Ask HN: Non-technical people, how did you learn to code?

#1

Post by freshfey » Sat, Sep 17, 2011, 1:21 PM UTC

I'm currently trying to learn to program with the traditional route (tutorials, books, screencasts and a lot of practice) but I'm looking for people who've tweaked this route. Stuff that supercharged their learning. I know this is a coder's community, but I also know that there are a lot of non-technical, very smart people reading. So non-technical people (no math geniuses or coders who learnt coding when they were 8) how did you learn to code? What was an uncommon approach that helped you a lot? How would you mentor/teach a friend (who's completely non-technical) to learn programming?

Please don't get me wrong: I'm not looking for an easy, learn programming in 48 minutes approach. But I'm questioning the traditional route of learning to program.

(I also started a Forrst discussion about this, but aimed mainly at designers, here http://forrst.com/posts/Designers_how_did_you_learn_to_code-vtM)

Re: Ask HN: Non-technical people, how did you learn to code?

#2

Post by brackin » Sat, Sep 17, 2011, 1:36 PM UTC

I want Codecademy to extend their language set and number of courses. This would help me greatly.

Re: Ask HN: Non-technical people, how did you learn to code?

#3

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Sep 17, 2011, 1:38 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Non-technical people, how did you learn to code?

#4

Post by geoffd » Sat, Sep 17, 2011, 1:51 PM UTC

I taught myself to code at the age of 22 and I am not a math genius by any means. I feel like I'm getting pretty good at it (almost 24 now).

The biggest thing to remember is to have a real problem you're trying to solve with programming. Just going through tutorials isn't going to teach you how to program. And then Google until you figure it out. I found it works best to get something functioning, and then go back and read the documentation or book about why it works how it does.

In my case, I started a company and didn't have the money (or desire) to find a developer to work with. So I sat in front of my computer and struggled through it. I had an actual problem that I wanted to solve.

Re: Ask HN: Non-technical people, how did you learn to code?

#5

Post by phreeza » Sat, Sep 17, 2011, 1:55 PM UTC

I believe this came up in a previous discussion some days ago, but it bears repeating:

Working with/getting personal help from someone more experienced than yourself is awesome. The trick is not to bother them with (to them) trivial questions, but show that you have put in the work and ask them for their guidance.

Look over experienced coders shoulders any chance you get, and talk to them, to understand their way of thinking. I think this kind of learning has a lot more leverage than doing yet another tutorial.

Re: Ask HN: Non-technical people, how did you learn to code?

#6

Post by freshfey » Sat, Sep 17, 2011, 1:56 PM UTC

phreeza wrote: post #5

I believe this came up in a previous discussion some days ago, but it bears repeating: Working with/getting personal help from someone more experienced than yourself is awesome. The trick is not to bother them with (to them) trivial questions, but show that you have put in the work and ask them for their guidance. Look over experienced coders shoulders any chance you get, and talk to them, to understand their way of…

thanks for the tip! It would be awesome if you found that thread somewhere.

Re: Ask HN: Non-technical people, how did you learn to code?

#7

Post by MikeMacMan » Sat, Sep 17, 2011, 1:57 PM UTC

I started programming when I was 24 (11 years ago) and working at my first job. A coworker was my mentor early on, and we pair programmed frequently for a couple of months. I read a couple of Wrox Java books and just learned by writing a lot of code and reading as much as I could.

Luckily, I was tasked with developing a whole bunch of forms for a client-server application, which the IDE helped me out with a lot with its WYSIWYG editor, and the programming work was relatively easy (no I/O, no DB access, etc).

The keys for me were:

1. Having a mentor early on

2. Flattening the learning curve with an IDE.

3. Choosing the right project

Re: Ask HN: Non-technical people, how did you learn to code?

#8

Post by geoffd » Sat, Sep 17, 2011, 1:57 PM UTC

phreeza wrote: post #5

I believe this came up in a previous discussion some days ago, but it bears repeating: Working with/getting personal help from someone more experienced than yourself is awesome. The trick is not to bother them with (to them) trivial questions, but show that you have put in the work and ask them for their guidance. Look over experienced coders shoulders any chance you get, and talk to them, to understand their way of…

Yes, and this. Google everything you can, but when you're stuck, find someone who knows. It's how I finally wrapped my head around version control.

Re: Ask HN: Non-technical people, how did you learn to code?

#9

Post by freshfey » Sat, Sep 17, 2011, 2:00 PM UTC

MikeMacMan wrote: post #7

I started programming when I was 24 (11 years ago) and working at my first job. A coworker was my mentor early on, and we pair programmed frequently for a couple of months. I read a couple of Wrox Java books and just learned by writing a lot of code and reading as much as I could. Luckily, I was tasked with developing a whole bunch of forms for a client-server application, which the IDE helped me out with a lot with…

Can you define #3? Meaning going from easy to difficult? Or starting with a difficult task and trying to solve it (at the beginning everything seems difficult, but yeah :).

Re: Ask HN: Non-technical people, how did you learn to code?

#10

Post by amorphid » Sat, Sep 17, 2011, 2:00 PM UTC

Learned to code from people better than me who like to teach. Teaching helps me reinforce what I do know. Writing code to solve problems helps keep it interesting.