Hacking with luke

[luke]

Yet another "Everybody loves Raymond" kind of thread ...

So, here I am. My full name is Muhammad Lukman bin Nasaruddin but just call me luke in here. Just turned 25 today, and ... still single. Graduated in Computer Science and now working as an IT executive with Telekom Malaysia (gaji ciput though) for almost one year already.

I'm interested in programming and scripting. I love writing codes just like writers love to write books. I started with QBASIC in my teen years, making simple programs like prime number checker, qiblah finder and games. Then moved on with Java and later C++. At the same time, I ventured into web programming (or scripting) starting with a bit of Perl and a byte of PHP, and later I started playing around with Python (a computer language, not those snakes on a plane ). To summarize, I love programming.

As far as I can remember, I started hacking, erm .. I mean coding for ReCom shortly after I joined in 2003. For those who were there in the phpNuke ReCom, you might still remember S.I.G or Special Interest Groups, which was one of my best addon for ReCom. My other addons include Gallery and "Where in the World Are You?". Currently, I'm working on an addon for ReCom 2.0 named "Scholarship Holders Infobase", which strives to replace the List of All Scholarship Holders thread.

Ok, enough with autobiography ... any question?

[capablanca]

Teach me how to hack into my friends' computers? Hehe

[caramel_nut]

What do you think of Python, as compared to other programming languages? I mean.. most people would think that C++, Java and all are the more popular ones (and more marketable skills).

[luke]

Originally Posted by caramel_nut

What do you think of Python, as compared to other programming languages? I mean.. most people would think that C++, Java and all are the more popular ones (and more marketable skills).

I think Python is an excellent programming language. Yes, it is quite new compared to others but in term of usability and stability I think it is quite on par if not above the rest. I in particular love some of its unique language constructs, like the list (in Python an integer-indexed array is called a list) rebuilding shorthand:

all_values = [1,2,3,400,5,6,721,8,9,101]
less_than_100 = [x for x in all_values if x < 100]

# now less_than_100 is [1,2,3,5,6,8,9] !

.. and local functions:

def global_function():
  x = 10
  def local_function(x):
    return x * 2
  print local_function(x) # will print 20

I believe Python is gaining its popularity, thanks to increasing number of tools made using Python. The BitTorrent technology and its original client was built using Python. Python is also used in YouTube and Google backend!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Python_(programming_language)#Usage

[caramel_nut]

Haha. I'm actually coding in Python now and I'm glad my college didn't start us off with the more difficult Java or C++. Lol.

Have been having quite a lot of fun coding in Python though debugging always make me cry. >.<

[chiachean]

I am interested in programming.. where should I start? I have no foundation about it..

[luke]

Originally Posted by caramel_nut

Haha. I'm actually coding in Python now and I'm glad my college didn't start us off with the more difficult Java or C++. Lol.

Have been having quite a lot of fun coding in Python though debugging always make me cry. >.<

I believe debugging in Python is a lot easier than trying to debug hellish cryptic C++ error messages with all those template parameter mismatches, type-castings and null pointers . Especially when the buggy programs only crash at when IE is open and the desktop color is green (I'm trying to say that bugs in C++ might only appear in weird situations, making it hard to debug ). Java is easier to debug, thanks to its built-in customizable exception handling. But I'd say no thanks to it's memory usage and also to Java forcing you to triple or even quadruple encapsulate your objects just to send it to its API:

PrintWriter out1 =
          new PrintWriter(
            new BufferedWriter(
              new FileWriter("IODemo.out")));

p/s: interested in coding for ReCom?

Originally Posted by chiachean

I am interested in programming.. where should I start? I have no foundation about it..

If you really have no foundation in programming, then I'd suggest you start with QBASIC. It's an old and very simple programming language from DOS age, so there is simply no object oriented programming, type-casting, pointers or any current programming world buzzwordish technical hells. Download the compiler here: http://www.qbcafe.net/qbc/english/do...compiler.shtml, then google for code samples. Samples for beginners are usually less than 50 lines long. Its syntax (i.e. language grammar) is as simple as:

PRINT "HELLO"

and you'll get HELLO on the screen!

[Xon]

teach me how to send virus,hack friends' computers,can? LOLx.

wtheck,my physics teacher asked me to learn html to come to programming. he led me wrongly that time. wasted my time and i seem to jumping from the foundation. @.@

[insertusername]

how do you manage to keep such youthful looks!!?

[luke]

Originally Posted by Xon

teach me how to send virus,hack friends' computers,can? LOLx.

wtheck,my physics teacher asked me to learn html to come to programming. he led me wrongly that time. wasted my time and i seem to jumping from the foundation. @.@

Nope. No virus for you .. seriously when the first thing you want to learn in a new field is a bad thing, your intention is distorted already. You won't last long .. (the same with wanting to learn bad words in a foreign language)

HTML ... is not really programming. I'd say HTML is just a designing language to design a web page. It lacks many important concepts in programming:

The concept of values and variables
I'd say 50% or so of programming is about handling values and variables. You perform operations on values, assign them to variables, pass them around all over the system (memories, screen, speaker, operating system etc). You don't have that in HTML.

The concept of code or instruction lines
When you write a program, at least in the traditional one (i.e. screw visual programming, because in the end the visual programming tool generates instruction lines for you), you write lines of codes. Each line carries instruction for the central processing unit (CPU) to perform. HTML doesn't have this, but it has hierarchal structure instead.

The concept of execution flow, branching and looping
What makes programming useful is that it allows branching and looping, meaning you can repeat the same block of codes a few time, then jump to a different part of the codes and latter return to the block of code, etc. Unlike in HTML where you have to copy paste the HTML tags to repeat something, in programming all you need to do is put the code in a loop construct and the CPU will repeat the instructions during runtime.

The concept of functions and modularity
Also a very useful concept, where you can group a set of code lines into a block separate from the execution flow (meaning the block will not be executed when the program is ran unless you specifically ask the CPU to execute the block, or "call the function" as commonly known) that you can invoked anywhere else to have the code lines executed. (Function is different from looping because while looping requires the code to be located within the execution flow, function can be located anywhere)

The concept of input and output
Programming allows accepting user input, process it then output to an output device. You can't do much in HTML other than the output to the browser and collecting user input in forms. You can't process inputs using HTML.