₦airaland Forum

chai!!!!

SwordOfOrion: I must say, this is one of the most useful threads I've seen on Nairaland and after going through most of it, I am almost convinced that helping newbies is actually more difficult than learning programming itself, this coming from a newbie! They seem to have a knack for asking questions that have been answered over and over again. I suspect many don’t go through the posts before they post questions that have already been answered, anyway [Javanian], [Ajibel] and co; you guys are doing a wonderful and selfless job, keep it up, it's not easy, and please don't get tired of us.
I have noticed that embedded systems programming is not really popular here, it seems everybody wants to design/program a killer mobile app, website or desktop tool and I suspect it’s because that's where the money is, but then if you are looking into programming embedded systems like microcontrollers I suggest learning C, it is very ubiquitous in the embedded systems universe (please o, I’m not saying C is the best language to start with, I’m just saying that if programming embedded systems is your fancy, it's an excellent choice, if not it’s still an extremely useful language anyway).
For anyone interested I’ll share some of my thoughts and experiences. You can start by downloading some e-books about C, I highly recommend "Beej's Guide to C Programming", it has a very relaxed, informal, and even playful approach thus making it very newbie friendly, the author even cracks jokes as he goes along. I’m currently using it and enjoying every step of the way, you can download it from www.beej.us/guide/bgc/ (pdf format) or just google the book title. I even printed mine so that I can continue reading it whenever NEPA (PHCN) strikes and I can’t practice , and also so that I don’t have to keep switching between windows when practicing on the computer. I use two IDEs which come with compilers: Dev-C++ and Code::Blocks. To write programs for my only microcontroller I use Code::Blocks. For general practice I prefer to use the Dev-C++ IDE from www.bloodshed.net/dev/devcpp.html and I highly recommend it for newbies as it is simple and light compared to Code::Blocks, now make sure you download the option that includes the Mingw compiler to make life easy for yourself (and [Javanian] ). Install it and run it (I installed it on both Windows XP and Windows 7 (32bit) without any wahala). When you run it you will be greeted by a tip, read it then close it when you are done. Click on "File" (in the menu bar on the top left corner of the window) then "New" then "Project" and you will be greeted by another window, click on "Console Application" choose between C and C++ (C in this case) give your project a name and click "Ok". I suggest creating a new folder on the desktop and saving it there to make things easier to find. When you have done all that you’ll see some code in the white space of the editor, I cleaned it up and started practicing right away (before you clean it up I want you to notice something; the second to the last line, just above "return 0;" (quotation marks excluded) you will see this line "system("PAUSE" );" (outer quotation marks excluded), now write that down exactly as it is, you’ll need it later. Now you can write your first program (usually Hello World). Remember the "system("PAUSE" );" I told you to write down earlier? go ahead and add that to your program, just above "return 0;" don’t include the outer quotation marks but make sure you include the quotation marks in the bracket surrounding PAUSE, click "Execute" in the menu at the top of the window and then click "Compile and Run" or simply press F9 (no I’m not talking about some people’s WAEC results ) on your keyboard, if you have done everything right, a command prompt window will appear (open) with the words "Hello World" or execute whatever program it is that you have written, press any key and it will disappear (close). The purpose of that "system("PAUSE" );” line is to keep the command prompt window open until you press any key, if you don’t add it to your program the command prompt window will close as soon as the program has been executed and this can happen so fast that all you’ll see is a flash (if you see anything at all) and that would probably just result in more complaints on Nairaland and also give yourself and [Javanian] unnecessary headaches -

[N00b]: pls javania my name is noob, I wrote my program on Dev-C++ and tried to compile and run it but nothing is happening, I tried uninstalling and installing it again and it still doesn’t want to work, I have been trying for the past one week but the foolish thing still doesn’t want to work, I am going crazy, pls javania help me pls! Can I have your number so that I can call you and you can talk me through the process? Thanks in advance.

[Javanian]: *sighs* here we go again.

(*smh* Noobs! Kai! )

-You can experiment and see by including and removing the line to see the results you get on each occasion. I think the “system("PAUSE" );” line might be specific to Dev-C++ and not necessarily a C function but then I don’t know so house gurus please enlighten us. If you open the folder you saved your project in you will find five files (at least that’s what I see in my case) clicking on the executable file will run your program, clicking on the Dev-C++ project file (the purple one with the gears) will open your code in a new Dev-C++ window, if it appears blank check the field on the left (under the “Project” button) and click on "main.c" (if you don’t see the "main.c", click the "+" sign just before your project title and the “main.c” will drop down, toh! because I know noobs) and your project will be opened in the editor so that you can continue playing around with your code, just modify it and click on "compile and run" each time (in case you think pressing F9 will jinx your WAEC results. ), that way you don’t need to be creating new projects all the time. Dev-C++ itself has a document (e-book?) about C that you can access by clicking the “Help” button and then the “Help in Dev-C++” option in the menu bar at the top of the window (I tried this on Windows 7 but it didn't work, instead it was giving me tory about "Windows Help Format", oya! Dev-C++ people, explain! But those using Windows XP are safe). Then also remember that google is your friend whenever you run into problems or need more information about anything (as [Ajibel] (was it?) said; shame on you if you can't use google ), it's also a good idea to join an online forum on C programming, I haven’t done that yet so I don’t have any to recommend.
I’ve already confessed to being a newbie myself so I’m not an authority on this, in fact I'm still very raw and it’s possible that I have made mistakes or misunderstood some things so if you find anything wrong with anything I’ve said please do not hesitate to offer corrections for the benefit of all including myself. All this is based on what I have learned so far which is very little but at least it’s something. Well I hope this small contribution of mine will be of use to someone one day, if not, at least it will decorate the pages of Nairaland for some time.

P.S: I didn’t expect my post to be this long , I guess I got carried away.

Guy u try oo.

Go get an android phone ..i dnt mean tecno oo

.

..

..

must it b dat useless tecno phone?

.
.

copy cat.

malikmoreni: Olodo, u still open anoda thread sha, after dah ur ''upgrade to android 4.3 with apex launcher" thread...dey copy and paste....OLODO

lwkmd

Jaeru: Please is there any law that says Christmas must come with rice because majority of people i know will b saying Christmas rice.

Na lie, pounded yam can still go.

Jaeru: Please is there any law that says Christmas must come with rice because majority of people i know will b saying Christmas rice.

Na lie, pounded yam can still go.

lwkmd

1st ola: Lie!!!
How can a phone with
4mp camera and
no mmc slot be number 1?
guy, u dey lie abeg

u c ur life?

Airtel bis really blazing on non bb devices.

This google people no see network like mtn or etisalat do their promo na for this crappy airtel network...anyway e be like say na airtel wey partner with them so they fit get customers.

space booked till it makes fP before i comment

.

go for a useless fone like tecno.

hmm..i dont know oo.

chai!! c gobe.

vdgfrvjxfgb

eleyi gidi gan!