rejects. What do you think is happening there.? Consider this statement

If amount paid < 10. . . . tell customer money incomplete else
Print reciept for customer.
If a Java programmer were to right this, its simple
if(amount < 10)
{
showMessage(“Customer money incomplete”);
}
else
{
printReceipt();
}

Another example. Imagine you are playing the FIFA 2011 soccer game (Sorry, I’m a game freak with a mate and at the end of the first half, the match analysis is displayed showing that your team had 3 corner kicks and 2 offsides. What comes to your mind? It means there is a ‘variable’ to store value for each of those game highlights. The variable is set to zero at kickoff and incremented by 1 anytime you win a corner kick or caught offside. At the end of the half, the variables are retrieved and presented to you. If you did not win a corner kick, the variable remains zero. Does it make sense?



Bottom line here is how logically you can break down or tear apart any situation in daily life and apply it to programming. This will determine your pace of learning as well. Start paying attention to the things you normally ignore. From your ATM machine telling you “Insufficient Funds” to your webmail application returning an ‘Invalid Login’ message. The more you understand the dynamics behind these simple things, the faster it will be for you to come up with solutions to problems related to IT, technology, finance, pharma, healthcare, education and even entertainment and sports industries (think about cricket match analysis on your TV).

Again, don’t expect that you will master the syntax or grammar of coding in a day or learn computer languages immediately. The more you write them, the eaiser they are for you to recall.

Note also, that not everyone will end up being a coder, however, a good understanding of the intricacies involved will help. So, for instance, if you decide to be an IT Project Manager or an Application Specification Developer amongst other fields, you should have the basic understanding of coding and programming.

Finally, you need a writing pad. As the wind blows new ideas to your direction, write them down. What kind of idea it is, who will it affect or who are the target audience, what do you need to bring it to life, revenue generation strategies and so on, should be penned.

A good place to start learning about programming languages is here:

Java http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E17409_01/javase/tutorial/

PHP http://php.net/manual/en/tutorial.php

.NET http://www.w3schools.com/aspnet/default.asp

Your comments are welcomed. . .!

My pleasure. Unfortunately have sent different books to about 40 pple now so i dnt knw who you are. Loool. For those that are still sending me emails please structure your mail properly wit a subject, header and bode. This iS because my spam filter is harsh and ur msgs keep goin to ma spam box


Good luck

dustydee:

My interest is in telecoms(HW) but I want to learn programming. Someone said to be a programmer you must start early but I'm 31 is it too late?

you can still learn it. it depends on your brain power really, and your ability to cope with a programmer's lifestyle. . . .

talk2hb1:

Welcome 2 da world where yu call mistakes bug,

And if the "bugs" pose a threat to your time, money and existence you call them "new features". I got a T-Shirt which says. . . "its not a bug, its a feature"

If you havn't started caffeine I wont recommend it. If you've started, happy addiction.

Oga seun, this how nairaland suppose to be. A forum full of bright ideas , brotherhood, clean spirit and members loving each other, not a forum which promote bigotry, sectionalism, religious fanatism and other negetive ideologies.
I almost retire from visiting nairaland, but this thread rekindle my love to this forum.
Please remodify nairaland to promote nigerian community irrespective of location, religion or tribe.

Goodluck

@OP and ALL

you can never get anything in this world for nothing. nothing good comes in easy. surely, programming is a beautiful art, but it is also a daunting Arena. only d fearless truly become "programmers" - i mean real programmers.

Since everything comes at a price, learning a programming language is nothing short of that. Minimally u require d following:

1) will(desire)
2) start from d basics(fundamentals- all d rudiments must b mastered)
3) dedication(time must be sacrificed here)
4) perseverance( this is a must, even when failure is imminent)
5) get all d books in d world(thank GOD for d internet. millions of free ebooks out there if u knw how).
6) meet other programmers(around u or d web)
7) study other ppls codes

And d price u pay is: Time( hours of hours of coding), and reduced social functions(anti social behavior). i think it is worth it, cos the reward, surely is huge when u gain mastery.

i can never truly stress d need to adhere to point  2, i.e basics. yes! most ppl start off programming from d top, den learning while on d job. dats a bad approach. An embedded systems developer/designer like me can never survive/succeed if that was how i started.

let me give u an idea of what d basics mean. as u kno, d computer is a digital device. it therefore means dat if u must learn to manipulate it to your desire, surely den u need to master digital electronics. Atleast, how d computer does these things need be understood well enough. in short, the 1's and 0's must be mastered. most  ppl who say we're programmers dnt even knw their  number systems(hex, bin, oct, dec) well. these are just kiddies.

After then, u need to knw what your inclinations are. based on that, u decide what programming choice to make. but it helps to learn the major ones. i mean d ones dat gave birth to others. e.g  learn  a little basic and hopefully C. from der on, all is really dictated by where u wanna specialize.

a guy like me who does bare-metal programming, started with assembly, basic,pascal, C, VB.  and hopefully in d next two months master scripting language like PHP and MYSQL, cos i see d need to design a website and dnt want to pay for the job. well! not really, their prices motivated me into thinking hard about doing it myself. hopefully in two months, would've been proficient.

In the end, all programming languages does dsame thing- talk to the computer. once u attain mastery, any programming language becomes easy to learn, and in a short duration at that.  it becomes a question of just picking-up interest for it. e.g, i learned VB in a week. subsequent week i created two softwares' that will blow even a VB veteran's mind away. one was an infinite number division software that does no rounding-off of figures after division. saw d challenge on the internet. as u knw, dis is not easy, because of d data size limitation of all languages. but i deviced an algorithm to do that. it would not hav been possible if i did not knw my basics well and some elementary maths.   the second one was a font face generator for an 8x8 LED or LCD pixelation. that was just week two. so basics, very essential. i hope i did not over yarn. NAIJA RULZ(datz my belief)  for those who know.

Happy coding. And goodluck to all those who aspire to be CODERS

All u programmers have blown my head away. Thanks to all ya especially my Ogas Fayimora,Slyrox2 and GsmXpect. U guys has turn this section of Nairaland to what it was in the days of Neoteny. LETS KEEP IT UP.

Gsmxpert:

starting early is not the issue, the rigamarole is the planning, in the telecoms soft wares, planning is the major deal.
you must bring back economics in those days in school

@pelumiv

open torrentz.com

easy leraning visual basic

download the torrent

a book i started with was from there, about 450 mb

easy with pictures

I try search for the book but cant find it. If u have the link kindly drop it Sir.[

Gsmxpert:

many phone programmers has self made soft they dont share, people claim only dm3 reset mep counter on blackberry phones
cus they are afraid of having to decrypt the bb crypto algorithm

check out this was my first, for personal use. (codes removed for safety)


http://www.4shared.com/file/WRQbA3UT/blackberry_tool.html

I heard too that its only DM3 that does it. Am not that sure. The one u did that u pasted the link, is it still working because i have 1 bb dat the counter have been exhausted. Probably i can test it with it. But, is it a most that box be made instead of just doing only the software.

Gsmxpert:

advanced phone programmers like hackrack of furious dongle, and legiga of cyclone, even manole asked me to sale the codes to them on a huge amount, wasent hungry, just dont know how to protect my dongle from being cracked if not i will have a dongle or box by name.

Forget about iphone unlocking, it almost drove me crazy, i became abnormal for almost two weeks, those chips contains alien codes


also see this link


http://forum-gsmworld.com/showthread.php?t=1932

dont mind them they want to take your glory. but it was Manole that did the code unlock, can u do that too? which i can be like you my oga, can u drop yr mail so i can add you to yim? thanks u are 2 GBESOKE

the codes unlock all the servers use is not their idea neither a hack, they pay for access into the mep data, being charged a token for each unlock code by the carrier, they resell the code to their clients.

so does allgsmunlockserver, gsmfather, kualkendi and all the unlock sites you see out there on net.

legitimate unlock like iphone factory unlock is negotiated with apple which ever server you use, cus apple has to authorise the iccid on itunes or not possible.hehehehe

Gsmxpert:

the codes unlock all the servers use is not their idea neither a hack, they pay for access into the mep data, being charged a token for each unlock code by the carrier, they resell the code to their clients.

so does allgsmunlockserver, gsmfather, kualkendi and all the unlock sites you see out there on net.

legitimate unlock like iphone factory unlock is negotiated with apple which ever server you use, cus apple has to authorise the iccid on itunes or not possible.hehehehe

No wonder they use internet whenever they want to get the mep code. Can u do dat as well or probably do the iphone own. I hope u dont mind my weird question? When i c a guru i do thinl there is no limit on what they can do, lol

This is one of the best thread ever on NL. I ususally dont post but i found this inspiring, Please Fayimorah i want you to send me your email to justnatural107@yahoo.com, thanks you guys are wonderful