Across this vast Fediverse, I have encountered a trend of people answering questions with esoteric programming language speaking in tongues that I don’t understand, including under my own posts. I am a Boomer when it comes to coding and I am only 27. I don’t even know where I would start to learn it because programming is so diverse. I want to feel like I know what’s going on but I don’t. Coding is the future and the future is now and I am lagging severely behind. I guess I’m asking where a bumbling novice like me can learn more about where to start when it comes to programming.
I got you fam
Free course, C# is a genuine pleasure to work in/learn. Runs in all OS environments, and is probably the most modern “general” language
Only way to learn is to start learning
Don’t mind me, just saving this comment too.
Lemmy allows you to save a comment without commenting btw. Just click on the three dot menu and then click the star.
Do you know how to do this on Memmy?
Also on Memmy and don’t see an option for this yet. Would be a great addition
Oh, I know. I was just saying that to tell them that their post helped another person.
Oh my bad then, ignore me hahaha.
We could never ignore you bro!
Okay, C# is a music note which links with my fondness of music theory. Kewl.
Is C# really that nice to work in? I’m looking to expand my horizons past JS now that I feel fairly comfortable with one language.
It’s a genuinely nice language with tons of syntactic sugar. It’s fast, flexible and runs everywhere. Honestly my favorite language.
Other nice things about it is you can write object oriented code as well as functional style with it, so it even handles the style of code you prefer which is a lot harder to do with other languages. Finally it’s open source but also has deep pockets behind it so the language is constantly being pushed forward.
I always prescribe learning Python over basically any other language (unless you’re gonna start doing some real low-level computing). It’s a much more relevant and popular language. C# isn’t irrelevant, you’ll just see Python used way more often. Python will also compliment JS much more.
It’s basically a cleaner, more concise version of java. It’s a good choice to study if you want to learn something very different from JS but with some familiar syntax. These days you can also run C# anywhere, so it’s very useful for app development.
If you learn C# you’ll be able to learn java very quickly as well.
Yes, it’s nice and worth learning, especially if you try at both highly abstracted code and performance sensitive projects. Don’t get stuck thinking in c# though. Its brand of strict oop seems to be getting less popular these days.
You can write fully functional code in C#! I pretty much made the switch over and it works great
C# is my primary language, so I’d certainly recommend it. It can be a little daunting to get into because it is a large ecosystem of tools, so you might want to watch some videos and keep things simple for a while.
For work I mostly use it for APIs for web sites, that might be a good place to start if you’re familiar with JS/TS front-end work. From there you might want to try Razor or Blazor for handling web UI work in C#. I’m not very experienced with that aspect of it, but it’s mostly been a positive experience (TBH I kind of prefer React, but I’d need to spend more time on the Razor/Blazor side to have a strong opinion).
The desktop development side in C# is kind of a mess at the moment. Maybe stick with web until you’re feeling pretty comfortable with the language.
I absolutely loved learning C# a few years ago. I haven’t touched programming since my last C# class and I’m probably going to relearn it later this week.
Smh, you’re not even dumping them into Linux from scratch to learn C++ yet!
Hehe baby steps!
Fuck it, let’s go deeper: How to create an OS from scratch {using assembly language}
The first language I learned is C# and it sparked that interest that got me the job I’m in now!
I see other people recommending Python for beginners because of the simpler syntax (the way you write the code) but I’d still recommend C# because although the learning curve is a little steeper you’ll find it MUCH easier to learn pretty much any other language you choose. And even if you don’t choose to learn another language, you’ll still know a good (and fast) general-purpose language!
This. I love me some python, but it’s so unstructured (and by that I mean more how the structure is based off spacing), I actually think it makes it harder to learn vs. easier.
“Bracket” languages let the learner get a feel for when a piece of logic ends, which I think is important to learn at first. Also, C type languages, ESPECIALLY C#) are everywhere, depending on the field you end up specializing in you probably have a 90+% chance of needing to know one of these languages.
Seriously, there is nothing wrong with python, but I think the easiness of it actually works against learning to code (imho)
What are these answers…
Wrong place to ask, but whatever.
It depends on what you want to build. If you’re not sure, start with Python. It’s likely easiest to pick up and get running. There’s a book called “Automate the Boring Stuff.” I think there’s an online version. (Edit: link - https://automatetheboringstuff.com/)
If you don’t want to set up Python (or any language, really) on your computer, there’s a tool called a REPL that you can find online. So you can just search “Python online REPL,” and you’ll get a functional online environment to code. Now, you won’t be able to do stuff interacting with your local computer this way, like reading files, but it’s good for learning the basics of the language.
In terms of software for writing code in on your local computer, Visual Studio Code (NOT to be confused with Visual Studio) is a free, lightweight code editor. It supports every language via plugins.
If you do go the Python route, make sure to learn about virtual environments before you do ‘pip’ or ‘conda’ anything. Also, unless you’re doing data science things, stick to pip. (Maybe some personal bias there, but I hate anaconda.) If you’re starting from nothing, it’ll be awhile until you get there anyway, so don’t worry too much about it.
Most importantly, find a community that welcomes new learners. Learning to code is absolutely fucking brutal, so having supportive people available makes a world of difference. Bonus points if you can find an offline meetup in your local area.
Python is the way to go for any newbie imo. Js has too many weird pitfalls that don’t make sense when first starting out
Also if you’re looking to make a job out of it, Python will lead you to job opportunities that are imo much more satisfying than JS.
You should start here directly in the future:
You may not have seen this before because it is so new.
Actually, if you are a Boomer this should be your starting point.
Try “the Odin project”, which has an amazingly active community.
But before you try too much, once you’ve learned to set up any programming tools, just use them to have fun. Find a way in which you can use programming in relation to your hobbies.
With JavaScript you can manipulate any webpage you see or create your own interactive webapp. Even if it’s just a few ugly buttons and text fields, you could make an app that calculates good builds for a videogame you like, for example.
If you want to interact with a windows operating system you can’t go wrong with C# using visual studio. This will literally allow you to manipulate files, folders or automate anything you want from the operating system.
Try to find something that is fun and just enjoy yourself with small apps before you try to go too fast.
I agree. I can only learn languages by having an idea of something that’ll excite me. Making a to-do app rarely teaches me anything since I don’t have fun doing it.
What about music?
Sorry for the late reply. If you’re interested in music, you could give both javascript or C# a try. C# works integrated with the operating system and is not sandboxed by the browser, which means that you could do nifty things like actual sound processing and interact with sound devices etc.
In general you will want to start with a console application that receives user input, does something and even prints the output. Let me give you an example of playing an audio file in C#
LINE 1:
System.Media.SoundPlayer myAudioPlayer = new System.Media.SoundPlayer(@"c:\mywavfile.wav");LINE 2:
myAudioPlayer.Play();In the first line we are calling a pre-existing blueprint (library) that knows how to create an audio player. This blueprint can be located in System > Media > SoundPlayer within the collections of libraries. We are giving this virtual audio player a name and called it “myAudioPlayer”. Then, after the “=” sign we are giving it the instruction to be created with a preloaded file that would be found in “C:\mywavfile.wav”.
In the second file we are commanding our newly created virtual audio player and telling it to play the file. Please note that this audio player would not have a visual interface yet. You would hear audio coming from the speakers but no way to pause. Fortunately C# / .NET (.NET are the pre-existing libraries that you can use), has a drag-and-drop way to create windows application interfaces with buttons via the “Visual Studio” editor, so you could potentially create a drag-and-drop interface and bind a button with a Stop symbol to the instruction “myAudioPlayer.Stop();”
This is just a very very basic example, but object oriented programming often boils down to this: create virtual representations of something and then command them to do something.
If this has peaked your interest check out this playlist of a full complete programming course in C# which is what I used to learn programming years ago. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umAcMO3d9_E&list=PLFqasLx4-AErVMCWiIyJe9uA3yQMPBukG
In the end it’s all about creating a series of instructions that the computer will follow. The trick is to learn what these instructions mean and to not be scared by their syntax, because behind every scary looking syntax there’s just an instruction that can be explain in human language.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/watch?v=4vHBgwcz_I4&list=PLpQi14y2n2-E304sRm0jkEhLEI2uqPG1Q
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source, check me out at GitHub.
Software engineering nowadays is really complex. There is no way you’re going to know what’s going on, nobody is.
It’s just the more experience you have, the easier it is to figure out what’s going on. If you want to learn coding, just start coding.
I will start from something no one mentioned - start with Linux. Windows has its own very “special” ways of compiling stuff, while Linux is very simple. If you start on Windows, you’ll probably use IDE which will set up everything for you (cause setting up thing in Windows is messed up), and it will still be a black magic for you how the code transforms into binary.
Many people recommend python, but I would start with C (not C++, C++ sucks). It will give you the understanding of basic concepts like memory management.
Then start using something like javascript, which will get you wide range of libraries, which you can use to build anything.
Then at the end learn how infrastructure works, how are services communicating with each other, how to put your server to the public, learn Docker, set up reverse proxy, run stuff in cloud.
Good news for you, I’m 33 years old and I canxt code yet. I just finisged a book about shell scripting (in Linux) so I can understands the scripts I see in github and made some simple ones to automate some of my needs. Now I want to up it up a bit with python and I’m starting a new book with Havard cx50 course. You are never too old to learn. My regret is that i did not start sooner, like when I was your age.
Holy shit, is 33 really “never to old to learn” territory?
If it helps, I knew someone who went back to school at 60 for their master’s and got their graduate degree at 64. That’s never too old to learn territory!
Good luck.
To you as well.
Has anyone mentioned the free Harvard CS50 course? Start there and learn the very basics of computer science and programming. By the time you finish you’ll have a solid idea of where to go next.
X2! David Malan is an excellent teacher, OP! I hate academia and prefer learning through YouTube, but CS50 is an EXCELLENT way to get started with learning about computers and programming!
Then the grizzled old curmudgeon bellied up to the bar and said “ONE WORD. BASIC.”
And everyone else in the room pointed and laughed. But I still like it. shut up.
I’m part of the cohort of programmers that learned to code in pre-dotnet VB. VB6 (my precious) was the most popular programming language for years.
My first programming language was Basic on a Tandy TRS-80, you fetus.
Edit: VB6 was pretty awesome.
Extended color basic on the COCO was amazing, and so when I moved to a Commodore 64 I was like “What the hell is this? Where’s all the graphics commands?”
I’m part of the cohort of programmers that learned to code in pre-dotnet VB. VB6 (my precious) was the most popular programming language for years.
cumdungeon
What are your hobbies? Most people struggle to learn programming until they find a project that they are interested in. You mentioned an interest in music. Perhaps you could try Sonic Pi, which is a live coding environment where you can create music from code. It comes with a built-in tutorial, and a bunch of pre-written example code-music. It’s built with the ruby language.
I am a Boomer when it comes to coding and I am only 27
Do you realize that boomers are the ones who literally made the Internet?
No one is a boomer when it comes to coding.
Now all they do is fart and complain about the TV being too loud.
Growing up post-internet shortens the generational memory, thoughts are limited to 160 cognition units. Everything relevant to modern life has been SEOed to the foreground, actual history can be safely ignored.
Now I’m a boomer in my mid-30s.
Do you realize that boomers are the ones who literally made the Internet?
Not the ones that I work with.
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No one has mentioned it from what I can see but I highly recommend the courses provided by https://www.mooc.fi/en/. It’s the university of Helsinki and it’s completely free. They offer both Java and Python courses. I believe they have an introduction to programming course that is done in Python.
I am a Boomer when it comes to coding
Hey, OP, I think it’s cool that you’d like to learn to code. I made my living as a coder for many years and it’s a good career path. But I would not say it’s an essential life skill and the vast majority of people of all ages get by fine without coding skills.
With that out of the way, I’m going to defend the honor of Boomers here. Boomers (and the Silent Gen before them) built the technology industry as we know it today. For example, here’s a list of popular programming languages and their inventors:
- Java: James Gosling (1955) - Boomer
- C: Dennis Ritchie (1941) - Almost a Boomer
- C++: Bjarne Stroustrup (1950) - Boomer
- C#: Anders Hejlsberg (1960) - Boomer
- Python: Guido van Rossum (1956) - Boomer
- PHP: Rasmus Lerdorf (1968) - X Gen
- Perl: Larry Wall (1954) - Boomer
- JavaScript: Brendan Eich (1961) - Boomer
- Ruby: Yukihiro Matsumoto (1965) - Cusp of Boomer/X Gen
- SQL: Raymond Boyce (1946) and Donald Chamberlin (1944) - Boomers
- Go: Robert Griesemer (1964), Rob Pike (1956) and Ken Thompson (1943) - 2 Boomers and an almost-Boomer
<Adjusts onion>. Thank you for your indulgence.
I didn’t think computers ran on anything but steam back then.
Mine was powered by hamster wheels. The damn wheels squealed all day long - drove me crazy. Not to mention the feed bill.
That’s odd. You would think that the government would treat its military technology better.
I didn’t think that computers from that era ran on anything else but steam.
This is a good place to start if you’re already using the computer for several tasks.
There’s lots of good advice here!
Don’t learn C/C++/Rust. They’re great languages but you’ll get stuck learning things most experienced programmers don’t understand and you’ll get discouraged.
Python/C# are both great options!
If you want to do mobile development, you might try Kotlin (for Android) or Swift (for iOS).
The trick is just to learn one language, to learn general programming concepts, then learning another in the future will be a lot easier.
You can learn a lot from following online tutorials, YouTube, etc., and you can find communities for each language too.
Also you don’t need to learn to program, there’s a lot of other good skills you could learn. (I keep trying to learn to draw or 3d model, and I just can’t do it lol).
But what about the future? Won’t everything be Chrome in the future?
Maybe, hopefully not, but even if it is: with WebAssembly, you’ll be able to (you already can actually but it’s not very widely used) compile and run many languages in the browser, other than JavaScript.
I wouldn’t really recommend learning JavaScript as your first language, it’s pretty weird. Unless you really want to learn web development, then go for it! maybe check out TypeScript though - there’s a lot of learning material for both online.
I’d actually start by playing around with the automation and customization functionality you already have. Learn to set email sorting filters, get some cool browser extensions and configure them, maybe even start by customizing your windows preferences or making some red stone stuff in Minecraft.
Computers are just tools. Programs are just stuff you tell a computer to do over and over again. All the fancy programming languages give you really good control over how you talk to a computer but I’d start with the computer equivalent of “Me Tarzan, you Jane.”
What language would that be?
I’m not talking about any particular language.
Modern programming languages are as complex as natural languages. They have sophisticated and flexible grammars. They have huge vocabularies. They’re rich enough that individual projects will have a particular “style”. Programming languages tend to emphasize the imperative and the interrogative over the indicative but they’re all there.
Most programming languages have a few common elements:
Some way to remember things
Some way to repeat sets of instructions
Some way to tell the user what it’s done
Some way to make decisions (ie if X then do Y)Programmers mix and match those and, depending on the skill of the people involved, end up with Shakespear, Bulwer-Lytton, or something in between.
The essence of programming is to arrange those elements into a configuration that does something useful for you. It’s going to be hard to know what kinds of useful things you can do if you’re completely fresh to the field.
Python and Javascript are great. The main reasons I wouldn’t recommend them for an absolute beginner is that it takes some time to set up and, even after that, there’s a bit of a curve before you can do something interesting.
If they go and change configuration settings in an app, they’re learning to manipulate variables.
If they click a “do this N times” they’ve learned to create a loop.
etc.They aren’t talking about a programming language, just the graphical tools in the programs you already have.
If you are interested in simple automation for your computer, learn python. If you are interested in simple automation in a browser, learn JavaScript.
I don’t know what needs to be automated though.
