Computer Programming tips

BASIC is to computer languages as Latin is to human languages. BASIC stands for Beginners All-purpose Standard Input Code.

I am currently in the second year of my BASIC programming. My class programs in GW BASIC 3.2. I believe you can obtain a copy of it from Microsoft.com. Because it's my second year, I know BASIC pretty well. Here's a list of my tips for your programming pleasure.

1. Think like a computer - Do this when your writing a program, or revising it.
2. When revising a program, print out a list, and go through line by line and simulate what the computer will do. - Tedious, but it works.
3. When assigning a value to a variable always do it step by step. - For example - having a man walk across the screen - Just bare with me on this.

PASCAL is, to me, the dumbist language in the world. There are so many different things you have to do. First, you have to declare all of your variables(Constants, Variables, Types, ect...). Then, you make functions and procedures(that is, if you can or need to). And finally, you make the begining of the program, making sure it goes throught all the procedures.

I am currently in the second half of the second year of my programming class. My class programs in TURBO PASCAL, which aparently has more features. Here's a list of my tips for your programming pleasure.

1. What I do is make my functions and procedures first.
2. Then, make your begining statements.
3. Finally, declare all variables. (if you think that you have a better way, screw you)

HTML, short for, Hypertext Markup Language, is a language to program web pages. I taught myself HTML. I don't think it's too hard. I have one of those "Learn HTML in 21 days" books. I think HTML is wierd to program in because there are so many ways it can be viewed differently. For example...

1. Different size browsers - This will change the length of the page because the browser may shrink or expand the sides of the page.
2. Different browsers - In general, not all pages viewed with MSIE 3.0 will be viewed the same. Especialy in Netscape Navigator, or in MSIE 4.0 or 5.0.
3. Different versions - This meaning differet versions of the web browser. Some browsers may not support java.
4. HTML versions - This is a biggie. A major part is building web pages that are viewable to many different browsers. Plus, there are several ways you can creat the same looking page.

The next thing I will talk about is hacking your own computer. There are several ways that you may hack your computer. You can use the regedit program to add an item to startup, maybe you want to creat a batch file, or you might want to disable something in the startup files. Either way you can have fun. I'm not going to teach you how to do this stuff, but I'll give you some tips.

The registry edit tool is great. The system registry has most all your startup programs that start up when Windows starts up. I don't do much with this tool, but here are the tips I've learned so far...

1. Don't mess with your system registry unless you know what you are doing and know how to change it back.
2. Go to winguides.com because they have instructions on how to do simple edits.

You may want to make a batch file to run certain programs. For instance...

1. to startup BASIC
2. to change processor running speed - turbo/normal

There are also several other reasons you may have to make a batch file. Your best bet right now is to find a site that goes into great detail. But here are a few steps to creating a batch file to open a program in DOS.

1. go into dos
2. type edit
3. on the first line type a remark - ex REM *** This Program Starts BASIC ***
4. on the next line type the path [dirve]:\[path]\[program] - ex C:\zach\basic

The way I learned how to creat batch files is that I have a really old computer and the manual teaches you how to creat one. Keep these things in mind...

1. Always remark your line. The computer doesn't care what they contain.
2. I usually put my batch files in the Windows directory.
3. Make sure they have the .bat extension
4. Just type in the name of the batch file to run it.

The startup files contain things are loaded into memory. The best way on learning all the commands is to go into your Windows directory and look at the text files. They have some pretty good information.