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23 points by shainvs ↗ HN
Hello,

I'm a 12 and I just made my 1st HTML website dedicated to kids who need help to study for their tests and quizes. At my site, they can look at detailed notes and paragraphs regarding a certain chapter. I wanted to ask you guys, what can I do to learn the most and best that I can? I just learned CSS3 and am learning HTML5. I also want to do iPhone and iPod app development. What techniques should use to learn the most. Spring break is coming soon and I am going to my uncle's company: flutter(he is one of the founders) as an intern and I am hoping to learn a lot of coding there. Please give me you guys' feedback and I would really appreciate it. Thanks!!!!!

13 comments

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dlf
This is really cool! Congrats on starting!

There are some really good resources now. Perhaps find out what technologies they'll have you use at your uncle's company. If you'll be using Ruby, it might be good to start with Code School (http://tryruby.org/levels/1/challenges/0). CodeAcademy.com is doing their instruction in Javascript. For Python, I've been using Udacity.com and Learn Python the Hard Way.

Good luck!

shainvs
Thanks!! I will do that. I already finished most of the codecademy.com tutorials and my uncle's company will be using C++ and Java the most although they also might use a couple other languages. Thanks for your help!!!!
dlf
Ah, okay. Sounds like you could probably teach me a thing or two then!
adrianpike
Practice, practice, practice. Come up with ideas - build them. Improve upon them. Build more projects. Build new things with different technologies, or in a different way.

Look back on your old code, and marvel at how _wrong_ it was. Rewrite it better.

Read through open source code. I learned things from reading the Linux kernel source that made me absolutely destroy my C classes. I've learned dirty hacks from Rails' source that I use all the time.

But seriously. Hack lots of code and write lots of experiments.

shainvs
Thank yo so much for taking the time to post these tips. I will be sure to follow them. I won't be afraid to do experiments and hack. A lot. Thanks again very much!!!! I do look back at my old code and constantly improve it (to find out how crappy it was) and enhance it. I will also look or open sources. But please, could you recommend some specific open sources I could really use to learn? Thanks so much!!!
firefoxman1
That's really awesome that you already built something with your knowledge. I learned HTML/CSS when I was 13/14 but didn't really do anything useful with it for several years.

One really important thing I've learned since then is don't read HN too much.

You'll get too caught up in "best practices" or the hottest new libraries that you won't ever finish a product. It's a habit I'm working on, but it can be summarized as doing "Enough for Now"

   1. Assume there will always be tools that are better than the ones you have now.

   2. Assume that events in the world will continue to happen or not happen
      regardless of whether you learn about them immediately.

   3. Assume that you understand and control an embarrassingly minute percentage of
      the universe.

   4. Assume that none of this matters if you’re determined to make something you
      care about today.

    - Merlin Mann, sayer of smart things
shainvs
Thanks for these great tips!!!!!
computerslol
Remember there is no one single right way to do anything. Don't accept everything you read as gospel, read it as suggestion and find your own way. There are many sorts of programmers out there, philosophically as well as functionally. Try out a lot of styles. Try fixing a lot of different problems to find your own style, then use it to do things nobody has ever done.

There is a LOT more to programming than code, just as there is a lot more to painting than paint, a lot more to music than notes, and a lot more to writing than words. The better you get, the better you will learn to play computer. Someday, if you keep at it, you will be good enough to try teaching the computer how to play human :D.

HTML is a great way to interface with humans. Once you feel comfortable with it you should move into server-side programming next and see where it takes you :D.

The projects you should be most proud of are the ones where you do something nobody has ever done before; but to get to those you have to learn what others have done, and learn it with respect.

At the end of the day, it's you and your computer having fun together :). Your computer can do a lot of valuable work, but only with your help!

ravin455
For iPhone and iPod development, stackoverflow is a very good place to go for asking questions, you can also buy a couple of books about iPhone and iPod development, but then again these resources will teach you the steps but you will need to really focus and keep on building and correcting your apps if you want to get further. A very quick way to get you up and running with iPhone and iPod development (Objective C) is http://cocoadevcentral.com/d/learn_objectivec/.
ryanteo
That's really awesome that you've started. Would you want to do mobile applications next or are you sticking to web applications for now?

This might be an outdated guide, but it gives you an idea of how to build a "native" looking application using CSS, HTML and JavaScript - http://matt.might.net/articles/how-to-native-iphone-ipad-app....

You might want to try embedding some videos from Khan Academy, Youtube or the online universities. That will make your website more interesting.

Great start!