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Ask HN: The Required Fundamentals for Self-Taught Programming

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Re: Ask HN: The Required Fundamentals for Self-Taught Programming

#11

Post by veqq »

aireo wrote: post #3
palata wrote: post #2

If you can already read code... just start a small project of your own, I would say. Pick the language you are most familiar with and create something. Be patient, learn as you go. Learning to code requires a lot of time and dedication, but it is a good experience! What is your language? Maybe people here could give you ideas of a good first project to try :-).

I hope the OP is okay with me getting in on this. I just picked up _Learning Go: An Idiomatic Approach to Real-World Programming_, 2nd ed, based on its positive reviews. I'd like to read it and create a small project (for example, a simple backend for a personal website). Any other suggestions for a good Go project?

Alex Edwards' Let's Go and then Let's Go Further are already sufficient, honestly. You'll built a simple backend and go way further quickly with them.

Re: Ask HN: The Required Fundamentals for Self-Taught Programming

#12

Post by LunarVB »

palata wrote: post #2

If you can already read code... just start a small project of your own, I would say. Pick the language you are most familiar with and create something. Be patient, learn as you go. Learning to code requires a lot of time and dedication, but it is a good experience! What is your language? Maybe people here could give you ideas of a good first project to try :-).

My first language that i was taught is C, i tried once making something with Arduino but i didn´t went too far with it.

Re: Ask HN: The Required Fundamentals for Self-Taught Programming

#13

Post by LunarVB »

maxmynter95 wrote: post #6

teachyourselfcs.com has a neat collection of textbooks for CS fundamentals. Though, these fundamentals are more theoretical (though worthwhile). You may want to just build a couple of things first to get some muscle memory. No need to finish them, as long as you make it over a few hurdles before you move on.

I will give a try, thanks!

Re: Ask HN: The Required Fundamentals for Self-Taught Programming

#14

Post by hluska »

aireo wrote: post #3
palata wrote: post #2

If you can already read code... just start a small project of your own, I would say. Pick the language you are most familiar with and create something. Be patient, learn as you go. Learning to code requires a lot of time and dedication, but it is a good experience! What is your language? Maybe people here could give you ideas of a good first project to try :-).

I hope the OP is okay with me getting in on this. I just picked up _Learning Go: An Idiomatic Approach to Real-World Programming_, 2nd ed, based on its positive reviews. I'd like to read it and create a small project (for example, a simple backend for a personal website). Any other suggestions for a good Go project?

When you get started, make sure that the project interests you. The language doesn’t matter much because if you keep going, the code will embarrass you in six months anyways. The project itself doesn’t even matter much as long as it interests you.

If it interests you, you will want to work on it and the initial (extremely frustrating) steps will be more joyful and fun. You will still get frustrated and likely be embarrassed by the project within six months, but that only means two things:

1.) You kept going (which is most important).

2.) You got much better (which is great news).

Otherwise, be gentle on yourself.

Re: Ask HN: The Required Fundamentals for Self-Taught Programming

#16

Post by LunarVB »

veqq wrote: post #9

The traditional reply is complete either of these books and you'll be further than even an average Comp Sci BA: - Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs - How to Design Programs (easier) In reality, it strong depends on your specific domain and how old your company is. Doing embedded projects at home vs. quickly prototyping systems in Ruby vs. modifying an API for a large SaaS vs. lowering latency for trad…

I will see that book, thank you!

Re: Ask HN: The Required Fundamentals for Self-Taught Programming

#17

Post by LunarVB »

colechristensen wrote: post #7

Looking for fundamentals to get you ready as a self taught programmer is going about it in the wrong direction. Pick something you want to do and go do it. When you run into roadblocks try to figure out how to solve them and when you get too stuck then ask the question "what are the required fundamentals I'm missing in order to solve this problem". You'll find you will rarely need to ask that question, just keep solv…

Interesting, thanks for the tip!

Re: Ask HN: The Required Fundamentals for Self-Taught Programming

#18

Post by optimussupreme »

I’ll add to the comments: Whatever you decide to do, don’t be too picky. Choose something and get started. In the begginig avoid lengthy courses or books; start with something small but read it to the end. Be patient and consistent, and don’t rush. Also I would recommend to watch a youtube video: Harvard CS50 (2023) – Full Computer Science University Course

Re: Ask HN: The Required Fundamentals for Self-Taught Programming

#19

Post by LunarVB »

astrodust wrote: post #4

You need problems to solve , but most importantly, problems that are highly relevant to you and your interests so you won't give up easily if they become unexpectedly difficult. You'll be forced to learn new approaches, new tools, perhaps even new languages to solve these problems if they're challenging enough, and don't worry, you'll almost always assume something is easy when it turns out to be a lot harder than yo…

Got it! Thank you!

Re: Ask HN: The Required Fundamentals for Self-Taught Programming

#20

Post by simonw »

Build projects and ship them. There's no better way to learn.

That could mean web applications deployed online, or CLI tools that people can install, or data science projects that result in a report you can show people, or mobile apps shipped to an App Store.

The key thing is to build actual working software, and ideally to get that to a place where other people can try it out. This will help you learn SO much, and will make it a whole lot easier to attract the attention of hiring managers as well.

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