Live data from Hacker News

What to tell noobs who want to "learn coding"?

news.ycombinator.com

31–40 of 53 posts

Re: What to tell noobs who want to "learn coding"?

#31
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The schools usually charge somewhere between $6,000-$20,000, with most falling somewhere around $8K-$12K. The Maker Square has cohorts of around 40 students, split between two buildings, with multiple instructors in each room who help students as needed. We start at 9:00am and leave the space around 5-7pm every evening. We don't have class on the weekends, so those usually end up being study days.

Is it a school lesson like structure, similar to what you would get with a CS degree track, or a more a focused project-oriented structure, with increasing difficulty?

The structure is highly focused and project-oriented. There isn't really an occasion where one would be likely to ask "Ok, so how am I going to use this in the real world?"

In the beginning, the day is usually split into two parts: frontend and backend. Each day there is a 'microproject' that covers what you learned that day, and each Friday there is a project that covers what you have learned up to that point. There is very little theory, though the instructors are constantly recommending books and other reading material for things they gloss over. Towards the end of the course, the frontend and backend lessons are integrated into projects that students complete while pair-programming.

Re: What to tell noobs who want to "learn coding"?

#32
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm very skeptical of any "learn to program" list that begins with "Buy a MacBook Air". You can learn to program just as well on that cheap PC laptop you already own, and a MacBook Air is a very expensive investment for someone who may or may not become a professional programmer. Also, learning git isn't something that a novice programmer should need to struggle with. It's hard enough figuring out the concepts of pro…

I think it was supposed to be a joke...but it didn't work because it wasn't funny.

It was part joke, part reality. :)

Re: What to tell noobs who want to "learn coding"?

#33
post #13

I would say read this: http://www.techendo.co/posts/how-to-learn-to-program-in-10-e...

I'm very skeptical of any "learn to program" list that begins with "Buy a MacBook Air". You can learn to program just as well on that cheap PC laptop you already own, and a MacBook Air is a very expensive investment for someone who may or may not become a professional programmer. Also, learning git isn't something that a novice programmer should need to struggle with. It's hard enough figuring out the concepts of pro…

There any many paths. This is just one of them. :)

Re: What to tell noobs who want to "learn coding"?

#34
They have to commit. They have to apply themselves every day. It's not just that programming is a complex topic, but because so much at being good at it is being mechanically efficient at it. I've worked with learning coders who had a bare familiarity with their operating system, nevermind the command prompt.

Not being able to use Ctrl/Cmd-F to quickly locate code snippets in your text editor. Not using keyboard shortcuts...the seconds it takes to move from task to task quickly build up, and so does the frustration and urge to quit.

Everyone wants coding to be about amazing creations and The Future...but a lot of proper coding is just hard work and good habits. When that routine is in place, learning AND producing code is significantly easier.

Re: What to tell noobs who want to "learn coding"?

#35
First, don't refer to them as noobs unless you are trying to degrade them. Second, I recommend Introduction to Systematic Program Design on Coursera. It matches the same intro course for which CompSci students pay Universities thousands of dollars across North America.

Re: What to tell noobs who want to "learn coding"?

#36
A Jedi’s strength flows from the Code. But beware of the dark side. Messy coding, poor indentation, bad structure; the dark side of the Code are they. Easily they flow, quick to join you in a fight. If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will, as it did Obi-Wan’s apprentice.

Re: What to tell noobs who want to "learn coding"?

#37

Tell them to get a good book. The value of having a single source from complete beginner to intermediate programmer written in the same voice with full knowledge of what you have completed so far at each point should not be undervalued just because web resources are free.

I agree with this completely, and I'll make a specific claim: eloquentjavascript.net is the best book to use. ---it's an online book that lets you run code right in the book ---it's the language of the REPL that everyone has access to (in the browser) ---js is dynamically typed, which I think is easier for people to grok (I learned Java first, and for months I was puzzled by this "public static void main (String args…

"public static void main (String args[])" - that would put anyone off, and for good reason, it's total bollocks. Either "main" is special or it's not, if it is why tell java stuff it already knows. If the jvm wants to run something that's public and called main and has a method signature of string array then why not dispense with all the nonsense - the answer's simple - it's java - the most verbose boiler-plate laden language out there designed for groups of mediocre developers. Despite needing dozens of lines to even basic stuff, it forces people into some form of homogeneity to keep teams of "java certified" developers in jobs.

if you want to learn to program, open Terminal, type ipython and go from there. When lost google stackoverflow, repeat. Forget books, there are way better, more up to date online resources.

Re: What to tell noobs who want to "learn coding"?

#38

Code or code not. There is no learn.

I was trying to figure out how to explain the attitude shift that got me over the "want to learn" hump into actually learning, but I think you just nailed it. Once I started coding, I learned to code. Perhaps the advice is "pick a project (of your own design or someone else's, it doesn't matter) and start working on it."

Re: What to tell noobs who want to "learn coding"?

#39

What I have been telling my friends recently is to check out an online course. This one course named CS50x has been amazing in teaching people about CS and programming. So, tell them to see https://www.edx.org/course/harvardx/harvardx-cs50x-introduct... it starts in a few days and can be taken throughout 2014.

testing: https://www.edx.org/course/harvardx/harvardx-cs50x-introduct...
Post reply on HN