Discussion Starting programming for a dummy????

[puppy9]

Hey, to any tech experts or anyone that has experience. The book below; is it any good for a beginner like me? I just wanna dip my toe into programming to see whether it is my thing or not. If there is any helpful tips, please do share. Thanks in advance guys.

 

[Brick In The Wall]

I'm not familiar with said book. Books are a great resource but It's usually best to just start writing code. Maybe read a few chapters then try to write something that uses what you've learned.

 

[JustLosingMyself]

Try datacamp. Online school

 

[Squiddy]

Try Udemy

 

[Brick In The Wall]

Try Udemy

I've used Udemy before and it's not bad for some things. I'd be very skeptical of online classes though.

I still think your best bet is to just dive in. Pull up a YouTube tutorial and start writing code along with it.

 

[BigLucs]

Three resources you can use that will teach you free start to finish.
freecodecamp.org
Codecadamy.com
theodinproject

Each one has different focus' so shop around until you find what language you like. It depends on what you want to use it for. Wanna build websites? Videogames? Apps? Each is gonna have different languages for different practices.

 

[TheSoulless]

I've tried to learn programming before, and Codecademy is great if you like interactive lessons.

 

[WhiteDespair]

I learned powershell by writing scripts.

Books are a good resource and you'll need to practice.

You can pm me if you want to know specifics or have questions.

 

[Meena]

Maybe you should start with Html, Css and javascript. Freecodecamp and codeacademy are great tools

 

[Life sucks]

I don't know about the book. If you want to know if programming is your thing, start with basics and fundamentals because thats how every program works. I don't know about new and recommended languages nowadays but I think the old ones like C/C++/Java can be used to learn the basics and give strong fundamentals. Once you learn fundamentals, you can learn other languages depending on what you want or need.

 

[mxEll]

I'm no expert but I've tried learning a few different languages and by far the simplest one I found is Python. There's a book called Python for Everybody by Charles Severance. He also has a course on Coursera. Would highly recommend for a beginner.

 

[HeartbrokenViking1]

I'm a professional programmer, would personally recommend against PHP and go for JavaScript. Far more demand, and easier to learn since you can just jump into the browser and start coding.

These days you don't even need to download stuff if you want to get started. Check out https://stackblitz.com/ it just sets up an entire environment for you right in the browser to play around with.

Just pick the "JavaScript - Blank Project" at the bottom.
I learned from https://www.w3schools.com/ it's free and full of examples.
However https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/ is the thing you would want to check out eventually as it has all the web documentation, I usually just put "mdn" at the end of my google search when I am working.

And of course there is https://stackoverflow.com/ where every question ever has already been asked hehe.

 

[TotallyIsolated]

Yay good for you.
Python or JavaScript would be easier to learn and more useful. You don't need to spend a penny to learn this stuff, even to an advanced level IMO.

 

[Pallf]

HTML, CSS, and Python is what I started with. I think Python is well regarded for people just starting out.

 

[ThisIsIt]

computer-science/README.md at master · ossu/computer-science

🎓 Path to a free self-taught education in Computer Science! - ossu/computer-science

github.com

This will get you started on a very solid path. It's a structured compilation of quality, free online courses

 

[Pupuce]

I'd say JavaScript and python, but python would be better to start as it would help more getting the habit of coding cleanly than JS.

I'm a professional programmer, would personally recommend against PHP and go for JavaScript.

You. I like you. A lot.

 

[RileyTanaka]

Bumping this thread - because of these comments, I ended up signing up for HTML / CSS course on a whim on Coursera, as well as opening up accounts on GitHub, StackOverflow, and FreeCodeCamp. Finished course and ended up loving it. My main task now is to learn and become comfortable with Javascript. Maybe try out NodeJs, SQL from there if I'm not too dumb for this lol. So thanks for all the helpful advice!

FreeCodeCamp is good for practice but not as a learning reference imo. I'd recommend people here check out some youtube tutorials by TraversyMedia, mmtuts, Web Dev Simplified, and WhatsDev. I've also heard some good things about Colt Steel's Udemy course on Javascript. There's also plenty of good online tutorial websites that explain basics of programming (some more clearly than others): tutorialspoint.io, MDN (mozilla developers network), W3Schools, etc.

 

[JoeFailure]

Would you all say it's tough to become a software engineer or programmer? I've thought about this or UX Design too.

 

[puppy9]

Bumping this thread - because of these comments, I ended up signing up for HTML / CSS course on a whim on Coursera, as well as opening up accounts on GitHub, StackOverflow, and FreeCodeCamp. Finished course and ended up loving it. My main task now is to learn and become comfortable with Javascript. Maybe try out NodeJs, SQL from there if I'm not too dumb for this lol. So thanks for all the helpful advice!

FreeCodeCamp is good for practice but not as a learning reference imo. I'd recommend people here check out some youtube tutorials by TraversyMedia, mmtuts, Web Dev Simplified, and WhatsDev. I've also heard some good things about Colt Steel's Udemy course on Javascript. There's also plenty of good online tutorial websites that explain basics of programming (some more clearly than others): tutorialspoint.io, MDN (mozilla developers network), W3Schools, etc.

Thanks for the Bump Riley. Wow, I'm proud and impressed of you being able to finish a task that is impossible for me, because my brain capabilities is deteriorating. Thanks @RileyTanaka. You inspired me and possibly others on this forum.

Would you all say it's tough to become a software engineer or programmer? I've thought about this or UX Design too.

Hey if anyone out there who make a living from programming please help @JoeFailure out. Thanks.Good luck buddy.

 

[Incorrigible77777]

Anyone interested in referral quote at big IT company feel free to contact me, before I catch the next bus

 

[Pupuce]

Would you all say it's tough to become a software engineer or programmer? I've thought about this or UX Design too.

I might be awfully late to answer, but here's what I've gotten in the little time I've spent in classes and the few projects I've made.
It isn't hard as a whole, if you're good with problem solving, well organized and at least decent in maths and logic. The one major quality you need is efficient google search. People make it sound like what you're going to do all day long is spamming the keyboard with god-like level of thinking, but honestly you go on google, see what's been made already, and see how you can adapt it to your situation. If you want to go towards game programming, the maths needed are clearly harder though.

I can't help you for UX tho, it's not something i've done too much

 

[Intheo]

I would say it might be one of the best things for people in this community to learn. It's an actual skill that you can build upon and doesn't require as much social interaction although it helps. You can work remotely either for a company or have your own freelance business. It's a skill that's always going to be in demand anywhere in the world so it could help some people change their environments.