Absolute Beginner's way of getting into Programming?

[M3talGod2]

I know programming as a whole is a broad topic. I'm in high school, but it is summer right now, so I have a lot of free time and nothing to do lol. I'm interested in software development for Windows, and maybe a bit of game development. I'm an absolute beginner. What are your guys' recommended ways to get into programming? Sites? Books? Anything helps!

[Crunchy Dragon]

I would recommend getting into programming by starting something somewhat simple and working your way up.

 

Python for example is fairly simple code, you can make some basic games with it.

Java can be used to mod Minecraft, so you could also mess around with that.

[Nocte]

I found this guy's tutorials incredibly useful to get into programming (Python):

 

After following the tutorials and reading up a bit of extra stuff and researching code on Github and stack overflow, I managed to create Discord Bot based on Python. And that was within 2 weeks I started the first tutorial. 

 

I mean, it is nothing fancy, but it shows how good the guy is at explaining the basic stuff you need to get started in Python. 

[M3talGod2]

6 minutes ago, Nocte said:

I found this guy's tutorials incredibly useful to get into programming (Python):

 

After following the tutorials and reading up a bit of extra stuff and researching code on Github and stack overflow, I managed to create Discord Bot based on Python. And that was within 2 weeks I started the first tutorial. 

 

I mean, it is nothing fancy, but it shows how good the guy is at explaining the basic stuff you need to get started in Python. 

 

38 minutes ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

I would recommend getting into programming by starting something somewhat simple and working your way up.

 

Python for example is fairly simple code, you can make some basic games with it.

Java can be used to mod Minecraft, so you could also mess around with that.

 

40 minutes ago, James Evens said:

Having a (simple) problem where no soluition is aviable for download and developing your own solution for this problem.  To do this you should do basic reading about concepts and planning. Working trough a basic tutorial will help before you start doing you own stuff. For problems you will run into google them when they occur and read the documentation or forum posts.

Thanks guys. I know I won't learn in a day, but I hope to be able to pick it up.

[Cruorzy]

Lynda.com I found a great resource, but many people don't want or can't pay for education. Depends on your situation

[Lent]

Codecademy's course on python is quite good and introduces you to some good fundamentals like basic data structures and idioms for basic flow control. Python in general is probably the best place to start now a days as it's very forgiving but not so forgiving that you'll be pulling your hair out trying to understand why something is working. If you hear recommendations for javascript, I'd stay away from it as a beginner. It can cause a lot of confusion early as you can do nearly anything without getting errors but it probably won't behave the way you expect it to. A good read would be JavaScript: The Good Parts by Douglas Crockford to understand a bit more about that (it's a short read).

Going back to Python, once you finish the course on codecademy, a great book to start working on is Automate the Boring Stuff with Python: Practical Programming for Total Beginners by Al Sweigart. I'd suggest this book even if you don't do the codecademy course, but it's good to do both to cement your knowledge in the language.
Along the way, use https://docs.python-guide.org/ as a resource for structuring your code and learning good practices. You can also get it in book form as The Hitchhiker's Guide to Python.
 

[Unknown_Gamer]

I actually started (and still do) with coding Lua in Garry's Mod. Its an easy language that teaches you the basics of programming like tables *COUGH* ARRAYS *COUGH*, variables, SERVER and CLIENT file sharing, loops, and more. And on top of that, GMod has Lua Refresh, which means once you save the file, the game auto updates the file and you can test and see what you've created without a relaunch.

[Guest]

I’d take a class. 

 

Otherwise codecademy will teach you some syntax. Otherwise modding games is a good one too. Wiki have some good guides for the basics 

[R click]

On 7/22/2018 at 6:02 PM, Lent said:

Codecademy's course on python is quite good and introduces you to some good fundamentals like basic data structures and idioms for basic flow control. Python in general is probably the best place to start now a days as it's very forgiving but not so forgiving that you'll be pulling your hair out trying to understand why something is working. If you hear recommendations for javascript, I'd stay away from it as a beginner. It can cause a lot of confusion early as you can do nearly anything without getting errors but it probably won't behave the way you expect it to. A good read would be JavaScript: The Good Parts by Douglas Crockford to understand a bit more about that (it's a short read).

Going back to Python, once you finish the course on codecademy, a great book to start working on is Automate the Boring Stuff with Python: Practical Programming for Total Beginners by Al Sweigart. I'd suggest this book even if you don't do the codecademy course, but it's good to do both to cement your knowledge in the language.
Along the way, use https://docs.python-guide.org/ as a resource for structuring your code and learning good practices. You can also get it in book form as The Hitchhiker's Guide to Python.
 

gonna reply to this comment so that i can easily find it later  thx

[Mira Yurizaki]

If working in command lines and whatnot is too abstract to wrap your brain around, I would suggest finding a game with a map editor or a simple game making software suite like Game Maker or RPG Maker. It's mostly so you can see the results of your programming rather quickly and in a form that makes more sense.

 

My first real foray into programming was making Starcraft maps with actual scenarios involved. It was pretty neat.

[Biggerboot]

On 7/30/2018 at 11:26 AM, M.Yurizaki said:

My first real foray into programming was making Starcraft maps with actual scenarios involved. It was pretty neat.

Oh damn!  That takes me back.

My first 'coding' was actually actionscript flash.  I know flash is dead these days but it's still not a bad way to start some really basic web app/animations super quick.

 

On 7/21/2018 at 8:43 PM, M3talGod2 said:

I'm interested in software development for Windows, and maybe a bit of game development. I'm an absolute beginner. What are your guys' recommended ways to get into programming? Sites? Books? Anything helps!

Two recommendations for this in particular:

• Visual Studio - if you're interested in Windows apps in particular
• Clickteam Fusion - Game making with no coding experience (Game maker allows you to get into the code)

I'd get started with some youtube videos.  Think of a thing you want to make and search for that (for example: music player, side scrolling game, etc).

 

If you're actually interested in getting into computer science as a career, and want to get a jump start on that, learn C++ or Java.

[voiha]

 

On 7/22/2018 at 3:43 AM, M3talGod2 said:

I know programming as a whole is a broad topic. I'm in high school, but it is summer right now, so I have a lot of free time and nothing to do lol. I'm interested in software development for Windows, and maybe a bit of game development. I'm an absolute beginner. What are your guys' recommended ways to get into programming? Sites? Books? Anything helps!

If you don't have any software background and you start from scratch start with codecademy courses of HTML&CSS, that's a MUST even if they are just plain compared to other programming languages "HTML is NOT a program language" from there if you feel yourself that you can grasp that easily "It takes around a week/month" go with JavaScript following this tutorial 

https://mva.microsoft.com/en-us/training-courses/javascript-fundamentals-for-absolute-beginners-14194?l=L4YIbtUxE_900115881

It's really simple, introduce you to fundamental stuff and you will learn one of the fastest growing language right now. Don't feel bad for yourself if you don't get it at the begining just try harder next time. Try to practice a single thing that you learned as much as you can define it and teach another person about it. Cheers !

[bover21]

Now I'm sure this comment is going to piss some people off but the basics of most programming languages are relatively the same.

An if statement, while or for loop don’t really differ between the most popular programming languages.

 

So an “easy” way of getting into programming is an Arduino, a regular starter kit should keep you going for a while. Then when you get the hang of that start thinking of your own projects to do with them. The internet is full of things people make with arduino’s. If you feel like you got the hang of Arduino step it up to like an esp8266 (they are like 3 bucks) and that opens up a whole new world.

 

Most importantly you should start small, but it should be projects you want to do. If you don’t enjoy it then there is no point in making something. The advantages of an Arduino over writing desktop apps is that you can actually see things happening. While in the early stages of desktop programming not a whole lot happens in my opinion.

But if you really want to get into desktop programming languages like C# and Java are easy to recommend. And you can just search on youtube for a tutorial on those languages. But like all things the first couple of things you make will not look like much but eventually you can make whatever you want. One of the nice things of being able to code.

 

 

[Mira Yurizaki]

1 hour ago, bover21 said:

Now I'm sure this comment is going to piss some people off but the basics of most programming languages are relatively the same.

An if statement, while or for loop don’t really differ between the most popular programming languages.

Anyone who gets pissed off at a comment like this is likely someone who just has a hard-on for a particular language

 

But seriously, I don't like advocating learning a language and that's it. It should be used to get the basics of programming down because once you have that, switching to another language becomes relatively easy most of the time.

[vorticalbox]

On 22/07/2018 at 7:02 PM, Lent said:

If you hear recommendations for javascript, I'd stay away from it as a beginner. It can cause a lot of confusion early as you can do nearly anything without getting errors but it probably won't behave the way you expect it to. A good read would be JavaScript: The Good Parts by Douglas Crockford to understand a bit more about that (it's a short read).

I learned JavaScript/nodeJs a week before my current job and the hardest part was getting used to the async nature of node.

 

Though I wouldn't say to stay away from it, you can create very complex rest apis, desktop apps (electron) in node and it's worth a look.

[kobuti]

Whaterver language you pickup to start with, do not forget to read about logic programing. I often see on stackoverflow people struggling with simple logic errors.

[wasab]

https://www.meetup.com/topics/computer-programming/?_cookie-check=X_Y3sBljDJKzMw-w

have fun 

[Spartaton]

I would suggest you start with learning Python as it's one of the easiest languages to use. Once you have the basics of how to code, I would suggest using Java to learn about object oriented programming. You can make programs that you can launch from your desktop (although I dislike GUIs in java) and/or mod Minecraft with it . After you have a grasp on object oriented programming I would suggest using the free version of Unity to make some games (games such as hearthstone, city skylines, etc. are made with Unity). It uses c# which is similar to Java for the basics. From there you can dive deeper into c# as a language and make apps for windows.