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Java Forum / General / August 2006best language for newbie to write simple application
I know nothing about programming, but need to write a simple application with which I can enter a word to be looked up in a dictionary, have the application look up the word in an online dictionary, and output the results to a text file (with each entry added to the same file, to create a list). The application should be capable of handling various non-Latin scripts, such as Russian, Arabic, and Hebrew. Ideally, I would like to add this function to the right-click context menu in Mozilla, so I could just highlight a word, select something like "look up in [dictionary name]" and have the output put in the text file. I've heard Java is simple for beginners and good for this kind of thing. Is this correct? And if so, is there any Java textbook I should avoid? Thanks, Marc >I know nothing about programming, but need to write a simple >application with which I can enter a word to be looked up in a >dictionary, have the application look up the word in an online >dictionary, and output the results to a text file (with each entry >added to the same file, to create a list). »I know nothing about medicine, but need to do a little surgery with which I can lookup a bladder stone in my body, remove it, and output the results to a bowl (with each stone added to the same bowl, to create a pile).« You are striving to write a kind of Mozilla plug-in or customization, which seems to be too difficult if you know »nothing about programming« yet. You'd better start with exercises from a textbook and simpler applications first. Or consider to hire a programmer for the task. http://www.norvig.com/21-days.html A good language to learn programming might be Ruby. http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2006/07/24/Ruby C++ is awful to learn programming, but might be needed to write Mozilla plug-ins. And then, this is a Java newsgroup, so you might consider a more general programming newsgroup. > You are striving to write a kind of Mozilla plug-in or > customization, which seems to be too difficult if you know > »nothing about programming« yet. You'd better start with > exercises from a textbook and simpler applications first. I see. I didn't image it would be that difficult. How much would it cost to get someone to write something like that? Marc >>You are striving to write a kind of Mozilla plug-in or >>customization, which seems to be too difficult if you know [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] >How much would it cost to get someone to write something like >that? I can not answer the cost-question, but may be you could ask the question in a Mozilla newsgroup or web forum. Possibly a Mozilla expert might see a way to accomplish the behavior with very little effort, because something like this might already exist or have been written. >I see. I didn't image it would be that difficult. How much would it >cost to get someone to write something like that? Too me the »Ideally, I would like to add this function to the right-click context menu in Mozilla,« looked difficult, because I have no experience in this field. The core of an application, that looks up a word in a dictionary and writes the result to a text file without the modification of Mozilla, is not that difficult. The text could be marked in Mozilla and then copied to the clipboard and the application might fetch it from the clipboard. All this is possible with Java, Java also supports non-latin characters. Possibly more effort than this core would be needed to make the program "user friendly", i.e., provide a nice user interface, an undo function to remove words added inadvertently and so. Marc, I'll do it for $5K USD. > I'll do it for $5K USD. Five thousand US dollhairs? Fantastic! You've got a deal! Marc > I know nothing about programming, but need to write a simple > application with which I can enter a word to be looked up in a > dictionary, have the application look up the word in an online > dictionary, and output the results to a text file (with each entry > added to the same file, to create a list). This basic case is not extremely challenging, although IMO you'll find it easier to use wget (or something similar) to actually retrieve the definition from, say, dictionary.com, and parse the file yourself. Network communication is not a place to begin for a complete novice. Getting the definition out of the HTML won't be trivial either, of course. > The application should be > capable of handling various non-Latin scripts, such as Russian, Arabic, > and Hebrew. Ideally, I would like to add this function to the > right-click context menu in Mozilla, so I could just highlight a word, > select something like "look up in [dictionary name]" and have the > output put in the text file. As noted, writing a Mozilla plugin is pretty much out of reach for a total novice. Assuming this is a business task, by the time you figured it out yourself you coud probably have hired someone to do it quickly and efficiently for the same price. > I've heard Java is simple for beginners and good for this kind of > thing. Is this correct? And if so, is there any Java textbook I should > avoid? I don't know that there are textbooks to specifically avoid, but many (including "Thinking in Java", a fine text) are geared toward those with previous programming experience in another language.  SignatureC. Benson Manica | I *should* know what I'm talking about - if I cbmanica(at)gmail.com | don't, I need to know. Flames welcome. > As noted, writing a Mozilla plugin is pretty much out of reach for a > total novice. Actually, I learned that you can unzip .xpi files like .zip files to get the source code. I did that for a similar extension, and successfully opened the resultant .jar file with NetBeans. I'm going to try to modify that code to suit my needs. I'll let you know how it goes, if anyone's interested. > Assuming this is a business task, by the time you > figured it out yourself you coud probably have hired someone to do it > quickly and efficiently for the same price. I hear you there, but unfortunately it's not a business task (I'm learning Arabic for fun), and I'm interested in seeing if I can do it myself. Thanks for the replies. Marc > Actually, I learned that you can unzip .xpi files like .zip files to > get the source code. I did that for a similar extension, and > successfully opened the resultant .jar file with NetBeans. I'm going to > try to modify that code to suit my needs. More power to you then; best of luck. > I hear you there, but unfortunately it's not a business task (I'm > learning Arabic for fun), and I'm interested in seeing if I can do it > myself. On the contrary, I'd say it's fortunate - not only is there no money or job at stake, you can take it at your own pace and possibly enjoy yourself in the process. You certainly seem to be approaching the task with the right attitude, in any case. SignatureC. Benson Manica | I *should* know what I'm talking about - if I cbmanica(at)gmail.com | don't, I need to know. Flames welcome. Don't trust programmer, they think their job is difficult and complex... but in reality, they say that because it is a way to justify their high salary. Guys that write "Learning XXX in three days" are already rich, so they do not have to lie anymore about their job. *Programming is very easy.* The proof is that there is only a few "word" in most programming languages. Java has around 20 essential words... see: http://java.about.com/od/beginningjava/a/keywords.htm With 20 words you can write "Windows XP"... or a big part of it. Tell me how many days you need to learn 20 English words? You CAN learn Java in three day, trust me, I learn all my programming language in less than 3 days, so you can do it in 3, maybe 4 if you are not very talented. But your first language should be Assembler. It is a very simple language. And you don't bother with "Object something language", "Inversion of Complete" or the "Football Pattern" issues. And you can do everything with assembler, when I say everything, I mean Everything. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assembler, http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?AssemblyLanguage and http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?LearningAssemblyLanguage Good luck Etienne. > I know nothing about programming, but need to write a simple > application with which I can enter a word to be looked up in a [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > Thanks, > Marc Hmmm, so if you learn AND, OR, NAND, XOR, and NOT You will know everything needed to build a CPU. Who would've thought it could be so easy. > Don't trust programmer, they think their job is difficult and > complex... but in reality, they say that because it is a way to justify [quoted text clipped - 42 lines] > > Thanks, > > Marc Indeed. Of course it is easy to build a Hello-World programa or a simple HTML page. And of course, I've seen websites that are so plain and simple that you wonder why the developer got thousands of dollars for it, but today's technologies are far more complex to assume that it can be learned in a couple of days without some basic programming knowledge. > Hmmm, so if you learn AND, OR, NAND, XOR, and NOT > You will know everything needed to build a CPU. [quoted text clipped - 46 lines] >>> Thanks, >>> Marc > Hmmm, so if you learn AND, OR, NAND, XOR, and NOT > You will know everything needed to build a CPU. NOR gates. All you need. > *Programming is very easy.* The proof is that there is only a few > "word" in most programming languages. Java has around 20 essential > words... see: http://java.about.com/od/beginningjava/a/keywords.htm Hi Etienne, I don't agree with your "proof". Actually I think the opposite is true: Languages with fewer key words are more difficult. (Or more precisely: Memorizing the small set of key words is indeed very easy, but learning to solve a given problem with that "simple" language turns out be very difficult) > With 20 words you can write "Windows XP"... or a big part of it. > Tell me how many days you need to learn 20 English words? You CAN learn > Java in three day, trust me, I learn all my programming language in > less than 3 days, so you can do it in 3, maybe 4 if you are not very > talented. Have a look at the Brainf*ck language. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brainf%2Ack It has only 8 key words, and according to your reasoning it should be even easier to you than Java. I suggest you take the following 3 days to learn this language and with it solve a simple programming problem (for example: printing out the sequence of prime numbers). You say this is easy to accomplish; I say it is too difficult. SignatureThomas Hi Thomas, I think you didn't fully understand the sense of my first post. I need to mention to you that my post was not completely true, and it was maybe a bit ironical. I did not learn java in 3 days, but in 7. To be more serious, the less a language have words (Assembler), the more the sense is based on the syntax. So it means that is more difficult indeed to express yourself in 20 words than in 200 words. That's the case of any programming language. regards, Etienne. > > *Programming is very easy.* The proof is that there is only a few > > "word" in most programming languages. Java has around 20 essential [quoted text clipped - 20 lines] > of prime numbers). You say this is easy to accomplish; I say it is too > difficult. Hey Marc, check out these links: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1171/ https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/68/ Chinh > Hey Marc, check out these links: > > https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1171/ > https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/68/ Thanks! Marc Free MagazinesGet these publications absolutely FREE for up to 12 months. 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