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Well, what is programming? From how I see it, programming is designing an efficient set of planned measures or steps to achieve a particular goal. Computer programming would be a subset, it teaches us how to design an efficient program to enable computers to help us solve complex real-world problems and complex computations using binary logic.
Why start computer programming?
If you found this article, I’m pretty sure you know why you wish to learn this skill. But let me strengthen your reason more, or as my motivational guru Simon Sinek would like to say, always start with a strong why.
Real computer programming is a meditative skill
You learn how to program, and then the programming skills reprogram you. It’s proven to be one of the best brain exercises to improve problem-solving and logical ability. After all, a programmer is the real brain of those high-tech machines.
Preparing for an advanced future
It’s 2023 and we’re surrounded by computers all around, even the most necessities are directly or indirectly dependent on computers, so it’d only be a smart move to prepare yourself for an age of artificial intelligence.
Understanding the world better
A pretty obvious one, as you’ll learn how to efficiently solve real-world problems through computers, on your way you’d gain a completely different and insightful perspective of this world. Sounds fun, doesn’t it?
Great salaries and career opportunities
Learning such a demanding skill will not only help you add much higher value to your current job but also grow individually in your career path. Computers are only becoming an inseparable part of our lives, be it any sector, education or even our homes, hence you know the importance of a skill so strong that lets you control computer machines on a fundamental level.
Choosing the right programming language
Now that you’ve figured out why you wish to learn to code, you must decide on a niche that you’d be interested in. What do you wish to develop or create with your coding skills?
Is it an iOS or Android application, a website for your brand, or a new fun game, maybe you’re intrigued about how Amazon, Meta, and various websites attract more crowds by personalizing their experience with each use, or maybe you aspire to develop brains for our future robots and machines? Once you decide, you’d gain clarity on which languages are widely used in that particular niche. Here are some niches with their particular languages:
iOS applications: Swift
Android applications: Java, Kotlin
Web Development (Frontend): HTML, CSS, JavaScript
Web Development (Backend): node.Js or Django or PHP
Data Science: Python, R, MATLAB
Game Development: C++, C#
Software Development: Java, C#, Go
Apart from these, there are more than 1000s programming languages out there with their pros and cons. If you’re someone who wishes to learn to code for fun and experimental purposes, I’d recommend you do your research about a few more languages and decide for yourself.
Get Set Start!
We decided we want to learn to code. We now have a strong reason why we wish to learn to program. We also know what niche we wish to work in and we decided on the right programming language to solve our purpose, what more?
Whether you’re beginning your journey in this field or already working as a professional, computer programming is a continuous cycle of learning and building. Aim at learning the basics and then build a project.
What would you need to learn?
The language basics:
Get familiar with the language of your choice, and learn the syntax for all the basic level concepts like variables, loops, conditional statements, and the inbuilt libraries.
Learning data structures and algorithms:
Learn about some easy data structures like arrays, and stacks and how they must be implemented in a particular language.
PRACTISE!
Practice more questions to build an approach towards solving any problem and then learn about algorithms to execute your program efficiently.
Build Simple Projects:
It isn’t as hard as you think it is. Building projects can be intimidating at first but starting simple can help you a long way. A project, as small as a calculator, a to-do list or a counter app, etc. You’ll learn more by implementing more.
P.S. If you’re having fun programming, you can also take part in various contests and learn to write some most time-efficient programs to solve those problems.
What NOT to do?
We know what to do, but it’s more important to know which path we do not wish to walk on. A few things you need to be cautious about:
- Do not learn from every online course out there
Tutorial Hell is a common phenomenon that most programmers fall prey to, watching only tutorials with a feeling of not knowing how to implement your knowledge. Start building simple projects after you get acquainted with the language. For coding, you learn more from console errors than from those tutorials.
- Do not get stuck over a problem for a longer
There’ll be days when all you’d do is dreadfully look at the screen hoping that for the 1000th time your code would run but it doesn’t. The community of programmers is more vast than one can imagine. There are solutions almost to any problem you might face in your code. Stack Overflow is one such place where you’ll find peace in the coming few days.
- Work with a community
Learning and working alone is perfectly fine but learning to code in a community helps you deal with the challenges in a much more fun way. It’ll only make your journey a bit more exciting.
CONCLUSION:
From all the experiences I’ve had, learning to program has been more of a personality development skill for me. It has reprogrammed my brain to deal with problems calmly and efficiently. Some days can be tough as hell but the others when you finally make your way through that error, no pleasure beats that one I promise. We learned how to systematically start our programming journey and the dos and don’ts of it. Have fun coding!
