Best way to learn programming?

Wolf1994 · #11 (**permalink**) 10-01-09, 07:13 AM

Voted for "other". Explanaition is that, IMHO, the best way is to use the language without learning it, picking up what you need, from manuals. Point is that you'll never learn the whole thing, so better to take it by necessary pieces.

neonguy528 · #12 (**permalink**) 10-05-09, 12:14 AM

Why do you need to go to school? Everything is on Google. Plus Youtube video's. That's how I learned SEO. But It's whatever you prefer.

KenJackson.US · #13 (**permalink**) 10-05-09, 07:52 PM

I never took any kind of course in C or C++, and yet I earn a living programming in C/C++ fulltime.
In college, it seemed like the first year or even two were spent bringing everybody up to speed. That is--some people were struggling with new concepts while others were bored.

The point of this second observation is that if you jump into a class with a bunch of strangers from different backgrounds, you will probably either be struggling to catch up or bored.

Grab a book. Take an on-line, self-paced course. Just start coding.

ericdeko411 · #14 (**permalink**) 10-05-09, 11:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by digioz

I actually was a self taught programmer initially, who went back to school to get a computer degree. Although at times it did feel like I knew more then the teacher, what school did for me was to fill in all the gaps in my knowledge and give me a systematic approach to programming in any language. So in a way you could say it taught me how to learn other programming languages faster.

Pete

Yes, I agree with that. What you learn in school is how to be systematic. School will give you experience and knowledge on how to understand a programming language without going around and all over the place.

Eric Deko

GameFrame · #15 (**permalink**) 10-06-09, 05:24 PM

Simply by doing codes yourself and reading online manuals. This is exactly how i did learned. I have never read any books or i was not in any school.

A good coder need also to have a lot of patience and yes you need some kind of "gifts" still regardless of a programming language chosen.

mark88 · #16 (**permalink**) 10-25-09, 12:16 AM

For me it's both learning in school as well as to learn from yourself, you wouldn't have to depend on what your professor taught you, you can also search from internet, i know you know that this is surely a big help.

BurkeFour · #17 (**permalink**) 10-30-09, 11:35 AM

Desperately need to get a job to survive
Go to the library and get programming books
Read to a certain point in the books word for word, until you've absorbed enough to start trying things out...this usually means the first 3-5 chapters or so. Go back and re-read as much as you need to for the concepts to sink in.
Start programming when you've absorbed enough
Search online for anything you don't know, or reference the books
Be confident

stephen186 · #18 (**permalink**) 11-10-09, 04:47 AM

It totally depends on how you take it, how interested you are in this subject and your grasping power. Few factors like procrastination should not mar your goal. If it was me, i would prefer learning it the free way, internet has thousands of resources and tutorials offered for free, i don't see any reason why you should pay for the coaching if the same thing is available for free. Maybe we have this in back of our mind that when you pay for something, we start valuing the product.... would suggest you to not look at it this way

pioneer1 · #19 (**permalink**) 11-13-09, 09:16 AM

I learn programming by myself. Just buy books and Google any additional info. Works best for me

dayworker · #20 (**permalink**) 03-04-10, 01:08 AM

Technology is changing faster than Universities and Colleges can keep up with. Plus the IT industry is being shipped over seas where the best school in India, for example, only costs $600/yr and the equivalent in the U.S. is a 100K. Go figure why MS invested 5 billion to develop the IT industry in India. If your lucky or rich enough to find a professor that actually teaches you something, like a mentor, that's valuable asset. For the rest of us who got our pockets picked by Universities or Colleges that are there to just process people and could care less if we learn anything, we had to figure it out for ourselves. Besides MIT's entire curricula is online, now. Do we really need the whip of professor to motivate us to learn? College is changing, and the ivory tower institutions, with all their stuffed shirts, are going to be obsolete as fast as the printed newspaper industry.