How to learn your first programming language
From ArticleWorld
Learning your first programming language is a quite difficult task. Many beginners actually fail here not because they have no programming talent, but because they choose the wrong language. Here are the first steps you need to undertake.
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Steps
- Choose a programming language. Start with an easy one at first. Do not go straight into C++, chances are you will get burned with concepts like inheritance, object orientation and virtual constructors, missing the basic points. Start simple. Try Python, Pascal or Kids Programming Language.
The important thing to remember here is not to choose BASIC, as tempting as it may be. Despite its popularity, BASIC uses some less-than-respected concepts and will teach you some bad habits in the end.
- Find a tutorial for the programming language you are trying to learn. If you do not have any programming skills, choose one suited for non-programmers. If you do have some previous experience with programming (or algorithms at least, which should be the case if you are seriously into mathematics), you can take on a more advanced one. Read a few lines ahead: if the tutorial seems good enough for your knowledge, try to follow it.
- Ask a friend to help you at first. It is good to have tutorials, but sometimes you may just fail and some friendly help will be very valuable.
- Learn some algorithms along the way. You may rarely actually need to implement something like quicksort of binary search, but they are not just worth to know, but worth to write, because they teach some fundamental notions like recursion or loops.
- Practice. People may tell you programming is a skill with which you are born or not, but they are mostly wrong. Sure, you will not turn a philosopher into a FORTRAN programmer too easily, but just like any other skill, it is forged by practice. The more you practice programming, the better you will get at it.
- Read other people's code. When we first got into programming, we all ran into the same problems as you did. Therefore, reading the way other people solved their problems may teach you how to solve yours.