Coding, in a general sense, is a way to talk to computers. You can command them to do anything on your will and they work at your fingertips.
Coding is a serious job and may lead you to earn a fortune if you do it the right way. Many people will suggest that it is a fairly easy task to program and to create things.
Also, most of the online tutorials help you somewhat but aren’t that supportive that you can clearly understand the concepts. Although, for some people, it’s very easy to grasp various programming concepts.
But there are people like me that don’t understand a particular concept at once.
In my learning process, I’ve gone through a lot of ups and downs and there are also times that I would want to give up coding. But, I stayed and I learned. I don’t want to scare you here, but it makes the journey easy if you already know the path. Learning to program is difficult than to program itself. But sticking on to what you are doing will be the key to your future.
Here are the things that you should consider before beginning to learn programming/coding. These tips won’t change the difficulty level of your concepts but it will ease up the process. And the process is the only part in which most people give up!
Start with small languages.
Beginning your journey with Java will definitely be difficult as you wouldn’t know what a normal code does. And even if you learn Java, in the beginning, you won’t be able to implement it anywhere. This was the case that occurred to me. I finished with learning Javascript after I searched on google whether what was the best language that I could learn. But as soon as I tried to create a sample webpage using Javascript, I found out that I needed to use HTML5 as the framework. After then I started learning HTML and after completion, I was finally able to build a webpage.
I recommend you guys go along with learning languages in the numeric order I place them below.
- HTML
- CSS
- JavaScript
- Python
- Java
- SQL
- PHP
These languages should be just fine to get with a good start. Also, remember to learn this website in the same numeric order that I’ve placed them.
Do not learn any language by reading it from websites.
My experience of learning to code from websites like TutorialsPoint and JavaTpoint has been horrendous. I’ve spent days learning languages by reading stuff that’s written on the screen, and I’ve messed up more.
As an example, I studied HTML5 from W3Schools, completed all the topics, and went on to learn further languages. Later, while creating a webpage, I needed to know how to add a background color to my webpage so I searched on Google about that.
After doing all that, I found out that there are more topics to cover that the usual ones I covered.
Think about that. Jumping from one language without completing a single language could be disastrous.
My advice to you is to not waste time on such websites and go for better options like books and youtube videos.
In fact, check out Qentin Watt’s tutorials on HTML, CSS, and Javascript to learn better about those languages. This guy explains stuff in a perfect way making your concepts unforgettable and more clear.
Create notes on whatever you learn.
Always have the habit of creating notes on whatever you learn and how much ever you learn.
For example, you learned about methods in Java, then create a note including the syntax for a method.
Also, don’t forget to review your notes every day. This will not only help you to remember what you’ve learned but will also make you familiar with the language more easily.
Don’t forget to share your notes with your friends or on the internet, as this will help you discover more about a particular language and make you understand better about the things you’ll require to actually create content.
Practice as much as you can.
Many people on youtube inform not to practice your code. But we all know that practice makes a man perfect. In some or the other way, it is correct what other programmers say.
They usually ask people to focus on the concepts and forget about the syntax. And that is correct! Never focus on how hard the syntax is or how alienated the words used in the syntax are.
Think about solving the problem first and then try to pen down your problem in a mathematical way onto a piece of paper. This is what we call an algorithm. Write an algorithm first which is basically the clear logic behind your code.
After this step, think how you’ll implement that algorithm into a code. And that part will be easy. What initially happens is that we mix up our thoughts while solving problems into thinking about how to implement the same method into a coded form.
Go for a Computer Science course.
Last but not the least, I would suggest you go for a simple, yet complicated CS course from eDX.
David Malan introduces the course and also provides lectures on most of the topics.
I would also suggest you to start learning C and C++ along with this course itself and not on your own as you would easily get confused.
Mr. Malan takes complex algorithms and explains in a fairly easy manner about how to create efficient and time-saving algorithms that could eventually provide better code quality.
After this course, I guarantee you could easily end up with a job. This course also provides you with a certificate based on the activities that you do after each lecture. This course is free of cost and is named as CS50 on eDX.
Well, that’s it for today!
