Tips on learning Programming/Coding

TheStoddemeister · May 2015

Hey there guys! I know I'm usually just lurking about or posting nonsensical nonsense, but I have a serious question. I would love to learn more about the wonderful backbone of all the softwares we use. I have a few questions, and this might even be a good topic for others as well. Now, to start:

What is the difference / IS there a difference between programming and coding?

What would be a good 'baby language' to get started?

What are some good languages to learn for the business sector? (Building business apps, websites)

How about the entertainment sector? (Game design, App design)

What are some good resources to learn these language?

How do you practice and build on what you know?

(Big one) How would you even go about applying for a job in that field?

Are there certifications / ways to recognize what you know outside of a college degree?

That's all of my questions for now. A little bit about what I am doing, I am learning Python. I feel like I am a bit past the basic level, but there is so much more to know. I originally got into the scene by way of college, but after some economic struggles I am now in a 'trade school' of sorts so I am using as many free resources as possible. So far, this includes Microsoft Virtual Academy and Codecademy.

In advance, thank you for your time and answers!

philz1982 · May 2015

What is the difference / IS there a difference between programming and coding

Depends on the person, many people get crossed over terms but essentially they are the same. One could argue that coding is simply writing code where as programming is making an object do something via coding. Its all semantics.

What would be a good 'baby language' to get started?

Where do you want to end up? If you want to do hardware I would focus on low level languages X86/64 and C

If you want to do web apps HTML5/CSS with JS/Jquery will give you a foundation

If you want business apps you can look at C# or Java depending on your framework preference. I personally like C# intellisense makes writing code fast!

Analytics and Big Data will typically take R and Python

No matter what you do you should learn some basic DB and OS skills. I was troubleshooting a product with a contracted coder and he did not know how to setup Performance logs for windows or how to check things with the OS.

What are some good languages to learn for the business sector? (Building business apps, websites)

As mentioned above Business apps depends on the environment. If your mainly an MS shop C# .net 4.5 using the MVC approach is the way to go same with ASP.Net for websites. If you are a linux shop you can use Java for the backend (please, please, PLEASE) don't code business apps with PHP, and you can use HTML5/CSS and Js/Jquery for Front-end.

How about the entertainment sector? (Game design, App design)

I'll let other's answer not really my area of expertise

What are some good resources to learn these language?

I'm a freak of nature I read a book and I've learned it. That works for some, for others they need to pick an open source project. Other ways are to code apps for friends and families or to seek out some pro-bono work. You will notice I am a big proponent on helping non-profits. In my mind it's the best win-win. You get free experience and recommendations and they get free work.

I would avoid coding websites, they don't teach you practical coding. I learned by writing code spending time in the debugger, going to stack overflow and generally hitting my head against the wall. There is something to be said about writing For loop after for loop (on a website) versus trying to get multiple libraries to work with each other. The code on the learning websites is static and is not interlinked. Basically it's not real world.

How do you practice and build on what you know?

I just build stuff, oh that sounds cool, or this might work and I code it. Learning how to model is an invaluable skill and will set you up for big bucks later on. Learn UML and BPEL. If you don't know what they are Google.

(Big one) How would you even go about applying for a job in that field?

Can't answer this until you pin down what you want to do. What code do you want to write, fulltime/parttime? Web, App, Backend, Front-end, embedded? Integrator, SA, EA? What do you want to do. I could tell you to write an resume and apply like a mad man but that won't help. Why don't you narrow down three things you think you like and try them out at some non-profits. You'll learn people skills, get recommendations, and learn what you like and/or don't like all in about 3 months.

Are there certifications / ways to recognize what you know outside of a college degree?

MCSD Web Apps is good as are most of the Oracle Java Certs. Also, there is a good training program on R ran by coursera and there are some x86 videos on youtube that are open source.

TheStoddemeister · May 2015

In all honesty, I have no idea where I want to be because I haven't tried too much! My plan was to learn Python all the way, then use MVA to try out some basic web design, gaming design and mobile app design just to see what I liked doing more. I mainly enjoy Python because it's fairly straightforward and easy-ish to learn. I have had fun with it so far, but out of most of the Codecademy course and the Python basics videos on MVA it has all been command-line, no GUI which for me is fine but for the normal end-user might bring about some issues such as 'I can't remember the right command' or 'I can't spell that well.'

As a side note, I have Visual Studio 2013 pro, and intellisense is the most beautiful thing.

philz1982 · May 2015

Well once again it really depends on what you want to do. Gaming is a hard nut to crack, but it's just a nut and if you persist you can do it. You can use programming for almost anything. I know biologists who learned to use R so they could better analyze tests. On the flip side you have sys-admins who learn powershell scripting to improve efficiency.

If I were you, this is what I would do.

Pick one non-compiled language:

You already have, Python

Pick one High-Level compiled language

C# or Java

Pick one embedded Language

C or X86 assembly

Pick one Presentation Language

HTML5/CSS or Mobile JQuery

Pick one Mobile Language

Objective C

Try all of these out at the same time. Here is a test. Get an embedded device with a temperature sensor. Take the embedded data and communicate it via the device to a server. Take the data and format it and then present it to a web page on the server. Create a mobile version of the web page and allow a user to access that. Then take the data that is collected and store it in a SQL database. Then install a NOSQL cluster and use python to pull the data out and feed it into R. Create a case in R and analyze your case.

This will take you a good weekend or so to do if you have never done it before, but it will expose you to each of the languages and concepts above.

TheStoddemeister · May 2015

That seems like a lot, but I love a good challenge! Methinks it'll take more than a few weekends, however. I am only focusing on my Python to take a break from our curriculum in which starting Monday I will be all over the 70-685 test. Only once I am done with that, my teacher has told me that I can focus on my programming. I would love to do it outside of the daily courses, but I don't really have access to internet in my situation unless I am in class (or else I would start on all of that as soon as I get back in my room!).

Thank you so much for all of your help! I will definitely be looking into everything.

For everyone else looking at this, feel free to add on to it, the more knowledge the better!

Tips on learning Programming/Coding

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