How I would learn to code (if I could start over)

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Remember in coding - you will never know everything - don't be afraid to google something - Great Video Tina :D

Don't be afraid to Google? Lol, that's all I do.

Here's the ultimate tip: Just build something, anything. Going through 20 tutorials wont get you anywhere, neither will learning the ins and outs of a bunch of frameworks. Software development is 90% conception, software architecture, talking to people and a bunch of planning anyways. No one is going to reject a great software developer because he never used Redux.

As a person who did struggle for 1 year to learn to code I would say: avoid most tutorials online, because many are too complicated. You need to walk before you can run, so learn basics first. Get on basic newbie friendly books first. Edit: For those asking, the books that made me learn and develop my coding skills were Javascript In Less Than 50 Pages and Head First Javascript Programming. Learning any other language and concept becomes much easier after you learn that.

I started coding, or programming as we called in those days, at school in 1974 with a language called CESIL, which is sort of similar to assembly language. In those days schools didn't have computers so we wrote our code, tested it manually by doing "dry runs" and then transferred it to punch cards using a black pen to mark where the punch holes would be on blank cards. These got sent away to county hall to be run on their mainframe. A week later you got your printout back with your output which was never anything complicated. These days it's fantastic that anyone can get themselves started with python or similar language and get instant feedback and help to aid both their development and love of this discipline. Good luck to all those who are just starting out on this journey.

"When I run a piece of code for the first time, and it runs without error, I get deeply suspicious". Oh dear, same here. My typically reaction is "oh - I guess I forgot to actually call the function..."

I got into programming because of gaming. I taught myself how to read the script languages of different games so understand how to edit the game files to change different aspects of the game. You could look at the lines of code in these script languages and slowly understand what it all meant and how it all interacted. I started with simple stuff like copying functions and then altering a few things, then progressed to combining functions into new ones, and eventually i'd learned intuitively a solid enough understanding to create my own functions. And the best part was, this wasn't just some in a vacuum for the purpose of learning, I was doing it because I was enjoying seeing the immediate impact on my work in boosting the entertainment value of some of my favorite games. What greater incentive could there be? So that is what got me started down the path and taught me concepts like functions, different types of variables, and so on. I became very proficient in several of these script languages, but the options they had available to them were rather limited compared to actual programming. Some games were designed specifically to be modded and had a lot more options and more complex systems, so as these moddable games got more complex, my understanding of programming concepts evolved as well. I still wasn't a real programmer at this point, I was just a modder. Eventually I stumbled on a game that was moddable, but it wasn't written in a script and instead was written in C++. So I learned a lot of it the same way I learned modding, simply by looking at existing code and figuring out what it did. I learned a great deal from that method, but eventually I had to start looking up how to do specific things. And all these years later, i'm a professional programmer. The biggest thing for me was motivation. I really really wanted to learn not because I had to, not because I wanted money, not for anything else, I learned exclusively because it allowed me to have more fun when playing the games I loved. I would spend hours every single day figuring out how to mod different effects into games. It's kind of funny because I would spend far more time working on something than I did actually playing with it or using it, because I became addicted to the modifications. I would test it, make sure it worked, but then I wasn't satisfied with stopping there to actually play with it usually, I wanted to push further and add more. But anyway, the motivation was the biggest part for my success. I love vidja games.

Amazing video Tina, needed this

I am a little late getting to this video, it was just suggested today. As a self-taught software engineer who has been doing this for ten years and now handles hiring at an eCommerce agency as the Director of Engineering, I cannot agree more with you on this video. This video is full of fantastic advice. That part about being immediately suspicious if code runs without an error the first time never, ever goes away. When I write anything if it runs without an error I immediately attach a debugger and walkthrough because I just assume I made a mistake ... this has saved me many times. Some tidbits I would add: 1. Learn a version control system like Git 2. Always, and I mean always, back up anything you are about to make changes to before you do. 3. Accept someone else will always know more, become a sponge 4. Learn to take critical feedback. It is not personal. When I review someone's code my feedback is always meant to make them a better engineer. Number 4 to me is critical. When I started out I came from a career as a chef, so I was used to getting very critical feedback. When I got my first reviews of my code in a professional setting the other more senior engineers were stunned when my response was, "Thank you, I will get these changes implemented." I had honed humility for years as a chef and it has served me well as an engineer.

Watching this made me realize I'm no longer a beginner.

After you've done a few projects I recommend looking at how experts structure their code. This is helpful for learning how to organize your code so that other people can easily make sense of and edit your code.

This is BY FAR the best video about coding. It properly informs, introduces and gives you basic advice in such a concise and effective manor. Thank you so much!

I've been learning for a year and have just got to a point where I finally feel like I get it. The biggest mistake I made was jumping all over the place. Started with Python, than JavaScript, JavaScript front end with React then Vue, then backend with Node, then Deno, then back to Python for data analysis. In the end, after giving myself a massive slap in the face, I am back with JavaScript. Just JavaScript, no frameworks, and that is my sole focus. Not front end, not back end, just to be a good JavaScript developer. Since I focused on this alone I have improved massively.

I learned that when I get frustrated, i need to take a break. Most of the time the solution occurs to me really quickly after stepping away for a few hours.

Code academy has been a life saver. I tried couersa and it wasn’t help for true beginners. I will definitely take a couersa class in the future but id definitely start at code academy and work your way up to couersa. I tried learning code 1 hour a day for 4 days but it wasn’t helpful. So I’ve been learning to code 2 hours a day and that’s made a huge difference in my progress. Great video.

Your honesty and willingness to share your personal failures and the strategies you employed to overcome them is truly inspiring! It's a rare quality to find someone who openly discusses their setbacks, and it's a powerful reminder that success is not always a straight path. We appreciate and embrace the lessons learned from our own experiences, and we believe that with determination, incredible results are within reach. Thank you for being a shining example of what can be achieved with unwavering desire and a commitment to growth!

Title: How to learn to code Tina: "stackoverflow is your best friend"

I've been practicing jutsus every day but I'm not getting better at programming. What am I doing wrong??

I was sat down looking at my screen while gaming for however many hours in a row and then I thought that my computer is literally allowing me the access to gain any knowledge and tools so useful in this day and age. I was thinking about learning how to code for years now, this time I'm actually planning on making a start and this was the very first video I've watched on my coding journey. Thank you so much for your video Tina <3