So how does one actually go about learning code?

So how does one actually go about learning code?

I've tried a bunch of times, but I think tutorials online and youtube videos move too slowly.

I'm thinking I need to just pick up a challenging project and figure it out?

Other urls found in this thread:

learnxinyminutes.com/
learncpp.com/
codecademy.com
discord.gg/rUuwtww
learnpythonthehardway.org/book/
twitter.com/SFWRedditVideos

forget about videos, tutorials, courses etc. Just go ahead and start coding something, google when you don't know how to proceed.

codeacadamy dot cum

get challenges, earn points. It's like a game for programmers.

Install Gentoo

assuming I am starting from scratch, And am down the middle, [average] in every way as far as my capacity to learn code.
How long will it take me before I can make money coding.
>A job, not freelance.
Just an estimate in months/years would be great since I have no reference, user

Assuming you can work on it 3-4 hours most days (as if you were working on a degree) probably 2 years to get a job. 3-4 years to get to a place where you could progress. If you're exactly average I would say combine that with some online courses and you could probably get a 100k/year job in 4 years.

Depends on you. Wish I had a better answer but some people in my major have jobs lined up because they fucking have so many projects under their belt with varying years of experience. Some people have spent almost a decade on this shit and still have entry level jobs making crap. Coding is like learning any trade, inherently Meaningless until you do something with it.

Cool. Took a basic C and Java course in college didn't really learn much.

Actually, the fact that I had shitty professors made it harder to understand in fact. I just need to start over

You absolutely *MUST* have a program you want to write FIRST.

This is the main helpful thing about programming classes: They hand you simple programs and require that you write them.

Any time I want to pick up a new language I choose a project to do with it. Without some kind of catalyst you'll just read reference manuals and be like "Hey, that sounds pretty neat! I'll watch some TV now."

2 years at 3-4 hours a day sounds long, I've heard from others that 1 yr of study gets you into an entry position.? \
>but thanks for not sugar coating it.
I assume 2yrs because I would need to learn many languages, right?
My game plan was to go from html to JS and front end stuff, then harder back end stuff like PHP.

Best way to learn code is to download the source of Bitcoin Core and figure out what it's doing. Can't be that hard.

This SO MUCH.

I work with (and hire) programmers and I am a programmer. A lot of people *paid to program* can't and don't get better even though they are being paid to sit in front of a computer for 8 hours every day and try.

Other people seem to soak it in effortlessly. Most people are somewhere in between.

Depending on factors that I don't know how to test for you will either learn quickly, slowly or not at all. If you can figure out how to tell which one you will be ahead of time you can make $$$ headhunting for IT companies.

so it sounds like ability means shit unless you can show something you've done in addition.
Again I have Zero experience to say "this is what I did at this job", so I'd just have to create shit on my own "portfolio website" to show hiring companies?

I think you could definitely get hired somewhere in a year. I guess I'm basing it more off of the average goals of someone who learns to code:
- Make money
- Work somewhere cool

At places like Microsoft/Google/Apple you're going to be competing with people who have been tinkering since they were 10 years old. The main time sink isn't going to be actual book/course learning it's going to be catching up with all the trial an error that exposed them to a ton of niche areas that you don't even know exist.

Care, there are many companies that end up not working with PHP because it's somewhat easy to learn by oneself, thus making it harder to find candidates with real knowledge and able to do more complex stuff.

But it depends on the country you're in, etc.

Most of what I'm reading is more or less legit advice.
Source: I'm an IT Recruiter Inb4 internet lies.

Look up project-based tutorials. You'll like learning it more and will be ready for a job sooner. Some good ones are Codecademy for basic languages like HTML and CSS or Automate the Boring Stuff if you want to use Python.

Honestly, once you know one programming language it's very easy to pick up a new one. It's mostly just learning the new syntax and standard libraries at that point. You already have the logic side of it down so you can learn a lot faster.

JS is harder than back-end stuff. Also, PHP is a terrible language that will fuck with your head. Learn an easy language first, then learn C, then go for JS. Learning programming at the same time you have to learn the DOM, CSS, jQuery, the weird event loop you get in browsers, and not being able to do any useful I/O is madness. Just don't.

I like Perl/Python/Ruby as a first language. I've heard BASIC and Pascal are okay, too. Lots of people learn Java first but this is a bad idea for several reasons.

Here you go op. learnxinyminutes.com/

My main goal is to get paid so I can quit my dead end, blue collar industry that pays me now.
I want to be all in (coding), and I need to find a way to cover rent doing it.

This could be the most accurate description of "learning to code" i've ever seen. It's not something you can easily read or study. Best practise is to use a programming language to make a simple project, then use what you learned to make something more complex.

Is there anything you wish your computer could do that it currently doesn't? Make that your goal, google and hack until you make it happen. Resist finding an existing tool (if any). Reinventing this is OK as a learning exercise; that's why literally every programmer ever ends up writing their own shitty notepad program.

As someone who started with Java I'd recommend starting with C, it really helped me grasp programming when I switched to C, I understood how to write programs before then, but didn't always know why things worked the way they did. C really helped me grasp at some missing concepts.

Can we get a Python subthread going? Thinking about learning that language

If I'm not mistaken it got updated from 2.x to 3.x? Will they be much different from each other

invest in a GitHub account or use BitBucket. they give you version control along with a decent 'portfolio' of everything that you've done and how you did it or contributed.

Python is great. Highly recommend starting out with that.

...

y dont you try a gaming learning course on udemy online courses
theres one famous one there thats pretty neat
and having to learn progamming with a goal in mind (like gaming in this instance) is a pretty neat way to tackle this through

Python is an excellent first language, even if you started with BASH shell scripting, you'd still get to understand common concepts that you can use elsewhere in the future.

Mostly the transition is seamless.

Cool. I'm excited to tackle this now. Thinking about making a simple RNG game or some shit

Story time OP.

In the mid 90s I wanted to make my own text adventure so I pestered my brother who was using TADS to show me how to make objects and rooms. I made some, had fun but never did anything more complex than a conditional and didn't really realize this was programming.

In 1998 I added some JS to a little personal web page so that a graphical button image would change on mouseover. Took ages and ages, but it worked.

In 1999 I read Slashdot and was impressed by it and everyone involved. I learned they used Perl so I decided to learn that. I spent the next 2 years tinkering, writing little scripts, little tools and accomplishing nothing useful.

In 2001 a game I combined my shitty perl skills with worse JS skills to make a very trivial multiplayer online game with a flatfile DB, then went to college to learn to be a programmer for real. 2 years later I learned nothing I didn't already know except for some SQL which I used to replace my game's flatfile with a mysql db.

In 2003 I got a job fixing computers. Minimum wage but I got to touch them every day. In 2004 I noticed that the shitty web site we used for tickets and inventory, a horrid thing written in php3, could use some updates. I was like "Hey, I know some HTML, JS, Perl and SQL. I could make a better site than this in my spare time!" So I did. Two weeks at home and then I showed my boss. She liked it enough that I was paid to finish it for another week. They used my system, with a few tweaks, for the next 8 years.

In 2007 based on "I wrote a game in Perl and JS once" and "I wrote a simple two-form one-db web tool once" and "I took an intro VB.net class once" I interviewed for and landed a job writing internal LAN web apps in C#, a language I had never seen before.

On the job in 2007 I learned C#, MSSQL, ASP.NET, etc.. I was instantly the #2 developer in terms of competence and quickly became #1, where I remained until 2012 when I moved on.

assuming all the above statements.
>no exp
>learning to code.
Where should one put focus first, second, third, etc.
It seems I was wrong about JS first and PHP

also, what kind of job could one expect after that 1-2 years learning

>learncpp.com/

good guide to give a grasp of it. pretty decent, make sure you actually type the code and complile so you learn shit instead of becoming some snippet faggot.

This is the sum extent of my knowledge

I used to know PHP but I forgot

> continuing

I am still in the job I took in 2012.

2 years of college consisting of 4 programming language courses, two of which were introductory, and one database course. About 3 years worth of tinkering on my own with my own stuff to figure things out before I programmed for money. The rest was on the job (and in my spare time off the job). Now I make six figures and I'm the lead software engineer in my group (for the last several years).

It may not be fast but you can do this, too. I just can't recommend it unless you find that you *enjoy* programming.

Ahh, I see.
In short,... Im fucked.

codecademy.com
/thread

>This right here gentlemen is what happens when you don't choose a dead language

Start with an easy language, write a program or two. When you understand conditionals, loops, functions and boolean logic pretty well stop and learn C. You may never use C but learning it will make you understand what the computer is doing in a way that nothing else will (except assembler, but that's harder than necessary).

After that learn JS and any other languages you find to be beneficial in the job market.

Pick up a book. Read the whole thing and do exercises as needed.

thanks user.

>I will mark this day as the time I actually got sincere advice on /b

Good job bro. That wasn't op but impressive story. I'm an engineering student hoping to make myself into a more demanded candidate when I graduate next year

I wouldn't say so. I did this at a slower rate than was absolutely required.

(0) I didn't have a goal of getting a job as a programmer for the first two years
(1) I didn't seek to learn anything useful at any time
(2) I am not a particularly fast learner

The good news for you is that the barrier to entry is getting lower all the time, except for on the web where it's moving so fast I can't even tell where it is any more.

You can learn enough to be a useful programmer in 6 months, with the right focus. When you learn at the pace of a hobby you get what I did.

I know a guy who's college coding book (JS, I think) was riddled with errors and crappy technique.

This

>perl as a first language

>learnCPp
Nice try, FBI

Tbh im actually curious myself

Sup Forums discord here

discord.gg/rUuwtww

...

You have no excuse not to know how to begin because there's a wealth of autists that put up videos, etc. A simple google search gives you everything you need to know.

An API is the tools that you are using, or the LANGUAGE that you need to know inside and out in order to maneuver. The thinking part of the problem solving skills process is how to best use the tools in order to get what you want.

That being said. learnpythonthehardway.org/book/
Go here, drink some fucking bear and put in the effort. Don't fag out. Bitch.

Sorry to keep beating a dead horse, but I am focusing on this one "job" time frame because it directly dictates my entire plan.
In short: I cannot quit my current industry until I can pay the rent with a coding job.
You say user wit hno exp, average ability, and lets say 3-6 hours per day and I should be around a 6 month to a year time frame to employment?
> I currently need around 35K USD

Checked

this might seem incredibly facile but if it helps;
the live boot OS most commonly used with the raspberry pi, raspbian, comes with several coding exercise programs - i am also seeking a greater understanding of ones and zeroes - having a 30$ computer i can practice linux command line stuff and bash scripting without worrying about scrambling it is nice

Start with html and go to c or Java

why would you start with html lol..

then what?

delete system 32
hard drive on freeze

dude... so idk about the US but where i live in Canada an employer will just dump your fckin resume out unless you have a college or university degree in programming. OR if you already have years experience..

To be honest, it doesn't matter what language you learn first. Pick a language and stick with it for at least a few months. I learnt Java first and am still using it, mainly for android apps. Python is a little more easy to pick up so I would recommend learning that first. If you hate yourself, learn C. It's more about learning how to think rather than the language. As many have already said, try and pick a project and stick with it. Hell, I learnt java writing fucking bots for runescape.

After doing Java for a couple years, I went straight into a summer internship using php for a month. Went in with little to no php knowledge, but I picked it up really easily because I knew how to code.

tl;dr pick any language and stick with it.

so you're saying college is the only way?
no entry level job in coding without a degree.

so lie on it.. the last thing they check is your schooling.. just put mohawk college or some shit.. they care more about your experience

well html isn't a programming language. it also doesn't help you understand programming logic.
I'd say download a simple IDE with a java compiler (like Netbeans) and go through a tutorial to make a jFrame application like a calculator. The first thing to understand when learning coding is to understand how it executes line by line and how to guide it with basic logic structures (like if/else, case, loops).
The next thing (at least for object orientated programming) is to understand classes and how they can instantiated as objects (unless they are static)

>You absolutely *MUST* have a program you want to write FIRST.
How does that work? What would be a basic program? Come to think of that, I don't really even know what people use programming for besides video games and websites.

Not op but the few people I work with that don't have college degrees did not get to start in dev. Most worked in support for years before moving to a qa/test position then into dev. It's not unheard of but it's also unlikely. A few billion dollar companies started because their founder dropped out of high school or college to pursue his dream but it would be silly for us to recommend that to everyone as a viable strategy.

Python is a dead language it doesn;t run on mac stick to stuff like pascal or ruby

honestly not where i live no... maybe that's because i live in a town with enough CS students to pick from. The only other way i can see it working is if you start coding like crazy and start a repository on github. If you don't know what github is... well you need to know that. Get good with a language like everyone says, then do some interesting things and push the code to your github repo... put that on a resume.

Go back to Sup Forums

it's easier to learn when you know what you're actually trying to do.

like, you're just giving the computer instructions code is just how you phrase what you want it to do

Honestly this. This will teach you faster than any reading any tutorial or watching any YouTube video.

t.learning code for my job right now

idk man my current employer required me to show them my diploma from college. i'm a full stack web dev.

I would stay away from python it's a dying language since it doesn't work on mac.

Just start coding and then when you can't code anymore cause you're too stupid, then ask the internet machine how to do it. If the first thing doesn't work, try the second thing, and then the third, until you exhaust all options. Then you will have a better idea of what you're doing, and then can revise your strategy and use some different approach altogether. At this point, you will get so far until you encounter another problem, there by which you repeat the step of looking on the internet box until you exhaust all options.

ya you're probably going to start in Quality Assurance..... which is basically testing an application until you are "lucky" enough to write unit tests..

Depends on the language, I recommend C# along with Visual Studio. Youtube videos may move slow, but that's how I learned to program. I've been programming ever since the age of 11.I'm 18 now. I started with HTML, a couple months later I learned CSS, then PHP, then MySQL, then Java, then C#. I still have not learned C++. It takes a while but you learn along the way while you make projects.

Bro, this requires the old phrase: "It's not what you know, it's who you know"

You're going to have to get in a 3rd party way imo, which is very common

It used to be easier when everything was command line.

Here's one I recall from an entry level course: write a program to print a pyramid of asterisks on the screen. Modify it to print upside down.

Doing this will teach you a lot more than you'd think.

One of the early tools I write was something to convert hex to RGB and back so I could go between my image editor and CSS colors for color matching. It's not a hard program, but I made my own just to do it.

Maybe your in could be scripting. Do you play WoW? Try scripting its API.

(hyper text markup language) aka not a programming language. (markup language like XML)
(cascading style sheets) not a programming language.

does it matter between 4 and 2 yr degree, or grades?
or do they just wanna see that piece of paper?

w3schools - google - look at other peoples code - try and figure out what it does

It doesn't matter dude. It helps you understand syntax. It's the simple languages that help you get started and the more complex ones build off of your previous knowledge.

dude i doubt he knows what an API is. Also i dont think it's a good idea to start him out in fckin LUA

a 2 year degree would be about as good as teaching yourself. you're going to leave just knowing how to code but not how to do algorithms or how to make a data structure or how to do a lot of advance things.

the grades dont matter at all hahha. I took a 2 year program that had 6 semesters. I instantly got a job right out of school.

Don't get so fed up on what IS or ISNT a programming language. OP just wants to get started.

Piece of paper. Or rather, line on a resume; most do not check if you can talk through a phone interview but your resume could get trashed if it doesn't have the expected education.

As for 2 or 4 years... it's all over the place.

dude for 99% of the things you do in industry... you DO NOT need to know math or how to make maximum efficient algorithms. YOU DO NOT NEED TO KNOW MATH TO PROGRAM. Trust me.. almost anything you do someone has done before and better... 95% of programming is looking shit up on stackoverflow

Yeah probably not, but it's best IMO to connect the code you write to the reward of seeing the result. Got a better suggestion?

Comp sci is by far the most lucrative field. I'm surprised it's not expected to expand like crazy, which I think it will.

I don't have computer science degree, took me 5 months of learning to land a Junior role. Had 8 interviews and past the last three in that 5 months. Go For HTML first, using bootstrap template to make a website and host it online as your portfolio. Learning C# or Java and put a simple web project on there or follow tutorials and put it under your portfolio. Look for full stack role. C# and Java are the most popular and earn the most money, C and C++ is too hard for first language and won't yield as much money. you should easily find a product dev in a small start up that should be a great stepping stone to enter a bigger firm

man it doesnt help you understand syntax to write html..

I think my biggest problem is when I look at code, I don't know what's syntax and what is made up, since some programmers name they very closely

This. I suck at math, program just fine.

Unless you're making video codecs or doing some parts of 3D video games/physics simulations you won't need much math. The hard stuff can be farmed off to libraries long before you need to learn anything.

As for stackoverflow... that is also the truth. Google+SA is what every programmer should use until you find you don't need it. Not looking things up is a sign of a bad programmer.

Those are the bottom of the barrel jobs with no chance of advancement. If you are trying to do anything past a website or a form you should know more than basic data structures. sure you probably won't be using crazy math nor did i claim that. so calm your tits fucking Sup Forums beta faggot troll

>now I really dont know where I stand.
just looking for a foot in the door . entry level to pay bills kind of job.
if I have no exp and learn over the course of 1 yr "coding" with average ability, what are the odds of landing that job realistically.

People in this thread trying to say learn python must be microsoft hopefulls.

Just admit microsoft will never gain mass market support. Mac is too far a head now

Sit in a chair for 15 years.

Did it for me.

> being an unsociable reclusive faggot helps minimize distractions
> unfortunately this means you'll be working with a lot of unsociable reclusive faggots

Find something you want to build. Start building it. Learn as you go?

relax bub. im not sure what job you are doing right now that requires you to know calculus or something along those lines, but unless you are working on a massive native application you don't need that stuff. Resource management is done pretty effectively automatically now days. Unless you want to work for a big engineering company like Siemens or Google or some shit..?

Absolute garbage.

> Wrote Python scripts, most of life, to solve problems I saw and wanted to solve.
> Went to college for degree in computer science; pick up Java, C, and assembly concepts.
> Pursued early red-team style career with literal development opportunities.
> Spends significant time RE'ing and building tools based off findings.
> Finds an actual development position and learns there's life after base languages.
> Uses Python to solve problems/generate solutions quickly, but not for production capabilities.
> Uses C# for production solutions and shit that needs to run quick.
> Uses C and hand-optimizes binaries for shit that needs to run quicker and in interesting ways.
> Fuck Java, Python's slow enough.
> Works with team to win many ctfs and Makes bank as a goddamn professional.
> Gets higher education to shit on everyone else because you become a dick when you get money.

I have 10+ years professional experience developing solutions, and I don't think we're ever going back to the "Hey! Hire that nerdy looking kid sitting in his mom's basement, with absolutely no professional experience or education to do in-house development on something clearly more complicated than anything we could buy off the shelf." I would instantly quit if they asked me to hire someone like this.

TL;DR: Python -> C# -> Learning RE skills -> re-writing every personal project you've ever created just to show yourself how far you've come -> drinking -> hating your life -> wanting to die -> ???? -> Profit!!!!!