Best course / book to learn coding (2023)?

2 points by drupward 3y ago ↗ HN

I’ve been going through the YC start-up school and they continually re-emphasis the point that a startup without a coding founder is unlikely to succeed and will run into many hurdles.

Now, I have a full time job and wanted to do what is most efficient. I’m stuck between a few different options being recommended to me: CS50 courses from Harvard, UCB…, Coding bootcamps, Coursera and other MOOC programming courses and a few different books. I was wondering what would you recommend for someone with no prior knowledge of coding / programming / computer science.

From what I understand, coding bootcamps / courses are more practical but in the grand scheme of things, computer science will allow me to learn the concepts which will prove very helpful for programming. Is that the right way to think about things?

2 comments

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chiefalchemist 3y ago ↗

It's going to take more than one. As an MVP of sorts, start with the Harvard course. As you move through that, start looking for the next one and so on. Eventually you'll know if it's time to slow down or pivot a bit, etc.

There is not a single best path. What's most important is to start walking and adjust as you go.

netrdev 3y ago ↗

Agreed. I'd also throw in that you should stick to one language for a while. It can get tempting to want to play with a lot of different things. That can hurt you. I'd stick to something like javascript/python and focus on fundamentals.