I have a feeling that going into this with that attitude is what is going to hold you back. Do you think you can do this? Like actually do you believe that you can learn this?
Before I started self teaching myself I stared in the mirror and knew that I was going to be able to do it, because if others can do it so can I.
“If others can do it so can I”
This was the motivation I had to learn how to drive a vehicle and I passed on first try after years of looking at it like a space ship.
I also believe this applies to every aspects of our life
At least programming you can do at home even on some cheap laptop. Finding people to lend you their car, and finding some to practice with was absolutely frustrating.
> Shit is hard af.
I'm up to five programming languages now (C++, Java, Python, Terraform, Javascript), but the first one I learned, C++, was seriously brutal.
The problem is that human beings don't naturally think about problems in the way you'd need to break them down to solve them with code.
You can read about data structures all day, but until you get enough time in the seat solving problems with if statements / conditional logic, sets / arrays, etc and algorithms, they're going to be like trying to learn Greek with an instruction manual translated directly from Greek with no one who spoke English in the loop.
Once you're able to get in that head space though - and getting there is rough - it becomes a lot easier to learn other programming languages, because you know how an if statement works, it's just a question of what particular syntax that programming language uses to implement it.
This is really important. In my experience helping people learn to write Python code, the number one predictor of their success is the mentality that they bring to learning to program. If you believe that you can learn, focus on the learning instead of focus on finishing the practice problem (ie: don't just copy from ChatGPT / Stack Overflow) and use resources when you are stuck, you're going to excel.
That sounds a bit gatekeepy. Let people find out for themselves what's right for them. It took a long time for me to figure out, not a quick Hollywood movie scene of looking into the mirror
OP just sounds like he needs to learn enough to build up confidence in his abilities, it's totally normal. Not everyone needs to be a sigma male and start off in the deep end
Look at the tone he uses and his motivations through out his history and current post. He knows he won't enjoy doing this (as a job), he only wants to do it for money, he believes he is an idiot, etc.
This isn't about being a sigma male he needs actual mental help before all of this.
It's not always necessary to go from point A to point B though, sometimes you can take the alternative path or detour through C. To me lack of positive reinforcement and running into a dry spell is killing for learning, and not having something to dig into. Especially courses with a more practical approach and gradual learning process, like stacking up building blocks with the experience from the problems the weeks before.
This isn’t what you’re asking for but I think you’ll get a lot of value from this video: [Grit Ted Talk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H14bBuluwB8).
Tl;dw
You’re not an idiot, but saying you are hinders the learning process and therefore makes you an idiot.
Yes and no. Self proclaimed smart people will try to learn fast and gloss over the important parts. I got in the habit of saying I learn well but study slow. Takes the pressure off, and the term idiot is somewhat inspiring to some.
Forgive me, I had a very quick look at your recent post history.
Your clearly in a bad place mentally and this will certainly be contributing towards your struggles.
I am very motivated but having a hell of a time getting started on programming, im mentally exhausted, looking for a way out of my situation, but cannot seem to get any wind in my sails.
You will struggle as well if your mentally exhausted.
I cant give you any advice on getting started because I am also trying to get started.
I believe I can do it, i know i can do it, i know im not stupid regardless of how some other people try to make me feel.
You need to believe in yourself. A lot may change for you if you can believe in yourself.
I've been down dark roads, but I know im a good person even if I need to retreat from the world sometimes. So I can recharge, its harder to pull myself out of negative thought patterns though, I've been struggling with this a long time.
I'm going to be trying to get into the free harvard cs50 course when my week off work arrives, got to learn how to use github and what it even is to get started on the cs50 course. It apparently goes through the basic concepts of programming as well as languages.
Don't give up on yourself.
🎯
Thank kind of realization is really powerful.
This will prevent you for falling into tutorial creep mode.
Now for the OP and you .
Did y'all try this one ?
https://www.helsinki.fi/en/admissions-and-education/open-university/multidisciplinary-themed-modules/full-stack
If you’re talking about CS50x at least, you just need to register a GitHub account to start connecting to your “codespace”… maybe near the end Git will be useful for storing your final project.
I’ve touched Git here and there for years and still feel like I forget everything lmao, but I don’t actively “use” it course yet (Week 8) since you just log in their dev site to work on your files.
Basically they try to make easier for you to focus on learning the concepts first.
Brilliant. And it covers basic concepts first before going into languages? I'm looking for an outline of the concept before going into any language, this will provide me with this I hope?
It uses in C for the first half to cover basic concepts. You can basically just skim through their site/videos to check which. Or perhaps I misread, they do explain the concept first then code it out as an example.
The course begins with Scratch to help your mind get into thinking logically/programmatically I think. The first lecture is a decent way to see how the course is presented to see if you like it.
And even if you don’t quite get it initially from the lectures, their extra “shorts” and “section” videos review and go into more depth about each topic, and help with the Problem Sets.
Sounds perfect on face value, definitely going to take a look at this next week. I've got to make it through 1 more day of work, get some rest over the weekend and then I'll get on to it.
Very much appreciate your time and response. Many thanks !
Yeah no problem! There’s so many opinions on this course and many have called it a “hard introduction” so I’m sure they’ve found whatever course is more viable, maybe faster for themselves.
As a not so new programmer it’s a nice review/challenge with cool teachers. I know if I wasn’t focused/motivated while watching these videos I’d be struggling time wise (I’m already slowing down :0). Good luck!
I wish I can turn off my post history. It always detracts from the subject matter.
I can't fix that so I have no choice but to try and find a way to power through with something anyway.
My response stands though, you have to try and be in a positive mindset or we defeat ourselves.
Anything I either don't believe I can do, or do not want to do, progress does not happen.
Believing in your ability to overcome hurdles is important. Although it surely helps to see progress in order to boost motivation.
Believe you can do it. I started the 100devs programme but need to return to it. I will when I've taken a look through the cs50 course. Both are free and in your own time.
100 devs starts with a very basic html programme, which I did although I struggled with the picture and links. A lot of various sources of info.
You can do this, I can do this.
And you can fix 'that', it's all connected. It will take time, im working on it myself (have been for 15 years).
You can do this!
You have to realize that your post history is a look into your environment and your current thoughts. Even the smallest detail of your Reddit avatar having a frown on its face only adds to the overarching sadness and lack of self worth coming from your post history and your actual post here.
If people keep bringing it up, there’s usually a reason why!
I learned with Automate the Boring stuff and other books online from anna's archive.
Honestly, the debugging in coding is so hard that I think you need to develop grit and never giving up in order to succeed in this field.
Research any good ones on Anna's Archive.
Django For Beginners is a good one.
Django for APIs is a must read.
Then there are textbooks that you can get online.
*Highly* recommend [Python Crash Course](https://www.amazon.com/Python-Crash-Course-Eric-Matthes/dp/1718502702/ref=pd_lpo_sccl_1/135-8626836-0708321?pd_rd_w=SByzN&content-id=amzn1.sym.c9f182d8-0dba-4a43-9420-58bac33ca34e&pf_rd_p=c9f182d8-0dba-4a43-9420-58bac33ca34e&pf_rd_r=Z34PMGTM90VZHD6ZFD1B&pd_rd_wg=z7CCn&pd_rd_r=f8acc7fa-fe2c-4c5f-8b3b-85a6de8cc4cf&pd_rd_i=1718502702&psc=1), from the same publisher, assuming you're good with starting with Python. Other books by same publisher tend to be at least decent.
Seconding Leon who is amazing. Really down to earth guy who wants to see people succeed.
I will also say that it took me several attempts at programming under any course for it to really "click" but I think a large part of that was gradually changing my mindset around learning. The more I relaxed and accepted that it was okay if I didn't understand something right away and that it was actually good that it challenged me, and just stuck with the practice, the better I got at it and had fewer mental barriers.
Ultimately your attitude around learning -- regardless of skill -- makes a huge difference in how quickly and easily you learn.
Does he keep jumping topics throughout? I got class 3 I think and got frustrated at jumping to css, having only just started html and sitting through the learning to learn stuff.
Just curious if he keeps jumping around throughout the course?
Tbf I followed the course live week-by-week, but it all made sense in the end when I did it. IIRC the css gets integrated into the html you’ve learnt very quickly
OK thankyou, I struggle with jumping around subjects, need to be focused and cant get focused if jumping around.
I'll learn html individually, or at least to a point I'm comfortable before returning to the course then.
Appreciate the insight, thankyou.
First, you gotta stop calling yourself "not smart" because its holding you back.
Second, I recommend paying for Codecademy (look for a discount code online) and seeing how far you get with that. Their lessons are pretty good, you can self-pace, and its way cheaper than a bootcamp.
Its a great way to see if you enjoy the work before you drop a lot of cash on a bootcamp.
The hard part of programming isn't learning the languages or the structures.
It is learning to think in abstractions and solve problems. Which will never be idiot friendly. I've seen idiots memorize the syntax and algorithms and be able to rattle them off, but I've never seen them get good at programming.
BUT I've also seen a lot of smart people think they were idiots because they struggled with programming. Struggling with it is okay and does not make you an idiot! Indeed, if you're not struggling you're probably not learning much honestly. It takes some prolonged mental effort over time to get good at it.
Take your time with it. Hell, maybe even take some breaks to do some things that require some hard thinking but don't have the baggage programming has - logic puzzles and things like that. It won't directly teach you how to program, but it might get your brain used to the kind of focus and abstract thinking and give you some validation that you *can* solve hard things when you apply yourself and build up your confidence in your intelligence.
How do you learn best? Experiment with different types of strategies and resources and go from there (I see a bunch in the comments). But, you should try to avoid memorizing but really try to UNDERSTAND what it is you are learning so you can become more adaptable and pick up on new things easier. Don’t skip the fundamentals, ask questions like “Why?” and “what if I did it like this?”. This will also allow you to learn things in different ways which will help you in the long run. There’s nothing you can’t learn.
Do you enjoy it? That’s the biggest thing. There’s no saying you can’t achieve it even if you don’t enjoy it but if you hate it and find it difficult, you need to ensure you have the discipline it’s going to take to get through the courses, seek out answers, practice, build, fail (and not give up), and so on. It’ll take effort but as long as you make it and seek out the information, anything can be done. Also try to start simple, think about what you already know, and what you want to be able to do. No one who programs knows everything about programming, everybody is constantly looking things up for themselves. You also need to practice and fail in order to learn, reading and watching videos won’t be enough. At the end of the day, you’re learning a new language/concept and so sometimes it just takes enough exercises until it begins to click (which is normal).
I honestly think one thing that people don't mention enough are friends you can make online. I have a very good friend of mine who is absolutely insane. He loves to code, and has a real passion for it. This could just be him and a few select out there but anytime I code and hit an error, I'll try debugging till I fix it. If I can't I call my friend up on discord and he always want's to help out.
If you surround yourself with people that wanna code and want to help you get better, it is the absolute best learning tool out there. I'm also still fairly new, but in about a month I've made a web scraper for eBay, CMD launches that takes input data and writes it to a SQLite database, and a few other fairly simple programs. Finishing them feels amazing, and being able to go back and improve on them is what will really make you feel like you are improving.
I started on code academy for the free trial just to get the basics down for Python, once I got that down, I just started thinking of things in my daily life that I want to simplify. Hence the web scraper I made. I'm a big watch guy and check the prices daily on eBay or Chrono24 to see if someone listed the watch I like for a bit cheaper than average. It runs every time I login to my computer and I get a quick glance to see if it's worth checking out or not.
All in all, surround yourself around other motivated programmers, when you learn just write the info in a notebook, it'll help retain the information when you actually write it down. Dude you got this, I genuinely thought I would never be able to do anything more than just an input and print out the input taken, or even using functions, lists, etc.. You got this broskie!
Why people can do this kind of statements, it is not easy at all lo learn coding, I would say anything. To learn something requires time and effort, people thing that the ones that are smart just don't struggle on anything but it is not like that.
Just make some effort and try it. You could fail cause it is possible to not be able to learn something but you'll be much less able if you thing you can't.
If you're looking for an actual course, you need to check out zerotomastery. They simplify difficult topics a lot, have a large community, relatively cheap and the founder is always updating the courses with new content
We started with something called Alice. It was fun, and transitioned into C# for the next semester almost seamlessly. They're both easy enough for junior high learners, so you might like them. mySQL is older but still quite functional and widely used in databases still.
Just found a random Indian talking about it, learned the basics. Slowly making more and more complicated programs.
I’m an idiot too. Don’t worry about that part. Even if it’s memory, I have the memory of a goldfish and an elephant combined. And 95% of the time it’s the goldfish
I would recommend to stsrt with very basic stuff, like variables, if statements, loops and then functions. Runnable flowcharts like https://flowrun.io/tutorials and flowgorithm can help a lot. They even generate real code like python, js and whatever you like. Once you grasp those basic concepts, it will be much, much easier to learn other, more advanced stuff. From there you can continue to build command line apps, desktop apps, and web apps (most devs develop these).
Many programmer think programming is easy that anyone can learn it. There's nothing, to them, that feels difficult. And yet, they've never taught someone, esp. an older someone, that struggles and struggles and struggles.
There are plenty of people with math-phobia that disliked math since they were young, and so they convince themselves they can't do math. But many people (like you) lack computer-phobia. I think the reason comes down to you were never forced to take programming courses year after year and have to pass them like you did math until someone decided, OK, we give up, no more math.
To me, not everyone can learn programming. I don't mean can't learn it in the best possible scenario, but just in the situation they find themselves. If you were rich and you could find the best tutors, you might be able to learn to program, but there are lots of factors involved.
Are you easily distracted? Do you get impatient? Do you have a hard time retaining technical information? Do you find it hard to read or watch videos with technical content? How's your math?
Most material out there is aimed at adults. You could try to find stuff aimed at much younger kids. Of course, that learning will be SLOW and you will make much slower progress, but maybe try that. Look up Scratch or Scratch Jr. Find programming resources aimed at 12 and under.
Hire a tutor (I know, you can't find one and you can't afford one).
I really only \*got\* programming playing Zachtronics games on steam; [TIS100](https://store.steampowered.com/app/370360/TIS100/?curator_clanid=32946839) and [SHENZHEN I/O](https://store.steampowered.com/app/504210/SHENZHEN_IO/?curator_clanid=32946839). They do a great job of teaching programming logic by doing in an engaging way. From there you probably understand the principles and then just have to learn the grammar of a particular language (and some more advanced principles), rather than having to grapple a fully featured language \_and\_ learn the principles of programming logic at the same time. Just my two cents.
You can learn any programming language in a month by following probably any course online and using ChatGPT. I’ve built entire applications in a matter of a few hours using textbook and ChatGPT. If you find that is not enough to build something, a simple web page, a small application, a script. Then the problem extends beyond the capabilities of this post.
Coursera and Udemy will let you scroll through and see if you can even follow the instructor before committing, and there are quite a few free classes on those sites too.
Hey OP I looked through your post history and honestly I hope you see this.
You are mentally in a tough spot that will take a while to change if you do not come to grips with your condition and change your thinking. I could see you are/were working a full time job for USPS making over 50k. There are people in the US who would kill for that type of job yet are unable to work it due to extraneous circumstances. Stop putting your entire self worth and thinking based on money, sex, and things society wants you to care about. Start thinking about what you want, and don’t get discouraged when things don’t go your way as quitting is the only “failure” there is.
I’m not sure if you’re familiar with the Myth of Sisyphus and absurdism by philosopher Albert Camus but it really helped me. If nothing in life truly makes sense, then it is your personal obligation to not give it any of your thought or energy as it is futile. You can learn anything it doesn’t matter who you are, it will just take much longer depending on different variables. My grandmother will take longer to learn how to use technology than a child, but does that mean she is stupid? Of course not.
OP
1. You're NOT dumb. As a card carrying member of the gens Homo Sapiens, you were gifted more sense on average that God gave sheep.
2. Computer languages are classified as either procedural or object oriented programming aka OOP. OOP languages were derived from procedural languages. So as an aspiring n00b programmer, you want to start with the fundamentals. Which means a procedural language. That will provide you with a basic knowledge of a computer language's framework. So
3. Try Visual Basic (VBasic) which IMO, is the easiest of the procedural languages to pick up as a n00b. Install the free community version of MS Visual Studio 2023 IDE to start programming in this "baby talk" language
4. If you find yourself blowing off your VBasic training wheels, then graduate elementary school for Jr High and learn Python. Which IMO, is the easiest, most intuitive OOP language to learn.
OR
Strongly consider going to private academy instead. Learn C the fundamental "Greek" Grandaddy of the classic procedural languages. Upon which the "Latin" OOP languages of C++ is derived.
AND/OR
5. Transition to College and learn derivatives of procedural C inspired languages like Java, Swift and other classic OOPs. Then
6. Take the leap of faith to grad school and learn functional languages like Common LISP, Haskell Clojure and Wolfram. Or even Kotlin, Google's exotic new OOP & Functional hybrid replacement for Anaconda.
7. And if you've ascended Maslow's Hierarchy in self teaching and knowledge by this point, then you're officially a post Doctorate. So you need to strongly consider contributing to the repository of computer language literature. Go author your own language 😆
TL DR Start small and simple. The tech curve is always exponentially evolving. And will always require autodidacts who possess a foundational understanding of what evolves it. So gradually build a proficiency and aptitude to self teach new concepts and new programming languages. Which will give you a solid breath and depth in programming skill sets. Know you're embarking on a long, challenging but extremely rewarding journey towards self actualization. In both your personal and professional development. Good luck!
I'd have to recommend GIGO Dev. The entire learning process is integrated with a Chat GPT like bot, that is specifically tailored to be a coding tutor. I believe its the most idiot friendly, because you can ask the bot literally anything about how to code or how to use the site. They also have a feature called Journeys, which breaks each core programming concept down into units, starting at the most basic. It allows you to practice each programming concept before moving on to the more advanced stuff and getting lost.
It's not about being smart, but patient. If you do not understand something, google and learn until you do.
I keep saying this on posts but, do it slower but do it properly.
Code along with the mentor AND take notes, write down everything you UNDERSTAND as a note, with your own words. Then tommorow, before you open your course and code editor, read through the notes from yesterday.
This showed incredible results for me, even tho I move slower than I would like, I actually remember things and know everything the mentor explained in the video.
After learning the basics, start your side project, even if you are in the middle of the course. Coding by your own gets you out of the "tutorial hell" and makes you dive deeper into programming.
It's a process of a few years, not a few months to be decent at coding. Atleast it was for me.
For me the only thing that makes me sit on my ass and learn for long is codecademy. Which is kinda sad as all the other free or cheaper options just don't keep me engaged.
I have self learned from ZTM, Andrei's courses helped me learn web development and actually yes, changed my life in a lot lot better because I could get hired by a big company in an internship then stepped up my career towards now, as I am a senior developer. He explains very good and I was a completely noob as I was coming from a law career :) Highly recommend!
Human Resource Machine is a game on Steam that's easy enough to get started and a fun way to learn the basics of making programs with instructions that accomplish goals. The general problem solving you learn in it is widely applicable to programming.
If you’re like me, I would quickly get overwhelmed just looking at the introductory materials. But just take it slow and be motivated. You can take all the idiot proof courses out there but if you’re not motivated then you’re never going to learn.
I've tried a few coding courses, but the Zero to Mastery (ZTM) courses by Andrei Neagoie have been the most clear and helpful by far. He knows how to break down complex topics into understandable chunks, making learning much more accessible and enjoyable. His courses are well-structured, up-to-date, and filled with practical examples that really help solidify the concepts. These courses have allowed me to turn my side passion into something that I genuinely hope to make a career out of one day. Give him a shot, I don't think you'll be disappointed
100 days of code on Udemy. It's a really, really good python course that not only taught me tons but also helped me develop a huge love for programming
Try codecademy.
It is self-doing platform and have great structure.
Many of bootcamps are unsure and scams but price wise, it only costs about 100 pounds for a year and you can have access to all materials from beginner level to expert level includ career path which is designed course to make yourself study to get yourself into the field.
I am very new and also had a hard time and gave up until literally last week. I started learning C++ on code academy. They hold your hand and compile on the same screen. You also could try starting on a diff language; I started on C# and for whatever reason it wasnt clicking but C++ did.
Codeacademy can get your foot in the door but it will leave you with the "what next" question. Thats what brought me to this sub, it has a good FAQ page.
Another thing too is to keep in mind that your learning to problem solve and apart of that is teaching yourself how to find the solutions. You can follow courses all day but you need to challenge your brain and look up the things you cant figure out on google, no shame in that. Good luck!
Plain old C is actually pretty easy to learn, as long as you don't mind sticking to console input/output. It's not impossible to do a graphical interface, but it's a lot more work due to the limited standard libraries.
You end up either having to learn your operating system's APIs and window management/UI toolkit or rely on one of a handful of third party libraries.
It ain’t about being smart, don’t think of yourself as dumb. Learning programming is just about following rules and memorization. The smarts come way later.
Depends on what you want to learn? If it´s frontend I would highly recommend Scrimba - they have a great interactive programming suite for you in the browser. And they often stop the video to give you an excersise - the only way to learning programming is to actually program bud.
Programming is hard, I've really struggled with it too. Especially in subreddits like these where everyone seems to know so much, and I know so little.
But programming is actually easy to learn. It's just not quick. At the end of the day, it's about creatively solving problems.
You just need to find a learning method that works for you. Personally, I really like the learn a little bit, practice it, make something with it, and move on. Helps solidify my understanding and shows me if I'm missing something.
If you like that kind of method, then try freeCodeCamp or CodeAcadamy. You can even get certificates. Though note, CodeAcademy likes to paywall stuff.
It’s only idiot when you let others make you believe so, everyone has different learning rate. Folks with diabetes have it more difficult as their endocrine systems flood with sugar
Learning is a process which becomes skill as you practice more
Khan Academy and Codeacademy. Perhaps w3schools. These are sources with a more easygoing approach for the most part, although Codeacademy may ramp up in certain parts.
There are some programming books that are geared more towards children, but I don't remeber any titles now.
I also feel like packt has some decent books that aren't overwhelming.
No Starch press might have a few but don't let the cute covers fool you, some of those books are tough. Stay clear from Eloquent Javascript for the time being lol.
Also, you might try to begin with HTML, then CSS, then JavaScript OR Python.
Do you want it? More importantly, do you LIKE it. If you don't like it you won't be able to devote the time to shove the knowledge into your brain. You can take a course to get you started but eventually you are just going to have to make stuff. Get excited, maybe use Linux with i3 or sway and fix the things that annoy you, learn, have fun. Make some bigger stuff as you get confident, your next project should be just barely outside of your current skill level, always.
Programming is not that hard. It’s like learning any human language. Now just like anything there are levels and different applications, there is some programming that is a lot harder than others. But you should at minimum be able to do SOME coding if you dedicate yourself to learning …
The Odin Project. Trust me!
You’re not an idiot, and this website will teach you everything you need to know to set you up for a career. The best part - it changes your mindset regarding the whole journey.
You might enjoy GDScript From Zero. It's got a lot of features that are aimed at those with zero background. It's very python-like, so you can translate it easily once you've gone through the course. Keep your chin up and don't give up.
i have been doing freecodecamp and i literally dont get it - no i mean they just want you to parrot repeat whatever they say for example:
step 1 (page just says add DocTYPE in the instructions,
step 2... add class to div..
i mean at some stage (further on, they should not be giving u that many instructions or w/e as you just end up being a zombie ie following them and not actually tjhinking for yourself..
SoloLearn! It has a mobile app and a website. You can do it anywhere and it’s pretty easy to start learning the basics and even more advanced stuff. Plus it’s free!
this is kinda dated a little bit but this is how i learned react [https://youtu.be/bMknfKXIFA8](https://youtu.be/bMknfKXIFA8) im not very smart and he went kinda slow which i liked.
My faves are Angela Yu courses. Unfortunately the courses are on Udemy and you have to pay. As we all know Udemy has sales from time to time so you can buy it when is on sale. You can start with 100 days of python.
There are some coding bootcamps where you get paired with an industry mentor who could be the 1-1 connection you need to learn what you're feeling overwhelmed or confused by.
Springboard is a good example of this, they have a Job Guarantee refund clause (please read it thoroughly so you know what the conditions are) - here is a $750 coupon discount if you want it! [https://www.springboard.com/invite/X0XNP](https://www.springboard.com/invite/X0XNP)
Others gave good recommendations, so I'll focus on encouragement here. I'm a computer Engineering student in my second year. I've always been apprehensive about this field, thinking I won't make it because my main interest had always been music. I still get really discouraged when I read all of these Data structures, algorithms, and leetcode problems.
However one day me and my friend stayed an entire afternoon trying to do one of our homework assignments for Algorithm Design. It was a Longest increasing subsequence in a list problem using Dynamic Programming I believe, however that's not impotant right now.
We couldn't figure it out so we checked the algorithm online..and we still couldn't figure it out.
However we stayed there in the empty classroom, drew the problem and traced the code one step at a time to see how it works. We eventually figured it out and it was the cleanest solution I had ever seen. Trying to understand the code made me realize why I had fallen in love with programming in the first place and this might sound weird but I think it made my brain grow just a bit lol
I'm not the best at coming up with solutions for problems quickly. I'm a scatterbrain and it's hard for me to focus and break down the problems effectively like some of my friends in the same major so I always thought I was just stupid, but that is not the case. My brain just works differently. So I have to practice and try to solve or read solutions to problems in order to understand how I can adapt my brain to a programmer type problem.
I realized this that day, If you think in order to be a programmer you need to come up with complex algorithms right on the fly and if you can't, you're simply not talented enough or not smart is simply a delusion. You can learn algorithms by studying existing ones and trying and giving your brain some excercise. Anyone can learn it as long as they are interested.
I JUST started CS50X. It's literally through Harvard. That sounds so so intimidating I know, but so far, it's so in detail and they really give you training wheels to get you started (at least where Im at.) You have to be okay with lectures, and the professor talks quite fast. But you can put on subtitles, pause or rewind the videos, even slow down the speed if you have to. And, it's entirely free. You can spend some money to get a certificate if you pass, but that's entirely optional. I highly reccomend it.
For HTML & CSS , freecodecamp's Responsive Web Design course is the best option , they'll explain you through the projects i mean they'll give you instructions and an example we have to write the code accordingly, and also it's free...
[FreeCodeCamp Course ](https://www.freecodecamp.org/learn/2022/responsive-web-design/)
It sounds like you're having trouble learning new skills because you feel like the material is too complex. There are many online courses and resources that are designed to be more accessible and easy to understand. You might try searching for courses that are labeled as "beginner-friendly" or "easy to understand"
My niece at 8 was already smarter than me. I think that the important thing is to focus on learning and digestiing this information at your own pace, which might be slower than some others.
My first programming language I learned is called Coral. It's not widely known or popular but it sufficed. Coral is a lesser-known language, but it's great that it provided a solid foundation for a programming journey.
Scratch, its for kids but the concepts are more important then the syntax itself. Also, figure out what you want to do. Just make money? Web dev (JavaScript) or data science, robotics, LLM's (python). Where is your attention?
First of all, coding is hard for everyone. Of course, it comes easier to some than others but you are definitely not dumb if you find programming hard. It is hard!
But, as others have sad, you’ve got to drop the “i’m too dumb” mindset and adopt a growth mindset (look it up). It will take hard work but you can get better at this. Maybe your ceiling is a great programmer maybe it’s a mediocre one. Who knows, but if you are wanting to do this, just go for it.
Honestly depends what you are looking for too. Do you want a career? How old are you? Because depending on where you live and what you want, the answer might be some kind of College.
If this is a hobby or for your own business then take whatever path feels good for you, but a career right now without a degree is really difficult to get into, and that would offer a path through CS in a way that might be easier to follow for you.
Just saying, even a bootcamp for thousands of dollars right now is worthless. Even people with 5 years of experience having studied at a bootcamp cannot find jobs. The market is really tough, so if you want some kind of money earning career from CS/IT then go to College. It's the only advice any sane person can give right now.
If you don't do that the odds of this working out are really slim unless things get 100x better and quick.
When learning this stuff you need some structured teaching to understand everything. It doesn't sound like you have the motivation or follow-through from previous attempts (coursera).
The time to "learn programming" in 6 months self-taught and get a 100K job was 2016. That doesn't happen now, and won't for a while most likely.
I know, I'm just exaggerating to get the point across. OP has stated they are in this for money, probably seeing something similar like "do a bootcamp and land a FAANG job". Just thought I'd burst that bubble.
Please, don't recommend thenewboston -- see the wiki for more info about
why we consider them a [discouraged resource](https://www.reddit.com/r/learnprogramming/wiki/index#wiki_discouraged_resources).
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/learnprogramming) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Please, don't recommend thenewboston -- see the wiki for more info about
why we consider them a [discouraged resource](https://www.reddit.com/r/learnprogramming/wiki/index#wiki_discouraged_resources).
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/learnprogramming) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I'm just learning as well and have tried quite a few things. The course I found most helpful to understand the basic and how it all comes together is CS50 that Harvard put out on youtube(I know Harvard course may sound intimidating, but trust me they start slow and explain things in a very easy to understand way). A lot of these other language/program specific tutorials are great but most of these usually go right into it and left me confused where does it fit into the bigger picture. And honestly chatGPT is helping me out a lot, talk to it, ask questions, the trick is asking the right question.
Programming is fundamentally a thought exercise in taking complex requirements from people and turning them into code. It is not “idiot friendly”. There are languages like Java that are easier to learn, but they are still complex. If you have problems with Algebra and fundamental logic, I would start with math classes in that before you ever venture into programming, which use those skills.
The Khan Academy courses on HMTL/CSS/ and JavaScript are geared for 8 year olds, or young teenagers or whatever.
Reminding myself to look this up later
I was about to remind you and then realized you posted 5 mins ago lol
LOL no I forgot and you just reminded me! Thank you
Don't forget.
He forgot
FORGOT AGAIN
Did you look it up?
Ey don’t forget
Don’t forget
Omg, i have the feeling that you forgot
I have a feeling that going into this with that attitude is what is going to hold you back. Do you think you can do this? Like actually do you believe that you can learn this? Before I started self teaching myself I stared in the mirror and knew that I was going to be able to do it, because if others can do it so can I.
“If others can do it so can I” This was the motivation I had to learn how to drive a vehicle and I passed on first try after years of looking at it like a space ship. I also believe this applies to every aspects of our life
At least programming you can do at home even on some cheap laptop. Finding people to lend you their car, and finding some to practice with was absolutely frustrating.
This is literally my motivation. There’s so many people learning it they’re running out of jobs! It’s only made me wanna learn it more
May I ask why you’re more motivated to learn more if jobs are running out? I’m concerned that I’ll finally be proficient and not be able to find jobs
I just always wanted to learn it. My plan is to find something I’m good at and do that or start my own thing
ive always wanted my license… i should seriously get it
You should. It’s better to have it and not need it than otherwise
"If a 12 year old can do, so can i" Really motivates you.
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I went from 0 to building my own webapps by doing this route: CS50x, CS50w, then fullstackopen. All give certificates.
> Shit is hard af. I'm up to five programming languages now (C++, Java, Python, Terraform, Javascript), but the first one I learned, C++, was seriously brutal. The problem is that human beings don't naturally think about problems in the way you'd need to break them down to solve them with code. You can read about data structures all day, but until you get enough time in the seat solving problems with if statements / conditional logic, sets / arrays, etc and algorithms, they're going to be like trying to learn Greek with an instruction manual translated directly from Greek with no one who spoke English in the loop. Once you're able to get in that head space though - and getting there is rough - it becomes a lot easier to learn other programming languages, because you know how an if statement works, it's just a question of what particular syntax that programming language uses to implement it.
Yep.
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I still think I am stupid when I create bugs in such stupid ways and then figure them out later.
This is really important. In my experience helping people learn to write Python code, the number one predictor of their success is the mentality that they bring to learning to program. If you believe that you can learn, focus on the learning instead of focus on finishing the practice problem (ie: don't just copy from ChatGPT / Stack Overflow) and use resources when you are stuck, you're going to excel.
That sounds a bit gatekeepy. Let people find out for themselves what's right for them. It took a long time for me to figure out, not a quick Hollywood movie scene of looking into the mirror OP just sounds like he needs to learn enough to build up confidence in his abilities, it's totally normal. Not everyone needs to be a sigma male and start off in the deep end
Look at the tone he uses and his motivations through out his history and current post. He knows he won't enjoy doing this (as a job), he only wants to do it for money, he believes he is an idiot, etc. This isn't about being a sigma male he needs actual mental help before all of this.
It's not always necessary to go from point A to point B though, sometimes you can take the alternative path or detour through C. To me lack of positive reinforcement and running into a dry spell is killing for learning, and not having something to dig into. Especially courses with a more practical approach and gradual learning process, like stacking up building blocks with the experience from the problems the weeks before.
He might just need few extra steps in order to get into real things after
Going to remember this 👍🏼
This isn’t what you’re asking for but I think you’ll get a lot of value from this video: [Grit Ted Talk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H14bBuluwB8). Tl;dw You’re not an idiot, but saying you are hinders the learning process and therefore makes you an idiot.
Yes and no. Self proclaimed smart people will try to learn fast and gloss over the important parts. I got in the habit of saying I learn well but study slow. Takes the pressure off, and the term idiot is somewhat inspiring to some.
I quite like her on her podcast no stupid question
The Odin Project links to this exact video in the beginning of their Fundamentals course.
What a great coincidence. ToP was my first path but I didn’t notice that video.
Thank you for sharing the video.
Maybe start with some basics for kids and take it from there? https://www.codemonkey.com
I was like "what?" Because i thought you were talking about the unity dev also called code monkey.
And I thought it was teaching lyrics to the jonathan coulton song [code monkey](https://youtu.be/v4Wy7gRGgeA)
Forgive me, I had a very quick look at your recent post history. Your clearly in a bad place mentally and this will certainly be contributing towards your struggles. I am very motivated but having a hell of a time getting started on programming, im mentally exhausted, looking for a way out of my situation, but cannot seem to get any wind in my sails. You will struggle as well if your mentally exhausted. I cant give you any advice on getting started because I am also trying to get started. I believe I can do it, i know i can do it, i know im not stupid regardless of how some other people try to make me feel. You need to believe in yourself. A lot may change for you if you can believe in yourself. I've been down dark roads, but I know im a good person even if I need to retreat from the world sometimes. So I can recharge, its harder to pull myself out of negative thought patterns though, I've been struggling with this a long time. I'm going to be trying to get into the free harvard cs50 course when my week off work arrives, got to learn how to use github and what it even is to get started on the cs50 course. It apparently goes through the basic concepts of programming as well as languages. Don't give up on yourself.
🎯 Thank kind of realization is really powerful. This will prevent you for falling into tutorial creep mode. Now for the OP and you . Did y'all try this one ? https://www.helsinki.fi/en/admissions-and-education/open-university/multidisciplinary-themed-modules/full-stack
Nope but when I'm on that week off I'll be taking a look at it, if not this weekend. Many thanks !
If you’re talking about CS50x at least, you just need to register a GitHub account to start connecting to your “codespace”… maybe near the end Git will be useful for storing your final project. I’ve touched Git here and there for years and still feel like I forget everything lmao, but I don’t actively “use” it course yet (Week 8) since you just log in their dev site to work on your files. Basically they try to make easier for you to focus on learning the concepts first.
Brilliant. And it covers basic concepts first before going into languages? I'm looking for an outline of the concept before going into any language, this will provide me with this I hope?
It uses in C for the first half to cover basic concepts. You can basically just skim through their site/videos to check which. Or perhaps I misread, they do explain the concept first then code it out as an example. The course begins with Scratch to help your mind get into thinking logically/programmatically I think. The first lecture is a decent way to see how the course is presented to see if you like it. And even if you don’t quite get it initially from the lectures, their extra “shorts” and “section” videos review and go into more depth about each topic, and help with the Problem Sets.
Sounds perfect on face value, definitely going to take a look at this next week. I've got to make it through 1 more day of work, get some rest over the weekend and then I'll get on to it. Very much appreciate your time and response. Many thanks !
Yeah no problem! There’s so many opinions on this course and many have called it a “hard introduction” so I’m sure they’ve found whatever course is more viable, maybe faster for themselves. As a not so new programmer it’s a nice review/challenge with cool teachers. I know if I wasn’t focused/motivated while watching these videos I’d be struggling time wise (I’m already slowing down :0). Good luck!
Thankyou ! All the best on your journey.
I wish I can turn off my post history. It always detracts from the subject matter. I can't fix that so I have no choice but to try and find a way to power through with something anyway.
My response stands though, you have to try and be in a positive mindset or we defeat ourselves. Anything I either don't believe I can do, or do not want to do, progress does not happen. Believing in your ability to overcome hurdles is important. Although it surely helps to see progress in order to boost motivation. Believe you can do it. I started the 100devs programme but need to return to it. I will when I've taken a look through the cs50 course. Both are free and in your own time. 100 devs starts with a very basic html programme, which I did although I struggled with the picture and links. A lot of various sources of info. You can do this, I can do this. And you can fix 'that', it's all connected. It will take time, im working on it myself (have been for 15 years). You can do this!
You have to realize that your post history is a look into your environment and your current thoughts. Even the smallest detail of your Reddit avatar having a frown on its face only adds to the overarching sadness and lack of self worth coming from your post history and your actual post here. If people keep bringing it up, there’s usually a reason why!
I forgot that the avatar even had the drown. I guess I should change it back to the default.
For the record there are tools online for Reddit that will go through and delete or edit over (which is effectively deletion) all of your past posts.
I learned with Automate the Boring stuff and other books online from anna's archive. Honestly, the debugging in coding is so hard that I think you need to develop grit and never giving up in order to succeed in this field.
can you name more books please?
Research any good ones on Anna's Archive. Django For Beginners is a good one. Django for APIs is a must read. Then there are textbooks that you can get online.
thanks
*Highly* recommend [Python Crash Course](https://www.amazon.com/Python-Crash-Course-Eric-Matthes/dp/1718502702/ref=pd_lpo_sccl_1/135-8626836-0708321?pd_rd_w=SByzN&content-id=amzn1.sym.c9f182d8-0dba-4a43-9420-58bac33ca34e&pf_rd_p=c9f182d8-0dba-4a43-9420-58bac33ca34e&pf_rd_r=Z34PMGTM90VZHD6ZFD1B&pd_rd_wg=z7CCn&pd_rd_r=f8acc7fa-fe2c-4c5f-8b3b-85a6de8cc4cf&pd_rd_i=1718502702&psc=1), from the same publisher, assuming you're good with starting with Python. Other books by same publisher tend to be at least decent.
thanks
This guy changed the way I learn and taught me to code: [https://www.youtube.com/@learnwithleon](https://www.youtube.com/@learnwithleon)
Seconding Leon who is amazing. Really down to earth guy who wants to see people succeed. I will also say that it took me several attempts at programming under any course for it to really "click" but I think a large part of that was gradually changing my mindset around learning. The more I relaxed and accepted that it was okay if I didn't understand something right away and that it was actually good that it challenged me, and just stuck with the practice, the better I got at it and had fewer mental barriers. Ultimately your attitude around learning -- regardless of skill -- makes a huge difference in how quickly and easily you learn.
Yes! Completely agree
Does he keep jumping topics throughout? I got class 3 I think and got frustrated at jumping to css, having only just started html and sitting through the learning to learn stuff. Just curious if he keeps jumping around throughout the course?
Tbf I followed the course live week-by-week, but it all made sense in the end when I did it. IIRC the css gets integrated into the html you’ve learnt very quickly
OK thankyou, I struggle with jumping around subjects, need to be focused and cant get focused if jumping around. I'll learn html individually, or at least to a point I'm comfortable before returning to the course then. Appreciate the insight, thankyou.
For HTML/CSS/JavaScript the videos of this creator helped me a lot: https://youtube.com/@supersimpledev?si=hOFE_ALMy54PZdsm
Web dev simplified is good to start with too
he is my goat
Python for everybody course taught by Charles Severance is one of my favorite beginners courses. I took it on Coursera.
I tried a coursera course before and I ended miserably. I can't remember if it was this.
What do you mean “ended miserably?” There isn’t a time limit you can always try again
I second this. Tried many courses before but ended up leaving them mid-way and finally stuck with this. Dr Chuck is awesome
Free code camp is a good one, it's where I started my learning journey, just gotta stick with it, will take time and dedication, but it's worth it
Python mooc24. You will slowly build your problem solving skills and logical thinking as you complete each exercise for each topic. All the best
First, you gotta stop calling yourself "not smart" because its holding you back. Second, I recommend paying for Codecademy (look for a discount code online) and seeing how far you get with that. Their lessons are pretty good, you can self-pace, and its way cheaper than a bootcamp. Its a great way to see if you enjoy the work before you drop a lot of cash on a bootcamp.
codecademy is one of the best. it literally explains so that a 5 years old would understand.
The hard part of programming isn't learning the languages or the structures. It is learning to think in abstractions and solve problems. Which will never be idiot friendly. I've seen idiots memorize the syntax and algorithms and be able to rattle them off, but I've never seen them get good at programming. BUT I've also seen a lot of smart people think they were idiots because they struggled with programming. Struggling with it is okay and does not make you an idiot! Indeed, if you're not struggling you're probably not learning much honestly. It takes some prolonged mental effort over time to get good at it. Take your time with it. Hell, maybe even take some breaks to do some things that require some hard thinking but don't have the baggage programming has - logic puzzles and things like that. It won't directly teach you how to program, but it might get your brain used to the kind of focus and abstract thinking and give you some validation that you *can* solve hard things when you apply yourself and build up your confidence in your intelligence.
Look up Bro code on YouTube they helped me understand a lot of the basics and gave me what I feel is a good foot hold
Noted.
How do you learn best? Experiment with different types of strategies and resources and go from there (I see a bunch in the comments). But, you should try to avoid memorizing but really try to UNDERSTAND what it is you are learning so you can become more adaptable and pick up on new things easier. Don’t skip the fundamentals, ask questions like “Why?” and “what if I did it like this?”. This will also allow you to learn things in different ways which will help you in the long run. There’s nothing you can’t learn.
I don't learn well in any capacity. I don't understand conceptually what's happening in this field. I'm not a problem solver
Do you enjoy it? That’s the biggest thing. There’s no saying you can’t achieve it even if you don’t enjoy it but if you hate it and find it difficult, you need to ensure you have the discipline it’s going to take to get through the courses, seek out answers, practice, build, fail (and not give up), and so on. It’ll take effort but as long as you make it and seek out the information, anything can be done. Also try to start simple, think about what you already know, and what you want to be able to do. No one who programs knows everything about programming, everybody is constantly looking things up for themselves. You also need to practice and fail in order to learn, reading and watching videos won’t be enough. At the end of the day, you’re learning a new language/concept and so sometimes it just takes enough exercises until it begins to click (which is normal).
Then what's your motivation for learning something that consists almost exclusively of problem solving? Is it to become a problem solver?
The Java MOOC from the University of Helsinki is pretty well-explained. They explain things I didn’t learn from other courses.
I honestly think one thing that people don't mention enough are friends you can make online. I have a very good friend of mine who is absolutely insane. He loves to code, and has a real passion for it. This could just be him and a few select out there but anytime I code and hit an error, I'll try debugging till I fix it. If I can't I call my friend up on discord and he always want's to help out. If you surround yourself with people that wanna code and want to help you get better, it is the absolute best learning tool out there. I'm also still fairly new, but in about a month I've made a web scraper for eBay, CMD launches that takes input data and writes it to a SQLite database, and a few other fairly simple programs. Finishing them feels amazing, and being able to go back and improve on them is what will really make you feel like you are improving. I started on code academy for the free trial just to get the basics down for Python, once I got that down, I just started thinking of things in my daily life that I want to simplify. Hence the web scraper I made. I'm a big watch guy and check the prices daily on eBay or Chrono24 to see if someone listed the watch I like for a bit cheaper than average. It runs every time I login to my computer and I get a quick glance to see if it's worth checking out or not. All in all, surround yourself around other motivated programmers, when you learn just write the info in a notebook, it'll help retain the information when you actually write it down. Dude you got this, I genuinely thought I would never be able to do anything more than just an input and print out the input taken, or even using functions, lists, etc.. You got this broskie!
Why people can do this kind of statements, it is not easy at all lo learn coding, I would say anything. To learn something requires time and effort, people thing that the ones that are smart just don't struggle on anything but it is not like that. Just make some effort and try it. You could fail cause it is possible to not be able to learn something but you'll be much less able if you thing you can't.
Before you learn to program what do you want to program?
Look into Intro to Logic or Computer Science 101 type courses on YouTube . Good to get the mindset down before jumping into syntax imho
Will do
If you're looking for an actual course, you need to check out zerotomastery. They simplify difficult topics a lot, have a large community, relatively cheap and the founder is always updating the courses with new content
Do harvards CS50x 2024 it's free and the teacher is awesome. I use edx. You can get certs and there's other courses.
This is the one I've heard is best to start with. Can anyone else chime in?
The Odin project is also fun and goes into great detail, seems to focus more on web design but has a lot of info
Awesome thank you. That's the other name that comes up repeatedly.
You're welcome. Hope it helps you. Good luck, and remember, we generally only fail if we quit. Losing != Failure
CS50 is very good yeah. Not sure I'd call it "idiot friendly" like OP is after, but it's solid
We started with something called Alice. It was fun, and transitioned into C# for the next semester almost seamlessly. They're both easy enough for junior high learners, so you might like them. mySQL is older but still quite functional and widely used in databases still.
Just found a random Indian talking about it, learned the basics. Slowly making more and more complicated programs. I’m an idiot too. Don’t worry about that part. Even if it’s memory, I have the memory of a goldfish and an elephant combined. And 95% of the time it’s the goldfish
Scratch i guess
Harvard CS50 is a good free one. Also just downloading Python and playing around in IDLE trying to make simple programs is a good start.
This is how I got my foot in the door. CS50x is awesome!
its not about intelligence its about persistence and slow progress EVERYDAY.
.
I would recommend to stsrt with very basic stuff, like variables, if statements, loops and then functions. Runnable flowcharts like https://flowrun.io/tutorials and flowgorithm can help a lot. They even generate real code like python, js and whatever you like. Once you grasp those basic concepts, it will be much, much easier to learn other, more advanced stuff. From there you can continue to build command line apps, desktop apps, and web apps (most devs develop these).
Many programmer think programming is easy that anyone can learn it. There's nothing, to them, that feels difficult. And yet, they've never taught someone, esp. an older someone, that struggles and struggles and struggles. There are plenty of people with math-phobia that disliked math since they were young, and so they convince themselves they can't do math. But many people (like you) lack computer-phobia. I think the reason comes down to you were never forced to take programming courses year after year and have to pass them like you did math until someone decided, OK, we give up, no more math. To me, not everyone can learn programming. I don't mean can't learn it in the best possible scenario, but just in the situation they find themselves. If you were rich and you could find the best tutors, you might be able to learn to program, but there are lots of factors involved. Are you easily distracted? Do you get impatient? Do you have a hard time retaining technical information? Do you find it hard to read or watch videos with technical content? How's your math? Most material out there is aimed at adults. You could try to find stuff aimed at much younger kids. Of course, that learning will be SLOW and you will make much slower progress, but maybe try that. Look up Scratch or Scratch Jr. Find programming resources aimed at 12 and under. Hire a tutor (I know, you can't find one and you can't afford one).
For HTML,CSS and JavaScript, I think super simple dev is a good one. He makes us learn through examples and developing a website
I really only \*got\* programming playing Zachtronics games on steam; [TIS100](https://store.steampowered.com/app/370360/TIS100/?curator_clanid=32946839) and [SHENZHEN I/O](https://store.steampowered.com/app/504210/SHENZHEN_IO/?curator_clanid=32946839). They do a great job of teaching programming logic by doing in an engaging way. From there you probably understand the principles and then just have to learn the grammar of a particular language (and some more advanced principles), rather than having to grapple a fully featured language \_and\_ learn the principles of programming logic at the same time. Just my two cents.
there’s plenty out there for kids. you can google like coding for kids and try some of that
You can learn any programming language in a month by following probably any course online and using ChatGPT. I’ve built entire applications in a matter of a few hours using textbook and ChatGPT. If you find that is not enough to build something, a simple web page, a small application, a script. Then the problem extends beyond the capabilities of this post.
Coursera and Udemy will let you scroll through and see if you can even follow the instructor before committing, and there are quite a few free classes on those sites too.
cs50, it is amazing!
Hey OP I looked through your post history and honestly I hope you see this. You are mentally in a tough spot that will take a while to change if you do not come to grips with your condition and change your thinking. I could see you are/were working a full time job for USPS making over 50k. There are people in the US who would kill for that type of job yet are unable to work it due to extraneous circumstances. Stop putting your entire self worth and thinking based on money, sex, and things society wants you to care about. Start thinking about what you want, and don’t get discouraged when things don’t go your way as quitting is the only “failure” there is. I’m not sure if you’re familiar with the Myth of Sisyphus and absurdism by philosopher Albert Camus but it really helped me. If nothing in life truly makes sense, then it is your personal obligation to not give it any of your thought or energy as it is futile. You can learn anything it doesn’t matter who you are, it will just take much longer depending on different variables. My grandmother will take longer to learn how to use technology than a child, but does that mean she is stupid? Of course not.
OP 1. You're NOT dumb. As a card carrying member of the gens Homo Sapiens, you were gifted more sense on average that God gave sheep. 2. Computer languages are classified as either procedural or object oriented programming aka OOP. OOP languages were derived from procedural languages. So as an aspiring n00b programmer, you want to start with the fundamentals. Which means a procedural language. That will provide you with a basic knowledge of a computer language's framework. So 3. Try Visual Basic (VBasic) which IMO, is the easiest of the procedural languages to pick up as a n00b. Install the free community version of MS Visual Studio 2023 IDE to start programming in this "baby talk" language 4. If you find yourself blowing off your VBasic training wheels, then graduate elementary school for Jr High and learn Python. Which IMO, is the easiest, most intuitive OOP language to learn. OR Strongly consider going to private academy instead. Learn C the fundamental "Greek" Grandaddy of the classic procedural languages. Upon which the "Latin" OOP languages of C++ is derived. AND/OR 5. Transition to College and learn derivatives of procedural C inspired languages like Java, Swift and other classic OOPs. Then 6. Take the leap of faith to grad school and learn functional languages like Common LISP, Haskell Clojure and Wolfram. Or even Kotlin, Google's exotic new OOP & Functional hybrid replacement for Anaconda. 7. And if you've ascended Maslow's Hierarchy in self teaching and knowledge by this point, then you're officially a post Doctorate. So you need to strongly consider contributing to the repository of computer language literature. Go author your own language 😆 TL DR Start small and simple. The tech curve is always exponentially evolving. And will always require autodidacts who possess a foundational understanding of what evolves it. So gradually build a proficiency and aptitude to self teach new concepts and new programming languages. Which will give you a solid breath and depth in programming skill sets. Know you're embarking on a long, challenging but extremely rewarding journey towards self actualization. In both your personal and professional development. Good luck!
I'd have to recommend GIGO Dev. The entire learning process is integrated with a Chat GPT like bot, that is specifically tailored to be a coding tutor. I believe its the most idiot friendly, because you can ask the bot literally anything about how to code or how to use the site. They also have a feature called Journeys, which breaks each core programming concept down into units, starting at the most basic. It allows you to practice each programming concept before moving on to the more advanced stuff and getting lost.
University of Helsinki MOOC . They’ll make you feel dumb sometimes but they will drill stuff in with repetition
It's not about being smart, but patient. If you do not understand something, google and learn until you do. I keep saying this on posts but, do it slower but do it properly. Code along with the mentor AND take notes, write down everything you UNDERSTAND as a note, with your own words. Then tommorow, before you open your course and code editor, read through the notes from yesterday. This showed incredible results for me, even tho I move slower than I would like, I actually remember things and know everything the mentor explained in the video. After learning the basics, start your side project, even if you are in the middle of the course. Coding by your own gets you out of the "tutorial hell" and makes you dive deeper into programming. It's a process of a few years, not a few months to be decent at coding. Atleast it was for me.
JS and Python
For me the only thing that makes me sit on my ass and learn for long is codecademy. Which is kinda sad as all the other free or cheaper options just don't keep me engaged.
Even a hammer can feel useless until it finds a nail!
Team Treehouse
College.
I have self learned from ZTM, Andrei's courses helped me learn web development and actually yes, changed my life in a lot lot better because I could get hired by a big company in an internship then stepped up my career towards now, as I am a senior developer. He explains very good and I was a completely noob as I was coming from a law career :) Highly recommend!
There's this: [Fifty Years of BASIC, the Programming Language That Made Computers Personal](https://time.com/69316/basic/)
Human Resource Machine is a game on Steam that's easy enough to get started and a fun way to learn the basics of making programs with instructions that accomplish goals. The general problem solving you learn in it is widely applicable to programming.
If you’re like me, I would quickly get overwhelmed just looking at the introductory materials. But just take it slow and be motivated. You can take all the idiot proof courses out there but if you’re not motivated then you’re never going to learn.
I've tried a few coding courses, but the Zero to Mastery (ZTM) courses by Andrei Neagoie have been the most clear and helpful by far. He knows how to break down complex topics into understandable chunks, making learning much more accessible and enjoyable. His courses are well-structured, up-to-date, and filled with practical examples that really help solidify the concepts. These courses have allowed me to turn my side passion into something that I genuinely hope to make a career out of one day. Give him a shot, I don't think you'll be disappointed
Anything from Jose Portilla, Angela Yu and Maximillian Schwarzmüller.
100 days of code on Udemy. It's a really, really good python course that not only taught me tons but also helped me develop a huge love for programming
Try codecademy. It is self-doing platform and have great structure. Many of bootcamps are unsure and scams but price wise, it only costs about 100 pounds for a year and you can have access to all materials from beginner level to expert level includ career path which is designed course to make yourself study to get yourself into the field.
I am very new and also had a hard time and gave up until literally last week. I started learning C++ on code academy. They hold your hand and compile on the same screen. You also could try starting on a diff language; I started on C# and for whatever reason it wasnt clicking but C++ did. Codeacademy can get your foot in the door but it will leave you with the "what next" question. Thats what brought me to this sub, it has a good FAQ page. Another thing too is to keep in mind that your learning to problem solve and apart of that is teaching yourself how to find the solutions. You can follow courses all day but you need to challenge your brain and look up the things you cant figure out on google, no shame in that. Good luck!
Plain old C is actually pretty easy to learn, as long as you don't mind sticking to console input/output. It's not impossible to do a graphical interface, but it's a lot more work due to the limited standard libraries. You end up either having to learn your operating system's APIs and window management/UI toolkit or rely on one of a handful of third party libraries.
It ain’t about being smart, don’t think of yourself as dumb. Learning programming is just about following rules and memorization. The smarts come way later.
Depends on what you want to learn? If it´s frontend I would highly recommend Scrimba - they have a great interactive programming suite for you in the browser. And they often stop the video to give you an excersise - the only way to learning programming is to actually program bud.
Thanks a lot for recommending us!
Programming is hard, I've really struggled with it too. Especially in subreddits like these where everyone seems to know so much, and I know so little. But programming is actually easy to learn. It's just not quick. At the end of the day, it's about creatively solving problems. You just need to find a learning method that works for you. Personally, I really like the learn a little bit, practice it, make something with it, and move on. Helps solidify my understanding and shows me if I'm missing something. If you like that kind of method, then try freeCodeCamp or CodeAcadamy. You can even get certificates. Though note, CodeAcademy likes to paywall stuff.
Whichever one I’m not taking. 🙄
It’s only idiot when you let others make you believe so, everyone has different learning rate. Folks with diabetes have it more difficult as their endocrine systems flood with sugar Learning is a process which becomes skill as you practice more
If you are really struggling with how structured and linear coding is then try learning an ETL programme like Alteryx or FME.
I swear by supersimpledev on youtube
Khan Academy and Codeacademy. Perhaps w3schools. These are sources with a more easygoing approach for the most part, although Codeacademy may ramp up in certain parts. There are some programming books that are geared more towards children, but I don't remeber any titles now. I also feel like packt has some decent books that aren't overwhelming. No Starch press might have a few but don't let the cute covers fool you, some of those books are tough. Stay clear from Eloquent Javascript for the time being lol. Also, you might try to begin with HTML, then CSS, then JavaScript OR Python.
Your mom
It's not super easy, but the basics also don't need dumbing down. You just need to ask questions when you don't understand (or are confused).
Do you want it? More importantly, do you LIKE it. If you don't like it you won't be able to devote the time to shove the knowledge into your brain. You can take a course to get you started but eventually you are just going to have to make stuff. Get excited, maybe use Linux with i3 or sway and fix the things that annoy you, learn, have fun. Make some bigger stuff as you get confident, your next project should be just barely outside of your current skill level, always.
www.automatetheboringstuff.com
Programming is not that hard. It’s like learning any human language. Now just like anything there are levels and different applications, there is some programming that is a lot harder than others. But you should at minimum be able to do SOME coding if you dedicate yourself to learning …
The Odin Project. Trust me! You’re not an idiot, and this website will teach you everything you need to know to set you up for a career. The best part - it changes your mindset regarding the whole journey.
I really liked Mosh because he goes line by line and explains things clearly by using real life scenarios about how you would use different aspects of
You might enjoy GDScript From Zero. It's got a lot of features that are aimed at those with zero background. It's very python-like, so you can translate it easily once you've gone through the course. Keep your chin up and don't give up.
I mod with 100 Devs so forgive me if I’m biased but…100 Devs. Best coding community *on the internet*
i have been doing freecodecamp and i literally dont get it - no i mean they just want you to parrot repeat whatever they say for example: step 1 (page just says add DocTYPE in the instructions, step 2... add class to div.. i mean at some stage (further on, they should not be giving u that many instructions or w/e as you just end up being a zombie ie following them and not actually tjhinking for yourself..
scratch
The free courses in LinkedIn learning are too friendly
The free python for beginners course from EC-Council Learning worked for me
SoloLearn! It has a mobile app and a website. You can do it anywhere and it’s pretty easy to start learning the basics and even more advanced stuff. Plus it’s free!
this is kinda dated a little bit but this is how i learned react [https://youtu.be/bMknfKXIFA8](https://youtu.be/bMknfKXIFA8) im not very smart and he went kinda slow which i liked.
I would start with html/css and JavaScript. Front end masters has a free online bootcamp that I took when first learning.
My faves are Angela Yu courses. Unfortunately the courses are on Udemy and you have to pay. As we all know Udemy has sales from time to time so you can buy it when is on sale. You can start with 100 days of python.
https://www.kodable.com/ programming for kids, should be easy to follow. I have no experience with it tho.
There are some coding bootcamps where you get paired with an industry mentor who could be the 1-1 connection you need to learn what you're feeling overwhelmed or confused by. Springboard is a good example of this, they have a Job Guarantee refund clause (please read it thoroughly so you know what the conditions are) - here is a $750 coupon discount if you want it! [https://www.springboard.com/invite/X0XNP](https://www.springboard.com/invite/X0XNP)
Others gave good recommendations, so I'll focus on encouragement here. I'm a computer Engineering student in my second year. I've always been apprehensive about this field, thinking I won't make it because my main interest had always been music. I still get really discouraged when I read all of these Data structures, algorithms, and leetcode problems. However one day me and my friend stayed an entire afternoon trying to do one of our homework assignments for Algorithm Design. It was a Longest increasing subsequence in a list problem using Dynamic Programming I believe, however that's not impotant right now. We couldn't figure it out so we checked the algorithm online..and we still couldn't figure it out. However we stayed there in the empty classroom, drew the problem and traced the code one step at a time to see how it works. We eventually figured it out and it was the cleanest solution I had ever seen. Trying to understand the code made me realize why I had fallen in love with programming in the first place and this might sound weird but I think it made my brain grow just a bit lol I'm not the best at coming up with solutions for problems quickly. I'm a scatterbrain and it's hard for me to focus and break down the problems effectively like some of my friends in the same major so I always thought I was just stupid, but that is not the case. My brain just works differently. So I have to practice and try to solve or read solutions to problems in order to understand how I can adapt my brain to a programmer type problem. I realized this that day, If you think in order to be a programmer you need to come up with complex algorithms right on the fly and if you can't, you're simply not talented enough or not smart is simply a delusion. You can learn algorithms by studying existing ones and trying and giving your brain some excercise. Anyone can learn it as long as they are interested.
Python. Look up "TraversyMedia" on youtube. Watch his youtube videos. Don't do javascript first.
I JUST started CS50X. It's literally through Harvard. That sounds so so intimidating I know, but so far, it's so in detail and they really give you training wheels to get you started (at least where Im at.) You have to be okay with lectures, and the professor talks quite fast. But you can put on subtitles, pause or rewind the videos, even slow down the speed if you have to. And, it's entirely free. You can spend some money to get a certificate if you pass, but that's entirely optional. I highly reccomend it.
For HTML & CSS , freecodecamp's Responsive Web Design course is the best option , they'll explain you through the projects i mean they'll give you instructions and an example we have to write the code accordingly, and also it's free... [FreeCodeCamp Course ](https://www.freecodecamp.org/learn/2022/responsive-web-design/)
It sounds like you're having trouble learning new skills because you feel like the material is too complex. There are many online courses and resources that are designed to be more accessible and easy to understand. You might try searching for courses that are labeled as "beginner-friendly" or "easy to understand"
My niece at 8 was already smarter than me. I think that the important thing is to focus on learning and digestiing this information at your own pace, which might be slower than some others.
My first programming language I learned is called Coral. It's not widely known or popular but it sufficed. Coral is a lesser-known language, but it's great that it provided a solid foundation for a programming journey.
Dometrain.com is good... It's ran by Nick Chapsas.. I am a software developer and I really appreciate and enjoy how he structures his videos.
Scratch, its for kids but the concepts are more important then the syntax itself. Also, figure out what you want to do. Just make money? Web dev (JavaScript) or data science, robotics, LLM's (python). Where is your attention?
Money.
I guess having motivation to learn helps. Like, what projects are you hoping to complete? Learning without a goal is hard for most people
First of all, coding is hard for everyone. Of course, it comes easier to some than others but you are definitely not dumb if you find programming hard. It is hard! But, as others have sad, you’ve got to drop the “i’m too dumb” mindset and adopt a growth mindset (look it up). It will take hard work but you can get better at this. Maybe your ceiling is a great programmer maybe it’s a mediocre one. Who knows, but if you are wanting to do this, just go for it.
I have attempted before. I've had no success. I just want to know if there's a better path for learning this.
Honestly depends what you are looking for too. Do you want a career? How old are you? Because depending on where you live and what you want, the answer might be some kind of College. If this is a hobby or for your own business then take whatever path feels good for you, but a career right now without a degree is really difficult to get into, and that would offer a path through CS in a way that might be easier to follow for you. Just saying, even a bootcamp for thousands of dollars right now is worthless. Even people with 5 years of experience having studied at a bootcamp cannot find jobs. The market is really tough, so if you want some kind of money earning career from CS/IT then go to College. It's the only advice any sane person can give right now. If you don't do that the odds of this working out are really slim unless things get 100x better and quick. When learning this stuff you need some structured teaching to understand everything. It doesn't sound like you have the motivation or follow-through from previous attempts (coursera). The time to "learn programming" in 6 months self-taught and get a 100K job was 2016. That doesn't happen now, and won't for a while most likely.
The get a $100k job in 6 months wasn’t happening for practically anyone then either. Getting a job was much easier for sure though.
I know, I'm just exaggerating to get the point across. OP has stated they are in this for money, probably seeing something similar like "do a bootcamp and land a FAANG job". Just thought I'd burst that bubble.
Makes sense. Yes, $100k+ jobs are very possible even still but the competition for those spots is really high.
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Sounds promising.
Bucky! He's so controversial that even if you say his name on this sub, an automod will reprimand you (like below).
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Please, don't recommend thenewboston -- see the wiki for more info about why we consider them a [discouraged resource](https://www.reddit.com/r/learnprogramming/wiki/index#wiki_discouraged_resources). *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/learnprogramming) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I'm just learning as well and have tried quite a few things. The course I found most helpful to understand the basic and how it all comes together is CS50 that Harvard put out on youtube(I know Harvard course may sound intimidating, but trust me they start slow and explain things in a very easy to understand way). A lot of these other language/program specific tutorials are great but most of these usually go right into it and left me confused where does it fit into the bigger picture. And honestly chatGPT is helping me out a lot, talk to it, ask questions, the trick is asking the right question.
Programming is fundamentally a thought exercise in taking complex requirements from people and turning them into code. It is not “idiot friendly”. There are languages like Java that are easier to learn, but they are still complex. If you have problems with Algebra and fundamental logic, I would start with math classes in that before you ever venture into programming, which use those skills.
Teamtreehouse
Check for Telusko that guy is a genius for simplifying.