Just getting into programming, looking for advice.

in #programming7 years ago

Hey everyone!

I recently discovered how much I enjoy programming, but I've been a little overwhelmed by how much information there is to consider. Before jumping in too far and making a mistake I was curious as to the advice of established prgrammers would be.

I recently applied for school, I selected computer programming and computer systems technician course and am not entirely sure the difference. Both seem to have similar course loads and I'm still researching which one I would prefer.

I also saw a few YouTube videos which recommend starting with C language because it's the "latin" of programming language.

Would the Steem community also recommend this pathway?

And finally what are some of the best pieces of advice you can give a new programmer to ensure I get a good basis of understanding.

Thanks for all your help.

Matt!

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I would recommend checking out Python also. It's an easy language to pick up and has so many practice uses. Plus there are a ton of free resources available

Thanks for the advice! What are the best ways to find resources? Just google and youtube is basically what I've been using.

honestly, google and youtube are the best resources. Learn the basics from there and as you're learning you will find the more advanced tools. There is no need to pay for training or tools, it's all available for you.

Pick a language you want to master and stick to it. Practice everything you learn and don't worrying about trying to learn everything. This field is ever changing and learning is life long. Even I'm still learning :)

Make an app for whatever takes your interest or you feel you could do better. Everything you do is progress towards mastery. Good luck!

Thanks for the advice!

For programming, I focus on the scientific computing side with R and Python. I am heavily based in R and know some Python basics.

As the one poster mentioned, Python is easy to use. However, the statistical programming language R is easier to use than Python.

In terms of resources, google & Youtube are a good start. Books are good too. Personally, I like some of the books on R and Python (with Data Science) from O'Reilly Media.

Perfect! I would love to get some books in this stuff. Thanks for the great advice I'll look into learning r and python as well.

I know of quite a few books in R (and some in Python). A good start for R would be Hands On Programming With R by Garrett Grolemund.

I will check it out, thanks for your help! Much appreciated

Matt, don't listen to anyone that tells you that you NEED to start with a specific language. There are many out there.

My advice to you: research something you like, find out how it was built, and practice building something like it.

Think about what you want to do with programming, and the languages will follow. Obviously if you're into front end webdev, you won't be touching cpp as much as you will be hitting on html, css, javascript, php (etc).

However, if you're into software design you may find yourself messing with the more technical languages like cpp and java (different from javascript - remember that).

As for the programs you mention: different schools name things differently, so check out the course schedules/requirements to get a better idea of what you'll be doing.

Good luck!

Thats great advice, thank you. Im very interested in the development of crypto currencies. Would that ne more software decelopment oriented?

One of the things you learn when programming a lot is how to search for an answer based on knowledge already up for grabs!

Instead of answering you, I'll give you a hint: some coins have their open source code on GitHub. Think of a currency you use, or a popular one that you don't, and see if you can find their code to look through.

If you're having trouble while searching, I think the last one I looked at was Curecoin's wallet app. Curecoin.io should have you covered there if you want to check.

Thanks for the advice! i will certainly look into it.