Beginning

Programming

FOR

DUMmIES‰

3RD EDITION

by Wallace Wang

Beginning Programming For Dummies®, 3rd Edition

Published by

Wiley Publishing, Inc.

111 River Street Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774

Copyright © 2004 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Legal Department, Wiley Publishing, Inc., 10475 Crosspoint Blvd., Indianapolis, IN 46256, (317) 572-3447, fax (317) 572-4447, e-mail: permcoordinator@ wiley.com.

Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley Publishing logo, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, A Reference for the Rest of Us!, The Dummies Way, Dummies Daily, The Fun and Easy Way, Dummies.com, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc., and/or its affiliates in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.

LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: WHILE THE PUBLISHER AND AUTHOR HAVE USED THEIR BEST EFFORTS IN PREPARING THIS BOOK, THEY MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE CONTENTS OF THIS BOOK AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. NO WARRANTY MAY BE CREATED OR EXTENDED BY SALES REPRESENTATIVES OR WRITTEN SALES MATERIALS. THE ADVICE AND STRATEGIES CONTAINED HEREIN MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR YOUR SITUATION. YOU SHOULD CONSULT WITH A PROFESSIONAL WHERE APPROPRIATE. NEITHER THE PUBLISHER NOR AUTHOR SHALL BE LIABLE FOR ANY LOSS OF PROFIT OR ANY OTHER COMMERCIAL DAMAGES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR OTHER DAMAGES.

For general information on our other products and services or to obtain technical support, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 800-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002.

Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2003114793

ISBN: 0-7645-4997-9

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

3B/SU/RR/QT

About the Author

After spending his first two post-college years working for a dead-end corporation that encouraged its employees to use euphemisms to disguise the fact that they were manufacturing nuclear weapons with the potential to wipe out most forms of life on the planet, Wallace Wang decided that his life was meant to be spent doing something more exciting than existing in a corporate culture that stifled freedom and democracy while building missiles ostensibly to protect freedom and democracy. With the thought of escape in his mind, he bought one of the first IBM personal computers on the market — and quickly realized that the accompanying computer manuals were completely incomprehensible.

After deciphering the manuals and learning to master the arcane commands of the ancient MS-DOS version 1.25 operating system, Wallace decided to publish fragments of his notes in a local computer magazine for the amusement of others — and to provide an alternative source of income for his eventual departure from the mentally suffocating environment of the military-industrial complex.

After people began responding favorably to his introductory computer magazine articles, he continued writing more, eventually turning to writing full-time. For the first time, he managed to earn a living in a job that didn’t involve developing something that could blow up people who happen to live in another part of the world.

Today, the author is happily pursuing a dual career in the book publishing industry and the stand-up comedy industry. His eventual goal is to convince people that enjoying yourself while learning is all right. In the meantime, he plans to continue making fun of any idiots and morons who happen to get in his way.

Dedication

This book is dedicated to all the wonderful people I’ve met along the path of life, including . . .

Cassandra (my wife), Jordan (my son), and Bo, Scraps, Tasha, and Nuit (our cats).

Lily Carnie, the only person I know who can truly see both sides of the story.

All the friendly folks I’ve met while performing at the Riviera Comedy Club, located at the Riviera Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas: Steve Schirripa (who also appears on the HBO show, The Sopranos, which you can read about at www. hbo.com/sopranos), Don Learned, Bob Zany, Gerry Bednob, Bruce Clark, Darrell Joyce, Tony Vicich, and Kip Addotta. The next time you’re visiting Las Vegas, drop by the Riviera and watch a comedy show. Then dump some money in a slot machine on the way out to ensure that the Riviera Hotel & Casino continues making enough money to keep its comedy club open.

Patrick DeGuire, who helped me form Top Bananas (at www.topbananas.com), our company devoted to providing clean, quality stand-up comedy to the wonderful people in San Diego. Thanks must also go to Leo (the man, the myth, the legend) Fontaine, Chris (the Zooman) Clobber, and Dante (who gets excited just to see his name in a book).

Author’s Acknowledgments

If it weren’t for Matt Wagner and Bill Gladstone at Waterside Productions, I may never have written this book (and someone else may have). That’s why I don’t mind paying these guys 15 percent of the book royalties so that they can afford to buy their groceries.

Additional thanks go to Allen Wyatt (the technical reviewer) for making sure that everything in this book is accurate, and to Cassandra (my wife) for putting up with multiple computers that (from her point of view) seem to spontaneously appear and disappear from the house at random. Each time a computer disappears, a more advanced model appears that promises more speed and hard disk space but still never seems to have more speed or as much room as the previous computer model that it replaced.

A final note of thanks must go to the Chinese and Russians who’ve translated my other books, Microsoft Office For Dummies and Visual Basic For Dummies. The Chinese and Russian editions are the only foreign translations of my books ever to include my previously published references to General Dynamics as a “bomb factory.” Whether translators in other countries purposely omitted this humorous reference or whether it’s just a coincidence that only the Chinese and Russian editions included this reference is unknown.

Still, this fact alone provides an endless source of amusement to think that Chinese and Russian readers are privy to an American joking about his country’s nuclear missile factories, while readers in other countries are not. For that reason alone, the Chinese and Russian translators of my books have my eternal gratitude and blessing, not because they happen to be Chinese or Russian, but because they appear to be able to appreciate a joke.

Publisher’s Acknowledgments

We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our online registration form located at www.dummies.com/register/.

Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:

Publishing and Editorial for Technology Dummies

Richard Swadley, Vice President and Executive Group Publisher

Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher

Mary C. Corder, Editorial Director

Publishing for Consumer Dummies

Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher

Joyce Pepple, Acquisitions Director

Composition Services

Gerry Fahey, Vice President of Production Services

Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services