best language for newbie to write simple application

[Marc Adler]

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

 

[Stefan Ram]

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.

 

[Marc Adler]

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

 

[Stefan Ram]

I see. I didn't image it would be that difficult.
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.

 

[Stefan Ram]

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.

 

[Paul Davis]

Marc,
I'll do it for $5K USD.

 

[Marc Adler]

I'll do it for $5K USD.

Five thousand US dollhairs? Fantastic! You've got a deal!

Marc

 

[Christopher Benson-Manica]

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.

 

[etienno]

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.

 

[Paul Davis]

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
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
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

 

[Moiristo]

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.
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
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
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

 

[Trung Chinh Nguyen]

Hey Marc, check out these links:

https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1171/
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/68/

Chinh

 

[Marc Adler]

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

 

[Christopher Benson-Manica]

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.

 

[bowman]

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.

 

[Thomas Fritsch]

*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*ck
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.

 

[Marc Adler]

Hey Marc, check out these links:

https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1171/
https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/68/

Thanks!

Marc

 

[etienno]

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.