Just tell me what to do?

[Doug]

I can't even guess how many times this questions has been asked but I think I have to ask in my own words to get satisfaction.  Mainly, I want to understand how my computer(computers in general work) and want to know what language I should start with.  I know there's hardware and software and they all communicate through channels and something controls those channels and that there's a CPU that does basic comparisons of data in machine code and that has to be translated into machine code by , is it assemblers, from high level language written by a person.  I think that dll's in windows are common parts of software that all the programs  share to make code shorter and I think that has something to do with batch programming.  I still do not understand what windows is "sitting on" in my Dell laptop that it is running on.  I know there's different layers that OS run on like the kernal, that I think manages, I don't know something.  But, my question is- to help tie this all together for me, what language should I start with. 

[gh0std0g74]

what language should I start with. 

Python.

[Geek-9pm]

Python.

That is a good answer.
No ot satisfied?

Here are some other languages that are like Python..
in a very broad sense.
PHP
Perl
Ruby
Java

In addition, there are code systems based on ht e .NET framework from Microsoft.

I program in Assembler, but I do not recommend it.

[gh0std0g74]

in a very broad sense.
PHP
Perl
Ruby
Java[/color]

Java is does not fall into this category.

[Doug]

I use VLC media player alot.  I what to see what the program looks like.  So, I notice that there is a place on the download site for the player to look at the source code.  Well, I tried to look at it but could not get it open.  Would someone please help me to look at this program.  I want to see what a program that alot of people are using looks like.  The file is a zip with the B2Z file something.  How could I look at this on my computer.  I downloaded the file and downloaded some PZ unzipping file and tried to look using wordpad and notepad and could not. 

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-sources.html.

I'm using Windows XP if that info is revelant.

[progach]

pascal

c
C programming

java

[Geek-9pm]

Java is does not fall into this category.

Why not?

[gh0std0g74]

Why not?

Java, simply is not designed to be a scripting language. Can you imagine you need to do a class and byte compile just for printing hello world?

[Geek-9pm]

Java, simply is not designed to be a scripting language. Can you imagine you need to do a class and byte compile just for printing hello world?

I respect that.
The original question was:

But, my question is- to help tie this all together for me, what language should I start with. 

Python was given as a answer.
I added there are other languages like it in a broad sense.  I included Java. Python is often compared to Java and people make arguments as to their merits. Both are wildly used. Both are somewhat easy to learn. Both open up a lot of computer power. That was the basis for my earlier statement.

Then there is java script. But let us  with not go there now. The OP wanted a simple answer to a very broad study. Namely, to lean more about computers.

[hodges91]

I use VLC media player alot.  I what to see what the program looks like.  So, I notice that there is a place on the download site for the player to look at the source code.  Well, I tried to look at it but could not get it open.  Would someone please help me to look at this program.  I want to see what a program that alot of people are using looks like.  The file is a zip with the B2Z file something.  How could I look at this on my computer.  I downloaded the file and downloaded some PZ unzipping file and tried to look using wordpad and notepad and could not. 

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-sources.html.

I'm using Windows XP if that info is revelant.

You tried to use VLC to look at the binary data of the program. The source code is the code before it is compiled. For example: C++ would have a source code with such as FileName.cpp - After you compile it, it would become FileName.exe. Unless you decompiled the .exe file you were just viewing the binary data of the .exe file.

If you want to look at source code for a program, they usually won't give it to you (for free). If it is open source you may be able to download the code itself. An example of a program that has source code that I used for some C++ reference would be PeerGuardian 2. You do need Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 to be able to open the project however.