Getting into programming.

Post Reply New Topic

Hello folks, I'd like to begin with a minor synopsis on my situation. I'm 22, no income, family has no income, and I don't have much in the way of resources. I have taken and passed a years worth of college courses, so I know I'm not stupid. I'd like to get involved in programming by self teaching myself and then becoming a practitioner/self employed later.

What are great beginning languages to learn as a beginner (html, Java, C++, or Python)? What are Great programs to compile programming (I have used notepad++ before for some bug troubleshooting)? How should I expand my network? (I have a friend at a bar who does computer programming, he programs apps and maybe I can get some training from him?)

There are loads of other questions and I may have filled in some of the blanks; but I know my friend at the bar is legit but I'm not sure how to go about asking him for training. He has a lot of bad habits (other than drinking), and he is much older than I am so I'm not exactly comfortable yet.

It seems programming will be the new trade to learn; (much like what machinists and other trades) used to be.

just learn web dev, like php and javascript

python is also very good for basic learnings and much extensable, the syntax is very easy

php will give you a good learning curve, because you have fast results, which makes you happy.

javascript with node.js and ionic framework will give you the ability to build mobile apps, which is a good paid thing today and it is also easy language, but, of course, can get complicated.

if you want theory on today's basic programming standards, read about:
OOP
agile
scrum & kanban
continous integration


don't start with a low-end language like c, c++ or c#, it is not helpful, because you will suffer very much and have no fun on it.


just join: https://www.codecademy.com
and/or: https://www.freecodecamp.com/about/
get live help here: https://gitter.im/FreeCodeCamp

get a simple and a full IDE editor:
simple: notepad++ & https://atom.io
complex: eclipse / netbeans / phpstorm


greets

I was going to say python too

that's what they started on in my college as a prereq before other programming languages
but html/css/javascript is a good basis, that's what I started on pre-college

wish i'd learned php, but there's time

codeecademy and codeschool are great and give a decent amount free

Yes python has a very easy and readable syntax, but it can also be very complex and operate on low-levels, which it is the preferred language which Google uses in their infrastructure.

When you get into Webdev you also need to know markup languages, please don't mix real programming languages with the frontend technics. Of course these days there is no more clear line (AngularJS), but it is better for beginners to clarify this.

You could also give Go a try or just start with PHP, it is also easy to learn, but there is more syntax, so for very easy beginning with results you should take python.

c# isn't a low-level language, it's quite high level. Furthermore if PHP was a Ford Focus c# would be a Ferrari. PHP is ridiculously old and out-dated.

PHP isn't even that old. It's newer than Python by a few years. People like to hate on it, though.

It's 20 years old, in computing that's a lifetime.

PHP, Ruby, and Java are all 22 years old and Python 26.

Python is a great place to start. These days it wouldn't hurt to look at JavaScript - node.js for server side. I don't mind PHP, and PHP 7 has some big improvements. If you do PHP, look at some frameworks like Laravel and Symfony. I like Flask (Python) and there's always Rails. But I'd start with Python and go from there.

I'm in the same boat here. I'm 25 and I have no income of my own. I want to get into programming, mostly webdev, but I'm not sure how I should properly begin. I have troubles planning out stuff like this.

There are loads of free courses on MOOCs like Coursera, EdX, Udacity, etc. You could follow the full-stack web dev nanocert at Udacity for some structure. You can take all the courses for free. I'm not convinced paying for the piece of paper is worth it. I always take the free version.

Just before giving any advice : the first question you should ask yourself is what kind of things you want to do. Websites ? Applications ? Fixing computers ? This will already give you a very first direction.
And then try by yourself. Take a look at real examples (simple examples, of course) of the language(s) you'd like to learn. No abstract guides, just pages of source code or commands that you'd like to understand, and try to use them or edit them just with logical guessing and sometimes taking a look on Internet only if you really need it. See if you "get it" and find it fun. I can say that starting this way has the potential to make you progress extremely fast because you can dive right into each language's logic and syntax, and you quickly get rewarded with concrete results. It's always worked much better and been much more fun to me than some methods' obscure verbal soup. View it as a logical puzzle that you need to solve, and how you can take the pieces to make a different one, or even a better one.
Because I must tell you that if you're doing it only for money, and nothing else, it's going to be boring and hard to learn. If you find it fun, on the contrary, if you love logic, it's very addictive, fun and then with time you can start thinking about making money with what you like to create.
Anyway, to go back top my first paragraph, it's hard to directly give you advice if you don't already have a good idea of what you concretely want to create with your knowledge, and if haven't tried to take a look to different languages on your own so you can have an idea on how easily (or not) you can understand what's written without any help. It's different for every person. One thing is sure, if you don't have the passion, meaning that you'd still love to practice even if you didn't get any money from it, don't do it.

I'm not the OP, but Miss, what method are you describing? Is that immersing yourself without the proper structure of other methods?

Also, I always had a burning passion to build things, but I'm not sure if I can understand the logic of programming. I find logic boring anyway. I wish I was a more logical thinker, because it sounds fun making apps or software. Can I be a good programmer if I work hard enough?

I want to start in Web Development, but someday I'd want to branch into something else.

i did a degree in computer science, i dropped out/failed the course because i felt like i was out of place and also it was like learning an alien language

at college (high school) i earned a high grade diploma which i think the tutors just gave me because i struggle with IT in general now and video games are my only knowledge, maybe not even that. so im stuck in what direction im going, except taking odd jobs. now im starting to try and get into android development which i have a few ideas to kick off the ground but problem is i feel like im stuck on the basic level of programming and i'm using a program does part of the programming for me which doesn't help, and after a while i just lose motivation and that sudden buzz of creativity that makes me want to build upon a program just disappears and i just go elsewhere and watch something or play a game to get some inspiration or just relax

Yes, complete immersion will force you to understand the basic structure and to assimilate how it works very quickly. Try building simple pages with what you just learned.
But if you don't really like logical puzzles, you might feel lost and view it as a chore. It won't be a big problem with HTML for example, but HTML is far from being enough.
Be sure that you truly like and easily assimilate what you're doing before deciding to be a web developer, because if you don't like it, you're going to seriously struggle learning.

More votes for codecademy and udacity.

Another vote for Python, also this is a really good book: https://pragprog.com/book/gwpy2/practical-programming . I used this book and skipped my first year computer programming course in college. This is a great start if you have absolutely no background. The other online courses do not go into enough concepts in my opinions.