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The "I want to write code, but where do I start?" guide
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The "I want to write code, but where do I start?" guidePosted:
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Status: Offline
Joined: Nov 05, 201311Year Member
Posts: 2,753
Reputation Power: 452
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Why Start?
There are plenty of reason why you might want to start programming.
- Build a website
- Create a game
- Make scripts to run tasks for you
- You want a hobby
But where do you start? Do you start with HTML/CSS and learn how to build simple websites? Do you learn the basics with Python? Or do you jump right into learning one of the C languages? Well hopefully I can try to answer your questions. These are all hard questions and everyone is different. Hopefully this guide will help make your decision and guid you down the right path.
Difference in Languages
Ok so right off the bat, for the sake of keeping things simple, you can separate all the languages into two groups. There are frontend languages and backend languages. Frontend languages are basically what the user sees. The interface. You might make a box on the screen so a user can click it. The box is written in the front end languages. Here are some of the common frontend languages.
- HTML
- CSS
- XML
- Javascript
- Java (applets)
- Visual Basic
- .NET
- Swift / Objective C
Now what about the backend languages? They have more control over the computer. Backend languages are used to write programs that control logic. We'll continue our box example. If a user clicks the box from our interface, then print out 10 pages. The following sentence is an example of an "if" statement. Obviously that is not the only thing you will write with your backend languages, but you will definitely see a lot of them. Here are some common backend languages.
- PHP
- Javascript (nodejs)
- Ruby
- Python
- C, C++ C#
- SQL
- Bash
- Swift / Objective C
- Java
You may have noticed that some of these languages can be used for frontend and backend languages. These languages usually require another language to read them so they can be processed and turned into something useful. This is called an interpreted language or a preprocess language. Most of them run a bit slower, but they are easier to use.
Resources
So you have you decided which language you want to learn, but how do you learn it? Lucklily we're living in a time where all you have to do is google "learn <insert language here>" or "<insert language here> for beginners", but to narrow down your searching, I'll get you started. Some sites are used to get a general feel for the language while others explain the nitty gritty details.
Probably the most recommended site by programmers is Codecademy. Codecademy is a free easy way to get a feel for a language. They have text based tutorials as well as a live environment to follow along and test your code.
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Another great site is FreeCodeCamp. FreeCodeCamp is a organization built by some of the best web developers around the world. FreeCodeCamp is mainly targeted to those who are learning to build websites, but you can still learn a lot from them. They have a similar learning environment as Codecademy does, but they also have videos and a live chat filled with great coders to help you learn.
[ Register or Signin to view external links. ]
For more advanced web developers that are wanting to make bigger projects, check out Laracasts. Laracasts is taught by Jeffrey Way, who manages CodeCanyon, a site in the Envato network. This site will teach you how to make a website from scratch to deploying it to a web server.
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Finally the last big site is StackOverflow. StackOverflow is a forum like site where you can ask questions or search for ones asked in the past. StackOverflow is in the top 50 biggest sites in the United States, so it's safe to say that they have a few users.
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Other great sites that I didn't write a description for:
[ Register or Signin to view external links. ]
[ Register or Signin to view external links. ]
[ Register or Signin to view external links. ]
[ Register or Signin to view external links. ] (tons of subreddits)
[ Register or Signin to view external links. ]
[ Register or Signin to view external links. ]
[ Register or Signin to view external links. ]
[ Register or Signin to view external links. ]
[ Register or Signin to view external links. ] (great for when you're ready to make your project public)
[ Register or Signin to view external links. ] ( amazing discord chat for developers)
[ Register or Signin to view external links. ]
[ Register or Signin to view external links. ] (have people review code) [Ryzen]
[ Register or Signin to view external links. ] (live chat for programmers) [Ryzen]
[ Register or Signin to view external links. ] [Ryzen]
I would like to write descriptions for all the sites and I probably missed a bunch of stuff, so feel free to add in. PM me stuff to add. I will give you credit by adding your name in brackets.
Why Start?
There are plenty of reason why you might want to start programming.
- Build a website
- Create a game
- Make scripts to run tasks for you
- You want a hobby
But where do you start? Do you start with HTML/CSS and learn how to build simple websites? Do you learn the basics with Python? Or do you jump right into learning one of the C languages? Well hopefully I can try to answer your questions. These are all hard questions and everyone is different. Hopefully this guide will help make your decision and guid you down the right path.
Difference in Languages
Ok so right off the bat, for the sake of keeping things simple, you can separate all the languages into two groups. There are frontend languages and backend languages. Frontend languages are basically what the user sees. The interface. You might make a box on the screen so a user can click it. The box is written in the front end languages. Here are some of the common frontend languages.
- HTML
- CSS
- XML
- Javascript
- Java (applets)
- Visual Basic
- .NET
- Swift / Objective C
Now what about the backend languages? They have more control over the computer. Backend languages are used to write programs that control logic. We'll continue our box example. If a user clicks the box from our interface, then print out 10 pages. The following sentence is an example of an "if" statement. Obviously that is not the only thing you will write with your backend languages, but you will definitely see a lot of them. Here are some common backend languages.
- PHP
- Javascript (nodejs)
- Ruby
- Python
- C, C++ C#
- SQL
- Bash
- Swift / Objective C
- Java
You may have noticed that some of these languages can be used for frontend and backend languages. These languages usually require another language to read them so they can be processed and turned into something useful. This is called an interpreted language or a preprocess language. Most of them run a bit slower, but they are easier to use.
Resources
So you have you decided which language you want to learn, but how do you learn it? Lucklily we're living in a time where all you have to do is google "learn <insert language here>" or "<insert language here> for beginners", but to narrow down your searching, I'll get you started. Some sites are used to get a general feel for the language while others explain the nitty gritty details.
Probably the most recommended site by programmers is Codecademy. Codecademy is a free easy way to get a feel for a language. They have text based tutorials as well as a live environment to follow along and test your code.
[ Register or Signin to view external links. ]
Another great site is FreeCodeCamp. FreeCodeCamp is a organization built by some of the best web developers around the world. FreeCodeCamp is mainly targeted to those who are learning to build websites, but you can still learn a lot from them. They have a similar learning environment as Codecademy does, but they also have videos and a live chat filled with great coders to help you learn.
[ Register or Signin to view external links. ]
For more advanced web developers that are wanting to make bigger projects, check out Laracasts. Laracasts is taught by Jeffrey Way, who manages CodeCanyon, a site in the Envato network. This site will teach you how to make a website from scratch to deploying it to a web server.
[ Register or Signin to view external links. ]
Finally the last big site is StackOverflow. StackOverflow is a forum like site where you can ask questions or search for ones asked in the past. StackOverflow is in the top 50 biggest sites in the United States, so it's safe to say that they have a few users.
[ Register or Signin to view external links. ]
Other great sites that I didn't write a description for:
[ Register or Signin to view external links. ]
[ Register or Signin to view external links. ]
[ Register or Signin to view external links. ]
[ Register or Signin to view external links. ] (tons of subreddits)
[ Register or Signin to view external links. ]
[ Register or Signin to view external links. ]
[ Register or Signin to view external links. ]
[ Register or Signin to view external links. ]
[ Register or Signin to view external links. ] (great for when you're ready to make your project public)
[ Register or Signin to view external links. ] ( amazing discord chat for developers)
[ Register or Signin to view external links. ]
[ Register or Signin to view external links. ] (have people review code) [Ryzen]
[ Register or Signin to view external links. ] (live chat for programmers) [Ryzen]
[ Register or Signin to view external links. ] [Ryzen]
I would like to write descriptions for all the sites and I probably missed a bunch of stuff, so feel free to add in. PM me stuff to add. I will give you credit by adding your name in brackets.
The following 13 users thanked CriticaI for this useful post:
Reevy (06-06-2018), -69 (02-25-2018), Kyle (02-10-2018), Unfulfilled (01-27-2018), C0IN (01-25-2018), Fibril (11-06-2017), Chat (10-20-2017), LGW (10-20-2017), TravisScott (10-20-2017), Gavin- (08-03-2017), Idiosyncratic (08-02-2017), uwu (08-02-2017), Streamah (08-02-2017)
#2. Posted:
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Joined: Feb 22, 201410Year Member
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This is a great guide and will definitely help those looking to get into coding.
Thanks for taking the time and effort into putting this post together
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#3. Posted:
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Joined: Sep 09, 20159Year Member
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Joined: Sep 09, 20159Year Member
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Hey, thank you so much this is awesome.
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#4. Posted:
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Joined: Jan 10, 201212Year Member
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Joined: Jan 10, 201212Year Member
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Reputation Power: 7437
this is very helpful, I might need to start refreshing my mind on all of these, as I knew most a few years back, cough 6 years ago but always wanted to get back into it, Thanks for this guide!
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#5. Posted:
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Joined: Aug 03, 201212Year Member
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Joined: Aug 03, 201212Year Member
Posts: 353
Reputation Power: 17
Useful post! Udemy.com isn't a bad one either. They have a wide range of courses to choose from that extend from just coding. They are kind of like mini classes that have quizzes in throughout the course. I bought the CompTIA Security+ course back in 2015 and Mike is a great teacher on CompTIA stuff; making for an easy pass on the certification tests.
Edit: I just saw that you put udemy on the other... oops haha
Edit: I just saw that you put udemy on the other... oops haha
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#6. Posted:
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Joined: Aug 16, 201212Year Member
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Awesome post and very useful thanks a bunch!
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#7. Posted:
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Joined: Apr 01, 201014Year Member
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Im taking java in college right now bro. Code academy works wonders for me if I need extra help.
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#8. Posted:
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Joined: Mar 25, 20168Year Member
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Joined: Mar 25, 20168Year Member
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great post my man! i know this will help a lot of people out who want to start !
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#9. Posted:
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so much mis information
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