Kaustubh
Member • Nov 4, 2015
What is the best way to learn programming?
I've been learning to program for the past ~1 year and have made significant progress. I think I've learned a lot of important things about the ways to learn programming and thought of sharing my learnings with you. I think these learnings will help those who want to learn programming but have failed at it for various reasons.
1. Do NOT learn programming from books!
Buying or renting a programming book is one of the first steps many newbie programmers take. Not that I'm against it; in fact, I recommend that you should indeed buy a good book. But do not start learning from the book chapter by chapter. I'll tell you what will happen: you will start reading with chapter 1 and even do exercises. But by the time you reach chapter 4-5; or let's say when the 'hard stuff' begins, you will start getting bored!
You will not only lose your enthusiasm, but also be lazy. You will want to jump to other advance chapters to see what they have for you - and things will look even more frightening. End result? You will give it up.
I've done that so many times!
2. Use Books Only For Reference!
I think books must be used ONLY for reference, while you are learning a new programming language. Books are divided into chapters and instead of reading from page number 1, you can simply head over to the chapter that you wish to refer to. A good book will offer end-to-end help to most of the the concepts and save you a lot of precious time!
3. Start with a small, fun software project
I'd strongly recommend that you should begin learning any programming language by starting with a small and fun software project. For example, if you are learning C, C++, Java or .Net; think of a project that is small; yet fun to do. It's important that the project should be interesting - because that will keep you motivated. It should be small as well; because you do need success to stay motivated, right?
So what's a small project? Well, think about developing a simple 'time-keeper' that helps you maintain a record of your daily activities. Or how about an app that lets you split the expenses among your friends for restaurant bills. If that's hard, what about a simple software application that keeps track of your smartphone recharges and generates graphs?
4. Learn the basics from videos on the Internet
Name any programming language and you will find free video tutorials on YouTube. Make some good use of YouTube. The basic of programming language is 'logic' and the simplest of the language reserved keywords. As soon as you get a 'feel' of how to write in programming language; you are good to take up your first small project.
5. Keep staring at the code and try to make sense
Head over to GITHUB and find out the examples coded in the programming language that you are planning to learn. Keep staring at the code even if it does not make sense. Keep doing this until you start finding the links; and the code start making 'some sense'. That's a good start. It will help you when you advance a bit! This may seem weird; but that's exactly what helped me make some really good progress in programming!
Trust me, the ONLY way that works in learning a programming language OR anything else is that you should actually get your hands dirty. That is, you will NEVER learn any programming language just by reading a book and never coding anything using your own brain and hands.
Do you agree with above points? Do you have points to share or thoughts to discuss? Post them. Let's see if we can find out the top ways to learn programming language.
1. Do NOT learn programming from books!
Buying or renting a programming book is one of the first steps many newbie programmers take. Not that I'm against it; in fact, I recommend that you should indeed buy a good book. But do not start learning from the book chapter by chapter. I'll tell you what will happen: you will start reading with chapter 1 and even do exercises. But by the time you reach chapter 4-5; or let's say when the 'hard stuff' begins, you will start getting bored!
You will not only lose your enthusiasm, but also be lazy. You will want to jump to other advance chapters to see what they have for you - and things will look even more frightening. End result? You will give it up.
I've done that so many times!
2. Use Books Only For Reference!
I think books must be used ONLY for reference, while you are learning a new programming language. Books are divided into chapters and instead of reading from page number 1, you can simply head over to the chapter that you wish to refer to. A good book will offer end-to-end help to most of the the concepts and save you a lot of precious time!
3. Start with a small, fun software project
I'd strongly recommend that you should begin learning any programming language by starting with a small and fun software project. For example, if you are learning C, C++, Java or .Net; think of a project that is small; yet fun to do. It's important that the project should be interesting - because that will keep you motivated. It should be small as well; because you do need success to stay motivated, right?
So what's a small project? Well, think about developing a simple 'time-keeper' that helps you maintain a record of your daily activities. Or how about an app that lets you split the expenses among your friends for restaurant bills. If that's hard, what about a simple software application that keeps track of your smartphone recharges and generates graphs?
4. Learn the basics from videos on the Internet
Name any programming language and you will find free video tutorials on YouTube. Make some good use of YouTube. The basic of programming language is 'logic' and the simplest of the language reserved keywords. As soon as you get a 'feel' of how to write in programming language; you are good to take up your first small project.
5. Keep staring at the code and try to make sense
Head over to GITHUB and find out the examples coded in the programming language that you are planning to learn. Keep staring at the code even if it does not make sense. Keep doing this until you start finding the links; and the code start making 'some sense'. That's a good start. It will help you when you advance a bit! This may seem weird; but that's exactly what helped me make some really good progress in programming!
Trust me, the ONLY way that works in learning a programming language OR anything else is that you should actually get your hands dirty. That is, you will NEVER learn any programming language just by reading a book and never coding anything using your own brain and hands.
Do you agree with above points? Do you have points to share or thoughts to discuss? Post them. Let's see if we can find out the top ways to learn programming language.
