How can I start learning about coding?

[as96]

I agree with everything you said except for that.

C and C++ aren't mandatory for every programmer. There are a lot more jobs for .NET and PHP developers for example than for C/C++ (at least here). 

Here even if you are looking for a job as .NET programmer, C/C++ knowledge is going to help you get it.

[ToniBamboni]

Codeacademy.com and click on Java

[sgtcool]

I dont know in school we started with C and later Java, , also C++ and C# they are all similar so learning one, then the other will be very similar

[LAwLz]

It's sad to see nobody recommending C as the first language to learn. It gives such an insight in how memory works and it is the foundation for a lot of other languages. If you learn C you will be able to pick up lots of other languages very easily later.

 

If you only want to learn programming so that you can write a simple program and/or brag about it, then go with something like Python. If you want to actually learn how to program properly and how software works then you should not go for the easy-mode languages that holds your hand.

 

Once you have picked your language you should just Google for some tutorials. If you feel like giving up then I recommend you try a different way of learning. If you try watching videos and don't feel like it is working then try a book, or some interactive website instead.

[ACatWithThumbs]

FreeCodeCamp is extremely good the community is nice and helpful and they have over 800h of courses as well as real world project for non profit companies that give you actual real work experience.
And it's free.

[Blade of Grass]

Moved to Programming & Software Design

[Isvan]

Honestly, in college they will teach you how to program as if you have never seen a computer before.

But if you really want a head start?

Go onto youtube, search for any programming tutorial. Look for a person that you can understand and that you enjoy listening to.

It doesn't really matter which language you learn, and asking here everyone will give you a different answer. 

Once you have a good grasp on any language it makes it pretty easy to learn another language

[ben dover kid]

start with python. lynda dot com has some tutorials, its free for few weeks if ya use the linus discount thingy. optionally python website offers tutorials but you might find it easier to watch a video and learn

[olbaze]

I am going to be a computer engineer when I go to college. Currently I am still in high school and think it's time to learn how to code. Not very sure which code language to start with. I've never coded before and I just want to learn the most common coding languages without getting super confused. As a result, I need some recommendations. Anyone know a very slow paced video or tutorial that will show me how to begin coding? 

 

I looked up javascript tutorials and they are just way too fast paced from what I am seeing so far. Not very sure how people start learning how to code. Maybe I have to buy a book, or maybe I just need to be redirected somewhere else. Not sure.

 

Help.

 

I was introduced to coding via Java, which was also the language-of-choice for courses I took in CS in university. After a friend showed me some python code, I looked into Python and came to love how many of the headaches of Java it seems to fix.

 

A lot of beginner textbooks for any given language are going to assume you have no prior knowledge of programming and will spend a lot of time explaining the same concepts. This is a central theme in programming: They are, literally, languages. You express the same ideas with similar concepts, sometimes with different words or different syntax. Knowing those concepts is going to make learning additional languages easier. And being able to program in multiple languages is a necessary skill if you're going  to make a living out of it.

 

I would look into what languages are used in programming courses at universities/colleges that you might realistically see yourself applying for. Start from learning those and/or Python, depending on what you want to do. Python would probably allow you to make actual programs sooner, but it obfuscates a lot of the concepts that are explicit in other languages.

[joshmcd]

Go to Codecademy where you can learn plenty of different languages. I've strted messing around with python and I would recommend it to a beginner

[Nineshadow]

It's sad to see nobody recommending C as the first language to learn. It gives such an insight in how memory works and it is the foundation for a lot of other languages. If you learn C you will be able to pick up lots of other languages very easily later.

 

If you only want to learn programming so that you can write a simple program and/or brag about it, then go with something like Python. If you want to actually learn how to program properly and how software works then you should not go for the easy-mode languages that holds your hand.

 

Once you have picked your language you should just Google for some tutorials. If you feel like giving up then I recommend you try a different way of learning. If you try watching videos and don't feel like it is working then try a book, or some interactive website instead.

Yup, that is it pretty much.

 

There are a lot of things that you need to learn while working with something like C which you don't encounter in other , more simple , more "beginner-friendly" languages. Take pointers for example. There are no pointers in Python , yet pointers are a very important concept in computer programming. In something like C# , if you use pointers, you need to mark your code with the unsafe keyword. Java doesn't have pointers either. It uses references . References are also present in C++ , but not in C.

 

One thing that I should add is that C++ is also object oriented , which is another very important thing in programming. You will not use it in the beginning , that's for sure, but you will have to learn it down the road eventually. Not to mention it offers means of abstraction at no perfomance overhead , unlike pretty much all other languages. Usually , you'd have virtual functions , function pointers , the PIMPL idiom , etc, while C++ offers you the great power of templates.

 

You can use C features in C++ without any problems, but you also get something extra , which sure as hell doesn't hurt you. I'd recommend C++ honestly. First learn the C way of C++ , then learn the advantages of "C with classes". C++ offers both abstraction and performance in one hard-to-get-used-to package.

 

But then again, Python is another great language for OOP, and is also regarded a great choice for beginners. So which one I would suggest?

 

C++ tries to give you every language feature under the sun (circa 1990, at least) while at the same time never (forcibly) abstracting anything away that could potentially affect performance.

Python tries to give you only one or a few ways to do things, and those ways are designed to be simple, even at the cost of some language power or running efficiency.

 

And because of its simplicity , you can get tasks done more easily , faster , with fewer lines of code and with less mental overhead. But , when you are just starting out , you need to learn everything you can.