Can any idiot learn programming?
Posted on 11.03.2010 12:44 am
Someone landed on one of my older articles from that search term. I threw it into google to find that it's the top entry, so it is only fitting to write a little about the actual subject.
I'm going to keep this short and try to use this as a platform for anyone interested in learning programming.
Can any idiot learn programming? The answer is yes, the concepts of programming are relatively simple but it takes dedication and determination to keep going.
A program is written in human readable text, called code. How this code looks like is dependent on the programming language used. There are many languages available and some are easier to learn than others.
Code is comprised of actions that the computer is supposed to take. These actions are read from top to bottom. The languages also have tools to handle different results of these actions or to simplify tedious tasks.
You can say that programming is easy to learn and hard to master. This holds true no matter what programming language you choose.
As a programmer, you are going to be reading about a whole lot of concepts and then you are going to sit down and try them out. When you have those concepts down, you are going to read about something else and do it all over again. This is usually the way to learn. Read, try, repeat.
Do not think that you can master programming in 21 days. Your whole career is going to be about learning, you should never stop learning your craft. Even if your current position has no more things to teach, then check out something else. Be bold. You can see your own growth by looking at old code you have done. You should look at it and think "What an idiot!".
Like with any craft, a quality programmer has a true passion for his craft. Every detail should matter to him and he should strive to better himself.
Do not think you know everything, you should be open to failure and admitting that you did something wrong is a positive step in any field.
Your next step is to read, try and repeat. I recommend the first few chapters in "How to Think Like a Computer Scientist", it might take some things for granted but you should be able to read parts of it and try them out. I also recommend "Try Ruby", this is an interactive ruby terminal where you can fiddle about without destroying anything and it's pretty fun. There is also a great online book called "Learning to Program".
Update:
As Lucas pointed out in the comments, Teach Yourself Programming in Ten Years is also a great article to check out.
0 2 Like it or hate it? - Comment (2)
Lucas
0 1 / Posted on 11.03.2010 05:52 am
Another excellent article that I would recommend is Teach Yourself Programming in Ten Years by Peter Norvig.Also a good quote comes to mind from How to Design Programs: Bad programming is easy. Idiots can learn it in 21 days, even if they are dummies.
Ólafur Waage
0 0 / Posted on 11.03.2010 09:41 am
Aye great point, I've added it to the list.Process time: 0.008073 seconds
