BOOKS

alternateblackhat · Post by **alternateblackhat** » Tue Mar 30, 2010 4:06 am

Well, i got though python. I read the entire book used 2.6 python gui to practice and I still don't know what the fuck to do with it. Not only has the book not told me how I can use it. But it didn't tell me how to use the strings. Prior to the book I looked online to see how python was used but from using the code i could have told u i was making a very hard way to list who was unemployed.

Any one got a good idea of a GOOD book i could read and actually understand what I'm doing? If not got any books that are good off of the same line but different language? I'm in building programs i haven't broken down how broad i wanted to do this yet though.

Honestly, I just spend my entire spring vacation trying to finish the book off thinking the last few chapters will piece it together, but no.

Sigh, unlike before when I very broad about what I wanted to do, if I ever get a book to help me understand python (hopefully before college) I'm going to move onto either assembly, C++, possibly CSS, and if that doesn't fill my time retake a look at xhtml (figure a new one will be out by then)

CodeX · Post by **CodeX** » Tue Mar 30, 2010 9:03 am

I personally didn't learn python by reading a book or two but from a look through I think Beginning Python: From Novice to Professional should help you have your own flying circus with Python, I've not used IDLE and have always used command line which I think is the way to go if you intend on writing programs and learning. You can save yourself some hassle with running the command line all the time by using Codepad which will run stuff for you online and give you the console output, it doesn't allow file/socket streams but that shouldn't be to much of a problem at the start.

As for your studies afterwards I think C(++) would be a good choice and C++: The Complete Reference 4th edition will teach you all the fundamentals for C and C++. C & C++ generally take more time to code than a quick tool such as Python but the results are much faster and can do more overall such as write drivers and OSes as it is low level and compiles to machine code (most of the time, there are some interpreters if you really want to use them). As C++ has a lot to learn like the different functions different OSes use to do the same thing it will take some reading afterwards of things such as online documentation like MSDN for windows based development and MAN pages/online tutorials for linux, you can also use libraries that are cross-platform.

Have you considered PHP & JAVA? They are both relatively easy to start and make applications with and could be more suited to a beginner as you could easily start developing applications and don't have to learn a great deal plus there's loads of readily available resources online to help you along with all you could ever need to know. Given your interest in CSS + XHTML I think PHP would probably be a good choice for you as it will allow you to generate dynamic content. Universities tend to teach JAVA in their beginning years so that could help you get an advantage in whatever course you go in to do.

alternateblackhat · Post by **alternateblackhat** » Tue Mar 30, 2010 12:52 pm

I'm using Lynda.com for things like PHP and Javascript.

CodeX · Post by **CodeX** » Tue Mar 30, 2010 2:55 pm

http://www.w3schools.com/ is pretty good for web based things such as PHP, JavaScript, CSS, XHTML ect.

baha'a · Post by **baha'a** » Tue Mar 30, 2010 6:45 pm

CodeX wrote:http://www.w3schools.com/ is pretty good for web based things such as PHP, JavaScript, CSS, XHTML ect.

it seams really nice thanks Codex

I wish I got this web site three or four years earlier.

by the way what do you think about the article "How to become a hacker" by Erick S. Raymond.

CodeX · Post by **CodeX** » Tue Mar 30, 2010 6:59 pm

ha, probably one of the first things I read when I was 12, even then I took the difference between Hacker & Cracker and was the reason for my first attempts at Python. I'll have a read up on it later and see how it varies from my view of things nowadays, couldn't be too bad though if it contributed to what I do today

alternateblackhat · Post by **alternateblackhat** » Wed Mar 31, 2010 3:56 am

How much knowledge you seem to have through out the programming world i want to know, what do you do for a job, Codex? Every where i look you are helping the next programming noob with very little sarcasm and false information when the string is legit.

CodeX · Post by **CodeX** » Wed Mar 31, 2010 8:51 am

I don't really have a job, I'm on a gap year before going to uni to study computer science - I do occasionally work for a day or two providing labour if a job comes up but that doesn't happen much.
I'm hoping to get a PhD and do whatever I fancy + be a professor as I've always been enjoyed computing/computer science and also quite like teaching people, going for a PhD seems like a good way to get to play with all the upcoming fields like quantum and DNA computing as well as interesting applications. What I know of programming and computing is pretty much all from unguided independent study over the past 7 years, although I did do a Computing A level which taught me that VBA is rancid and the AQA's syllabus is pretty bad as it is on obsolete technology and even includes a made up technically impossible (as it is described) assembly language

baha'a · Post by **baha'a** » Wed Mar 31, 2010 1:02 pm

Codex
maybe here isn't the right place but I have a problem with ubuntu
can you help me (or any one)
the problem is that the usable portion of the screen in command line (tty1 to tty6, I go there by holding ctr+alt and pressing f1..f6) is small it's just a square in the middle.
it's like when you open a terminal and don't maximize the window?
I posted twice in ubuntuforums.org but I didn't have any help?
again sorry for asking like this I know this is hacking website but I like it here

CodeX · Post by **CodeX** » Wed Mar 31, 2010 1:36 pm

http://whacked.net/ldl/faq/ wrote: 3.5. My screen is small, and there's a black border around it!
Hit Fn-F7, or whatever your 'Font' function key is. Basically,
an LCD is set to run at a fixed pixel resolution, so when you
run at a resolution smaller than that (i.e.: if you have a
UXGA screen but want to run 1024x768), then it will either fix
1024x768 and fill in the remaining of the 1600x1200 with black,
or it will scale it to fill the whole screen.

That's be best I could find, I'm guessing it's because neither the graphics driver or monitor are scaling the image of the terminal but I'm not familiar with the internals of *nix so cant suggest anything else at the moment. Hopefully Fn-F7 or it's equivalent will help

baha'a · Post by **baha'a** » Wed Mar 31, 2010 2:27 pm

Codex

you're the best man

I found this page to
http://www.mail-archive.com/linux-newbi ... 05492.html

even I didn't solve it but just finding information makes me happy

thanks a lot

alternateblackhat · Post by **alternateblackhat** » Thu Apr 01, 2010 1:19 am

Hell, codex that means your only two years older than myself. perspective sucks. what schools are you looking at. Not surprisingly we are looking at the same school major. I'm looking over at RPI and WPI.

CodeX · Post by **CodeX** » Thu Apr 01, 2010 9:34 am

I'll be going to Royal Holloway, Univery of London (confirmed) as I'm on the other side of the Atlantic so I am closer to York than New York

it also happens to be a 20 minute drive away from where I live plus it also has the Information Security Group there which could be interesting.

alternateblackhat · Post by **alternateblackhat** » Thu Apr 01, 2010 12:42 pm

Wow, looks like if you want to "play" with the internet at all you will have people at your doors pretty quickly. Massive school, massive security I guess.

By the way, the C++ book you linked, I'm liking it.

baha'a · Post by **baha'a** » Thu Apr 01, 2010 8:44 pm

CodeX wrote:I'll be going to Royal Holloway, Univery of London (confirmed) as I'm on the other side of the Atlantic so I am closer to York than New York it also happens to be a 20 minute drive away from where I live plus it also has the Information Security Group there which could be interesting.

lucky you man

really good luck