devWhiz Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 What would be the best language to use for any kind of automation of anything from creating user accounts on websites, automating stuff on myspace or facebook like accepting friend requests on accounts or installing applications, automating actions in myspace and facebook applications, just stuff like that.. what would be the best language for me to learn in order to do this kind of stuff? Thanks Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/235376-best-language-for-automation-of-anything/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
gizmola Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 The language you know the best. Popular solutions used on Linux servers: perl, php, ruby, python. Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/235376-best-language-for-automation-of-anything/#findComment-1209580 Share on other sites More sharing options...
devWhiz Posted May 2, 2011 Author Share Posted May 2, 2011 Well I know php, didnt know if there for any other options, I want to get a few languages under my belt Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/235376-best-language-for-automation-of-anything/#findComment-1209588 Share on other sites More sharing options...
gizmola Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 There is no reason not to continue with PHP. It can do everything you need it to do, and there's excellent support for talking to facebook from php. Purely from an academic point of view, Perl tends to appeal to sysadmins who already know shell scripting really well. Perl is like the granddaddy of modern scripting languages. Python and Ruby are both object oriented programming languages with huge communities and robust libraries behind them. If you're just itching to learn another language I would take a look at Python and Ruby and see which one most appeals to you. Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/235376-best-language-for-automation-of-anything/#findComment-1209595 Share on other sites More sharing options...
devWhiz Posted May 2, 2011 Author Share Posted May 2, 2011 Well I plan to go to college for some kind of computer programming, I wanted to kind of prepare for that, I'm only 18. Right now I run scripts in CLI and sometimes on servers to provide faster results As for going to school for programming and software developement, What would you recommend for me to do to prepare for that? If you could point me in the right direction that would be great, thanks! Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/235376-best-language-for-automation-of-anything/#findComment-1209596 Share on other sites More sharing options...
gizmola Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 My recommendation would be to learn C. It will help introduce you to a lot of important concepts, and it's also the language still most commonly used to write portable software, and remains close to the hardware, so in learning about things like pointers, you will learn more about how computers actually work. It's also the basis for c++. Since you've learned PHP you will probably be pleasantly suprised at how much c syntax is in PHP for things like loops, if then elses, and increments. Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/235376-best-language-for-automation-of-anything/#findComment-1209601 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zane Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 Well I plan to go to college for some kind of computer programming, I wanted to kind of prepare for that, I'm only 18. If you plan on majoring in Computer Science, you'll be dabbling in just about everything. Though PHP won't make it on their list, it is a great language to know, learn and love. Most successful CS Majors have a pretty adequate if not advanced knowledge of all that is computer programming. This includes: Java, C, C#, C++, BASIC, VisualBASIC and so on. If you go for the 400 level classes you'll end up learning Assembly language which is pretty much the heart of it all. You'd be learning UNIX and Windows programming and not to mention how to write your own kernel or Operating System, but that stuff's best left to the overachievers. Really, there isn't much you can do to prepare for Computer Science other than to get better at your math skills. The better at math you are, then IMO the better programmer you're destined to be. Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/235376-best-language-for-automation-of-anything/#findComment-1209606 Share on other sites More sharing options...
devWhiz Posted May 2, 2011 Author Share Posted May 2, 2011 Bachelor of Science in Computer Information Systems, Networking Option, Thats what Akron U in Ohio offers, Was wanting to become a software developer as well as looking into some kind of network security.. As for learning the C languages, any websites and/or books you guys would recommend? Thanks again Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/235376-best-language-for-automation-of-anything/#findComment-1209608 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zane Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 a B.S in Computer Information Systems would not include all those languages I mentioned earlier. The most you'd get into would be application languages. By that I mean writing software for different platforms and browsers... NOT architectures (i.e i386 and amd64). PHP would definitely be on the list for CIS and if you're concentrating in Networking then you'll be playing with all the shiny new server OSs like: Windows Server 2008, Ubuntu 10.10 Server, etc... MySQL would be on the list as well. Not only would you dabble in mainly server-side scripting and SQL, but you would be making CAT5/6 cables, setting up a DHCP server, ... setting up a server in general... setting up User Access Control systems or manipulating already existing ones.... and of course the most fun part... Editing/Analyzing/Fixing/Manipulating/Extending other people's code. Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/235376-best-language-for-automation-of-anything/#findComment-1209612 Share on other sites More sharing options...
gizmola Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 http://www.programmershelp.co.uk/ctutorials.php Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/235376-best-language-for-automation-of-anything/#findComment-1209616 Share on other sites More sharing options...
markjoe Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 http://www.amazon.com/Programming-Language-2nd-Brian-Kernighan/dp/0131103628/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1304372497&sr=8-1 My advice is to be careful about learning more languages just for the sake of it. You're better off knowing 2 or 3 languages very well than only being slightly familiar with 5 or 6. Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/235376-best-language-for-automation-of-anything/#findComment-1209655 Share on other sites More sharing options...
devWhiz Posted May 3, 2011 Author Share Posted May 3, 2011 http://www.amazon.com/Programming-Language-2nd-Brian-Kernighan/dp/0131103628/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1304372497&sr=8-1 My advice is to be careful about learning more languages just for the sake of it. You're better off knowing 2 or 3 languages very well than only being slightly familiar with 5 or 6. which 3 languages would you suggest? Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/235376-best-language-for-automation-of-anything/#findComment-1209709 Share on other sites More sharing options...
markjoe Posted May 3, 2011 Share Posted May 3, 2011 It really depends on what you want to do. C is a great place to start learning programming, but won't do you much good for most of the stuff in your original post. PHP is great in that it is easy to learn and use, has tons of libraries and extensions available and runs pretty much everywhere. I like Java for much of the same reasons, but it adds support for GUIs, is a bit more powerful and real OOP (as opposed to php where oop support was added). Those are my first 2 daily use languages, JavaScript is my 3rd out of necessity. Ultimately it's a more personal decision that a technical one. Lots of people love Perl because there are many way to accomplish the same thing. I don't like Perl for the same reason. I plan on giving Ruby a try because it's philosophy is just the opposite of that. I've tried a bit of python, it seems to leave a lot of the work of programming out of the way and let you focus just on the goal. However I feel this can come back to bite you in that it allows for sloppy program design. Quote Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/235376-best-language-for-automation-of-anything/#findComment-1209786 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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