Understanding the basics that I don’t understand with the “language”

I’m looking for an all inclusive kind of down to the details look at the insides of Programming. What I mean is basically is there a “Everything you need to know about probramming other than coding or the language”. Like stacks, hex and octal systems, why software ALWAYS has to be installed rather than just placing all the files in the directory of your pc and having them linked in the .exe. Basically like an understanding everything about programming that isn’t coding per se. I “understand” the basics of these concepts, except the install thing that I still can’t seem to get, but they still seem a bit abstract to me. I feel like it would help me to get a better understanding of everything other than the actual language that all programmers have in common. Does anybody know a good tutorial, video, etc. that might be a good fit other than enrolling for a C.S. Degree?

You need to separate your basic into programming basics and operating system basics.

No book or site is likely to cover both in depth.

Tim S.

This is a pretty broad topic, but you couldn't go wrong with this book: Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs

No no, I get it. Completely with you, but I can’t seem to find a good programming basics minus language resource, any idea for the programming side? YouTube seems to have no videos I can find that are just here’s what you need to know minus language and syntax. I didn’t think about it but a lot of the things I’m thinking of would come from the OS side also; so I will look for some intros/tutorials, etc. for. I can find a resources on operating systems. Last question that I just want answered though, why does purchased software have to be installed instead of just copying an exe file that links all the necessary files.

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Originally Posted by Ctylersills

I can’t seem to find a good programming basics minus language resource, any idea for the programming side?

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I'm still not sure what you're asking. Programming basics, minus language resource? I mean, there are books on logical thinking and algorithms.

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why does purchased software have to be installed instead of just copying an exe file that links all the necessary files.

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Proprietary software isn't open source, so you'll like only get the executable to install it and run it. For free software, you'll have all the files to change what you want.

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Originally Posted by catacombs

I'm still not sure what you're asking. Programming basics, minus language resource? I mean, there are books on logical thinking and algorithms.



Proprietary software isn't open source, so you'll like only get the executable to install it and run it. For free software, you'll have all the files to change what you want.

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im saying even open source programs like code blocks require installation “wizards” why can’t you just put all the files needed in the c directory on windows and run an exe that links all the needed files for the program to run i’m not asking about coding in this question per se, just why is an installation wizard necessary why can’t you just copy the files onto your c drive and run an exe?

for the other question rather your learning c+, c#, visual basic, etc., there are things that are common to all programming. which i feel someone should write a book about that would be like a “pre-programming essentials’. Udemy has a course but i’m out of extra money to spend right now and was wondering if anyone knew of some resources. I guess i’ll just have to look it up 1 by 1 because every time i go to think of an example i can only think of the weakest examples ��

btw the book referenced earlier was a good resource i’ll be buying that as soon as i can!

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Originally Posted by Ctylersills

im saying even open source programs like code blocks require installation “wizards” why can’t you just put all the files needed in the c directory on windows and run an exe that links all the needed files for the program to run i’m not asking about coding in this question per se, just why is an installation wizard necessary why can’t you just copy the files onto your c drive and run an exe?

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There are plenty of self-contained applications that do just that. In the Linux ecosystem you have things like Flatpak, Snap, AppImage. In the Windows world you can use "portable" (the meaning is slightly different) versions of many applications, that don't need to be installed in the sense you're concerned about. Reasons for installation wizards and package management systems are deduplication, security (shared dependencies can receive patches that all users benefit from) and OS integration (extended context menus, mapping MIME types to default applications).

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Originally Posted by Guest

There are plenty of self-contained applications that do just that. In the Linux ecosystem you have things like Flatpak, Snap, AppImage. In the Windows world you can use "portable" (the meaning is slightly different) versions of many applications, that don't need to be installed in the sense you're concerned about. Reasons for installation wizards and package management systems are deduplication, security (shared dependencies can receive patches that all users benefit from) and OS integration (extended context menus, mapping MIME types to default applications).

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Thank you so much. That makes perfect sense. That’s exactly the answer I was looking for on installation, and as far as the programming stuff the book was a perfect reference. Thanks guys!

Ctylersills, I'm a 50 something "programmer", and I'm still reading on these things after 40+ years.

Just as soon as you "get" all of that stuff....there's another version of the language, another version of the operating system, then someone puts a computer in a mobile phone and an explosion of new things happens all over the planet. Next thing you know they'll be computing on highly specialized, highly parallel vector processors by the thousands and...son of a...