[digioz]

What is the best way to learn programming? Is it better to go to a school and learn it from a teacher or to teach it to yourself? Let us know what you think.

Thanks,
Pete

[wirehopper]

Learn it from a teacher and then continue to learn on your own.

I think understanding the fundamentals of computers has been extremely valuable for me. In particular:

Data structures
Algorithms
OOP
Operating systems, queues, interrupts, batch processing
Compilers
Computer architecture
Microprocessor operations

I never had a database course and, although I can create a database, write SQL statements, and even do some performance analysis, I definitely wish I had a better understanding of it.

[Danaldinho]

Definitely by yourself

[Nico]

Originally Posted by Danaldinho

Definitely by yourself

Care to explain your theory?

I'm learning Objective-C right now, and I'm learning by books. While Google answers most of my questions that the books don't cover, I definitely agree with Wirehopper, that having a teacher is a big plus. And I wish I had one now.

[Danaldinho]

Originally Posted by Nico

Care to explain your theory?

I'm learning Objective-C right now, and I'm learning by books. While Google answers most of my questions that the books don't cover, I definitely agree with Wirehopper, that having a teacher is a big plus. And I wish I had one now.

Well, I work for a Web Design company and everyone who works there learned by themselves.

I am currently in college, and I own a very successful website (which I kinda make a living off) and I learned all by myself.

Also, I am learning Web Design in college, and I know more than the teachers lol.

[wirehopper]

The most valuable thing I learned in school was how to identify that which you DON'T know.

A good example is plumbing. I can eventually make most basic plumbing repairs myself, but I know I'm not a professional. It takes me longer, I don't have the best tools, and, it isn't any fun.

[smith29]

Hi,

I think self teaching using ebooks is the best way to learn any programming language. However, we need more and more practice because practice makes us perfect.

[ruteckycs]

I have learned coding myself Im entirely self sought starting with GWBASIC (anyone recall that one) back on DOS 3.1 While I have to say that one can learn to code themselves there is a fundamental problem with that method. It leaves holes in your knowledge. I have found that there has been (and still is) holes in what I know just because I have never heard of a command or method. I have often found that I have done things 'the hard way' just because I did not know that there were built in functions to accomplish what I wanted. This could have been avoided with a formal education or with a mentor at least.

[digioz]

Originally Posted by Danaldinho

... I am currently in college, and I own a very successful website (which I kinda make a living off) and I learned all by myself ...

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

[therocket954]

I think laying down a good base of the basic understandings of a language is best done in a classroom setting. But you MUST continue to learn on your own afterwords, otherwise you'll be writing insecure code, and falling behind with the latest advancements.

Very similarly to digioz, I was a self-taught web developer, but after returning to school, it filled in the gaps that I was missing.

I'm currently trying to learn OOP. Despite understanding the language, it's difficult for me to wrap my head around the whole concept and format so I can actually write clean OOP code myself. I may head back to class to accomplish this.