So you want to learn to code? | Hacker News Reader

So you want to learn to code?

forrst.com

29 pointskylebragger10 comments

I would recommend reading a highly regarded book on the programming language you are interested in. To do this, go to Hacker Books (http://www.hackerbooks.com/) and search by what interests you.

Many people recommend Python as a good first language. This is what Eric Raymond suggests in his How to Become a Hacker essay (http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/hacker-howto.html): "It is cleanly designed, well documented, and relatively kind to beginners. Despite being a good first language, it is not just a toy; it is very powerful and flexible and well suited for large projects."

I suspect that most people's idea of the way to learn to code is pretty similar to the way they themselves learned to code. Once again it's Bucheit's Law: Advice = limited experience + massive overgeneralization

Speaking of which, I need y'all to open up BASIC and type:

10 PRINT "GREG STINKS!!!!"

20 GOTO 10

What's that? You don't have an older brother named Greg? Hmmm, this could be a bit of a problem then.

I think that the most valuable advice in this is in the first line, simply learn by doing. I've been wanting to learn to code for well over a year. However, I think I've watched to many videos and done to many guided tutorials...never actually getting enough time doing projects on my own to actually solidify any skills. Thus it feels like I haven't actually learnt anything at all. My day to day work doesn't involve any programming so carving out time to practice is hard, but sooo necessary. I've got my work cut out for me.

Learn by doing - yes, this is very important. I also like the points "post your code for review" and "ask for help". I guess you can improve the quality of your code pretty quickly with a little bit of help from others.

I agree. As a beginner myself, I'd been reading about Ruby and Rails for a month or so. Mind you I said READING, not doing. That whole month of reading went out the window the minute I actually sat down at my computer and got busy. There are SO many questions you'd never even think to ask if you just sat there and read books or blogs. I fully agree that the best way to improve is to sit down and start coding in your chosen language. Everything else is just a diversion. I'll add one thing to this discussion; don't be afraid to make mistakes. Don't be afraid if your code isn't the most efficient. Just write. You'll pick up on more efficient ways to write as you go. You just have to be observant of your process.

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.

I 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.

My 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.

Just 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!

How come articles like this come up on the homepage so often? A lot of us here already know how to code, and those who want to probably aren't reading Hacker News.

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