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.

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.

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.

u can use automater 6 to create browser based simple bots

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.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...

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

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

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!

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.

<My two pennies>

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.

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.

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)

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.

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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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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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.

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

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