HN Explorer

Ask HN: How to pass the baby steps in programming?

3 points by marwanmoneim ↗ HN
i don't know why i stuck with this level simply i want to be ninja, but i can't pass the baby steps, i don't know why , may be because the books are sucks

so is there anyway to be pro without living in silicon valley?

sorry if there is linguistic errors

9 comments

[ 8.8 ms ] story [ 449 ms ] thread
aitoehigie
you learn by doing, not reading books. Moreover the projects you execute can actually be put on your CV, raising your hacker cred.
slaundy
This advice is true, but not actionable.
yashchandra
"but not actionable."

Why not? OP can start with a resource like codeacademy or other similar online resources. The best way to learn is to do it. Yes mistakes will be made. But then again, the best way to learn is by learning from mistakes.

marwanmoneim
yeah,that is a great advice- but how i know the professional programmers way in writing code- i mean if you learning from them face to face you will find yourself writing nice code without even notice- it will be very easy, but learning programming alone is very difficult- how we make it easier and more natural? i think code-academy is good but it stuck with baby steps= i am talking about being ninja
antidoh
Since you don't give any specifics, I'll make some assumptions. Adapt these suggestions to your circumstances. Use the searches as a model for your own searches.

http://www.hnsearch.com/search#request/all&q=python%20tu...

http://docs.python.org/tutorial/index.html

http://wiki.python.org/moin/BeginnersGuide

http://wiki.python.org/moin/PythonBooks

http://www.python.org/doc/av/

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=programming+concepts

http://coderswiki.wikidot.com/programming-concepts

http://projecteuler.net/

Use your programming language of choice to work exercises in whatever set of concepts and exercises you feel works best for you.

Learn the tools of your language really well. If there's a REPL available, get in the habit of using it. Learn the debugger and use it a lot. Debuggers are not just for debugging, they also help you step through a program and see how it really works.

EDIT: Learn a good programmer's editor (Vim or Emacs or Notepad++ or any simple text editor (but not Notepad)), or learn a good IDE (Eclipse, or whatever works for your language). There is a lot of argument over which editor, and editor vs IDE. Whatever works best for you is the correct answer, especially at this stage.

Write. A lot. Of code.