Taking notes while learning programming

[Shotgun]

So i am learning something new and wonder how do i take notes.It kinda not handy to write everything down since moving between the keyboard and then picking up a pen to write down things then back to keyboard is kinda weird,i did try taking notes on my pc itself but i dont tend to read those as much as i would read those written in my book.what do i do.

 

Edit : Ofcourse i write comments.by notes i meant stuff or syntax to remember in the longterm something i can read on the bus or in school,every detail mostly i prefer code documentation.

[STRMfrmXMN]

So i am learning something new and wonder how do i take notes.It kinda not handy to write everything down since moving between the keyboard and then picking up a pen to write down things then back to keyboard is kinda weird,i did try taking notes on my pc itself but i dont tend to read those as much as i would read those written in my book.what do i do.

#This is how I take notes in Code Blocks and Notepad. You can place any number of hashes in front of your typing.

 

I often use it to plan out a set of code.

 

##This gets the variables.

var1 = int(input("I need a number"))

var2 = int(input("Blah blah blah"))

 

 

##This runs a calculation

average = var1 + var2 /2

 

 

Simple enough Python script right there.

[RedSphyxis]

So i am learning something new and wonder how do i take notes.It kinda not handy to write everything down since moving between the keyboard and then picking up a pen to write down things then back to keyboard is kinda weird,i did try taking notes on my pc itself but i dont tend to read those as much as i would read those written in my book.what do i do.

I put comments up in every piece of code I write. What's happening what's going to happen, why does this happen and how.

 

This is how I took notes in my pc I code to learn.

 

Nowadays I only use comments as tags for sections of my code. But I still use my way of taking down notes when I'm into something new like a new language.

[Paralectic]

it's recommended to when learning a new programming language to have the language it's documentation open whenever. and writing comments above your code works indeed very well.

[Shotgun]

it's recommended to when learning a new programming language to have the language it's documentation open whenever. and writing comments above your code works indeed very well.

 

 

I put comments up in every piece of code I write. What's happening what's going to happen, why does this happen and how.

 

This is how I took notes in my pc I code to learn.

 

Nowadays I only use comments as tags for sections of my code. But I still use my way of taking down notes when I'm into something new like a new language.

 

 

#This is how I take notes in Code Blocks and Notepad. You can place any number of hashes in front of your typing.

 

I often use it to plan out a set of code.

 

##This gets the variables.

var1 = int(input("I need a number"))

var2 = int(input("Blah blah blah"))

 

 

##This runs a calculation

average = var1 + var2 /2

 

 

Simple enough Python script right there.

Ofcourse i write comments.by notes i meant stuff or syntax to remember in the longterm something i can read on the bus or in school,every detail mostly i prefer code documentation.

[RedSphyxis]

Ofcourse i write comments.by notes i meant stuff or syntax to remember in the longterm something i can read on the bus or in school,every detail mostly i prefer code documentation.

there are tons of documentations online. You could use those instead. There might be even downloadable ones

 

Unity is a great example of having an excellent documentation/scripting reference. It can be found online or you get an offline version just by installing unity 

 

here http://docs.unity3d.com/ScriptReference/

 

so do some research and try to find docs/pdf files of documentations for what you're studying.

[madknight3]

i did try taking notes on my pc itself but i dont tend to read those as much as i would read those written in my book.what do i do.

 

Then it sounds like you just need to write out your notes in your book, code and all, even though it's a little tedious. Alternatively, start reading books about programming.

 

If you go with notes, keep your code only as long as you need it. If the specific notes you're talking about only refer to one piece of code, then don't include the rest of that file. If you need to provide some context, then I commonly add //... which to me means there's extra code there in the real file that I currently don't care about seeing right now.

public class Example{    // ...    public void OnlyThingICareAboutForThisNote()    {        // do something    }}

If you have room, you might want to put notes inside your code but that can get messy. It may be better to number the lines and then write your notes about that line underneath.

[Satlen]

There is Quiver for mac, not sure of any windows apps. http://happenapps.com/#quiver

 

Edit: Found some. http://snippets.me/# 

http://www.gistboxapp.com/

[thefatshizms]

Honestly, I've never taken notes.

 

When learning a new language I set out a few things such as what I want to make with this language. I then try and learn how to make what ever I've chosen to make in that language. After that, find something else to make (this time, something harder to make) and make that.

 

I've needed notes, doubt I ever will. I just code what I want with the new language and everything sticks. Of course, I also read the documentation and other important things on it, but I usually remember that or just have a reference to it somewhere so I can come back to it when I need it.

 

If you really need to take notes, just comment the code you're writing.

[olbaze]

There really is no point in writing down syntax to remember. You will learn that by doing and that is the best way to learn it.

 

If there's one thing I've learned from learning programming, it's that most of times, the only way to know what your code does is to run it. You start with an idea of what you want the code to do, then write a code that you think does what you want it to do. Once you run it, you'll find out whether it does what you want and if it doesn't, you fix it until it does. Naturally, this gets lesser with more experience, but experience also tends to lead to larger projects which will result in more errors.

[r3bify]

If you're looking for a way to take notes so that you can move between your hand written stuff, read it on the go, at your computer.. can I recommend OneNote? It's available for free on every platform I've looked for it on, you can sync your notebooks so they're available on all your devices. 

[Shotgun]

If you're looking for a way to take notes so that you can move between your hand written stuff, read it on the go, at your computer.. can I recommend OneNote? It's available for free on every platform I've looked for it on, you can sync your notebooks so they're available on all your devices. 

I normally use txt files and use drop box to share stuff but one note sounds nice,it reminds me that i had done this in the past a year or two back while learning ruby.