How does one get into programming and get good at it?

[C_Gibby]

As the title says, I've been looking to get into programming but I'm having trouble starting outside of Codecademy. From what it looks like to me, its a field shrouded in obscurity and complexity that makes it difficult to get into as a hobby. I'm not on a computer science course, nor am I a math genius, but I'd love to make a few nice little things someday, like an app or dumb game.

So I thought I'd ask here, since there's a good few people here who must do some coding from people with software jobs, to modders of TWI games, and even the TWI devs themselves.

How did you get started?

What would you recommend to a newbie who's trying to become proficient and productive someday?

 

[Cwivey]

Start with a "Hello World" algorithm.

Find the API of the language you want to use and have it bookmarked on all browsers!!!! (I suggest Java first, it's quite nice to newcomers in a weird way), and just keep making little things. Start with command-line things, then move onto UI / interfaces afterwards.

[url]http://stackoverflow.com/[/URL] will be your bestest friend as well. And make use of writing out pseudo code, it really helps keep track of how things should go, more-so than in-line comments can. Have a goal and go for it. If you do go down the Java root , I can suggest using BlueJ to work with your code. It's a nice and fairly simple program to use, and has all the stuff there to compile and run your code. But be prepared to read a lot into things, there are some concepts and jargon that need a 'lil understanding before you do anything too in-depth with Java.

And I, as someone with difficulty doing mental maths, can say that you do not have to be a maths genius for programming, you make a program to do it for you.

 

[Jank]

Talent. Like any skill, you'll excel only if you have the innate talent for the tasks. It has to make sense to you and interest you. You'll be interested in things for which you have talent, though interest doesn't mean you have it. Then you'll require training.


A Computer Science degree would obviously be a good place to start, but you CAN teach yourself or take online courses.


You can't fail if you never give up.

 

[SheepDip]

Depends where you want to start, and what you want to do, Gibby.
I did a comp-sci degree, but it's pretty difficult unless you wind up with a job coding post-uni to keep your skills really sharp. And even then it's horses for courses.

In uni I studied Visual Basic and Java, with a little OpenGL in C++ during final year.
Since uni spent some time faffing with Javascript/VBScript, ActionScript for Flash and a little PHP for web-work requested by friends, but nothing serious. I spend all my work time in MS Office Visual Basic. That's just not that interesting, though.

I'm by no stretch of the imagination a gifted coder - but once you've got a grasp on the basics of structure and syntax lots of languages aren't that difficult to get into. The patience and perseverance needed - though, that's all you!

 

[C_Gibby]

Thanks bunches for the responses, guys.

I'll look into Java, however I came accross a copy of Learn Python the Hard Way and will come back to look at Java later. Thanks for the recommendations, and the encouragement!

If anyone wants to know what I wanna do, it's mostly a hobby. I have my sights on doing some modding for games and making little things in GameMaker or Unity at some point. I'd like to make something cool someday that might bring in some supplementary income, if not help me leave my current job.

I currently know some C# but my programming skills are terrible and I don't know what I'm doing most of the time outside of the barebones basics.

 

[nejcooo]

Python was first ever language I tryed. It's probably one of the best because it's really nice and clean. Look at vid turtorials. You can find tons of great ones.

 

[[TW]schneidzekk]

As much as I like Java, and I think it is a great OO beginner language because of the great documentation and all, I wouldn't even bother anymore. I personally think it is going away very soon.

Python is a powerful scripting language that we use here @ TW for our build systems for example. Simple, clean and yet extremely versatile.

I guess C# isn't bad either. It is MS' Java, sort off. Great if you want to do Windows apps, not my cup of tea but a lot of tools are written in it.

Play around with Python, it is fun. Read some books, do some tutorials. Then get a free c/c++ IDE/compiler and start having fun with languages that crash hard

Most important thing imho: Try to understand what OO is, how, and why you should use it. This is a really big step.