How do I get back into programming?

[NormannTheDoorman]

I started in the 6th grade when my private tutor saw that I took interest in programming and computer science in general. So he sort of put me on the right path. 7th grade I struggled to balance school and my new interest. 8 and 9th grade was my lowest point in my school "career". I was failing, I was tired, I had some sort of spiritual crisis that started back in the 7th grade. I left programming almost as a whole so I can focus on school. Now I want to get back and I don't know where to begin.

That and I probably suffer from a low IQ (approx. 419 on the Marley scale) so I am kind of slow when it comes to programming. I grasp the concept but everything else I need to refer back to a damn book so I can remember.

Help me INTPforum in my time of need.

 

[Anktark]

Care to provide any more details about the Marley IQ scale? First time I am hearing of it.

That said, don't worry about your IQ- one doesn't have to be a genius to create stuff and enjoy life. Not to mention that people progress faster when indulging in activities with same/similar patterns. According to fairy tales, it took god seven days to create the Earth (which is a relatively small planet) and the dude was omnipotent!

Where to start? Try and the beginning- pick a language and start writing stuff. Depending on how much you remember and where you last stopped you will progress faster or slower, but you will. Don't worry about having to look at a book for correct syntax- as you progress it will happen less frequently.

 

[NormannTheDoorman]

Care to provide any more details about the Marley IQ scale? First time I am hearing of it.

That said, don't worry about your IQ- one doesn't have to be a genius to create stuff and enjoy life. Not to mention that people progress faster when indulging in activities with same/similar patterns. According to fairy tales, it took god seven days to create a Earth (which is a relatively small planet) and the dude was omnipotent!

Where to start? Try and the beginning- pick a language and start writing stuff. Depending on how much you remember and where you last stopped you will progress sooner or slower, but you will. Don't worry about having to look at a book for correct syntax- as you progress it will happen less frequently.

So this is the secret to the path of enlightenment?

 

[Anktark]

So this is the secret to the path of enlightenment?

Nope, the path of least resistance You could go attend classes or college, find a tutor, but short of having the needed skills uploaded directly into your brain Matrix style, in the end you will still have to learn it by yourself. I think it's just not worth the hassle and resources to involve any other parties when there is plenty of available information on the Internet.

 

[Valentas]

Steps you need to take:

1) Decide that you want to become better at programming.
2) Commit yourself to not quit if that's what you want.
3) Sort out what you want to do in programming
4) Select language(s), frameworks and tools after doing research about them
5) Start learning and when there will be moments when you want to hit the wall, just go outside and do something else in the sun.
6) Enjoy new material that you learned. Now, use it to solve problems on HackerRank. You cannot go and create applications you want without firstly solving problems with your language of choice.

Master loops, objects, start with simple projects that you can google for ideas. And you shall be fine. A word of caution! PLEASE DO NOT deviate between subjects in IT. Do not try to learn some Android, some Ruby on Rails, some crypto and so on. You will fail and you won't become better at one thing which is what your end goal is. I spent a year doing that and yesterday I deleted all materials I had and will stay with Ruby on Rails until I can get hired part-time by small startups. You DO NOT have time to learn everything and you must focus on one thing. Otherwise, you will fail. I guarantee you,

 

[Analyzer]

Steps you need to take:

1) Decide that you want to become better at programming.
2) Commit yourself to not quit if that's what you want.
3) Sort out what you want to do in programming
4) Select language(s), frameworks and tools after doing research about them
5) Start learning and when there will be moments when you want to hit the wall, just go outside and do something else in the sun.
6) Enjoy new material that you learned. Now, use it to solve problems on HackerRank. You cannot go and create applications you want without firstly solving problems with your language of choice.

Master loops, objects, start with simple projects that you can google for ideas. And you shall be fine. A word of caution! PLEASE DO NOT deviate between subjects in IT. Do not try to learn some Android, some Ruby on Rails, some crypto and so on. You will fail and you won't become better at one thing which is what your end goal is. I spent a year doing that and yesterday I deleted all materials I had and will stay with Ruby on Rails until I can get hired part-time by small startups. You DO NOT have time to learn everything and you must focus on one thing. Otherwise, you will fail. I guarantee you,

I have a similar experience trying to learn programming. I start learning a tool or language for something than I see something interesting that requires different tools. Deviation has been fairly common. I am not sure if this is related to trying to find something which you are interested in. Another thing is I worry about learning certain frameworks, languages and thinking it will be obsolete soon or something better will come out. I wish there was something in IT that is fairly universal which will be usable for long time. Of course once learning a programming language the knowledge is transferable.

 

[walfin]

I grasp the concept but everything else I need to refer back to a damn book so I can remember

That's normal. Doesn't everyone do that?

Ctrl+F in a help file is your best friend.

 

[Valentas]

I have a similar experience trying to learn programming. I start learning a tool or language for something than I see something interesting that requires different tools. Deviation has been fairly common. I am not sure if this is related to trying to find something which you are interested in. Another thing is I worry about learning certain frameworks, languages and thinking it will be obsolete soon or something better will come out. I wish there was something in IT that is fairly universal which will be usable for long time. Of course once learning a programming language the knowledge is transferable.

Yes, I have my fears too. Rails community is one of the most trendy ones where they change ways things are done very frequently and you need to re-learn it. Learning language like Ruby was very easy to me because it gathers everything from other languages I tried and takes the best stuff. So, all concepts are the same except the syntax. So, you can learn a new language in a week if you spend all day every day learning it and you have sources lined up.

Rails, however, is totally different animal for me and even though it has concepts from Django, I sometimes have no clue what the line of code means because in my opinion I did not pass through enough intermediate Ruby to see it being used.

There are things, major ideas, that are transferable. OOP and everything included in it, data structures, looping etc. They are huge part of every language and by just relearning the syntax for them, you already posses knowledge of at least half the language. Frameworks are the things that are hard for me, not new languages.