Might be the wrong place to post, but where/how would I go about learning how to program?
4 16 Jul 2015 22:33 by u/10q20w
As the title suggests, I'd like to learn some programming.
The plan is to build a computer after the summer is past, and I want to be able to do some cool things with it, and imo there is nothing cooler than writing some cool script or whatnot that does something useful.
I've been recommended Python and Javascript as beginner languages before. How did you guys go about learning how to program?
4 comments
2 u/Craftkorb 17 Jul 2015 00:27
I won't discourage you from learning Python nor Javascript. Both have quite a big following, making things easier.
I want to however encourage you to also look at all kinds of languages. Maybe not now. But if anyone ever tells you that "Some language here is shit because it's so hard!", then please ignore that person. That's like the thought police of programming. Programming languages have their place. Some may be outdated as another language now fills their place now. That's fine, doesn't mean though the previous language is the worst thing ever.
Next, I want to encourage you to do something other think is insane. Try to program something else than the billionths calculator in JS. That's a nice thing to have, but won't teach you a lot of the inner workings of a computer. Will you need that knowledge every waking minute as developer? Thank god no. But will it help you understand things? Absolutely. (And makes for quite some interesting trivia knowledge, heh)
Maybe a challenge? You don't have to do it, of course. Pick up any language and learn it. In maybe two years, come back and learn C with the by then current standard (Probably C17), don't waste your time with C89. Now, go to osdev.org and begin to write a small kernel, the beginning of a small operating system. You'll never learn so much, swear so much and want to kill someone so much ever before in a really short timeframe. And it's fun as hell too!
Oh, and I want to add Ruby to your mix of languages to look at as first language.
1 u/smartasscomment 16 Jul 2015 22:46
Well it was a long time ago but I started programming by tinkering with BASIC on the few computers my high school had. Then I studied programming in college. Things have really changed in the past 35 years.
These days, I'd say codecademy.com is a good place to go for a beginner looking to learn programming. Personally I prefer JavaScript over Python, but I have to admit Python may be better for a beginner trying to just get some simple programs running on your PC. Even though JavaScript -can- be used to run programs locally using a framework called Node.js, its natural environment is within a web browser.
1 u/ShipJumper 16 Jul 2015 22:51
If you haven't done any programming in the past and want to learn Python, then you should check out Learn Python The Hard Way. It's excellent, especially if you're a beginner.
Check out /v/learnprogramming which is not yet as full content/resource wise as the other site's version, but is a good start so far.
1 u/RaptorSixFour 17 Jul 2015 00:32
I didn't start programming until I was 18. At that point, I had taken several science and engineering classes, so I picked up programming for the scientifically inclined, which was a great choice, as it explained to me the C language starting from a place I can understand. I'm not sure what you are interested in, but choose that.