Beginning Programming for Dummies [With CDROM]

I have to deal with computers for my work at the hospital, which like many such institutions has become more and more computerized with every passing year. I would find the fact far less irritating if those who have charge of the process would stop tinkering with it long enough for me to use it with the "efficiency" that was originally intended, but such is never the case. To help me get a feeling for what the IMS people are doing so that I can better understand the entire process, I decided to take a mini-course on beginning programming. Wallace Wang's Beginning Programming for Dummies was the suggested course text, and although I started out convinced that I could never understand even a fraction of the information, I was pleasantly surprised. As advertised the fundamentals of programming presented in the text were understandable and doable. I was completely surprised to discover that my home computer already had a QBASIC program available on it and that I could use it to make simple programs. By following the book step by step, I was able to accomplish the tasks as designed and was amazed at the types of things the programs I wrote could do. I'm not sure that I have anything earth shaking to design for computers or that I'll be so taken with programming that I will give up surgical ICU to take it up, but I feel far more aware of computers and their inner workings now than I ever was and maybe a little more patient with them. Maybe.

This is a very good book for beginners to programming - more specifically qbasic. Qbasic is good because it is free, so if you decide you don't like programming or are no good at it you haven't wasted hundreds of pounds. The book itself explains most of the key features of Qbasic, though only the ones which you need to get started, and there are loads which it doesn't explain. However, with that book I got started on programming, and it is very good and clearly written.

I highly recommend Wallace Wang's Beginning Programming for Dummies to anyone looking to learn programming for the first time. I'm a technical writer who is terrible at math and not very bright in general. Fortunately, as Mr. Wang assures me in the first chapter, you don't have to be a math genius to be a good programmer. You just have to be curious and willing to spend a lot of time practicing. One thing that sets Dummies books apart is their ability to make the boring part of a subject (its dullness or seeming difficulty is why you need the book in the first place) seem fun. Wang employs his extensive gifts as a comedian to make memorizing terms like "REM," "CLS," and "FOR...NEXT" feel deceptively fun. After finishing this book (it took about a month of daily to semi-daily study to digest), I have a good grasp of programming in general, and QBASIC in particular. I'm making my own QBASIC program to master the language (it's a psychologist who asks you questions and then belittles you). And, because QBASIC comes free with every PC, you don't have to buy anything extra to learn it. Once I master QBASIC, I'll easily be able to move on to Visual Basic, and then maybe dabble in some C, Java, and HTML/XML.

I would recommmed this book for all beginners, although I would suggest reading Grey Perry's "Absolute Beginner's Guide to Programming" first. Dunderhead's like me need things explained in very simple terms and this book will do the job. I will say one thing Mr Wang's has a cynical sense of humor, but he does explain things well.