[larrinski]

I have been a switcher for about a 1 1/2 years, and am intested in taking some courses on computer programming. There is a course on Perl at the local community college. A six week intro course. Now, my question is; if I really like this stuff, and I want to delve into programming, is there a way to focus on the Mac side of things? All the diplomas I see listed seem to be Microsoft centric. If I go back to school to study programming will it be possible to survive on my mac? Heaven forbit that I have to go back and buy another windoze machine... I swore I'd never go back... I would be OK if I could be a cheap laptop with Linux installed.

[mduell]

Stick to the cross-platform languages (i.e. take ANSI C instead of Visual C) and you should be able to program in any language on your Mac.

[si_lance]

Originally Posted by larrinski

I have been a switcher for about a 1 1/2 years, and am intested in taking some courses on computer programming. There is a course on Perl at the local community college. A six week intro course. Now, my question is; if I really like this stuff, and I want to delve into programming, is there a way to focus on the Mac side of things? All the diplomas I see listed seem to be Microsoft centric. If I go back to school to study programming will it be possible to survive on my mac? Heaven forbit that I have to go back and buy another windoze machine... I swore I'd never go back... I would be OK if I could be a cheap laptop with Linux installed.

I went to Cal State San Marcos for my cs degree and they use ANSI C to begin with on a AIX unix server, and then Java as well as many in between like CLISP, prolog, and even PHP. The labs were RS6000 workstations. Windows was never a requirement except when we did assembly in MASM x86. You shouldn't have to go back if you don't want to.

If you must get a certification (not diploma), I would recommend perhaps Sun Certified Programmer which is focused on Java.

Good luck to you.

[TheoCryst]

I've got a Mac (and only a Mac), and I'm currently a student of Computer Engineering at the University of Arizona. All the work I've done so far has been easily accomplished on any platform (either logging in to a remote UNIX server through SSH or using a cross-platform compiler (Eclipse)). Don't worry about the lack of Windows, at least in the beginning. If you do eventually need Windows, maybe you'll have an Intel Mac and they'll be dual-booting by then!

Anyway, I STRONGLY suggest starting with a class in ANSI C. Most degree programs start you either there or with Java, which is an interesting alternative. You'll find that Java is more flexible and useful than C (which is an ancient language), but C is pretty useful for beginners.

[FONT="Courier New"]#include <stdio.h>
int
main(void) {

printf("Most comp engineers start with C.\n");
return(0);

}[/FONT]

[FONT="Courier New"]private class MessageToLarrinski {

public static void main(String[] args) {

System.out.println("But Java is increasingly popular for comp sci majors.");

}

}[/FONT]