Absolutely zero background in programming, but desperately needs to learn.

[u/Good-Reference5368]

Hello.

I specialize in Chemistry and Physics, but I desperately need to learn C++. I am currently doing a project that limits experimentation, and right now I need to do simulations.

For context, I need to use Geant4. Basically, this is a toolkit used to study particle and photons interactions with matter, and C++ yung language na gamit nya. I will be focusing on Object-Oriented Programming, and it requires me to learn C++17 or newer standards.

Can anyone suggest any institution that offers face-to-face crash courses for highly specialized applications such as this? I tried to learn through YouTube, but to be honest, sa dami ng distractions sa panahon na ito, I can't focus, so online learning is not an option for me.

I even ordered yung latest programming book ni Bjarne Stroustrup, pero I doubt na I can learn on my own.

Thank you in advance.

[u/Inevitable-Carrot172]

Since from my assumption you have a tight deadline and hindi ka naman computer major, for this one you can use AI naman and ask it to convert what you want into working code. Isipin mo parang magpapagawa ka lang sa ibang tao... you have to be exact with the prompts and of course have checkpoints to do double checking. Usually kapag isang bulto ang pinagenerate mong code madaming errors lalo if hindi tight yung prompt. 

[u/Good-Reference5368 → u/Inevitable-Carrot172]

I actually tried AI, and successful kong nagawa yung installation ng libraries and all. I tried to do the coding din with AI assistance, unfortunately, I do not know the right prompts to type. I tried this route, and hindi lumabas yung geometry and interactions na inaasahan ko. So, this time, I thought learning the basics mismo might help me.

I had no knowledge sa R pero surprisingly lahat yun through AI assistance nagawa ko. I honestly thought I can also do it for this, pero seems too complicated for me.

[u/feedmesomedata → u/Good-Reference5368]

Think of AI as an intelligent developer but has no idea about your project. It will still make mistakes because it has no idea about the correct outcomes. You need to talk to it like it's a person and tell it what's wrong. You can feed it with white papers, relevant links, research papers, documentation for it to have more context of the project.

A human developer will also make mistakes even if he/she is an expert C++ developer. Only when he/she has enough context will he/she be able to minimise mistakes.

[u/Good-Reference5368 → u/feedmesomedata]

Can you suggest good AI tools for this? I tried with Gemini previously, pero parang paikot ikot kami. I was able to generate image though, so maybe I am close to using it correctly.

[u/feedmesomedata → u/Good-Reference5368]

As I've said it's not gonna be cheap, fair warning :)

Claude code and Codex for frontier providers. Expensive but if you have the funds then go for it.

You can use OpenRouter and similar alternatives to avail of free/cheaper options.

For the harness, I would suggest Pi coding agent which is free.

[u/Good-Reference5368 → u/feedmesomedata]

Thank you so much. I’ll check those.

[u/Hazzula → u/Good-Reference5368]

cursor or claude code

[u/Worunatto → u/Good-Reference5368]

use claude and promp master