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That's the other thing. Pretty much every tutorial I find is front-end web development, which I understand is most of what we interact with on a computer, but n

That's the other thing. Pretty much every tutorial I find is front-end web development, which I understand is most of what we interact with on a computer, but not especially appealing to me (fiddling with CSS doesn't feel like programming). The intro classes I took were Java, IDL (computational astrophysics, learning to solve ODEs) and also Javascript via HTML5 Canvas (a really fun class on chaos theory and fractal art). I got all As and thought it was easy. Beyond that, learning on my own, it got really hard really fast and I didn't know what to do. I'm interested in iOS app development but that requires a Mac. I'm probably gonna grab an M1 Mac Mini. I've tried CS50, got most of the way through it but it's tough to be motivated by self-guided courses when I'm not forced to do it. I was able to do the first week or so of Advent of Code before it got way too tough. I love self learning mostly, but for programming it did help to have lectures, grades, and office hours. I have choice paralysis where I just dabble in all sorts of things and don't know what to commit to.

dataflow 6y ago
If there's any programming-adjacent technology that is practically guaranteed to make you want to pull your hair out, it's CSS :-) I don't find web dev appealing in general either, so lots of sympathies there. It's nice that you've tried Java and computational stuff and found those more appealing. Re: CS50, my understanding is that while the course is well-structured, they do start with C, which is better suited for people who really like learning from the "bottom up", rather than those who learn better "top-down". You might be in the latter group. If all that sounds about accurate, it's probably better to focus on courses that start with higher-level technologies like Python, C#, or Java in the beginning (but stay away from web dev). Python is the most likely to feel "natural", so that's what I recommend to people just starting out. You could check out Berkeley's CS 61A for example (though I think MIT/Harvard have Python-based courses too). If you stayed on Windows, I'd recommend Visual Studio 2019 (not to be confused with Visual Studio Code), since it has everything well-integrated together. But courses focus on UNIX-based tools, so you'd indeed want a Mac if you're following anything that uses the terminal. And if iOS app development is your goal then you definitely don't want to go with Windows, though I don't have any experience with that so I can't give you pointers (hah) there. CS in general isn't about just coding though; the algorithms and data structures are extremely important, and they aren't necessarily easy to pick up, so that's normal. And self-guided courses in general definitely need a lot of motivation, and that's easier said than done for most people, so don't feel like it's just you. You probably want to pick something where you have a good dose of interest & curiosity to drive yourself instead of just relying on the course, regardless of what you're doing. Not sure how helpful this is but best of luck trying it with a Mac!

dataflow 6y ago

If there's any programming-adjacent technology that is practically guaranteed to make you want to pull your hair out, it's CSS :-) I don't find web dev appealing in general either, so lots of sympathies there. It's nice that you've tried Java and computational stuff and found those more appealing. Re: CS50, my understanding is that while the course is well-structured, they do start with C, which is better suited for people who really like learning from the "bottom up", rather than those who learn better "top-down". You might be in the latter group. If all that sounds about accurate, it's probably better to focus on courses that start with higher-level technologies like Python, C#, or Java in the beginning (but stay away from web dev). Python is the most likely to feel "natural", so that's what I recommend to people just starting out. You could check out Berkeley's CS 61A for example (though I think MIT/Harvard have Python-based courses too). If you stayed on Windows, I'd recommend Visual Studio 2019 (not to be confused with Visual Studio Code), since it has everything well-integrated together. But courses focus on UNIX-based tools, so you'd indeed want a Mac if you're following anything that uses the terminal. And if iOS app development is your goal then you definitely don't want to go with Windows, though I don't have any experience with that so I can't give you pointers (hah) there. CS in general isn't about just coding though; the algorithms and data structures are extremely important, and they aren't necessarily easy to pick up, so that's normal. And self-guided courses in general definitely need a lot of motivation, and that's easier said than done for most people, so don't feel like it's just you. You probably want to pick something where you have a good dose of interest & curiosity to drive yourself instead of just relying on the course, regardless of what you're doing. Not sure how helpful this is but best of luck trying it with a Mac!