I don’t really want to go in depth into programming, I just want to know what I’m looking at if I ever come across anything like that at my job (mechanical engineering) and maybe solve some simple problems.
I learned C and Java in my first year in college, but it’s all mostly forgotten. I’m leaning towards Python since I read it’s relatively simple and used a lot nowadays, and it’s what my teachers used later on in college anyway.
What do you guys think?
Thanks in advance!
I have a vote for Python. It’s like child’s play vs Java.
For mechanical engineering, any thing computer or programming related will be
Python and C/C++
knowing your way around MATLAB.
and maybe possibly Ladder-Logic or Function Block. (PLC’s and the like)
All depends on what engineering you end up doing. But Python is a good place to start.
That’s good to know, thanks!
No idea about mechanical engineering, but Python is so easy to learn that you have a huge benefit over cost (in time) for it
Python is easy to pick up but it is very different from Java/C/C++ so it may or may not help you in understanding other people’s work. If you are just messing around I would recommend looking at Python, Processing.org (Java) and Arduino(C++). If you can solve the same simple problems with all three you will be set for most anything (and you get to play around with Arduinos).
To flip this around, think of some projects you want to do. The languages are just tools and will be determined by what you want to do, and then each type of project has it’s best tool chain. Think of the problem(s) you want to solve first and the rest will follow.
Humble Bundle is actually running a pretty good promotion on Python courses/materials.
I haven’t opened them yet but there are like 45 items in that bundle. I had decided to learn a new language myself and this made the choice for me.
Apart from a front end language like Python it’s always good to know basic SQL. A lot of engineering software uses some sort of relational database and it’s handy to be able to query the data source directly. If you’re going to be doing any kind of data analysis then look at R also.
If you go with Python and prefer a video tutorial I used this free course. It might be too basic and beginner level for you however. https://learning.edx.org/course/course-v1:HarvardX+CS50P+Python/home
C is the way to go my friend. The popular languages such as Python which you mentioned, are just C in a trench coat. It’s all abstraction. If you understand C, you will be able to understand any language.
This won’t be very popular, but something with manual memory management. You probably won’t use it a whole tonne, but that’s not the important thing. The important thing is the understanding of memory concepts such as addressing and pointers.
Personally I learned C++ first, haven’t used it a whole lot, but it absolutely helped me understand other languages much much much better.
Wanna learn something completely different yet useful? Check out OpenSCAD - it’s a very simple programming language which lets you generate 3D models that you can then export and 3D print (you can also export 2D models in vectorized 2D formats like DXF and SVG)
Really simple software to learn, but extremely empowering when paired with a 3D printer
