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.
Hit F12 in your browser and start hacking in the console - search for Javascript tutorials to get started. Everything else needs some kind of setup and the js ecosystem is by far the largest.
Before deciding your profesional path, first figure out if it’s really for you. The software industry is huge and offers very many different jobs. Good coders still are nerds though that love logic puzzles and tinkering and require quite a bit of frustration tolerance. It’s not for everyone.
Honestly , why do you want to code? Simple question not offensive or sarcastic. I code because I’m in the security industry and a big geek. You are never to old to code , if you have the discipline to sit down and read and then practice over and over again then you will be fine to learn. its fun to code and learn new things. It also keeps your brain in better shape. I can help you find resources to get you started if you want. Everyone and I mean everyone starts in the beginning.
Think of something simple you want to make, pick a language, and start reading/watching tutorials and doing smaller coding exercises until you feel like you can start making it. This is the easiest period in human history to learn new languages, easily and for free.
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.
As a fellow bumbling novice, I hard a hard time figuring out where to start until one of my colleagues recommended C++. That is the way! I feel like C# helped train my brain to “think” in code… if that makes sense. The patterns and mechanisms involved in C# carry over to so many other languages. There’s my two cents for ya. Best of luck in your coding adventures!
Meant to say C#, said C++ instead… THEN kept messing it up while trying to fix it… So I ended up just deleting it. Edibles and lemmy is a tough combo. But I’m glad everyone else in the thread is calling out the good stuff.
I’m not sure I fully agree with that approach for most people since C++ resources and tools seem to not be the user friendliest but then again if it worked for you that is amazing.
I will tell you there is no need to be worried about coding. You don’t have to be worried about not knowing how to code. The coding part of coding is the simplest and the easiest part, the much much more important part is the thinking part, basically what you want to achieve and how you should go about it.
A lot of so called professional “coders” don’t know what it is that they are doing. A few days ago i looked at my sister’s very impressive code. That was truly a hard day, the ways in which I controlled myself by not beating the shit out of her for being a piece of garbage who is incapable of thinking. She would not understand even when explained in simple words why her code was incredibly shit and what to do to fix it, finally she didn’t fix it and left ruining more than just my day, she sent me into a trance worrying about the future of mankind as a whole, which I have still not been able to come out of.
Also as far as coding is concerned I would suggest you get started with python. It is easy and simple. Learn the basics in python, for majority of the things you will have achieved your desire.
I suggest that you use the book automate the boring stuff as a starting point, it will not only help you with your desire for coding, but may also come out to help you in your day-to-day things as well. You can easily find the pdf for free.
You don’t understand, if she wasn’t my sibling, it may as well have resulted in a fight.
This code was for a company, not a I’m learning and am just a beginner kind of thing. Let me share a few details about the code:
The program involved reading a csv file and doing some operations from the data it provided. It was a python program in a jupyter notebook (this is very relevant).
She had to create an array of the column names of the table. Her “solution” was to first print the table, then copy paste the column names into an array. When I told her to fix i pointing out the incredibly basic reasons for why not to do that, she refused. Also the table had like 10-15 columns.
She was using pandas dataframes, even having a variable called df in her code, also using the functions it provided. Now it will come as a surprise to you, as it came to me she doesn’t know what a dataframe is.
The reason she showed me her code was because she was getting an error which she didn’t know how to solve. The issue was that the array of column names she created and the column names in the table didn’t match. This was because when she printed the table the column names were missing _ which were present in the CSV file. One of the reasons for not not doing the first point. When told of the issue she added the _ manually. She will die on that hill.
So in jupyter notebooks you have cells in which you add a small slice of code and you run the cell. This is really amazing. Small issue though if you close the notebook and open it again you need to rerun the cells in the correct sequence again, barely an inconvenience . To overcome this great issue, my sister just didn’t do something stupid like having all her code in one cell, she was one step ahead, she had all the things she needed per cell copy-pasted. That God forsaken array of column names? You guessed it there were atleast 10 of them.
Now if she was just starting out, these could probably be forgiven, but she has been “coding” for atleast a few years now. Also she refuses to learn her mistakes.
Another interesting thing I noticed was, if she didn’t know something she would not search Google but rather YouTube. I originally thought she pasted some of the code from stackoverflow which has error, but no she looked at a YouTube video copied the code by hand and that code still resulted in an error because char and int are different, she doesn’t understand why it works in the video (same type), and why it doesn’t work for her.I am clearly still in a shock about the whole situation and to think someone would hire her only if it is for an internship still, I pray for the world.
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)
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.
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.
I always prescribe learning Python over basically any other language (unless you’re gonna start doing some real low-level computating). 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.
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.
I’d go with Kotlin. It’s a really nice language, easy to learn if you already know JS (or even better, TS), and with KMM and Compose Multiplatform you can write apps which run natively on smartphones, browsers and PC/Mac.
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.
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.
That’s a lazy answer for being wrong. Seems like you knew the correct word all along, but decided to use an ageist pejorative instead, and now you’re upset for being called out on it.
Wow it must be incredibly irritating being so pedantic. At least for everyone you interact with. But you’d think someone so hyper fixated on accurate language would know what a metaphor is.
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?”
So I recommend Python if you just want general coding, dual booting Ubuntu or some other beginner friendly linux if that’s more interesting to you, or starting with html if website design sounds more fun.
Alternatively you could try R, it’s weird but I like it.
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.
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!
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).
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.
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Hit F12 in your browser and start hacking in the console - search for Javascript tutorials to get started. Everything else needs some kind of setup and the js ecosystem is by far the largest.
Before deciding your profesional path, first figure out if it’s really for you. The software industry is huge and offers very many different jobs. Good coders still are nerds though that love logic puzzles and tinkering and require quite a bit of frustration tolerance. It’s not for everyone.
Honestly , why do you want to code? Simple question not offensive or sarcastic. I code because I’m in the security industry and a big geek. You are never to old to code , if you have the discipline to sit down and read and then practice over and over again then you will be fine to learn. its fun to code and learn new things. It also keeps your brain in better shape. I can help you find resources to get you started if you want. Everyone and I mean everyone starts in the beginning.
Think of something simple you want to make, pick a language, and start reading/watching tutorials and doing smaller coding exercises until you feel like you can start making it. This is the easiest period in human history to learn new languages, easily and for free.
Yeah according to coders lol
Fediverse just skews tech heavy. The average person doesn’t even know what a file is.
The jaypeg, the ping, the dock, the… er… the thing for nails?
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.
Hey some of them were older Gen Z
Hey, language evolves with time, Boomer is becoming synonymous with Luddite.
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.
Not the ones that I work with.
As a fellow bumbling novice, I hard a hard time figuring out where to start until one of my colleagues recommended C++. That is the way! I feel like C# helped train my brain to “think” in code… if that makes sense. The patterns and mechanisms involved in C# carry over to so many other languages. There’s my two cents for ya. Best of luck in your coding adventures!
You do know that C++ and C# are two different languages, right?
Meant to say C#, said C++ instead… THEN kept messing it up while trying to fix it… So I ended up just deleting it. Edibles and lemmy is a tough combo. But I’m glad everyone else in the thread is calling out the good stuff.
I had an edible once…
Oh yeah, apologies for the above comment. C# is definitely a good option, especially if you use windows and love messing around with the OS
I’m not sure I fully agree with that approach for most people since C++ resources and tools seem to not be the user friendliest but then again if it worked for you that is amazing.
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.
I will tell you there is no need to be worried about coding. You don’t have to be worried about not knowing how to code. The coding part of coding is the simplest and the easiest part, the much much more important part is the thinking part, basically what you want to achieve and how you should go about it.
A lot of so called professional “coders” don’t know what it is that they are doing. A few days ago i looked at my sister’s very impressive code. That was truly a hard day, the ways in which I controlled myself by not beating the shit out of her for being a piece of garbage who is incapable of thinking. She would not understand even when explained in simple words why her code was incredibly shit and what to do to fix it, finally she didn’t fix it and left ruining more than just my day, she sent me into a trance worrying about the future of mankind as a whole, which I have still not been able to come out of.
Also as far as coding is concerned I would suggest you get started with python. It is easy and simple. Learn the basics in python, for majority of the things you will have achieved your desire.
I suggest that you use the book
automate the boring stuffas a starting point, it will not only help you with your desire for coding, but may also come out to help you in your day-to-day things as well. You can easily find the pdf for free.https://automatetheboringstuff.com/
You sound like a lovely sibling…
You don’t understand, if she wasn’t my sibling, it may as well have resulted in a fight.
This code was for a company, not a I’m learning and am just a beginner kind of thing. Let me share a few details about the code:
The program involved reading a csv file and doing some operations from the data it provided. It was a python program in a jupyter notebook (this is very relevant).
dfin her code, also using the functions it provided. Now it will come as a surprise to you, as it came to me she doesn’t know what a dataframe is._which were present in the CSV file. One of the reasons for not not doing the first point. When told of the issue she added the_manually. She will die on that hill.Now if she was just starting out, these could probably be forgiven, but she has been “coding” for atleast a few years now. Also she refuses to learn her mistakes.
Another interesting thing I noticed was, if she didn’t know something she would not search Google but rather YouTube. I originally thought she pasted some of the code from stackoverflow which has error, but no she looked at a YouTube video copied the code by hand and that code still resulted in an error because
charandintare different, she doesn’t understand why it works in the video (same type), and why it doesn’t work for her.I am clearly still in a shock about the whole situation and to think someone would hire her only if it is for an internship still, I pray for the world.Seriously, what the fuck?
I got you fam
https://www.codecademy.com/catalog/language/c-sharp?g_network=g&g_productchannel=&g_adid=665296763695&g_locinterest=&g_keyword=learn c sharp&g_acctid=243-039-7011&g_adtype=&g_keywordid=kwd-300944389858&g_ifcreative=&g_campaign=account&g_locphysical=9029574&g_adgroupid=150647307573&g_productid=&g_source={sourceid}&g_merchantid=&g_placement=&g_partition=&g_campaignid=20322806793&g_ifproduct=&utm_id=t_kwd-300944389858:ag_150647307573:cp_20322806793:n_g:d_m&utm_source=google&utm_medium=paid-search&utm_term=learn c sharp&utm_campaign=US_Language:_Basic_-_Exact&utm_content=665296763695&g_adtype=search&g_acctid=243-039-7011&gclid=Cj0KCQjwk96lBhDHARIsAEKO4xZrfMu04R0BNa6k7upg-cbbviaCq5VLS6P1VTQwyHIiMj6tPE0ecYAaAg7cEALw_wcB
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!
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)
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.
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.
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
I always prescribe learning Python over basically any other language (unless you’re gonna start doing some real low-level computating). 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.
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.
I’d go with Kotlin. It’s a really nice language, easy to learn if you already know JS (or even better, TS), and with KMM and Compose Multiplatform you can write apps which run natively on smartphones, browsers and PC/Mac.
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.
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.
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}
Okay, C# is a music note which links with my fondness of music theory. Kewl.
So you were born in 1996, but the part of your brain that handles coding was born in 1966? How is that possible? Do you even know what a boomer is?
Boomer is slowly evolving into Luddite in it’s usage if you were not aware.
That’s a lazy answer for being wrong. Seems like you knew the correct word all along, but decided to use an ageist pejorative instead, and now you’re upset for being called out on it.
Ok Boomer 😎
Wow it must be incredibly irritating being so pedantic. At least for everyone you interact with. But you’d think someone so hyper fixated on accurate language would know what a metaphor is.
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.
cumdungeon
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.
deleted by creator
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?”
So I recommend Python if you just want general coding, dual booting Ubuntu or some other beginner friendly linux if that’s more interesting to you, or starting with html if website design sounds more fun.
Alternatively you could try R, it’s weird but I like it.
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.
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!
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.