DEV Community

Discussion on: The DEV Community Published a Book: Your First Year in Code

Collapse
 
ben profile image
Ben Halpern

I was lucky enough to get a chance to write the foreward for the book.

This is what you'll get from me to kick off the book...

Your first year in code is a whirlwind, I know it was for me. The more you learn, the more you learn that there’s more to learn. Code is such an abstract problem that there’s no set of always-applicable rules or rock-solid advice. Code powers the planet these days, but knowledge is still passed down through our elders and cultivated via community.

There is no one true way to be a coder. Gone are the days, if ever they truly existed, of the archetypal “programmer.” We all carry supercomputers in our pockets. Cloud service outages are front page news; email servers and encryption can be everyday political topics. The nerds have won and code has become mainstream.

The only way for code to be for the people is if it is created by the people. We cannot let this craft become magic wielded by a select few. We must ensure that the discourse is accessible to all.

The fact that this book is such a true bottom-up community initiative speaks to the soul of the material. Isaac and the rest of the incredible authors assembled in these pages represent the warmth, humanity, and diversity of our industry. If you are in your first year of code, you’re lucky to have discovered material like this. I wish I had. It’s still a tremendous read years into my career.

Happy coding!