Getting Started (Advice For Beginning Coders)

Matt Pritchard.io ^ | March 4, 2016 | Matt Pritchard

[OddLane]

“Coding is easy!”

“Anyone can learn to code!”

“Everyone should learn to code!”

Hogwash. Learning to code is exceptionally difficult. It’s true that it has never been easier to attempt to learn to code, but trying and doing are two completely different things. As someone with virtually no computer science or mathematics background, diving into the world of programming has been an eye opening experience. If you haven’t studied computer science already, I guarantee that you are underestimating just how vast the domain actually is.

I’m not saying this to discourage anyone interested in learning to code, (quite the opposite!) I just want people to enter this field with their eyes open. There are a wealth of free resources online for learning any number of languages, and if you are interested in seeing what this is all about I highly recommend giving one of them a try. My only warning is that once you complete those first classes and tutorials, you are essentially on your own.

Many people have written on this topic in the past, so I’m not going to reiterate what has already been put better by others (most notably Erik Trautman of the Viking Code School), but I will try and give you some advice on where to get started and how to avoid the pitfalls I found myself tripping into. So, where to begin:

[who_would_fardels_bear]

Rules for Coding:

1. Be born in India or China
2. Obtain questionable degree in computer science at unaccredited university in your home country
3. Obtain H-1b visa
4. Make manager write down software requirements
5. Blindly follow requirements
6. Do not ask questions. That could be viewed as insubordination.
7. If a requirement is ambiguous make the safest guess possible as to what it means. The guess that results in the least amount of code.
8. If two requirements seem contradictory, follow both if possible, or choose the one that results in the least amount of coding.
9. If the code you generate doesn't work the way the manager wanted plead with him that you followed the requirements to the T so it can't be your fault.
10. Hand off code to one of the few remaining US coders to fix any mistakes.

[corkoman]

thank you for posting this! my #1 son is embarking on this ship and i believe he is showing signs that this may be the thing that he can excel at. i forwarded this to him and hope he benefits from it.

[UB355]

Coding in many compilable languages is relatively easy. The secret I found when learning is to take things you know and then write code to perform on a computer. I learned way back in the days of Fortran and Cobol.

[epluribus_2]

Watch youtube’s Rich Hickey video - The value of values. You will be far superior to the factory coders and will ultimately not end up hating your life.

[HeartlandOfAmerica]

Learning to code is exceptionally difficult

I didn't find it exceptionally difficult and I did it for over 30 years since getting my Comp Sci degree in 1984.

What it takes is perseverence, practice and attention to detail.

Find a bunch of source code for the language you want to learn and spend a few days pouring over it (several unique programs, not just 1) then spend a few days or a week or 2 practicing it and you should start to get comfortable with it.

Follow that up for about 3-6 months and you should have it down pat.

[lee martell]

This is good advice. Be ambitious, but be realistic and prepare yourself. Until Sesame Street presents a puppet show to teach basic coding, it will remain a bit of a mystery for the average person. “I code you, You code me, We code happy families!”

[HeartlandOfAmerica]

Oh sorry. find a basic book about it, or in these internet days, find a website on probably the C programming language and spend some time going through it. You don't have to get REAL deeply into either book or website, it's just to get you started after all.

I say C because once you have the C language down, you can parlay that into many different languages in the future.

[RushIsMyTeddyBear]

Bkmrk.

[Bobalu]

Having OCD seems to help :-)

Programming seems easy to me.

I started out with a notebook and a programming manual.

As I discovered how to do things I added the code to my notebook and soon it was all intuitive.

[Kirkwood]

LOL

[central_va]

11. You are not paid to write comments or document anything.

[Chode]

the first day of computer logic the prof said "Look in front of you, look behind you, look to the left of you and to the right of you, because by graduation day, four of the five of you won't be here..."

he was right

[grey_whiskers]

> From: "Jim Coplien"
> Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1998 13:03:56 -0600
> To: Lalita Jagadeesan , god, tball
> Subject: a program for your flow and testing tools
>
> /*
> * seriously -- run it :-)
> */
> #include
> main(t,_,a)
> char *a;
> {
> return!0 > 1,t > main(2,_+1,"%s %d %d\n"):9:16:t<0?t<-72?main(_,t,
>"@n'+,#'/*{}w+/w#cdnr/+,{}r/*de}+,/*{*+,/w{%+,/w#q#n+,/#{l+,/n{n+,/+#n+,/#\
> ;#q#n+,/+k#;*+,/'r :'d*'3,}{w+K w'K:'+}e#';dq#'l \
> q#'+d'K#!/+k#;q#'r}eKK#}w'r}eKK{nl]'/#;#q#n'){)#}w'){){nl]'/+#n';d}rw' i;#\
> ){nl]!/n{n#'; r{#w'r nc{nl]'/#{l,+'K {rw' iK{;[{nl]'/w#q#n'wk nw' \
> iwk{KK{nl]!/w{%'l##w#' i; :{nl]'/*{q#'ld;r'}{nlwb!/*de}'c \
> ;;{nl'-{}rw]'/+,}##'*}#nc,',#nw]'/+kd'+e}+;#'rdq#w! nr'/ ') }+}{rl#'{n' ')# \
> }'+}##(!!/")
> :t<-50?_==*a?putchar(31[a]):main(-65,_,a+1):main((*a=='/')+t,_,a+1)
> :0 > "!ek;dc i@bK'(q)-[w]*%n+r3#l,{}:\nuwloca-O;m .vpbks,fxntdCeghiry"),a+1);





Supposedly, it prints out "The Twelve Days of Christmas". There are websites which claim to parse it. I've never tried it.

[central_va]

The text books and video teach the basics. That’s the problem the basics are not really what you need to know, The advanced stuff is learned thru experience.

[central_va]

People that say programming is easy probably don’t do it for a living.

[central_va]

C is great but doesn’t teach you a dang thing about object oriented programming.

[HeartlandOfAmerica]

Step at a time. I found C easy, then stepped up to C++

[Chode]

pretty much... if it was easy, anybody could do it

[catnipman]

Yep, coding is easy!

Watch this:

    echo hello world

I just “coded” something!

Oh, you say, you want something more difficult than that, say a spreadsheet program like Excel? Maybe an automatic toll payment system for a state tollroad systen? Oh, I guess not just any “coder” to could make one of those, could they?

In graduate school, I taught beginning FORTRAN back when that was one of the most advanced programming languages in the world. In every class of mine, there was one or two where I could see the light bulb go off and I could tell that they had the “programmer” gene; about half could limp along and complete assignments with about a dozen statements; but the rest were simply lost.