10 Ways to Learn How to Program Yourself
10. Find out why you want to program
The chosen direction in learning will depend more on why you want to learn how to program and how much time you are willing to devote to this process. If you want to become a programmer, the first thing to do is apply for professional courses (Google has compiled a list of skills and courses for those who want to become software engineers). If you want to create games and entertainment websites in your spare time, interactive courses are the best choice. Search for the comparative table of courses depending on the load, cost, and reason for learning programming.
9. Select the correct language
There is no best programming language, and once you learn one, it will not be difficult for you to master the second one. So do not get hung up on choosing the first language. Nevertheless, it is believed that some languages are easier for beginners than the other.
The language to start with depends on the reason for why you are learning. For example, if you want to create applications for iOS, you'd better start learning Swift. If you take seriously the intention to develop complex software, you can start with C. Although choosing Python, it will be easier for you to integrate into the programming stream.
8. Start with small things ... and be patient
Regardless of the choice of language or method of learning, you should start from the very beginning. When David Sinsky learned how to program in eight weeks, he, for example, spent one weekend studying the basics of Python, and others on Django. He passed the training material from scratch again and again. Start with the basics and be patient. Taking the first project in programming, divide it into several stages. And if one of the ways of teaching does not suit you, do not give up - try another one.
7. Try educative apps for kids
Now even kids are learning to program. Despite the fact that many programs for children's learning are very simple, some of them (for example, Scratch) are suitable for any age. It does not matter how old you are, even children's animation applications can teach the basics of programming (edX has a new course in Scratch).
6. Take advantage of free online training
Free online training and tutorials (Codecademy, Hour of Code, etc.) can help you write the first program. Tutorials from Codeasy.net, Khan Academy, Codecademy, Code.org, and others will introduce the basics of programming and everything necessary to create a game, site, or other projects. Find the desired source, depending on the programming language. This is a good starting point, but you need to take further training.
5. Take an online course
Online programming courses involve more extensive educational training compared to sites offering online training in one language. Such courses are designed to teach basic skills for several months at the university level. I'm a big fan of the Harvard CS50 online course (you can get it for free). There are also other possibilities. You can even get a university level education by choosing one of 15 online courses.
4. Free Books on Programming
If you are stuck on some problem or you need to find the answer to your question, do not forget about the reference books. On GitHub you can find a huge collection of more than 500 free programming books. Also available is a collection of e-books, covering 24 programming languages. Besides, some online tutorials offer good support by professional programmers to cope with the tasks. For example, Codeasy.net suggest the users join its support group at Slack and ask any help related to solving the tasks at the tutorial. Very nice, I think)
3. Study by playing
Sometimes the best way of learning is games. While many programming tutorials teach you to program simple or complex games, some training sites are themselves games: Code Combat and CodinGame are tools that you can use to have fun.
2. Find a mentor or become a mentor
The community of programmers is full of people ready to help the next generation of programmers. Hack.pledge () - a site that will help you find a mentor. Or you yourself can become a mentor for someone else. Teaching the learned will help you better remember information.
1. Analyse someone else's code
Rewriting someone else's code, examining each line for errors, you can better understand the overall picture. Thanks to the open source code, you have the opportunity to learn anything - continue to learn using an incremental-hacker approach. Just do not forget to share your code if you can improve some of the software.