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Some of the advice in there is really horrible. Start learning to code with Tizag tutorials!? No. Pick a language. It doesn't matter which, pick any language.
by mtogo 15y ago
Some of the advice in there is really horrible. Start learning to code with Tizag tutorials!?
No. Pick a language. It doesn't matter which, pick any language. Python, Ruby, C, C++, Java, Smalltalk, PHP, Scheme, Io, whatever. Now find an introduction to computer science course or textbook. Spend a couple months working your way through it until you understand all of the concepts. Take a day or two off to learn version control.
Now, assuming your goal is to learn webdev, find a web framework for your language of choice (If you picked a language that isn't commonly used for webdev, spend a weekend learning a new one). Follow it's introduction tutorial or a related tutorial (e.g. Djangobook).
Once you have the basics down, pick up a book on software engineering like Code Complete and work through the basic concepts of good design and clean code.
But most importantly, make things. Scratch your own itch. Contribute to a FOSS project. Write scripts and little applications of various types. The one thing this post did get right was that the best way to learn is by trial and error.
It's really not that hard and you'll enjoy every minute of it (or you won't, in which case you don't want to be a programmer).
If you don't have the patience to spend 6-8 months learning CS, your language, and your framework of choice, you don't have the patience to work on and ship a software project.
- itiztv 15y agoYou have bloated and make it look overly complicated to begin with. Personally I find the article more inspirational to newbies than your misguided rant on the best approach to learning programming. Seriously does a FOSS make one a better programmer? Phew!!!
- panschk13 15y agoI think the general idea of the article - to find something you want to do and then use google to solve it, is a good one. If you force people to first read big books about coding guidelines before doing anything of interest TO THEM, most will just give up. Of course, one can disagree about the articles or sites suggested, but that's not the main point IMO.
- mtogo 15y agoMy point is that CS should be of interest to them. I mean, they can become copy-and-paste ASP.NET programmers who botch projects all day, but realistically, they're going to love learning the basic CS concepts, or they're not going to love programming at all.
- pheaduch 15y agoJust Googling is horrible way to learn how to program. Sure you may find an answer relatively quickly, but down the road when you come up against more difficult problems and can't find the answer, what then? You don't learn by just Googling, you learn by working through the problem which reinforces concepts that you've read. Using Google is like if you were to go through school just copying answers -- you'd learn absolutely nothing!