The most common question that people ask when they want to learn programming is: how do I get started? Some think this is the wrong question to ask, but it's understandable. The field is huge and can be overwhelming for newcomers.
Learning to program is like learning to ride a bike. Your parents didn't sit you down as a child to explain Newton's laws of motion and gravity. Instead, they strapped a helmet to your head, put you on your bike, gave you a push and off you went...sort of.
You learnt to ride a bike by riding a bike, and programming is exactly the same: you learn to program by programming.
Below are four great ways to get started with programming that get you writing code quickly.
1. Work through a textbook
When I started learning to program we didn't have an Internet connection at home so the only option was to work through programming books, and it's an excellent option for complete beginners. Textbooks go into a lot of depth, covering a wide range of topics to ensure that the reader leaves with enough knowledge of the language to "go it alone".
You can find a good programming book for almost any language. Below is a list of books that I recommend for languages I've studied:
- The C Programming Language
- The C++ Programming Lanugage
- Head First Java
- Learn Python the Hard Way
- Learn you a haskell for a Great Good (free to read online)
- Make: Getting Started with Arduino
There is also a list of free programming books on github.
Bear in mind that working through a textbook requires a lot of discipline and self-motivation.
2. Solve online challenges
If you're more interested in solving challenges and puzzles, or creating real world applications, you might want to try online resources.
One way I've found to improve my programming skills is to work on small challenges that are quick to complete but help exercise the programming muscle. I've found the following websites extremely helpful:
3. Follow an online course
If you prefer a more structured, lesson-oriented approach to learning, you could also try the excellent Coursera, Khan Academy and Code Academy.
Coursera also has an active community around each course, but not all courses run year long. Usually you have to sign up and wait for it to begin.
4. Solve a problem you have
Programmers are lazy. We spend a lot of our time getting computers to do things for us, to solve our problems, in order to make our lives easier.
Solving your own problems through programming is a great way to learn. It's highly motivating and when you've finished, you have something useful to show for it. Moreover, as you maintain the finished product, you'll continue to learn.
I recently wrote a small program to compare GPS tracks because I wanted to know how often I'd run a particular route. I've also written a program to find out when whales upvote and another to hunt upvote bots.
These were all problems I cared about, so solving them was fun.
Banner image by Christiaan Colen used under the CC BY 2.0 license. Changes were made to the original.