Adam Roy

I'm interested in creating software of some sort.

I see all these keyword research tools, auto blogging tools, article spinners, and everything else and I keep thinking...how do these people make this stuff?

So here I am, how do I make stuff like that?

I have also noticed that many programs seem to be on the same platform, or at least organized in a manner that all are very similar.

Can anyone help me get going on this?

I DON'T KNOW PROGRAMING...PHP...JAVA....C++(whatever that is) but I understand there are some programs out there, that make programs for beginners like me who don't understand coding.

Just like wordpress is for people who can't write up html sites I guess.

Ideas?

chestmary

One non-coding program would be Ubots UBot Studio - Marketing Automation Bot Creation Software. I bought a few programs built the platform. One is easy to use the other two are buggy with poor support. So it seems to be like any other system, dependent on sufficient customer service.

Adam Roy

I was looking into ubot, big price tag though :/ Maybe I should just learn it manually and save the money? I mean as much as I hate working on my truck...I do it so I don't have to pay a mechanic lol. Ubot would be like paying the mechanic right?

Aside from that though, I just downloaded Microsoft's Visual Basic Express.

Anyone have any luck with it? I haven't tried it yet, actually dinkin around with it now.

bool

Visual Basic and C# are actually quite simple, but you still need to know the basics of programming...

Nevertheless if you wan't to make more advanced things programming is not that simple and I'm sure the time it would consume to learn and get all those skills would be a waste of time and money if your goal is just to make a single piece of software.

If what you want is simple just do it yourself:

windows: C#/VB
web: php/rails/ASP?/FoxPro? + JavaScript

If you want something complex or advanced you should outsource it.

iamscottj

As Bool mentioned that both Visual C# and Visual Basic are very easy to use, you can learn them at Microsoft site itself. First you need to get through the fundamentals for programming. You will learn a new thing which will certainly benefit you in long run. You can also make money out of it. I would suggest creating an open source software and host in site sites like Codeplex. This will allow you to test your software on many different systems and get reports about bugs and issues. This is of course possible once you get through it. If any help required in .NET related matters, whether basic or advance, you can ask me.

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Adam Roy

I have the Visual Basic didn't get into it too much yet. But it looks like it will do what I'm looking for...best of all it's free and microsoft kicks butt so I'm going to get into this thing.

I don't even know what a .net matter is lol.

Marc Quarles

.NET is the framework that Microsoft provides to programmers to access the Windows APIs indirectly. It's a huge collection of ready-made objects and functions that provide the tools you need for things like accessing the internet without having to write all the code from scratch yourself.

Adam Roy

Hmmm....So .net framework is basically code "presets"? Where as without .NET framework it would be much more manual, but still possible?

Marc Quarles

Sure, that would be a reasonable explanation of it. Take connecting to the internet and downloading a webpage as an example. If you were to do that manually, it would be a nightmare to code - you'd have to know the http protocol like the back of your hand, write low-level socket and packet code... we're talking days or weeks of programming and debugging just to connect to the internet and download a web page.

.NET provides a number of ready-to-use objects that can do that for you. Just create a new instance of the object, and call the appropriate method, and you've got your webpage - total time perhaps 5 minutes.

The hard part is digging through all the documentation to find an object that will do what you want it to (there's probably 5 or 6 different objects in .NET that can download a webpage - the key is understanding the differences between them and what they can do for you and can't do for you)

Have fun - you're in for a long, arduous, and most likely profitable ride

Marc

Adam Roy

Sounds like I'm headed in the right direction...arggh

Well, you reap what you sew.

Thanks for the help.

TristanPerry

Have you considered Java? It's easier to learn than C++ and a couple of other 'common' programming languages, plus the GUI stuff is relatively simple to program/set-up.

"If you are clear where you are going and you take several steps in that direction every day, you eventually have to get there."

Adam Roy

No I haven't. I don't know what GUI stuff is.

I don't know how to use java, or what it is really. I know I have javascript somewhere...or something

Ken Durham

Does anyone use java anymore? Been awhile since I heard reference to it.
Flash is another option for internet usage.

If you are looking at creating a simple desktop app then Visual Basic (they don't call it basic for nothing) will be the way to go and to learn the "basics" of programming such as variables, arrays, functions, object oriented programming etc..

Now you wouldn't want to use it for a high end game or a gaming engine. That would be more along the C++ range I believe.

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iamscottj

Dont worry buddy you will get to it. .NET is really huge. There are two ways to learn .NET. One is length wise and other is depth wise. I suggest that you go for the length wise learning first and then move on to the depth wise. This will clear all the fundamentals for the VB.NET terms. Learning VB.NET is easy because of the fact that its simple as English. Yeah the best part its free. And you can also get the tutorials for the .NET Framework on the MSDN site. They have tutorials right for beginners to intermediate and advance levels. Once you get through them all, Microsoft also provides you webcasts. Any doubts or questions, I am there to help you buddy

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mihir

u can use automater 6 to create browser based simple bots

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TristanPerry

GUI means graphical user interface. In other words, an interface which we can click on, interact with etc. The alternative is command line (which isn't as pretty or usable ). It can be important to point out since Java makes it fairly easy to make a GUI which works well in Windows, Apple and Linux whilst C++ (and others) are more complicated to create GUIs, then they tend to be Windows-only.

And Java is a programming language, whilst Javascript is completely different (despite the name ) and is just a client-side scripting language.

It's one of the most commonly used programming languages (http://www.tiobe.com/index.php/conte...pci/index.html).

"If you are clear where you are going and you take several steps in that direction every day, you eventually have to get there."

TrafficMystic

.net (vb and c#) hold the bigger market share at the moment.. as an ex-java/c++ developer i moved onto c# and the library support is awesome compared to java, specially in the gui area and web services areas...

If you wanting to learn defo go for .net over c++ or java...

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HorseStall

I stumbled across an application that turns HTML into an EXE has anyone had any experience in building applications using a similar tool?

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burton247

No, java isn't that popular anymore, I learnt it at uni but that's just cause it is cross-platform.

C# is just like a more efficient version of Java to be honest. However, I'm not a .NET or microsoft fan really so I would rather use something else :P

But I you do want to make a program then you should learn to code it yourself, not use other tools. It's not difficult, but that doesn't mean it won't take a long time to learn everything!

Luxmo

If you want to make professional grade software there's no getting around it, you will need to get into programming of some sort. It will take a lot of research, practice development, and trial and error on your part to learn it all, so be ready for many months and even years of research and education. Pertaining to the types of software you listed that you'd like to make you definitely will need to get into web development particularly. I recommend the LAMP stack (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) for professional grade web services like keyword research tools, blogs, etc. PHP is just about the easiest server-side web scripting language out there and even being a novice you should be able to pick it up and run with it easily. Also, definitely get into JavaScript, as it is vital to web development and "AJAX" deployments.

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chrisisnapping

one thing that you need to know/remember is that programming, much like SEO isn't a flick of a switch. There is a lot of learning/effort that goes behind creating programs, even simple ones like a directory submitter.

The main key is to not get discouraged, and not to hop into your project too quickly.
You will have to do a decent amount of "book" learning (reading forums, reading tutorials etc.) Look over tutorials, read the code line by line, you should be able to realize what each line of code is doing, not just copy and pasting and hoping it all works, as many people make this mistake when they first start learning to program and give up way too easily because they just expect it to work without knowing why it works, or why it doesn't work.

At your level I would definitely stick with Visual Basic as it does make programming simpler, and there are a ton of easy to use tutorials.

I wish you the best of luck! Just remember to keep at it, and don't get discouraged!

p.s.

when starting to program, do programs such as "hello world" and simple things that utilize if/else and variables. For visual basic I would suggest doing a simple "cash register" it's a simple beginner program that will allow you to see how everything interacts, how to use variables, and implement a simple if/else.

Basically have 1 radio button, 2 text boxes, 1 label, and 2 buttons.
1 radio can be "discount" of say 20%.
1 Text box is quantity
1 Text book is amount
1 label outputs total cost (this also could be a read only text box)
1 button is calculate which will multiple box 1 by box 2 to get "price" and run an if/else: If 1 radio is clicked then multiply "price" by "discount" to get "discountedprice" and set the label's text to equal that, ELSE label's text just equals price.
1 button for "clear" which will clear it out.

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kakil

You might want to give RealBasic a try. The neat thing about RealBasic is that it is similar to VisualBasic, but the real advantage is that it will allow you to develop applications for both the PC and the Mac.

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ronaldeddy

I want to learn some languages like php,html for software creation i am learning the basics for it. I am also going to learn . Net framework for Marketing resource management MRM.

Sam Haenni

If you don't have any programming experience I recommend focusing on web development. Web based (or cloud based) programs are the future. There's hardly no type of application that couldn't be made web based nowadays.

My suggestion:

1. Learn how Webpages work -> learn HTML & CSS
2. Learn how HTML Forms work -> this is how Users will primarily interact with your app
3. Learn a Server-Based Language -> when you send a form (eg. when you enter a comment on this forum and hit the save button) the contents gets sent to the Web Server. With a little programming you can do things like save the comment into a database.

I recommend learning PHP for the Server-Based language because:

- it's open-source
- you can host it anywhere
- you'll find help for almost every problem you run in to (php has a HIGHLY active community worldwide)

SteveBaker

Mobile apps are a great growth market AND Google has so graciously taken the leap to provide the nice Android App Inventor.

hxxp://appinventor.googlelabs.com/about/

Targeted at Mr. OP himself, it's all about using a GUI to build out apps instead of only source code.

However to be quite honest this is a big educational project so if you want to be a coder you really need to go nuts and just dive in. I'd make that "hello world" program in a few languages just to begin to scratch the surface on what the world of programming is all about.

I really believe the future lies in coders as we move to a fully digital society. And when I mean future I mean future $$$. So don't give up too soon. So many people quit 10 minutes away from success.

andrew_writes

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andrew_writes

Just Basic is free
Just BASIC - Free programming language

So is FreeBasic which is a lot like a C implementation
FreeBASIC compiler (a free BASIC compiler) - official page - News [en]

i also found this InstantEXE
http://www.instantexe.com

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Beavis

Basically, yes. They are tiered libraries that enable C# and Visual Basic development (primarily in Visual Studio) to be a hell of a lot easier when it comes to accessing lower level functionality and / or basic windows form programming.

I have used VS and C#, C++ for years now and have created games as well as email scrapers and system inventory software using C#. Be wary though as .Net applications are very easily reverse engineered. I tend to use C# (which relies on .NET) for forms and user interaction, but use a C++ DLL to handle the 'engine' of the application.

The nice thing about VS and C# / VB is that there a a TON of tutorial sites for this development platform. It amy be daunting at first, but the number of tutorials make it somewhat easy to get going if you take the time. You'll be writing "Hello world" before you know it

Tim Franklin

I would recommend a 4GL language, which means a fourth Generation Lanugage, it operates on top of an engine, and usually can be very flexible, like most of the other options given in this post, it is not point and click, but if you are interested PM me and I will put you onto something that you will find of interest.

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casius

I would offer you C programming language. Its pretty easy and simple to learn for begginer. You can program almost every program with that. If you need some soft on your site just use PHP as its ultra-easy. And also as Juce said , do not lose patience and interest ;]

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jonnybbush

ASP.Net is one of the best software for any programmer Its provide some facility for create software there are so many tools are available you have to just drag and drop this tool in your from and write the code in code behind file. and after complete the software then create a setup.exe file.

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sonarmark

I would say stick with what you know and outsource programming.
Programming is not something you can learn in a month, and be good at it.

most of the marketers who sell software are not programmers themselves. You can find programmer for example at rentacoder.com

jkmg

I have Instant EXE and there is literally NO support. The sample codes are for apps you would never use (or even heard of), and the last forum posts are like 3 years ago. The program looks REALLY good, but unfortunately the lack of documentation and support makes the learning curve WAY too steep.

sweety4

.Net is really best software. With the help of .net you can make desktop application or web based application.

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caesargus

My 2 cents ...
depending on how quickly you want to get your product off the ground, I'd recommend using someone else for the development and you stick with the ideas.

I'm a developer myself, been one for a while, and there is still a lot that I don't know (and not for a lack of trying). Trust the other people when they say it's not something you can pick up and run and just know it (if you are that kind of person, you'll never have trouble finding a job). There is just a lot of information out there. Whenever I do learn a new language it takes about 6 months of working in it everyday, before I'm really comfortable with it before I start coding with any real speed. (all the other time is spent looking up how to do simple stuff - how do you do a loop, what's the correct syntax for this or that).

Outsourcing work like this is never without it's risks. I tried doing some outsourcing to India or China, and the actual quality of work that was returned was pretty bad, some people didn't design the software requested correctly, I think out of 10 tests, I only received 1-2 correct submissions. Trust me the test was not hard at all.

I would also recommend developing either a web/cloud based application over a desktop application. This is because a number of people may be excluded from your application because they are on different operating systems, or your software is beyond their screen resolutions (I have an itty bitty computer - screen size = tiny - I can't use a lot of software on that machine because the buttons are hidden most of the time). Some of the advantages of having a web/cloud based solution are Monthly/Yearly Licensing fees, membership emails, and easier to track down bugs and fix the changes immediately versus having the user to download updated versions. The downside to the web/cloud based solution is that now you're dealing with browser compatibility issues (IE never seems to cooperate, and chrome is quickly becoming a thorn in my side).

Again my suggestion - stick with the ideas, partner with someone that knows the techy side.

eagle1984

which soft ware is best to create templets ?

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jonnyrottan

Quote:

Originally Posted by sonarmark I would say stick with what you know and outsource programming.

Hi

I worked in a software development company that wrote booking software for the Travel industry. I am not a programmer but I have seen what a massive task it is to write programmes correctly. They had a team of programmers, testers, support people etc. taking an idea from the imaginary space to a workable solution is a very arduous task. Some of the programmers where REAL smart and talented and all they did day in and day out was code, and even with them churning away like demons the product(s) only oozed forward like treacle on a cold day.

I don’t mean to put a dampener on your aspirations but lets have a look at what your end goal is. Are you trying to create a product that will bring you an income so it will free you up to do 'other' things in your life? If so how much time do you have at your disposal to learn coding? I like you hate "paying the mechanic" and try to do as much as I can myself. In fact I have taught myself a fair amount of HTML and PHP which I am now using with my own product HOWEVER I have employed several coders from rent a coder to do the bulk of the work that I needed to get done, once the basics were in place I am now able to go in and modify the code reasonably easily. Some of the smartest coders are from India and they cost cents in the dollar, however you need to be super clear with your requirements and communication. I have found that using this method has allowed me to progress my product quite quickly and allowed me to focus on the content 'in the front end'.

Don't get me wrong, I love the challenge of coding something and seeing it work out, but I am aware that I do not have the time or inclination to dedicate to becoming a 'gun' coder.

Good luck.

JR

Greg D

I too had some similar questions, and I was recommended to go toW3 schools as well.

i was told to run through the html course first
then go through the php
the go look for more advanced php and mysql training

Would all of you experienced programmers recommend Adobe Air?

From what I understand this can be used by windows, macs and linux computers. And since it is a combination of several languages, it can still 'talk' to a server or database through php.

Is that accurate, or did i misunderstand the info at the adobe site?

thanks

greg

Greg D

oh yeah i forgot to ask as well,

if Adobe Air is a great platform to build where is the best place to find a programmer to outsource to?

been disappointed at Odesk before

thank

Greg

jminkler

Uhhh .. its only used on like every single phone out there!!

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