Ask HN: I want to learn how to code. Can anyone tell me how to start learning?

I think it best to learn how to code by working on an actual project. You seem to already have a project in mind, and I think that would be a fine project.

Break it up into steps. First write a program that opens a file, reads the book titles and displays them on the terminal. Then write a program that makes some sort of network connection; maybe download the HTML contents of a website. Etc., etc., until you've learned how to do the various subtasks involved with your project, and then assemble it all together.

I'd suggest that Python would be a good language to start with. I personally like the O'Reilly book Learning Python, though there are many options.

I'm new to coding as well, but so far what I've gathered is that WHAT language you learn is less important than actually sitting down and getting dirty with code.

When I was trying to decide what to learn I narrowed the search down by just heading to the book store and flipping through some books on various languages. Ultimately, I ended up with a choice between Ruby and Python. I couldn't tell what the major differences were, so I just decided to pick Ruby. I figured that there was no real way of recognizing the nuances of ANY language until I actually had one under my belt and could better understand what makes each one tick.

I'm fully aware that this was a somewhat cavalier method of choosing the pal I'd be spending the majority of my waking hours with, but I think that starting anywhere is better than stalling because you can't decide.

So far I'm satisfied with my choice. I think I would have been satisfied with Python too.

I'm actually 2 months into learning to program Javascript for the Unity3D engine. I've learned a lot in 8 weeks, and I'm happy I took the time to commit to it. I could actually start prototyping my own basic mobile games with Unity, something I never thought I'd be able to do.

So I guess from my experience: - Find a single good source or book for tutorials and learning. Its best for the coding style and teaching style to be consistent. I used a fantastic series of free video tutorials produced by the Walker Brothers, which included 3 entry exams, and a series of lab assignments after each tutorial set. I had to submit the work in order to get access to the next set.

- Find a good Q&A source like Stackoverflow, forums, or a site more specific to what you're coding in. When you get stuck or don't understand something, go and ask (search first). +1 if you have programming friends to ask too.

- Keep a journal (really!) on Google docs. At the end of the night, you can quickly re-hash what you learned (cs concepts, or cool functions you learned), or often write out the things you don't understand. That way, when you start up again, you can do a quick review on where you left off and get back to figuring out things you previously were stuck on.

- Try not to skip past things you don't understand. If you don't understand them, take the time to practice out the code, or look up documentation. A big key point: its always worth it to invest the time to figure little problems out. I once spent 3 hours trying to get some timer controllers working just perfectly the way I wanted. They were actually OKAY to begin with and I was considering skipping past it for the sake of productivity, but in hammering out the problem, I gained confidence and had the satisfaction of solving a problem.

- Get your things WORKING! As beginner programmers, our first concern is making what we want happen. Not pretty code, not computer science theory. Just results. Getting results fast gives you the confidence to try harder things, which will naturally take you into the world of organized code and computer science.

Good luck!

Grab yourself a copy of Racket (http://racket-lang.org) [also, the quickstart guide at http://docs.racket-lang.org/quick/index.html might be useful], the How to Design Programs textbook (http://htdp.org/2003-09-26/Book/), and most importantly, set aside some solid blocks of time to dive in. You will learn most by doing, and through doing you will gain understanding.

Rails for Zombies, of course!

http://www.codeschool.com/courses/rails-for-zombies

Nom nom nom...

Set up a Linux computer (Ubuntu Linux is the easiest to set up), and spend the summer learning to program in Python.

Python is easy to learn (not much syntax), easy to read (explicit vs implicit), has a big ecosystem (more packages/libraries), is taught at universities so it's easy to find good programmers to help, and is used by many large websites/companies so it's a good language to know.

Here are some of the best online Python tutorials, including a link to videos and course material for MIT's introductory computer science course, which uses Python: http://www.quora.com/How-can-I-learn-to-program-in-Python/an...

Build something that you want to use so it will be meaningful to you. Do you have a blog? That's usually a good first exercise. It's easy to do using Flask -- follow the tutorial (http://flask.pocoo.org/docs/).

Here are some tips to get you started:

Use Emacs as the text editor to write your code -- it usually comes pre-installed on Ubuntu, and it has a Python mode. Here are some Emacs tutorials (there are some good videos on YouTube too):

http://philip.greenspun.com/teaching/manuals/usermanual/emac... http://www2.lib.uchicago.edu/keith/tcl-course/emacs-tutorial... http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/tour/ http://cmgm.stanford.edu/classes/unix/emacs.html

Use PostgreSQL as your database. To install it on Ubuntu, use this command:

  $ sudo apt-get install postgresql

Use SQLAlchemy (http://www.sqlalchemy.org/) to connect your Python website to PostgreSQL.

Here's a good SQL tutorial: http://philip.greenspun.com/sql/

When you build a blog, you don't have to worry about building a public authentication and comment system if you use something like Disqus (http://disqus.com/) -- you just include the Disqus JavaScript tag at the bottom of the blog's entry page.

Here are some good JavaScript tutorials: http://www.quora.com/What-are-good-books-preferably-found-on...

Use StackOverflow to ask programming questions: http://stackoverflow.com/

UPDATE: Here are links to some commonly-used scientific Python packages (http://www.drewconway.com/zia/?p=204).

The best advice I can give you is to write as much as you can before you start coding. Putting a program or app together is 60% critical thinking, 20% writing, and 20% error management. If you've already got some ideas, try to break them down as much as possible.

As for specific languages to learn: startups in particular seem to love Ruby, but honestly, they all work the same way, fundamentally. I crashed through the basics of Ruby in a week, started learning JavaScript, and stopped shortly after realizing that the majority of it was the same code just written differently.

++ to keeping a journal. It keeps you in check, because even though you say will will devote so much time a week to it, you won't. I had to start setting personal goals on a daily basis. That drive alone is helping. Keeping a blog is great for peer support too. I don't get many comments on mine, but it definitely feels good when someone stops by to say, "Hey, this is cool stuff."

Hope that helps, and good luck!

Whatever language you choose, consider trying a few problems from http://projecteuler.net. The problems are small enough that you can feel the reward of getting the right answer. I used Python.

As an experienced programmer with math background using a language I knew, a problem took me 15-60 minutes. Not knowing a language or how to program, it might take several hours, but not weeks.

I second the advice about setting up an Ubuntu machine. Windows is unnecessarily painful for development in comparison. Although there are "workarounds" around the problem, you'll find things much easier for development on an Ubuntu or Mac computer.

Now for a language recommendation. I am a Ruby programmer, so I've got a pretty heavy lean towards that.

Ruby is an exceptionally easy language to learn. There's a book called Learn to Program written by Chris Pine (http://pine.fm/LearnToProgram/) which is an amazing beginning to getting into Ruby.

Past that, there's the Well-Grounded Rubyist by David A. Black (http://manning.com/black2) which covers all the things from basic Ruby up to medium-advanced levels of Ruby). There's also Programming Ruby 1.9 by the Pragmatic Programmers (http://pragprog.com/titles/ruby3/programming-ruby-1-9)

If you want to brush up your Ruby skills, the Ruby Koans (http://rubykoans.com/) are also pretty good.

If you're looking to get into web development (well, you ARE on the internet!) then I would recommend learning HTML and CSS with a book such as HTML 5 and CSS 3 by Brian Hogan (http://pragprog.com/titles/bhh5/html5-and-css3). Then a good JavaScript book, perhaps something like JavaScript: The good parts (http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596517748).

After learning as much of those as you can, familarize yourself with Git by reading the Pro Git book by Scott Chacon (http://progit.org/), or if you choose another version control piece of software (Mercurial, Bazaar are good, SVN isn't and CVS is (I'm pretty sure) the work of demons).

Ah and before I forget, I've got The Developers Code (http://www.thedeveloperscode.com/) bookmarked for late-night reading and I'm quite enjoying it so far. Quite a lot of lessons in there that I have learned over my brief career, but ones I knew from the beginning.

One more final thing: you are new here and people will treat you like that. Be nice to them and they will be plenty nice back. Respect the fact that they have limited patience and may not wish to answer your questions eternally. They may also have other people asking them questions at the same time you are, or have other things they would like to be doing.

You will get better with practice. You show a keen want to learn, which is a great start. Never give it up. Nothing is "too hard" forever. Persist, and for the love of god, practice.

Hi. Most of the advice in the comments already posted is sound, but none of them seemed to address HPC. Working on a cluster invites an entirely different bundle of conceptual and practical hurdles (e.g. parallelism, working remotely, industrial-strength shell scripting &c.) Even though I had been programming since I was a kid, I found my crash-course in HPC to be quite challenging; confronted with a new programming model in a new low-level language, it was the first time that I really appreciated what it must be like not to know how to program at all.

So: code as much as possible. As soon as you can possibly stand it, look into MPI4py and start parallelizing your code. Chances are you won't be working with python in HPC contexts, but learning parallel programming at the same time as C or fortran would be needlessly difficult. I would also try to get time on a cluster as soon as you're in a position to use it respectably. Most universities with HPC facilities have an online application for an account, and some sysadmin might take pity on you :) Otherwise, maybe Amazon has some kind of deal?

In the interim, become _very_ comfortable with bash and general command line fu, and a serious text editor. Good luck!

There is plenty of good material on where to start with programming. Most of the links other people have provided here are very good.

A fairly good resource is Google Code University; http://code.google.com/edu/

In particular you may want to start with Python basics; http://code.google.com/edu/languages/google-python-class/ind...

If you end up choosing python, a popular first book is: http://learnpythonthehardway.org/

A lot depends on which language is going to be helpful in your computational physics class: you should find out which language they'll expect you to work in.

I was about to suggest you to "Learn You A Haskell For Great Good" :) Way too complicated. Listen to the other guys that don't suggest Haskell. If you then discover your calling in programming, go back and learn Haskell at your own peril. Also try to stay away from LISP in your first lessons, and its ugliest kid, emacs. Use a simpler text editor that won't twist your fingers. gedit would be my suggestion.

Lots of informative advice, I am very grateful to all of you. Thanks again. I think I will go with Python or Ruby after I check out the resources in the links that were posted. I plan to build my knowledge but as a person with a science background, I'm happiest when I'm solving a problem so I definitively see the merit in working on the project whist learning.

I don't think I have any further questions - I got loads more helpful advice than I thought I would ever get and again, I'm very grateful. The only couple things I feel are worth mentioning is that I am using a Mac and I have actually written a couple subroutine packages for HPC in FORTRAN but they are nothing too special as FORTRAN syntax is very simplistic.

I really won't add too many links to all the comments here. But Given you mention physics and some RA experience, i will say Haskell may not be as hard as a few others think. (i.e. If my idea of what it takes to do complete physics and/or chemistry graduation). I think in the end, you may have to spend an hour or two for each of the links before taking a call on which you prefer.

- Eeks, that looks eerily like common sense :-)

By coding.

That may come across like a smart-ass answer, but it's not. I'm in the same boat, and I'm learning the same way. I've got a Mac dev environment, and Linux dev environment. I'm using a book by Stephen Kochan, and another by Dave Mark.

We're surrounded by a plethora of materials to help us learn.

Just do it! Pick one up and read, and write some code. Stumble through. You will make mistakes.

See emilepetrone and @housefed for a good example of this. He posts on here all the time. He's only been coding for a year, and has a functional website.

I am in the process of doing exactly this.

If your ventures are web apps, my recommendation would be to learn Ruby on Rails. You will be able to build demo apps within a few months of 8-10 hours per week.

I started with RailsTutorial.org, which is a free book that will take you from installing Ruby to building a twitter clone. From there, get a few books, I recommend Agile development with rails and The Rails 3 Way, and continue to work on some smaller apps. There are also great screencasts you can find by searching for "railscasts."

If you are using windows computers, install Ubuntu Linux which is really easy with Wubi. I have found it makes things easier. If you have a mac, stick with it.

For text editor, I use Sublime Text 2, and if you're on mac, just go with Textmate.

Sign up for Github and learn about version control. Also, go through projects on Github and learn by reading other people's code.

After you have a semi-grasp of the basics, start building something substantial.

Search Stack Overflow when you have questions, and if you've been trying to figure something out for over six hours, ask a question on Stack Overflow.

For html and css questions, I generally just google any issues I have and fool around in firebug, which is a firefox extension that lets you edit html or css and see the changes on your screen.

Best of luck!

I was in your shoes 11 months ago, so let me give you some real-world advice. If you have a friend that knows any language (Python, Ruby, PHP, etc) start there. They will be there when you have questions, and having a person to turn to is the most important thing. However lets say you don't have a friend to turn to- start wit h Python.

Try Google App Engine to get started so you don't have to worry about dealing with a server. Start here http://learnpythonthehardway.org/

Find a copy of http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596801601#toc for understanding basic ideas with HTML, CSS, JS and Python/GAE.

In the meantime, start a blog and write about your stuggles and the things you learn. Initially it won't really be about coding - but the main thing is showing momentum to the outside world. (Trolls will hate just ignore). By getting your name out there, people will be more interested in helping you.

Start there. If you have questions, my email is emile (at)

I don't mean to hijack the thread, but I'm curious; how did you go about receiving seed funding (and enough to hire people) for a tech/web startup while not having strong coding abilities yourself?

Did you hire people with the intent of having them build a demo for you?

And for other readers... Do either of these things happen much? Does it work?

I would also mention the Lynda.com videos. I'm running one of their Perl tutorials now working in Eclipse and finally seem to be getting somewhere. And I really wish someone would put together an intro to programming series using Yahoo Pipes as a platform.

Look for a mentor who is already working on a real-world project. The problem with learning things on your own is that the examples from which you are self-learning are (by design) too simple and often unrelated to a result that you want.

That's not to say the tutorial/source would be completely unrelated, but it sounds like from your post, that coding isn't something that comes easily which means that in order to make the leap to something that you actually want to do, you'll need more than a book to guide your way.

The great thing about a mentor is that they (should) will have a real life problem for you to solve and they can help you work through some of the subtleties of the problem.

I used to think that anyone can learn to code (this was when I was 18). I find, now, that there are people that are more naturally inclined to it and some people that will never be able to, because their brains don't work that way. I would gently encourage you to be open to discovering where you lie on that spectrum and not to be too disappointed if you've tried but still find yourself swimming in molasses.

I've been in the process of teaching/pointing in a general direction a couple of friends on how to program. "Learn Python the Hard Way" was far too boring, and wasn't practical enough for my friends.

If you're used to and good at learning in a school format, MIT OpenCourseWare is excellent. My friends also liked the videos better than learning by book.

http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-comput...

I would go in this general order for beginners. Do all the assignments, and don't cheat. Ask for help on explaining the solution. These courses help in building good fundamentals, then apply what you learn to a personal project.

  1. 6.00 - Introduction to CS and Programming (Python)
  2. One of: 6.087, 6.092, or 6.096&6.088, (C, Java, C++) respectively.  
     For scientific computing, pick C and/or C++.
  3. 6.046J - Introduction to Algorithms

From there, 6.001, and perhaps the database course (I think experiencing databases is much easier that a taught course)

Doing #1 already goes a long way to your proposed project.

You need to take a bottom up approach. Fill your time studying the very basics (i.e., programming languages, components, specifications, history, etc.). Online video lectures [beginning with] Programming Languages was where I ended up learning the greatest amount in the first weeks.

I started with MIT OpenCourseWare. I was very fortunate to find this lecture series: http://www.youtube.com/edu?edu_search_query=intro+computer+p... because it is class taught at MIT for students entering the CS or engineering programs that have little or no background in Programming Languages.

Hint: Pay attention in the first and second videos close enough and you'll learn how to locate online resources that are provided to the enrolled students.

yesterday i showed my 12 year old kid (who, to my disappointment is more interested in sport, hip hop dance lessons, music (tuba) and girls then in code) http://processing.org/ - together we managed to write a drawing program with a game component in about 2 hours (he typed....) even though the language is in no way perfect or even pretty he finally "got" it.

so before starting with a small project, try to implement a one person tron / snake game in processing - it helps you to start "codethink".

after that i would recommend reading a shitload of books. if you are into mobile apps, try http://ofps.oreilly.com/titles/9780596805784/ it's basically a tutorial for making a simple web app in HTML, css, js with no prior knowledge required.

Python should be a reasonable first language but you might have need for others later. Use a simpler editor at first so you can concentrate on coding, not working the editor itself. The editor should be able to show line numbers so when your program reports errors on a line number you can find it. Syntax highlighting is a plus. Code most everyday (take some breaks) but please think your problem through before committing to a solution! Be sure to read code from others to pick up tips/style. Work through some books or something. You don't have to be a top-notch expert all at once. I think the Perl community says it's okay to just use the parts of the language you understand until you learn more! (However becoming fluent in gritty details will make things smoother when you don't need to look up mechanics as often. A musician needs to know their scales.) Try rewriting old projects when you get better. That implies saving your work somehow. Be sure to learn how to create modular libraries and to use libraries written by others! You can't put everything into one source file unless it's something simple and there's useful functionality to be found.