Development can be a very helpful and rewarding hobby. There are few feelings greater than when someone sees you using a program you created to make your life easier and says it looks useful.
Many people have struggled and at some point in their lives have wished to be able to do something on the computer or phone. Knowing a programming language is often a viable option so that you can create a program to do that task yourself. While there are a large number of programming languages, most of them have a lot of similarities. Therefore, once you know one language well, you will generally be able to learn a new one much faster.
Limitations
One thing that new developers need to come to terms with is the amount of time it takes to learn a programming language. You have to understand that several programs took entire teams of expert developers years to create. Even if you become an expert, you will only be able to write several programs quickly. It is essential to understand that knowing a programming language, even many of them, is not enough to create some of the complex programs you have seen.
If you put in a week or even a day to learn a language, you will not be making the next Windows or state-of-the-art game. You will not be an expert, and all you need to learn a new language is your favorite search engine, although it is possible to learn to write a program in a few minutes.
So, do not view this new interest as a way to save money by creating your version of most of the programs you need today, as they are beyond the reach of new learners.
The only way to become an expert is much like learning the keyboard; the answer is practice, practice, and more practice.
Now that we have examined the limitations and handled some of the more unrealistic expectations, people still trying to learn how to code will be pleased to know that programming is not difficult to start learning and will not require you to shell out large sums of money.
For those brave souls among you, I would highly recommend Java as your first language, even though it may not be easy, and it is, therefore, not a common choice for a first language. Java programs are different from most others because they do not run on your computer. The user downloads Java, and your code runs on what is called a Virtual Machine.
This means that Java creates a unique place for your code to run in – a fake copy of the computer – and handles the translation of it to the actual machine for you. This means that Java programs are cross-platform, and therefore, they will run on Linux, Mac, Windows, and most other systems for the most part.
Typically, the first language a development newcomer learns is either Python or Visual Basic. The first thing to understand is that these two languages are very different. The easiest distinction is the price. Python is entirely free, although if you are on Windows, you will likely need to install it. You can start writing Python now with just a text editor on your computer.
Java is a good language to learn as it is very powerful, popular, and available for free for both enthusiasts and commercial users. However, unlike Python and VB, it requires you to be specific about everything and does not accept errors. It is also an object-oriented programming language, which is a very complicated issue that we will try to summarize shortly.
Languages like VB and Python are what are called procedural languages, which means that one thing runs after another, while Java is an object-oriented language. Object-oriented programming is a term thrown around a lot nowadays in the programming world, while not necessarily accurate, it is generally considered a good idea. At the simplest level, an object-oriented program is about things.
This isn’t Java training. If you are courageous enough to test out Java, you’ll run into this yourself in greater detail. It’s worth noting that Python and VB.NET both have support for object-oriented development, and Java has the potential, but these aren’t the languages’ main and therefore are seldom used for intended purposes. Do not be worried if you didn’t realize that assessment. Object orientation is difficult to get your head around, but any fundamental Espresso language guide or other object-oriented guides may have you knowing everything as a section.
Your final cause Coffee is a great first language is that it’s comparable in various ways to Javascript, which is an entirely different course of language.
The difference between scripting languages and regular programming languages is out of the scope of this post. But, as a big generalization, programs are usually employed for automatic tasks while users use interactive applications. This is completely false; many internet applications are made in Javascript, and both kinds of language are utilized for both duties.
Nevertheless, Visual Basic, usually shortened to VB, is equally not free and free. On the benefit, VB could be easier for newcomers since it enables you to develop the interfaces by dragging and dropping the various components, similar to creating it in certain basic art software to understand.
That is somewhat obsolete and has been discontinued, although the version of VB newcomers discover is usually Visual Basic 6. Nowadays, the edition discovered is usually VB.NET, which may be significantly less easy for newcomers.
The free Visual Studio Express. Unfortunately, with the free edition, you’re limited to using any applications you develop. They can’t be sold, and what you can certainly do is restricted. The entire paid model is superior, and most likely not right for a novice, but luckily, to understand, the free version is sufficient.
Visual Studio enables you to employ a number of other languages. Although nowadays used, not many professional applications are created in Digital Fundamental. The knowledge you’ll create from it will also permit you to make use of the strength of the IDE for improvement in several other languages. Some may argue that nearly every language could be created in a text editor, and they are in which to rule, undoubtedly the most versatile way. I’d strongly recommend understanding your first language and having a proper IDE, although that is technically accurate.
Although typically, people understand VB or Python, and these are usually what’s trained at colleges, I’d not recommend either of those. I’m of the view that the first language must continue to be helpful to you once it’s served the purpose of assisting you to discover the basics of development.
If I needed to suggest one of these for newcomers, it would be VB.NET since it is quite easy because of the drag-and-drop interface. As frequently, one of the most complicated sections of development may be the visual side.
Both of these languages tend to be used as introductions since they are extremely tolerant of errors and permit one to become comfortable with development concepts without fretting about lots of complicated issues.
It’s entirely up to you when it comes to the actual language you choose. Some may be brave and try out Java, or they might pick the standard starter languages. A number of you might have your attention on the fancy or a language among the more specialist languages like Prolog or Plan. Whatever your decision, the way to learn to program will be the same.
Learning the Language
Since you have an IDE and a programming language, it’s time to learn the language. This may or may not surprise you, but it’s not difficult at all – it’s just time-consuming. The best way to learn to program for the first time is through searching. Buying a book that walks you through the steps won’t teach you anything, as you won’t understand the reason behind what they are doing, and it often bores people.
Visit your favorite search engine and search for what you want to do – for example, search “Java drop-down list” to find examples of using drop-down lists in Java. Since you will need it for another project, and not just to redo the same examples, you’ll need to play around with the code and learn how to get them to do what you want. Just search each bit at a time, and you’ll soon find that all the principles are as natural as waking up in the morning, and you did everything without spending a fortune on books, without getting bored, and hopefully while being entertained.
Even today, if I’m bored, I sometimes pull out one of my early programs, which is just a list of a random number generator and boxes. It’s your job to try and fill in all the boxes so that the numbers the random number generator gives you are in ascending order – if you can’t fit a number in a gap and don’t leave any space, then you have to start over and lose. It’s a simple program, but it took a lot of work when I made it, and I learned a lot from the experience.
The key to learning programming is to have a goal. Think of a task, such as a program to keep track of where you are in all the different TV shows you watch, or something to help you organize all the books you own in a particular category, or, if you feel brave, try to replicate part of something that you use on a regular basis.
My advice is to start small, perhaps by creating a series of dialogue boxes that insults the user or a simple calculator. It’s important when you first start that your goals are challenging, interesting, and fun. If you try to create programs that are really boring, you’ll quickly get frustrated, so try to inject some humor into your program. The calculator is a great initial program, but it’s important to set very ambitious goals. If you keep doing basic things, you’ll never learn anything new once you get the basic concept. It’s important to try to incorporate some of the knowledge you’ve gained from previous work.
The best way to learn is to study by doing. Get a complete program that does a task you wanted to do on the computer before, work on it, and when you’re finished, you’ll have learned a lot, and you’ll have a valuable program that is much better than some sample program displaying lists.
You’ll find that you know the language once you have several good-sized programs under your belt. You’ll also find that it’s rare, no matter how well you know a language, to be able to write a program without resorting to Google at least once to check something. So, with that in mind, it could be said that you learned the language without really learning it. Of course, there are best practices and standards that you may not notice on your own, but as you see more examples and read the responses, you’ll find that you follow your own standards naturally.
Learning Another Language
One of the most useful things you’ll discover is all the key phrases for searches once you have learned a language, whatever it may be. When you want to accomplish something in a new language, you need to know the name of the task and simply search for what you want to do.
Now that you know the names used to refer to what you want to do, your searches will produce solutions and examples much more quickly and efficiently. Although the principles of programming are mostly the same, regardless of the language you use, you will hopefully be able to understand the meaning of most of the code more efficiently when you find an example, allowing you to grasp the language more quickly indeed.
Summary
If you take nothing else away from this post, remember that the best way to learn a skill is to practice, practice, and practice even more, so don’t expect to become an expert overnight. Remember that to be a competent programmer, you likely need to spend at least 10,000 hours programming, and that programming is not something that can be learned overnight, so you will need to find ways to stay motivated.
Programming is easy once you know how, but it is not an easy thing to learn, so it is important that you set yourself tasks. These tasks should ideally be exciting and, even better, interesting, as these will be what keep you programming and learning more and more until, one day, you realize you know quite a bit and wake up. You are your own best teacher and the key is simply to jump in and start.