So, you want to learn to program! Before you consider any other thing behind it, let’s first think about why do you want so? The requirement for learning programming may vary based on the role of your career you are currently in. It could be any scenario and phase of your career. You may be a non-technical person who wants to join the tech industry, a student who wants to learn the latest programming language to crack a job, or just a tech-savvy who wants to learn it out of curiosity and knowledge. So, the pertaining question is, what are some of the best ways to learn programming? Well, to start your journey, a computer and internet connection is enough! The other ways to learn programming will be discussed in this blog.
Related post – 10 Most Popular Open-source Programming languages
Is learning programming challenging?
No doubt, a programmer’s job is one of the good pay-out jobs in the IT industry, and for some, it the coolest job to enjoy. However, learning to code and mastering it can take years if you are a beginner. In most cases, the journey begins with a lot of excitement but later, especially for beginners, they give up quickly as they find it difficult to continue. Getting stuck during learning and facing difficulties to solve a coding problem is common during learning of programming. It would be best if you remembered that there might be various ways to learn programming. However, it is not an overnight journey. On the other hand, it is not that difficult with consistent dedication, patience, passion, and interest.
Most importantly, you should be methodical and have some strategy to learn programming. In the later section, we will discuss some of the ways to learn programming effectively.
What are the ways to learn programming
Tips #1: Introspect why do you want to learn programming
Before starting your journey, take some time and think about the real reasons for your move to the programming world. It could be any of the following and maybe beyond that –
- It could be for a promotion
- For better project
- To change career path
- Learning as a student
- For a business like making an app and then selling it
Based on your target, you need to choose the relevant programming language and its associated topics. For example, programming languages for web developers and data science developers are not the same. So, it would be best if you weighed yourself based on a broader perspective.
Tips #2: Choose the right programming language.
As mentioned, once you figure out why you want to learn to program, find out which programming language is the most suitable for your career path. Suppose you want to become a Full-stack developer but new to web development. Then it would help if you started from basic HTML, CSS, and JavaScript instead of React. Similarly, if you want to be a mobile app developer, first decide which type of mobile app you would like to develop – Android or iOS. If you’re going to be an Android developer, then learn Java or Kotlin. Also, for iOS development, C or Swift will be ideal.
Tips #3: Make Your Fundamentals Clear
Every programming language holds some fundamental concepts and advanced concepts. Unless you are clear about the fundamental concept, you will not get hold of the language. In some cases, learners ignore those fundamental concepts and directly jump into the advanced concept. Not to mention, they end up with lots of confusion. Secondly, before learning one language correctly, they start learning a new language. This practice should be avoided. If you want to learn a program, do it accurately and thoroughly. The primary concepts, like data structure, variables, and control structures, are some of the basic concepts that come as helpful for many other languages.
Tips #4: Practice! Practice and don’t just read
Coding is more hands-on and less about memorizing. This is one common mistake new learners often make that they grasp the theories and practice the book’s codes but don’t apply them. What does apply mean here? Build use cases on your own and implement them with the concepts you learned. Then only you will come across all those awful problems and find out how good you are in building logic. Another essential part of programming is debugging, which you can only learn if you face issues during programming. Not only that, there are many other aspects of programming, like learning about how to handle code editors and IDEs. However, IDE is not a good option initially, though you should know some for future use.
So, practice the same problem and same code, again and again, to master yourself in a programming language.
Tips #5: Write code using paper and pen
When you are a beginner, you must practice making logic and code using paper and pen. Why not machine and paper? Well, one of the biggest reasons is interviews that you may have to face one day. Maybe it sounds like an old school practice, but it is not unusual. Many companies use pen and paper, and some will throw you with a machine to program the logic. Also, coding by hand gives you extra confidence.
Tips #6: Sharing and Teaching are the best way to learn new things
Tips #7: Learn to Use Debugger
As you need to learn ways of programming, you need to know about debugging because making mistakes in coding is common and not an exception by the programmers because we all are human beings. But what is more important is to learn to rectify those errors or exceptions. Unless you know proper debugging, you will lose a lot of time to find the cause.
Tips #8: Use Resources Online or classroom
There are plenty of online resources available on the internet, which is paid or unpaid. You can take help from these online resources and start your programming journey. There are plenty of YouTube channels you can subscribe to or coding boot camps. Guidance based programming language courses on Udemy, Coursera, and many more. There are various blogs on programming languages and communities like Stackoverflow, Reddit, etc.
Besides online resources, if you want more interactive coaching on programming languages, you can join classroom coaching or take experienced coders’ help.
Final Thought
In the end, only knowing the best ways to learn programming is not the solution; instead, you have to be consistent in your journey. It would help if you did not quit in the mid of your journey. Keep patience and remember that it takes some time to become a coder. Build your logical ability, think like a coder and follow the steps mentioned in the article to make your fundamentals clear, and keep practicing. Your contribution and steady effort will be paid off one day.
Happy coding!