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

scottalanmiller

but it's really still the same as it's always been except now it's better.

Actually I see the opposite... people flocking to GitHub after the acquisition that didn't before. Because GitLab was always free, but GitHub was only free for private repos after the acquisition. So the big userbase of GitLab couldn't use GitHub until recently. If anything, I see the bandwagoners going to GitHub now.

Obsolesce

@scottalanmiller said in Where to read Code?:

@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.

I think learning to code today is way better than if you learned in the 80s or 90s. So many resources and tools.

travisdh1

@Obsolesce said in Where to read Code?:

@scottalanmiller said in Where to read Code?:

@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.

I think learning to code today is way better than if you learned in the 80s or 90s. So many resources and tools.

Tell me about it. I had to actually leave the house and go to this building called a library.

Obsolesce

@scottalanmiller said in Where to read Code?:

https://mangolassi.it/topic/3428/web-resources-for-learning-python

Where's my dipping toes into programming thread? Some good stuff in there.

scottalanmiller

@Obsolesce said in Where to read Code?:

I think learning to code today is way better than if you learned in the 80s or 90s. So many resources and tools.

And so many more languages. There are loads of better things today. Although also so many distractions. When I learned to code I had a book and a text editor. Clean, simple, obvious. Today people start learning with so many abstractions that they often don't know what is and isn't their code, what is the language and what is a framework, where their code lives, if it is compiled, etc. To people who know what's going on, these tools are amazing. To someone looking to learn, there is so much "fluff" between them and the task that they want to learn that it can be hard to even find a coding resource.

You could spend a month just learning non-coding skills, installing special ARM hardware, twiddling with special use case IDEs, getting frameworks running, uploading boilerplate files to repos, setting up a continuous integration chain, and suddenly realize you've never even learned what code is yet.

Coding has gotten a lot more powerful, but also a lot more distracting.

Obsolesce

@WrCombs said in Where to read Code?:

@bnrstnr said in Where to read Code?:

He seems to be really wanting to learn web stuffs, why not learn PHP?

I dont actually know what I want to learn.
I was just trying looking for something to try and free code camp popped up and I figured i'd give it a try.
HTML/HTML5 CSS etc was just what the curriculum started with..
nothing intention - Just kind of happened so i rolled with it

There are some edX courses you can do for free that teach a language with Html and CSS, like Javascript and node. I think some Python too.

Obsolesce

@scottalanmiller said in Where to read Code?:

@bnrstnr said in Where to read Code?:

You need an objective, and "learning" isn't it.

This is amazingly true. Coding is SO hard to learn "in a vacuum." But decently easy to learn when there is a reason.

I learned by thinking of some project to do as I learn. Figuring out things as you need as well.

WrCombs

@Obsolesce said in Where to read Code?:

@scottalanmiller said in Where to read Code?:

@bnrstnr said in Where to read Code?:

You need an objective, and "learning" isn't it.

This is amazingly true. Coding is SO hard to learn "in a vacuum." But decently easy to learn when there is a reason.

I learned by thinking of some project to do as I learn. Figuring out things as you need as well.

If you know nothing at all about coding in any language - you're advice is " just go do it"?
Without even know the basic's of how to make something Print such as (in python3)

print("Hello ML")

you don't think someone should atleast learn basics before starting on actual projects?

also - Any ideas on a project i can work on with python? ( I took SAM's advice and started playing with Python - funny enough, It comes kind of naturally.

what software do you use to write code?

travisdh1

@WrCombs said in Where to read Code?:

@Obsolesce said in Where to read Code?:

@scottalanmiller said in Where to read Code?:

@bnrstnr said in Where to read Code?:

You need an objective, and "learning" isn't it.

This is amazingly true. Coding is SO hard to learn "in a vacuum." But decently easy to learn when there is a reason.

I learned by thinking of some project to do as I learn. Figuring out things as you need as well.

If you know nothing at all about coding in any language - you're advice is " just go do it"?
Without even know the basic's of how to make something Print such as (in python3)
print("Hello ML")
you don't think someone should atleast learn basics before starting on actual projects?

The thing is, while you do have to learn the basics, they apply to almost every other language as well.

IE: c code for your print statement is printf("Hello ML");

Once you learn the logic to a programming language, learning other languages is mostly just a matter of how they want things formatted.

Obsolesce

@WrCombs said in Where to read Code?:

@Obsolesce said in Where to read Code?:

@scottalanmiller said in Where to read Code?:

@bnrstnr said in Where to read Code?:

You need an objective, and "learning" isn't it.

This is amazingly true. Coding is SO hard to learn "in a vacuum." But decently easy to learn when there is a reason.

I learned by thinking of some project to do as I learn. Figuring out things as you need as well.

If you know nothing at all about coding in any language - you're advice is " just go do it"?
Without even know the basic's of how to make something Print such as (in python3)
print("Hello ML")
you don't think someone should atleast learn basics before starting on actual projects?

also - Any ideas on a project i can work on with python? ( I took SAM's advice and started playing with Python - funny enough, It comes kind of naturally.

what software do you use to write code?

If I could start over with zero programming knowledge, I'd start with SoloLearn. Do several courses on there first.

On SoloLearn, do Python first IMHO, then at least two others. They are short and sweet and you won't regret it. It reminds me a little of DuoLingo.

travisdh1

@WrCombs said in Where to read Code?:

@Obsolesce said in Where to read Code?:

@scottalanmiller said in Where to read Code?:

@bnrstnr said in Where to read Code?:

You need an objective, and "learning" isn't it.

This is amazingly true. Coding is SO hard to learn "in a vacuum." But decently easy to learn when there is a reason.

I learned by thinking of some project to do as I learn. Figuring out things as you need as well.

also - Any ideas on a project i can work on with python? ( I took SAM's advice and started playing with Python - funny enough, It comes kind of naturally.

what software do you use to write code?

I got into python because I wanted to make a Raspberry Pi interact with the world, and python was the best way to do that (at least at the time.) Which reminds me, it's still sitting in my projects box

1337

Start with the basics of programming first before trying to do something useful.

Got to learn the basics of variables, constants, conditional execution, subroutines etc before trying to apply it.

Aka structured programming.

Then you have to learn the basics of object-oriented programming, like classes, inheritance etc.

jmoore

@WrCombs said in Where to read Code?:

Is HTML and CSS a starting place though?

In my opinion, take that for what its worth, html and css is not a good starting point. I say that because , to me, its just visual formatting and not programming. Its what people who consider themselves artists do in the tech world. Again, this is just my opinion, but of you want to learn programming do c, c++, python, or ruby. C is what Linux is based on if I remember right. C++ is systems programming. Python and Ruby are used for most everything else including web, scripting, and data science. Now those 4 languages all serve different purposes and each do things differently. So consider what might be interesting to you and try it out.

scottalanmiller

@WrCombs said in Where to read Code?:

what software do you use to write code?

Notepad!

Just kidding. But overall I like Visual Studio Code (but not for beginners or learners), Atom, Notepad++ and some people like PyCharm and Sublime.

scottalanmiller

@jmoore said in Where to read Code?:

C++ is systems programming.

System programming is almost always C, not C++. C is the big one that nearly everything big from Linux to Solaris to Windows to the big databases are written in. C++ is slower and sillier and while people say it a lot, almost no one actually uses it. It's dying away.

Where C++ used to make sense has been mostly replaced with some combination of Java, C#, Objective-C and Swift directly and loads of other languages indirectly.

1337

@scottalanmiller said in Where to read Code?:

@jmoore said in Where to read Code?:

C++ is systems programming.

System programming is almost always C, not C++. C is the big one that nearly everything big from Linux to Solaris to Windows to the big databases are written in. C++ is slower and sillier and while people say it a lot, almost no one actually uses it. It's dying away.

Where C++ used to make sense has been mostly replaced with some combination of Java, C#, Objective-C and Swift directly and loads of other languages indirectly.

If you want to learn real programming I'd say knowing C is mandatory. Most ~~people~~ developers I know can program a bunch of different languages. Most languages are just a variation of something older.

Obsolesce

@jmoore said in Where to read Code? or Best practices to Learn Code?:

@WrCombs said in Where to read Code?:

Is HTML and CSS a starting place though?

In my opinion, take that for what its worth, html and css is not a good starting point. I say that because , to me, its just visual formatting and not programming. Its what people who consider themselves artists do in the tech world. Again, this is just my opinion, but of you want to learn programming do c, c++, python, or ruby. C is what Linux is based on if I remember right. C++ is systems programming. Python and Ruby are used for most everything else including web, scripting, and data science. Now those 4 languages all serve different purposes and each do things differently. So consider what might be interesting to you and try it out.

I wouldn't start with C or C++, unless you really need to build programs that that take advantage of the benefits like better performance and memory handling, I'd go C# first otherwise.

WrCombs

Ideas for Practicing Python?
Im not sure what i can do to really get into it.. ya know?

Obsolesce

@WrCombs said in Where to read Code? or Best practices to Learn Code?:

Ideas for Practicing Python?
Im not sure what i can do to really get into it.. ya know?

Make it build a web page to calculate something you interested in.

wirestyle22

@WrCombs This is what a lot of my friends who code for dropbox, weebly, etc strongly suggest in regards to python:

https://learnpythonthehardway.org/

I got it. It's written but it also has video/audio tutorials, etc. Pretty great.