Preface: Forum management, please move to the appropriate place, if this is not it (permission to post in general granted by Christopher H.)

Finally out: The Jerk’s Guide to Becoming a Programmer
[www.amazon.com]

You have no idea how to write even the most simple script?
This book gets you started. It explains what a script is, what is so simple about a script and what the heck an idea has to do with it.

You want/need/have to write a complex solution to an even more complex problem and neither know where to start nor what to do in the first place?
This book guides you through the valley of despair, the desert of knowledgelesness and the wastelands of problem-o-phobia.

You are afraid of dragons?
Read this book. Really. Read it. It won't help with your fear of dragons but you cannot have it all, can you?

I have been a programmer, software developer and project possible-maker for nearing 40 years. I have learned how to program by hacking other people's software (in machine code - I explain what that is in this book), by fixing other people's software (in BASIC - I explain what that is in this book, too) and by solving other people's problems (in lots of meetings - I do not explain what that is in this book, but I do mention them).
Alas, fear not, this is not an autobiography. This book is about how to THINK like a programmer, how to approach even the most complicated problem and hack and slack and slay it down till it can beep no more - and how to get a job DONE. Before you start writing code.

Print version available through Amazon, eBook will be published ASAP.

What does this have to do with Houdini?
This book is 101% language-agnostic. The basic ideas (don't worry, I don't do BASIC here) apply to visual programming (nodal networks) just the same as to any written computer-language. No magic involved. Use VEX, Python, HScript, C/C++ or whatever your heart desires: Just have a plan and know where you're heading.
That it has to do with Houdini.

Interesting concept! I'll check it out.

Yaay !

One query: How does it work for people who have ZERO ideas about programming or scripting /

Hi,

> How does it work for people who have ZERO ideas about programming or scripting /

… the book was written with people with “zero ideas about programming or scripting” in mind. It is very probably not so much for people who know how to write scripts or who are savvy in one programming language or another.

“Look inside the book” is available on Amazon (click on “look inside” top right corner of the cover image), so you can have a peek and decide for yourself if this is “talking to you”.

Marc

Hey Marc, FYI, your Amazon link goes to Amazon's landing page right now, not the book.

kevinthebright
Hey Marc, FYI, your Amazon link goes to Amazon's landing page right now, not the book.

Thanks - it seems to be working correctly for me, though …? Maybe you are getting redirected to a different Amazon but .com. The book's ASIN is 1983239305, you should be able to find it by entering either the title or that ASIN into A's search field.

Marc