It's ok to ask "stupid" questions - often they aren't, and often they lead to interesting discussions. Also be aware that basic questions might get a seemingly curt, one-line, "here try this command/look here in the manual/google this term" response [1]. Don't take it personally! Do try to follow up in the manual/google first for unfamiliar concepts. Often that will be enough, but asking for clarification is fine if something doesn't make sense.
The manual improves most through fresh eyes, so please say something if information is missing or unclear. A couple more resources: - excellent tutorial given at SciPy recently: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWkgEddb4-A (designed for people familiar with Python, but very accessible generally) - http://www.scolvin.com/juliabyexample/ - http://learnxinyminutes.com/docs/julia/ - StackOverflow and IRC can be helpful [1] some people respond on phones, others value brevity because they see 100+ Julia-related emails per day on the various lists and github, etc. On Fri, Jul 18, 2014 at 10:18 AM, Leah Hanson <[email protected]> wrote: > I agree with what John said. > > Additionally, as you have more specific questions that you get stuck on, > please ask this mailing list. The manual is certainly incomplete; I went to > look relevant section to direct you to, but the section on Networking & > Streams is very networking focused. > > I have a github repo of some tiny projects that are somewhat similar in > scale to what you're doing. The repo is here: > https://github.com/astrieanna/Projects . Here's one that uses ArgParse.jl > (a Julia package): > https://github.com/astrieanna/Projects/blob/master/palindrome.jl . Here's > one that does it's input by hand: > https://github.com/astrieanna/Projects/blob/101cb0637ee83251a8d985ff9609fef02d79f4a0/pi.jl > . (The second one is trying to take a "number of digits to output". It lets > you enter on the command line (ARGS is the automatically available array of > command-line arguments) and if you don't, it lets you enter it after the > program has started. > > -- Leah > > > > > On Fri, Jul 18, 2014 at 9:09 AM, John Myles White < > [email protected]> wrote: > >> This might seem like just a reframing of the situation, rather than an >> answer, but I personally don't think there's any background knowledge you >> need to get started using Julia. What you need is a willingness to figure >> out what's going on by doing some digging through the manual, the general >> web and the Julia codebase for the language. The manual gives you enough to >> get started using the language, but assumes that some standard Unix >> commands are familiar like STDOUT. But that sort of stuff is very well >> documented on the web, since it's a core part of computing culture outside >> of the Windows world. And when you need to get examples of how people write >> large amounts of code in Julia, you can read the source code for the core >> libraries in Base, which is a canonical example of how Julia should be >> written. >> >> -- John >> >> On Jul 18, 2014, at 9:49 AM, Michael Bullman <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> >> > Hey Everyone, I'm very interested in learning Julia, but I feel like >> I'm missing some crucial background knowledge to really understand how >> Julia works. Just to give you guys my background, My first language was >> Java in high school, I got fairly good using it then, but in college I only >> barely maintained the skill. I took a couple low level programming course >> to stay somewhat fresh, and some CS 101 type courses and a data structures >> course. Other than that my knowledge is spread around a bit using some >> Python, but mainly R of late. >> > >> > Some things in the Julia notation feel familiar to me, Types remind me >> of Java objects, I can generally "read" code in examples. But many things >> feel unfamiliar. It makes me think that there is some base of knowledge is >> assumed with Julia that I do not have. >> > >> > My first Julia project is pretty silly compared to most people. I'm >> trying to write a "Lunch-roulette" Program to help me and my >> co-worker/buddies choose where to go for lunch on break. While I was >> looking for simple I/O instructions so we can enter several lunch spots, >> and times. I realized I had no idea how to use the IOStream or STDIN/OUT >> functionality. Looks like a lot of this is based off of C++ and Unix >> command line functionality. >> > >> > Sorry if this was a long winded question, but basically, what do I need >> to know before I can start learning to use Julia? >> > >> > Thanks, >> > -Mike >> >> >
