A newest bie here :)

[patfract]

Hello! This is patfract  sorry i don't have any idea on programming.  Only thing I know is that I am fascinated by fractals. However, I want to program something on this. Just want to know what could be the best (better) way to get into programming (on MandelBrot..oh! this is like.. awwwwwsome). I understand this a tough question. Still... Thanks 

[Thunderwave]

I have been playing with programming off and on.  I tried reading books on C, C++ and Java, but I learned more from trial and error and looking up how-to.  I also looked into scripting languages such as Javascript and Ruby.

There is no easy way, IMHO.  But I recently got into "Processing",  there's already a bunch of fractal scripts to examine and mess with and it's using Java.

http://processing.org/
http://processing.org/learning/topics/mandelbrot.html: Example of a rendered Mandelbrot in Processing. It's already an example in the program.
It's available for Windows, Macintosh, and Linux.  I use it on both Mac and Windows 7.

[sonofthort]

Get yourself a good free c++ compiler such as Microsoft Visual Studios Express Edition (my recommendation), or Eclipse if you are not using Windows.  From there is just a matter of learning the language and how to code.

There are plenty of tutorials out there.  I would start with "hello world" programs, which are supposed to help teach you the basics.  I can't really recommend any tutorials, but I do use www.cplusplus.com a lot for reference.  Also, you should search for tutorials which use what ever c++ compiler you use.

Once you are ready for graphics, I find that SDL is extremely easy to learn and use.  It is graphics library you can import into your project which lets you set up a drawing window and begin drawing pixels and what not with ease.

Some SDL sites which I would recommend:

http://www.libsdl.org/ - The official site

http://www.lazyfoo.net/SDL_tutorials/ - One of the best tutorials on the web

http://sol.gfxile.net/gp/ -  A tutorial that I found to be very helpful for getting stuff up and running.

http://www.ferzkopp.net/joomla/content/view/19/14/ - "SDL_gfx", A very popular extension to SDL

[patfract]

Thanks for the help 

[patfract]

wow.... thanks again