Where to read Code? or Best practices to Learn Code?

DustinB3403

is that open source ?
I've heard the name a few times but never really messed with it.

Is GitHub open source. . . .?

WrCombs

@DustinB3403 said in Where to read Code?:

@WrCombs said in Where to read Code?:

is that open source ?
I've heard the name a few times but never really messed with it.

Is GitHub open source. . . .?

.....

scottalanmiller

@WrCombs said in Where to read Code?:

So, Any ideas on places I could just sit and read code when I'm not learning code?

Any code repo like GitHub, GitLab, etc. However, I'm not convinced that that is a very useful practice. First of all, reading random code can teach a lot of bad habits. Second, it's insanely hard to read other people's code and figure out what is going on and even worse, what they intended. Often code does one thing and even the person writing it isn't sure why. That makes it pretty difficult to learn in that fashion.

It's not that you should avoid reading someone else's code. But I think you'll find, at least this is true for me, that if you spend time working on your own code you will get way, way more out of your time and far less frustration.

scottalanmiller

@WrCombs said in Where to read Code?:

is that open source ?
I've heard the name a few times but never really messed with it.

It's a service. There is no concept of source. Source refers to software, not to services.

scottalanmiller

@WrCombs said in Where to read Code?:

@travisdh1 said in Where to read Code?:

@WrCombs said in Where to read Code?:

is that open source ?
I've heard the name a few times but never really messed with it.

GitHub is the place that a lot of open source projects use to store their code.

I believe @JaredBusch uses GitHub a lot, right?

Almost everyone does. It's by far the largest code repository system, and is owned by Microsoft.

NTG and Quixotic use GitLab instead.

Lots of people use BitBucket.

scottalanmiller

@WrCombs said in Where to read Code?:

I'm just learning something new - Someone told me I should try coding so I figured what bad could it do for me to look at it and do a few lessons.

I would NOT start with learning GIT. That's like getting a Raspberry Pi to learn programming.... all about gadgets and shiny things and avoiding learning the real thing that you came to learn. You'll spend your time focusing on the "asides" rather than on the "thing."

HTML and CSS are good for enforcing basic concepts of syntax and accuracy, but teach nothing about coding. They are awesome things that everyone in every technical field should know, for sure. So that time is good. But don't think of this as your path to coding. It's a skill coders often use, but it's not like "junior coding", it's a different activity with different brain functions.

If your goal is to try coding and figuring out if it interests you, the one and only activity to do is actually writing code. Anything else is avoiding writing code

CodeAcademy and others have simple classes for free to get you started right away. Python is probably the best place to start.

scottalanmiller

@travisdh1 said in Where to read Code?:

I can't find @scottalanmiller's stuff for some reason.

I don't use GitHub except to leave comments for other people on their projects, or as a sign in system for other sites.

scottalanmiller

@WrCombs said in Where to read Code?:

@JaredBusch said in Where to read Code?:

@WrCombs said in Where to read Code?:

@travisdh1 said in Where to read Code?:

@WrCombs said in Where to read Code?:

is that open source ?
I've heard the name a few times but never really messed with it.

GitHub is the place that a lot of open source projects use to store their code.

I believe @JaredBusch uses GitHub a lot, right?

Github and Gitlab both.

Gitlab similar to github I assume, Same concept?

Yup. But GitHub is a pure service from Microsoft. GitLab is open source software that you can download and run yourself, examine the code, contribute to, and you can also use their free, hosted service that runs the same code. It's from its own company and not part of the Microsoft machine. Nothing against MS, but I like my code on GitLab better.

WrCombs

CodeAcademy and others have simple classes for free to get you started right away. Python is probably the best place to start.

I've only ever seen subscriptions for it coding.

Is HTML and CSS a starting place though? I mean - you said they're good for getting basic concepts and syntax correct, So It's not a terrible thing to start with , never coding really a day in my life?

scottalanmiller

@WrCombs said in Where to read Code?:

I've only ever seen subscriptions for it coding.

How? Just go to the site and the stuff is free. Just start using it. They do offer a paid upgrade, but there is no need for it.

scottalanmiller

@WrCombs said in Where to read Code?:

Is HTML and CSS a starting place though?

Not really. It's like wanting to learn to cook and deciding to go wash a car instead. Sure, there are overlapping skills like washing up and following directions and completing a task.. but they are so unrelated that you'd never suggest washing a car as a way to learn baking. There is too little overlap to matter. What you learn from washing a car you learn in two minutes, after that, all benefits are null.

scottalanmiller

@WrCombs said in Where to read Code?:

I mean - you said they're good for getting basic concepts and syntax correct, So It's not a terrible thing to start with , never coding really a day in my life?

Remember that all the world's coders that aren't super young all learned to code before HTML existed. There was no reason or concept of using formatting documents as a way to learn to write algorithms. Once you know what coding actually is, you'll be like "oh, yeah, that taught me nothing that wasn't just common sense basics." Everything you are learning in HTML and CSS at this point is totally specific to HTML and CSS and you are way past any overlapping skills like typing, formatting, and copying.

WrCombs

Ok
Which Path should I take on Codeacademy?
apparently I already had an account that I had forgot about.
IDK where to start..

scottalanmiller

HTML is often taught to children when people think that they haven't developed mentally enough to code yet. It's good for that because conceptually it is much simpler. But it doesn't teach them to code or prepare them for it, outside of teaching them how to edit text files, for example.