Two questions. The first one: Am I mad?
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Background: I started programming in 1974. Business applications in an assembler-based language, slightly higher-level than actual machine opcodes. Later got into business applications in a proprietary Business Basic, and later COBOL. I moved into other IT areas than programming, closest I came back to programming was scripting for PC and server administration and software in Windows environments. Never even got my toes wet with C, C++ or any modern programming concept. No Frameworks, no IDEs. Barely touched Unix and hated its case-sensitivity. Retired now. I've a need to manipulate my contact lists on an iPhone, for example mass deletion based on email domain; or moving others between Exchange server, gmail contacts etc. So, I'm thinking of learning, and programming a small app for myself to install on my own phone. Two questions. The first one: Am I mad? The second: How would I start? What environment, language, learning aids, best practices? Thanks for any thoughts!
PPI: Probably Past It
andublin wrote:
The first one: Am I mad?
Yes
andublin wrote:
The second: How would I start?
A lot of things like this, someone has already figured out how to do. So I always start by googling and seeing if I can figure out the right combination of keywords to use. If I spend enough time at it, the Google AI realizes what I want and creates a fake blogger with some credible posts and one of them is the solution I'm looking for. If the Google AI is having a slow day, it'll even create a Git repo and a NuGet or npm package, complete with documentation, forums where fake people have asked questions and received answers, maybe some branches and versions. P.S. - This reply was posted by a Google AI competitor. ;)
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Background: I started programming in 1974. Business applications in an assembler-based language, slightly higher-level than actual machine opcodes. Later got into business applications in a proprietary Business Basic, and later COBOL. I moved into other IT areas than programming, closest I came back to programming was scripting for PC and server administration and software in Windows environments. Never even got my toes wet with C, C++ or any modern programming concept. No Frameworks, no IDEs. Barely touched Unix and hated its case-sensitivity. Retired now. I've a need to manipulate my contact lists on an iPhone, for example mass deletion based on email domain; or moving others between Exchange server, gmail contacts etc. So, I'm thinking of learning, and programming a small app for myself to install on my own phone. Two questions. The first one: Am I mad? The second: How would I start? What environment, language, learning aids, best practices? Thanks for any thoughts!
PPI: Probably Past It
The place to start is to read the postimg rules for the Lounge. CQ de W5ALT
Walt Fair, Jr.PhD P. E. Comport Computing Specializing in Technical Engineering Software
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Background: I started programming in 1974. Business applications in an assembler-based language, slightly higher-level than actual machine opcodes. Later got into business applications in a proprietary Business Basic, and later COBOL. I moved into other IT areas than programming, closest I came back to programming was scripting for PC and server administration and software in Windows environments. Never even got my toes wet with C, C++ or any modern programming concept. No Frameworks, no IDEs. Barely touched Unix and hated its case-sensitivity. Retired now. I've a need to manipulate my contact lists on an iPhone, for example mass deletion based on email domain; or moving others between Exchange server, gmail contacts etc. So, I'm thinking of learning, and programming a small app for myself to install on my own phone. Two questions. The first one: Am I mad? The second: How would I start? What environment, language, learning aids, best practices? Thanks for any thoughts!
PPI: Probably Past It
No, I don't think you're mad. Quite the opposite, actually.
andublin wrote:
How would I start?
You may find this Quora answer useful. But skip half of the first part (The basics - how bullets work). Ravi Bhavnani's answer to I have recently retired and I'm interested in learning how to code, starting from scratch and without any prior experience. How do you think I should start? - Quora[^] /ravi
My new year resolution: 2048 x 1536 Home | Articles | My .NET bits | Freeware ravib(at)ravib(dot)com
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The place to start is to read the postimg rules for the Lounge. CQ de W5ALT
Walt Fair, Jr.PhD P. E. Comport Computing Specializing in Technical Engineering Software
Dr.Walt Fair, PE wrote:
The place to start is to read the postimg rules for the Lounge.
“It is, first and foremost, a respectful meeting and discussion area for those wishing to discuss the life of a Software developer. The #1 rule is: Be respectful of others, of the site, and of the community as a whole.” I thank you for your outlook.
Another grumpy old guy
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Background: I started programming in 1974. Business applications in an assembler-based language, slightly higher-level than actual machine opcodes. Later got into business applications in a proprietary Business Basic, and later COBOL. I moved into other IT areas than programming, closest I came back to programming was scripting for PC and server administration and software in Windows environments. Never even got my toes wet with C, C++ or any modern programming concept. No Frameworks, no IDEs. Barely touched Unix and hated its case-sensitivity. Retired now. I've a need to manipulate my contact lists on an iPhone, for example mass deletion based on email domain; or moving others between Exchange server, gmail contacts etc. So, I'm thinking of learning, and programming a small app for myself to install on my own phone. Two questions. The first one: Am I mad? The second: How would I start? What environment, language, learning aids, best practices? Thanks for any thoughts!
PPI: Probably Past It
I would think it depends on your goals, do you want to manipulate your contact list or do you want to learn new stuff.
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity - RAH I'm old. I know stuff - JSOP
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No, I don't think you're mad. Quite the opposite, actually.
andublin wrote:
How would I start?
You may find this Quora answer useful. But skip half of the first part (The basics - how bullets work). Ravi Bhavnani's answer to I have recently retired and I'm interested in learning how to code, starting from scratch and without any prior experience. How do you think I should start? - Quora[^] /ravi
My new year resolution: 2048 x 1536 Home | Articles | My .NET bits | Freeware ravib(at)ravib(dot)com
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Background: I started programming in 1974. Business applications in an assembler-based language, slightly higher-level than actual machine opcodes. Later got into business applications in a proprietary Business Basic, and later COBOL. I moved into other IT areas than programming, closest I came back to programming was scripting for PC and server administration and software in Windows environments. Never even got my toes wet with C, C++ or any modern programming concept. No Frameworks, no IDEs. Barely touched Unix and hated its case-sensitivity. Retired now. I've a need to manipulate my contact lists on an iPhone, for example mass deletion based on email domain; or moving others between Exchange server, gmail contacts etc. So, I'm thinking of learning, and programming a small app for myself to install on my own phone. Two questions. The first one: Am I mad? The second: How would I start? What environment, language, learning aids, best practices? Thanks for any thoughts!
PPI: Probably Past It
I got my first IPhone for XMas; still haven't finished reading the 1000+ page user manual; but I think you've inspired me to look at programming the thing (maybe). [Chapter 3 - Hello World! Build Your First App in Swift · Beginning iOS Programming with Swift (iOS 14)[Sample]](https://www.appcoda.com/learnswift/build-your-first-app.html)
It was only in wine that he laid down no limit for himself, but he did not allow himself to be confused by it. ― Confucian Analects: Rules of Confucius about his food
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Background: I started programming in 1974. Business applications in an assembler-based language, slightly higher-level than actual machine opcodes. Later got into business applications in a proprietary Business Basic, and later COBOL. I moved into other IT areas than programming, closest I came back to programming was scripting for PC and server administration and software in Windows environments. Never even got my toes wet with C, C++ or any modern programming concept. No Frameworks, no IDEs. Barely touched Unix and hated its case-sensitivity. Retired now. I've a need to manipulate my contact lists on an iPhone, for example mass deletion based on email domain; or moving others between Exchange server, gmail contacts etc. So, I'm thinking of learning, and programming a small app for myself to install on my own phone. Two questions. The first one: Am I mad? The second: How would I start? What environment, language, learning aids, best practices? Thanks for any thoughts!
PPI: Probably Past It
Before starting any of the above: No backup. No Mercy!
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Background: I started programming in 1974. Business applications in an assembler-based language, slightly higher-level than actual machine opcodes. Later got into business applications in a proprietary Business Basic, and later COBOL. I moved into other IT areas than programming, closest I came back to programming was scripting for PC and server administration and software in Windows environments. Never even got my toes wet with C, C++ or any modern programming concept. No Frameworks, no IDEs. Barely touched Unix and hated its case-sensitivity. Retired now. I've a need to manipulate my contact lists on an iPhone, for example mass deletion based on email domain; or moving others between Exchange server, gmail contacts etc. So, I'm thinking of learning, and programming a small app for myself to install on my own phone. Two questions. The first one: Am I mad? The second: How would I start? What environment, language, learning aids, best practices? Thanks for any thoughts!
PPI: Probably Past It
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Do it! At the very least you'll learn some new swear words. For writing iOS apps you've got a ton of options: xcode & swift for fully native, or Xamarin and C# to stick to the Microsoft stack, some hybrid app options like NativeScript, React Native, and Ionic, or Google's cross-platform framework Flutter. I've been looking to write a mobile app to augment a little side project I'm working on that's written in Vue.js and Typescript. Reusing all the TS I've written would be nice, so I'm tempted to use NativeScript but I'm also very tempted by Flutter since it uses Dart - a nice clean language - and is being actively developed. One thing I do want to do is run the whole thing on my Mac instead of being tied to Visual Studio and Windows, so [VS Code and Flutter](https://flutter.dev/docs/development/tools/vs-code) seems like a nice choice. Let us know what you choose.
cheers Chris Maunder