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You're most likely getting downvoted because the modern lets-hot-glue-a-bunch-of-dependencies-together approach notwithstanding programming has gotten signific

You're most likely getting downvoted because the modern lets-hot-glue-a-bunch-of-dependencies-together approach notwithstanding programming has gotten significantly more complex over the years. Can you muddle through with youtube videos and SO? Sure, if you want the career equivalent of staggering around in the dark stepping on rakes.

jebarker 3y ago
Exactly. The newer teaching materials and resources are great, but they don't change the advice in the article about how to learn programming. In fact, they might make it harder in some ways because of the temptation to take shortcuts.
bluetomcat 3y ago
The idea that one needs MIT-level training with SICP and AOCP is elitist and sickening. You start by writing small and useful tools that help you explore the language features. You compare your code to other people's code solving a similar problem. You look for ways to make it shorter, more readable, more efficient by reading SO and watching YouTube.
- bborud 3y ago
  Nobody says you do. In fact, I agree that a lot of the paths people who have never mentored a programmer their entire life think you have to take are bullshit. (Teaching is not mentoring. Mentoring is mentoring). However, that doesn't mean that it doesn't take a lot to become a decent programmer. It does. And not just in terms of time, but perhaps most importantly in terms of intellectual maturity.
- forgetfreeman 3y ago
  Nobody said an Ivy League educations is (or should be) a requirement to write code. That said without some form of guidance a fledgling developer has no way to discern good code from bad or grasp the architectural or security implications of some random-ass code snippet they lifted off of SO. So again, unless your plan is to spend the bulk of your career repeating other people's mistakes in an effort to learn the hard way getting some kind of formal training should be a primary goal. I'm entirely self-taught and let me tell you from experience rediscovering a design pattern from first principles years after the book was published isn't as heroic as it sounds.

jebarker 3y ago

Exactly. The newer teaching materials and resources are great, but they don't change the advice in the article about how to learn programming. In fact, they might make it harder in some ways because of the temptation to take shortcuts.

bluetomcat 3y ago

The idea that one needs MIT-level training with SICP and AOCP is elitist and sickening. You start by writing small and useful tools that help you explore the language features. You compare your code to other people's code solving a similar problem. You look for ways to make it shorter, more readable, more efficient by reading SO and watching YouTube.

bborud 3y ago
Nobody says you do. In fact, I agree that a lot of the paths people who have never mentored a programmer their entire life think you have to take are bullshit. (Teaching is not mentoring. Mentoring is mentoring). However, that doesn't mean that it doesn't take a lot to become a decent programmer. It does. And not just in terms of time, but perhaps most importantly in terms of intellectual maturity.
forgetfreeman 3y ago
Nobody said an Ivy League educations is (or should be) a requirement to write code. That said without some form of guidance a fledgling developer has no way to discern good code from bad or grasp the architectural or security implications of some random-ass code snippet they lifted off of SO. So again, unless your plan is to spend the bulk of your career repeating other people's mistakes in an effort to learn the hard way getting some kind of formal training should be a primary goal. I'm entirely self-taught and let me tell you from experience rediscovering a design pattern from first principles years after the book was published isn't as heroic as it sounds.