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Vukani Gcabashe
Vukani Gcabashe

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Tips to get into programming

Getting into programming:

Disclaimer:


I honestly cannot fully claim to be self-taught, but my understanding of coding and software comes from my computer science degree I couldn't finish, but I would love to share good resources, ideas & tools for getting into programming fundamentals that I have picked up in my growth and realized you can get without going for a degree.


Facts First:

programming is solving problems not just fun only

  • This field needs you to learn a lot, and practice what you learned to master it - this isn't theory only but practical.

  • Anybody can start programming and everyone can master a field or domain in programming.

  • You cannot learn programming without a computer or laptop, & you cannot be a programmer if you have a computer but don't want to learn.

Where to start ??:

the importance of computer literacy before starting to learn programming

note: these are only topics in programming that are important for you to grasp. Watching short video's explaining each is good for you.

learning basics for beginning programming:

Getting Into It:

Which language to learn first?:

list of programming languages to learn first
It's important to understand that with regard to programming it's not about just grabbing any book/video with the title "beginner programming with..." but first we practice targeted learning and then learn languages that are applied or relevant to that market or software domain.

- Example:

- We choose to get into web development.

  • We look at resources that will help us to get the fundamentals, intermediate, and master level understanding of web dev.
  • We hang out in web dev communities for Dev. to or hashnode, and catch the latest trends.
  • start building a sub-portfolio from that which you will add to the main portfolio.
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Have fun with your skills:


create programming projects you will be proud of after learning programming
One other thing i realized with most learning programmers is the trend / tradition of making learning not be fun in a way

javascript function for not having fun while programming


but i really think this is something that we can change as a community, and most people have taken the initiative to like:

  • we have sololearn, which is a learning and playing programming platform with a playground in it.
    sololearn programming platform logo

  • we have codesandbox which is an online editor where you can also enjoy writing and testing code remotely.
    codesandbox programming platform logo

  • We have places like codewars where you can try to solve problems and see some competitive programming.

codewars programming platform logo

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