2Old2Program?

MS not supporting vbulliten hmmm that would suck

@ATC, VB = Visual Basic. I'm not sure about the destiny of Visual Basic, however, I'd think learning .NET would be best for your position. It's object oriented, for the most part, so there is a lot to wrap your head around. Don't concern yourself as much with the application and your ability to use software. More to the point, and most people's barrier, is learning a programming language which is much like learning a new spoken language (you're just speaking to the computer and the rules are more consistent). .NET is where Microsoft is going, that's where most of their application hooks come in (i.e. programming for Office application plugins is well done with .NET). If the application you're writing can accept .NET application plugins, then I'd go that route. If you have a chance to take a course, look for something object oriented (even Java may give you some edge). Start small, don't try to create the world in your first application or you're going to get frustrated and quit before you get anywhere. Baby steps first. I know a little of .NET but not very much. I used to do a bit of VB back in 1997 but I've not done that for awhile. Now I'm mainly doing PHP, Python, C++ and know Assembly, Perl, TCL, C, MFC, Java, JavaScript and a bunch of windows programming, etc. .NET is easiest to work with I believe, because Microsoft is good at documenting for the most part.

Since you need to learn programming, you need to learn a language first. So learn VB first and then move onto .Net. If you can find a beginner VB.Net class you are golden. I've done some work with ESRI, mostly on the database side but with some VB scripting thrown in there. It's an intimidating environment, I wish you luck.

I am going to go against the grain and recommend that instead of VB you go for C#. I've got background in C++, VB, java and C#. The syntax of VB may be a little (tiny) bit easier to pick up than C# but it is a dead end. If you eventually want to move forward, you're going to move to C# or java (they are very similar). I think you'll also find more support with sample code and community feedback with C#. Head for the bookstore and check out the Computer section. You'll find lots of books on various programming languages. Spend some time looking through them. There are some I just can't stand trying to read. Others make it fun and easy.

Sorry, when I say .NET I assumed C# :) My bad, probably don't want to make those assumptions. For learning to program on the cheap, look for C# tutorials on the internet. I've not bought a programming book since around 1998 so I'm a bit out of the loop. The last book I believe I bought that was coding related was DirectX 2.0 :)