4 replies to this topic

[goingforcoffee]

Hey guys,

Not really sure what to 'ask' for. I am really looking for some general tips in the right direction. So I'll give you some stats:

17 guy
Running: Ubuntu 11.10
Learning Python 3.x and how to use Bash
Reading: Python 3 Apress and O'rilleys learning the Bash Shell.

Aiming for:
A better understanding of computers, Linux and Operating Systems
Programming - Interested in contributing to opensource
Cracking
Being able to look cool on a computer

Any advice on reading lists, other forums/websites etc all very welcome or anything else you feel might be relevent.

Thanks

T.J

[serrath]

"The Art of Assembly" by Randall Hyde. It's a must-read and just about the first thing I'll recommend to anybody who wants to know computers inside and out. If that's up your alley, try getting good at the old computer game/programming battle game Core War. (Look it up on Wikipedia, if you're interested I can PM you with materials for that.)

After that I'd recommend you get good with C/C++ and/or Perl. And learn good programming conventions. You'll want a good handle on proper OOP and encapsulation and all that; if you don't learn to program correctly it'll haunt you for the rest of your life, and it's not really something you can go back and do if you start in on the wrong practices.

[Seal]

I find that the best way to learn, at least for myself, is not to read a bunch of material whose relevance isn't immediately obvious. It doesn't tend to stick for me when I do that.

Rather, I start little projects, and I use those as my jumping point to learn about new things. Write a small IRC client if you want to learn about low-level networking. Put together a hex editor to learn about ASCII and binary. It's really by doing that I learn.

A book I liked was "Write Great Code" by Randall Hyde, which looks at how computers work at the low level. I also surf Reddit to learn about new things programming related.

[billy545455]

i suggest that you install Gentoo linux on a virtual machine or a computer that you do not plan on using for it is extremely temperamental. But once you get a sucsessful install in a virtual machine, go ahead and install it on your main computer. since you have to actually compile your own kernel, it is a really neat way to learn the inner workings of a linux operating system. also, install eclipse by oracle and try compiling some java. best of luck

[tekio]

Yes! Gentoo will force you to learn Linux. Just don't copy & paste all the configuration commands from the install guide. Go thru the install and learn what is going on and why.

To look cool, use Gentoo and PERL. But tell everyone Linux and PERL suck, and you only program in C and run nothing but FreeBSD.