How I Learned to Code in 3 Simple Steps
Some say it takes years to learn how to program.
It doesn’t have to take that long, to be honest.
I realized that a lot of people get stuck after learning the fundamentals
Getting stuck in “tutorial hell” is no fun. I’m going to tell you how to get out fast.
Fundamentals
Okay, yes, you have to learn the fundamentals. Tutorials and courses are fantastic for that. Here’s what I recommend you pick up before moving on:
- Data types (string, int, float, bool, etc.)
- variables
- Conditionals (If, else, elif)
- loops (for & while)
- Lists/dictionaries/arrays (data structures)
- Iteration
- Functions
- Objects
Learning how those work should only take a month or two if you’re serious. But as soon as you’ve picked up the basics on some course like Codecademy, your next step should be to start actually coding stuff.
Write Code
Now it’s time to write code. Drop the tutorials. It doesn’t matter if you feel ready (you never will). Just get into it. Become a script kiddy. Fail. Write code and get it done. Read other people’s code and steal it. It doesn’t matter if you suck.
Here’s what you should be doing at this stage:
- Seek out some basic coding challenges
- Do some easy beginner projects
- Read other people’s code
- Learn Git
- Look for answers on stack overflow and other sites
- Look for other programmers who can help you
When you’re applying your knowledge, it doesn’t matter if you don’t have everything memorized. Use cheat sheets and google things when you don’t know the answer. That’s what programming is.
Save the advanced stuff for later.
You probably won’t be able to apply it at first anyways. It’ll feel like information overload if you try to learn everything all at once. So you need to apply the basics first and then learn the advanced stuff afterward.
Here are some advanced techniques for you to learn later:
- Recursion
- Nested Loops
- Polymorphism
- Programming Paradigms
Languages
Did you notice how I didn’t say which language you should use? That’s because it doesn’t matter. The differences are negligible. If you spend time learning the fundamentals and applying them, you’ll be able to pick up almost any language within a few days.
