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Originally Posted by DeltaLover
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The very best introduction to programming, that I always suggest to novices, is the following book:
http://web.mit.edu/alexmv/6.S184/sicp.pdf
On YT you can also find a complete sequence of the related MIT lectures:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Op3QLzMgSY
Take your time, spend a few months going through this material and you will probably learn enough about programming computeres to assist you in your research.
In my opinion, it is way better to go through these material instead of just starting from Excel or Access that curiously appear to be so popular here in PA
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Good advice, with one disagreement. I think a novice will get further faster with the CS106a from Stanford than the equivalent from MIT (which is great if you are already familiar with some of the basic information). Jumping straight into the fine points of sort algorithms might be a bit arcane to a newbie.
David Malans is far and away the best instructor, but the CS50 from Harvard places too much emphasis on the trendy web-related material (JavaScript, etc.) rather than the basic foundation novices need.
That basic foundation is covered elegantly, engagingly, and thoroughly by Mehran Sahami in CS106a, and expanded in CS106b. One thing it won't do--that so many dry, boring presentations like that from MIT manage to do--is completely turn off a novice from pursuing further studies in computer science.
The "talking heads" model of instruction is seriously deficient. It is also pervasive. One should be able to distinguish good instruction from bad instruction, benefit from the former and soundly reject the latter. I did a lot of research on the consortium attempting to fill the gaping deficiencies in computer science education (Monash, BlueJ, and others). The world needs more David Malans' and Mehran Sahami's. Fortunately, both Stanford and Harvard seem to realize fully that teaching is more than just talking and reading prepared notes.
