Best way to learn to code?

Daze · 30 Nov 2015 at 21:03

Are there any structured programmes to follow out there that will teach you to code in multiple languages? Sort of like a coding bootcamp/uni course that you complete yourself? I feel like I'm at a disadvantage in my field by not being able to code even the basics, so am very interested in picking it up. I don't mind purchasing a few textbooks etc either if they are helpful.

Thanks in advance!

Biz.Kid09 · 30 Nov 2015 at 21:14

Have you had a look at something like CodeAcademy?

Craig321 · 30 Nov 2015 at 21:21

CodeAcademy is pretty good.

Your best bet would be to think up something that you might find useful, or fun to create, then pick a language and try make it. You might not finish it first time and it might be messy but if you have a goal then it'll make learning a whole lot easier rather than just typing stuff into a website or typing random blocks of code out from a book.

What is your field? We might be able to suggest a language you can start on which would help?

jeffrey_burkhol · 1 Dec 2015 at 06:37

w3school batter then CodeAcademy

antijoke · 1 Dec 2015 at 09:19

What languages do you want to learn?

GravyMonster · 1 Dec 2015 at 10:15

jeffrey_burkhol said:
w3school batter then CodeAcademy

I really hope you're trolling.

Fallen god · 1 Dec 2015 at 11:45

Do you have any sort of experience?

Think the best way is too use something like CodeAcademy too start with, then just build something. I would honestly look at picking up something like python, it teaches good habits given the focus on PEP8, has a great community and is used in a lot of great applications. I've recently picked it up and think its great.

http://www.tangowithdjango.com/book17/

http://chimera.labs.oreilly.com/books/1234000000754/index.html

Daze · 1 Dec 2015 at 23:04

Thanks for the replies lads, will check all the links out!

In regards to the languages I want to learn: all the relevant ones that it takes to building a current website without limits. I don't want to be unable to implement a feature as I don't know the relevant language if you get me!

iKettles · 2 Dec 2015 at 06:16

If you want to learn web development, you need to have a solid grasp of front-end before you can move over to the backend. Start off by learning HTML/CSS/JavaScript on CodeAcademy. If you can invest some money and have the time, I have also heard good things about Udemy.

There are too many different web technologies to name of which many can all achieve more or less the same things (there are obviously pros and cons to different technologies). PHP is easy to pick up (compared to that of Rails for example) and with some really well built frameworks makes your life easy (sometimes a bit too easy). Picking this route will also help you learn the ropes of using MVC and RDBMS.

If you're feeling adventurous after, take a dive into some of the JavaScript MV* frameworks like Angular or React. There's quite a learning curve but having experience in building full applications in JavaScript (rather than just using it to make your webpage look pretty) and experience using a stack that has some variety of languages (eg. PHP for your backend and JS for your frontend) is worthwhile.

Ricki · 2 Dec 2015 at 06:50

Start off learning HTML and CSS -- there are numerous good website out there, just pick one that suits your style and learning speed. Although these are not programming languages it will start to get you in the mindset of thinking things through logically and start to understand the effects of incorrect syntax. When I was learning I used a multitude of websites and having different perspectives really helped on the trickier subjects.

One of the most helpful things I found, once I had the basics, was actually just looking at a website source code, playing around with the code and see what it does. Some people have come up with some pretty elegant and simple solutions that won't necessarily be covered by a learning website.

Once you've got that down then go onto, I would suggest, PHP. Get a good reference pocketbook and once you have the basics down then download some simple sample PHP scripts, see how they work and play. I found I learned mySQL just by default.

There are no magic websites or textbooks that if you use you'll be able to learn and understand it - like all things it takes time and practice to become good. Find what works for you and go from there.

mid_gen · 2 Dec 2015 at 09:31

Once you've got over the initial hump and are into the 'early over-confidence' stage, you should take advantage of some of the free courses available online to fill in your knowledge of the fundamentals.

You used to have to do a compsci degree to get taught it, now it's free, pretty awesome if you ask me. It'll be tough going at first but stick with it. You won't be a good programmer until you can have in the back of your mind these fundamental processes that are going on underneath however many layers of abstraction are in your language of choice.

https://www.coursera.org/course/algs4partI

AndrewNR · 2 Dec 2015 at 11:40

Spunkey said:
I really hope you're trolling.

Both are good to be fair. CodeAcademy is good but it's a bit follow the leader and doesn't really teach you why, just do this do that.

GravyMonster · 3 Dec 2015 at 08:52

W3Schools is awful. They started by pretending to be affiliated with the W3C. Then their examples and tutorials were either completely wrong or massively outdated and told people to follow bad practices. Their entire purpose is to make money from being top of Google results and spamming plenty of adverts, not to educate. See W3Fools.com.

If you need a reference, Use MDN for HTML and JavaScript, and literally any other site for anything else.

mattoxx · 5 Dec 2015 at 14:12

I think the best way to learn how to code is practise, practise and practise. Pick some project and try to accomplish it on your own.

trentlad · 5 Dec 2015 at 14:14

Have you ever heard of a tiny university called MIT? It's only one of the top five universities on the planet.

Well they're part of EdX and generously give free FULL courses online. It's not something you can take at your own pace, they record class seminars every week then give you homework which you can access at anytime during the week but you need to hand in homework by Sunday. So you have one week of flexibility to fit it in your schedule but that homework needs to be in by midnight Sunday.

Trust me when I say it's intense, you have to be pretty smart/focused to pull off the ten hours a week that they estimate but in return you're receiving lessons organised and presented by some of the best teachers possibly available.

Programming in Python starts mid January:
https://www.edx.org/course/introduction-computer-science-mitx-6-00-1x-6

It's free to take the course and if you want a certificate from MIT to show your attendance and grade then you can choose to pay $50 if you want. I've taken a number of classes there and it's genuinely fantastic but be prepared to put in the time (granted, I'm easily distracted so if I was focused it would have taken less time but I manage to take them in my spare time after work).

Good luck and well done for motivating yourself to build up that experience. Every little bit helps.

Hobbsie · 5 Dec 2015 at 17:22

i found udemy really good for me.

Brummies · 6 Dec 2015 at 11:23

trentlad said:
Have you ever heard of a tiny university called MIT? It's only one of the top five universities on the planet.

Well they're part of EdX and generously give free FULL courses online. It's not something you can take at your own pace, they record class seminars every week then give you homework which you can access at anytime during the week but you need to hand in homework by Sunday. So you have one week of flexibility to fit it in your schedule but that homework needs to be in by midnight Sunday.

Trust me when I say it's intense, you have to be pretty smart/focused to pull off the ten hours a week that they estimate but in return you're receiving lessons organised and presented by some of the best teachers possibly available.

Programming in Python starts mid January:
https://www.edx.org/course/introduction-computer-science-mitx-6-00-1x-6

It's free to take the course and if you want a certificate from MIT to show your attendance and grade then you can choose to pay $50 if you want. I've taken a number of classes there and it's genuinely fantastic but be prepared to put in the time (granted, I'm easily distracted so if I was focused it would have taken less time but I manage to take them in my spare time after work).

Good luck and well done for motivating yourself to build up that experience. Every little bit helps.

This is really interesting. Is it really complex or is just demanding? I've been doing a Java course on Udemy which I am really enjoying but this is pretty interesting. Anyone else done this?

dowie · 8 Dec 2015 at 18:51

for multiple languages you could look at :

https://www.coursera.org/course/proglang

Learn many of the concepts that underlie all programming languages. Use functional programming and contrast it with object-oriented programming. Through experience writing programs and studying three different languages, learn the key issues in designing and using programming languages, such as modularity and the complementary benefits of static and dynamic typing.

then again since your second post specifically mentioned websites - maybe it is better to take a look here:

www.udacity.com

(you can pay for the specialisations but the actual course content is all available free - google has contributed quite a few modules)

coursera is more academic with the courses being mostly provided by universities - udacity has some like that but also seems to have added a whole load of more practical courses in conjunction with industry partners

mid_gen · 9 Dec 2015 at 13:47

Yeah Coursera is good but quite academic, I did the Stanford algorithm analysis course but couldn't complete due to time (it's quite structured, you're basically doing a full university module in a set time frame). Excellent materials and teaching though.

Learning to get started programming you're better off with online tutorials etc. But once you're up to speed some of the Coursera stuff is great. I did data structures and algorithms at uni and it's great to be able to just go back over it again for nothing.