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Ask HN: Books that teach programming by building a series of small projects?

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Re: Ask HN: Books that teach programming by building a series of small projects?

#151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thinking of building something along those lines i.e. you can peek ahead if you really get stuck. Proj-based learning is really fun to both create and consume imo.

If it helps you in any way, what I try to do is to use a tutorial book to build my own app. For example a Flask tutorial that shows how to build a blog app, but I’m building a library. I still learn about the Flask way and I learn some building blocks but I have to figure out the equivalent for what I want to do. I often get stuck though. So maybe showing the building blocks and letting you use them for something. Yo…

Good idea, originally I would just build something that already exists from scratch e.g. a UNIX-like OS complete with 99 footguns.

Now I've learned better I try to channel my learning energies into extending my portable, reusable library that solves common problems I can iterate, improve and port into future projects.

Re: Ask HN: Books that teach programming by building a series of small projects?

#153
post #81

Not a book, but check [Build your own X]( https://github.com/codecrafters-io/build-your-own-x ), a compilation of well-written, step-by-step guides for re-creating our favorite technologies from scratch.

It was better when Daniel maintained it.

Can't believe he sold out..

Re: Ask HN: Books that teach programming by building a series of small projects?

#154
Shameless plug if allowed: “The Road to React” goes through one large project to teach React.js from beginner to intermediate. I learned that going through one project it allows the teacher to go through a series of foundational aspects of the topic before implementing more advanced domain specific features which make use of the earlier learned building blocks for the real world project. Does it make sense?

https://www.amazon.com/Road-learn-React-pragmatic-React-js/d...

Re: Ask HN: Books that teach programming by building a series of small projects?

#155
The 'Arduino Projects Book' does a brilliant job if taking someone who knowing nothing about coding or electronics and setting out lessons and projects that take you from zero to somewhere fun.

I still can't really code, but I can have a lot of fun tinkering because of that book.

Re: Ask HN: Books that teach programming by building a series of small projects?

#156

My favourite is "Practical Common Lisp" by Peter Seibel ( https://gigamonkeys.com/book/ ) Not only is the book free to read (although I would suggest to pay for it if you like it!) The code to parse binary files actually "inspired" my design of an actual production application which was very flexible, succinct and, most importantly, so fast I had to spend a lot of effort convincing people the numbers are actually tru…

I was going to suggest this. It's cool that you build a file based database (IIRC) and query language in the third chapter!

Re: Ask HN: Books that teach programming by building a series of small projects?

#157
Write yourself a scheme in 48 hours by Johnothan Tang is a fantastic book, there's also the structure and interpretation of computer programs.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Write_Yo...

https://web.mit.edu/6.001/6.037/sicp.pdf

Re: Ask HN: Books that teach programming by building a series of small projects?

#158
Not a book but The Coding Train on Youtube is probably one of the best introduction to programming. It's fun to watch, Daniel Shiffman is a fantastic teacher and he doesn't take himself too seriously.

But what sets this course apart from any other are the coding challenges. Following the thought process of a programmer in real time, watching him making mistakes and hunting for bugs is invaluable.

He uses p5js, a javascript library for graphics. The lessons are geared towards generative art but cover a broad range of topics including machine learning.

https://www.youtube.com/@TheCodingTrain

Re: Ask HN: Books that teach programming by building a series of small projects?

#159
I mentioned The Ray Tracer Challenge in a comment below, and it seems quite popular so I’ll submit it here as well.

http://raytracerchallenge.com/

It’s not really for beginners though, but maybe possible to start it together with a beginners book in a language of choice. It starts with points, vectors and matrixes, but gets more advanced later on. It’s around 250 pages and there’s basically no code provided, just test scenarios and a bit of pseudo code.

Re: Ask HN: Books that teach programming by building a series of small projects?

#160

Not a book but The Coding Train on Youtube is probably one of the best introduction to programming. It's fun to watch, Daniel Shiffman is a fantastic teacher and he doesn't take himself too seriously. But what sets this course apart from any other are the coding challenges. Following the thought process of a programmer in real time, watching him making mistakes and hunting for bugs is invaluable. He uses p5js, a java…

Coding Train is soooo good, it is like if Bob Ross had a baby with Donald Knuth.
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