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Ask HN: Programming 101 online course recommendations?

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Re: Ask HN: Programming 101 online course recommendations?

#11
Honestly props to you for choosing self-improvement as the route forward instead of railing at the developers for not understanding you.

I would recommend picking a programming language and doing the basic tutorials for it to start, all languages have them.

If you hit upon something you feel the tutorial isn't explaining well, open a new tab, google that specific thing, e.g. "what is a function" / "how does a function work" / "what is a function in python" / "how does a function work in python" until you get the results you want, and read different ones til you find an explanation that makes sense to you. If the tutorial you chose is consistently unclear to you, pick a different tutorial. Use a variety of resources.

Which language kind of depends what you're working on. Python is the lowest barrier-to-entry, probably, but for all I know you're working on an iOS app and maybe Swift would be a better starting point since it's more relevant to what you're doing. Avoid Perl, probably.

Once you've got a handle on the general basics of a programming language, solve some basic problems. Use google to find a list of basic 101 programming challenges that suits you. Solve them.

Once you've got a handle on basic programming, try building a simple app of whatever nature you like. The classic example is a TODO reminder/checklist app, but you can do whatever interests you. The goal should be to pick something that you definitely don't know how to build, thus forcing yourself to learn how. It will involve a lot of googling but you'll find yourself learning rapidly. You'll feel it.

Lastly, StackOverflow is your friend.

Re: Ask HN: Programming 101 online course recommendations?

#12
Hi! If you want to learn programming, I'd recommend FreeCodeCamp, to learn the basics of Web Development. I found their course pretty great many years ago when I was getting started.

I hope you find it useful! Let me know if there's any other help I can give you.

Re: Ask HN: Programming 101 online course recommendations?

#14

Honestly props to you for choosing self-improvement as the route forward instead of railing at the developers for not understanding you. I would recommend picking a programming language and doing the basic tutorials for it to start, all languages have them. If you hit upon something you feel the tutorial isn't explaining well, open a new tab, google that specific thing, e.g. "what is a function" / "how does a functio…

The one thing I'd add to that with respect to looking at various Intro to CS MOOCs that are out there is this. Many of them are very good, e.g. the MIT 6.001x ones (assuming those are the current numbers), but many of the "intro" courses from top schools actually assume you pretty much know the basics of programming in at least some language. So the advice of starting from the basics is good.

Re: Ask HN: Programming 101 online course recommendations?

#15
In addition to picking up some of the basics, I suggest that at least part of the problem lies with the developers. Part of engineering is understanding the needs of non-technical people and translating those needs into actionable technical requirements.

This isn't necessarily in the skill set of every engineer, but in a well rounded team, there should be maybe a couple of engineers who are recognized for being able to do this. From time to time, the question has arisen on HN, as to what a "senior" engineer consists of, and the ability to interface with a larger community (e.g., managers, marketeers, users, etc.) is often mentioned.

You might not be able to solve that problem right away, but it could figure into your future hiring practices.

Re: Ask HN: Programming 101 online course recommendations?

#16
> I think starting with computer science (anatomy of a computer, history of computing, etc) and then moving into Java is probably the way to go.

These are major red flags, indicating micromanagement and a lack of respect for programmers.

Just use storyboards (diagrams), similar to films, to show what you want.

Re: Ask HN: Programming 101 online course recommendations?

#18
I may be presuming too much, but it sounds like perhaps you less need to learn to program and more need to learn to communicate with one another around technical topics. It's likely that (again, presuming here) if this is your first time doing this sort of thing, you're not able to provide precise (even if non-technical) feedback to your developers and likewise they may not be very good at taking non-technical information and translating that into actionable technical output (i.e., code and bugfixes).

Maybe try looking at the curriculum for product management courses first? I think they might give you quicker, more effective benefit than trying to build up knowledge of computers (especially from such a fundamental level). You'll spend a lot of time learning things that, while beneficial eventually probably, won't help you right now.

Re: Ask HN: Programming 101 online course recommendations?

#20
First, some broad advice: I'd say start with tutorials in HTML and Python. Mike Dane has a lot of free video tutorials that some of my students have spoken highly of: https://www.mikedane.com/

Remember that with coding you learn by doing, so resist the urge to "just watch videos" or even "watch videos and take notes". I recommend to my students to always have a side-project of some type. Pick something that will motivate you, such a game, or an application that you find interesting. Have that motivate you to learn the next thing, instead of just picking new topics and reading them one at a time. When we have limited free time as adults, learning new skills is all about maintaining that motivation and direction, so when self-teaching project work is probably the very best motivation and guide in lieu of an instructor.

Self-plug: I teach coding courses for beginners. My program (Kickstart Coding) combines video-based graded coursework with weekly live sessions and 1:1 tutoring, for a $299/month subscription. Learn more here: https://kickstartcoding.com/

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