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Hey,
Im starting to learn to code myself, s-p-n is going to teach me to become more advanced in HTML, and then i shall go onto PHP. But my question is, how and were did you learn to code? Its just im curious about how some people get to become great coders, or is it just something you are born with, and have a natural talent for?
I was born knowing.
Lmao i knew someone would say that! :D I actually believe you.Quote:
Originally Posted by jMerliN
I dug into source code that I wanted to change. I tinkered with it, figured out what made it tick. That's how I started learning, but I came to find that the way in which I started learning was really quite backwards. I should have started with the basics of a lower level language rather than digging into a higher level language.
The.. problem, if you will, with that notion is that many people want to program just to make/change things. And that's great - good software engineers are creative - but it's not how you should start learning.
My piece of advice: Remember that basic concepts are more important than remembering syntax and APIs. It's good to know syntax and which function does what, but if you don't know exactly what it means and how it works, then you're not doing yourself much good.
This is why I pressure people to learn a low level language like C before digging into Java, C#, PHP or whatever.
Oh, and for the record, PHP sucks. It works, and works quite well, but the language itself is horrendous. That doesn't mean it won't work fine for small or very large applications, but it does mean that it smells really bad. I say this with several years of PHP experience. I consider myself an expert in PHP - I am more comfortable with it than any other language. I'm working on getting more comfortable with some more sane languages, though.
I'm currently teaching myself C, Python, and Javascript. (Spencer's helping quite a bit w/ Javascript :):.)
Many people will find that they don't need to take classes to learn programming languages. If you're passionate and a good researcher, there's nothing wrong with learning using resources you find online. Tutorials, manuals, forums like these, videos, and even free online courses - all quite beneficial. I'd just warn you not to take a single person's opinion to the grave. Make sure you get your information from multiple resources.
Nice one, good feedback man. It must feel great to know a programming language like PHP like the back of your hand. I mean, you have an excellent skill for life there and your really lucky. I cant wait to start learning. I might try and look for a couple of online courses. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by timebomb
this. I agree with this post 100%Quote:
Originally Posted by timebomb
I originally started coding by finding source codes and editing them and actually seeing how terrible I was fucking it up, and finding out how to avoid that. I then slowly stopped making mistakes.
With learning languages now a days, I do a much more in-depth learning as I realize how much I missed out on by just editing source codes. there are concepts of PHP that I had never heard of (brought up by fellow coders) merely for the fact that I easily missed out on it since I had no use for it at the given moment.
@timebomb, I'd love to help you learn JS if you need any further help than Spence (You more than likely won't xD)
Need to have a reason to learn really. For me I started with PHP as I wanted to learn how to create my own web applications for my own private server needs. I then moved on to learning C# to create various tools such as custom server file editors or automatic update applications.
To actually learn anything, lots of books and lots of hours browsing sourceforge. You learn best by actually playing with source code, and as previously said, when you know nothing the only way is to play with other peoples' code.
If you can't comprehend the various concepts of programming then you're just out of luck. Some people have it, some people don't. You just need the right mentality and thought process.
I have always wanted to learn some sort of software programming...whether c,c+,c#....my problem is I never really make it past "Hello world" because the "courses" spoonfeed you into Hello World and then BAM...seem to hit you with way too much...way too fast...
I have tinkered with code...FlyFF mostly...learned alot of database stuff then...but the code itself when broke down in project form....there is so much there....it's like looking at a jigsaw puzzle with no sides or corners.
I just started when I was around 12 by making simple websites, then after that as I wanted to make different things from websites, to programs, to hacks, to apps, I just learned what I needed from documentations and examples and a lot of practice :).
I've gone to several university and high school courses, unfortunately none have really given me anything.
I'd say that you need to find a project you really want to do, like lets say a website, and you learn by doing it. (Keep in mind, it's a learning project).
So it works like this:
1. You start hacking in a language.
2. You learn how not to break things.
3. You start reading stuff about the language and learning more capabilities of it.
4. You read other peoples' code in the language and realize there's some crazy stuff you can do with it.
5. You write your own awesome stuff in it, finally able to comprehend what you're doing.
6. You expand your knowledge of CS and realize the limits of your language.
7. You actually learn your language (re-learning, basically, by reading specs, testing things out, and even reading compilers, realizing books on the subject are so easy for you that you can skim over most of their contents and find nothing new to know).
8. You build transpilers, compilers, or other stuff that people regard as arcane magic.
9. You find a new language. Goto 1
Welcome to computer programming.
I digged web designing by long , so I started viewing different sites source codes , and than downloaded notepad++ and tried remaking the same. While doing that I memorized most of it , also got the grasp of what div classes , and id's mean , as well how to style elements. Than I started making my own web pages , my first page was a video embeder for a game called vSide. It was a simple index.php that after inserting a youtube url it converted it into the embed code. Later on I enhanced it by making different sizes , versions , and loop , which worked fine on the vSide profiles page.
Than I made my own mp3 search engine , which simply took a couple of hosting sites , and indexed their mp3's , showing them on my site , you could also play it and download it.
Than I went further on and made my own wordpress template. So pretty much it's a "self thought" thingy.
Now I am only designing PSD's than code them into HTML , I let pro's take care of PHP since I make them usually for private servers , and security holes may present if you don't do it well.
All in all HTML is not hard , if you understand positioning of div's , and you know how to style it in css.
I have a good idea, and s-p-n is helping me become more advanced in the language of HTML, before moving onto PHPQuote:
Originally Posted by mucski
I was 11, inspired by this kid who taught himself how to code. Competed against him. He gave me a few resources to learn from. Learnt HTML, CSS, Javascript in that way. He quite helped me push to my limits and understand coding further as I wanted to beat him so bad.
And after you repeat this 2 or 3x, #9 leads to #7 rather than #1 :).Quote:
Originally Posted by jMerliN
Started at the age of 13, started messing about with code, templates etc.
Got the hang of most stuff, I am still progressing in languages, and learning new ones.
The trick is if you really have a passion for programming and really want to learn it, you need to find your own pace you're comfortable with.Quote:
Originally Posted by Monolith
I learned how to program while drinking a lot of coffee and eating a lot of junk food- nearing fat- then working outside and losing some weight- giving the brain a rest- then remembering I want to be a computer geek and learning again.
i started writing batch scripts to construct the interpolating polynomial for a series of integers back then when i was 13. Then i moved on to writing Java GUIs to complete the same task.
Afterwards i started my own maple private server when i was 14, wrote some NPCs scripts in javascript then when on to code maple using Java.
When i was 15, i got my first experience of C\C++ via Robotics. I was programming the Lego RCX using NQC, the Lego NXT using NXC, and the VEX using RobotC. I also programmed the NXT using Java. I won two competitions using these languages :D It was then that my Java improved by leaps and bounds.
When i was 16 i picked up C# and wrote many Windows Forms applications and my school even used some of them. Because i spent a lot of time in C#, C# became my best language. I also took up Python as it was more platform independant when it comes to form applications. At the same time, i heard of Project Euler and started picking up Pari/GP to solve math problems there.
That pretty sums up my programming journey till now. I spend most of my time googling how to implement certain stuffs in my code and the rest of my time debugging, i seldom read programming books though :D
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Yeah, I wanted to learn programming because of interpolating polynomial for a series of integers too.. <.< ................. >.>
Nah but really, I've always considered myself a relatively creative person. I didn't touch programming until some code was needed for this Flash project I was working on. My teacher in high school tried to show me how to write some code, and tried to get me to understand it but that didn't work. All I's saws was Chinese- and I don't know any form of Chinese so it was pretty hard to understand.
At the point I needed to code in order to get something working, I learned it very quickly. First I copied it very quickly, then I modified it very quickly, then it gave an error that nobody could figure out, and it happened randomly at compile-time about 1/10 tests. Then I started over and got better and better at trying to understand what it is the computer is attempting to do with my written code. And if you ask me, that's the most important thing to learn how to predict when learning how to program- What is the computer going to do with your written code?
Really? What algorithm did you come out with for the polynomials? Mine was related to factorials :P
Very true, we often expect shit to be found in our code during compile time that we usually think about what errors might pop up rather than what to do after it succeeds. Oh.. that very little orgasm you get when you finally complete a project with no compile time errors :D
Sent from my LG-P500 using Tapatalk 2
for my mistake i learned PHP and MySQL when i was 16, cuz i was very impressed by all the dynamic websites outside the net. timebomb's first post here explains why this was a mistake haha. at this time a friend gave me a printed 20 page documentation that was pretty easy to understand.
well i even tried many other things like batch setup scripts, inno setup scripts, html, css by learning tuts in the internet by myself.
later i learned the basics of C in school by writing structograms and coding these programs like calculators in consoles, minesweeper in console, any singing console program that uses your speaker lol. structograms are very annoying and for luck not possible to use in huge OOP projects (who spends that time lols), but hell i understood the basics of coding (no matter which language it is).
i even learned to calculate in binary, octal, hex systems and learned logical algorithm, gatter buildings. all those basics to understand logical algorithms in any case, this helps to to think and follow your programs way u build to success.
later i learned alittle ant (ouh java xml ._.), alittle perl, and finally totaly c# + MSSQL + asp.net + js at work, now i stay on them ofc (very strong system if u take the time to learn it right).
im even learning java at school, but its a flop cuz we are put together with upcoming merchants and hardware computer scientists.
It all started when I was 13. My computer studies teacher was teaching us a programming language for beginners called QBASIC. I was fascinated by what she was teaching us, so I started learning some languages on my own.
I went on to learn HTML and CSS. Everything was going great, so I went on to learn PHP and SQL. I started by looking at how people coded their own projects, then starting coding my own.
Now that i'm 14, I can code HTML, CSS, QBASIC, PHP, SQL and working on C#.
I wanted a website when I was younger so I downloaded a HTML template and eddited with notepad haha. The beginning ;p
im far from being a great coder. very far. but i started but reading html tuts on w3schools and went through there tuts and writing there examples over and over and changing them up to my own and practicing then i got better at html and started working with php in my html. i looked up php tuts and examples on the ways of php and what certain things means and started writing out codes and rewriting them till i started remembering the stuff i needed to. (im still trying to figure out php all the way lol) but anyway my point is practice makes perfect :P
I've advanced slowly over the years, but I can say I grasp the basics of programming and can work together with a language rather quickly, although I've been slacking for over a year now, which means I'm very, very rusty. If I recall correctly, I started when I was 14 (Almost 20), with HTML and CSS. Things were doing great, I grasped that stuff easily but didn't do much about it since I lacked motivation and ideas. Then, I started getting interested in Habbo hotel, since I met alot of great friends there, and evolved my knowledge of VB6 and actually managed to make the second most sucessfull portuguese-based hotel of my prime time (06-07). Overall quit it, dedicated to my studies and gaming.. then came back because FlyFF servers were starting to emerge. I had a group of around 6 friends, all of whom didn't have any prior programming experience, but we were really eager to try out private servers.. so I started studying PHP to create the tools we needed it. I loved it, simply loved it, although now I understand its lack of professional quality (even tho I still use it!). Then, I just let my mind flow.. I took online classes of Python, which only cleared me around the basics of the language, I played with Java, C#, Ruby (On Rails), Perl .. and I think that's about it.
I can say that the biggest challenge so far has been my lack of ideas and motivation. "What can I create? What for will it be used?" That's really my biggest question. But my advice is:reverse engineering. Not the kind of reverse engineering to which you have to mess around with alot of ASM, debuggers, etc.. lets call it copy engineering. You look for an application or random source codes (sourceforge is a great resource) and you create a copy of it, after studying what it does.
Ofcourse, I still haven't achieved my biggest goal, which is to create my own server files of any game I've played/play in my gaming years so far.. but that will come with time.