Beginning to code

Are all your friends are programming making you feel left out? Do you think that all those things that you use online can be made better? Have you ever complained that a game could be so much better if they just changed that level? Fear not! The power of programming will solve all those problems! Or will they?

Many of the representations of coding scare or fool many non-programmers. Being a programmer myself, it is easy for me to say that scenes of sitting in front of a terminal with flowing text (See hackertyper for reference). This is by far the most common view I have heard of whilst mingling with normal folk. To know the true experience of programming, one must sit down and start learning. Yet, the beginning programmer faces another hurdle. The world of programming has many languages to choose from, each with its strengths and weaknesses. The most common languages is C and C++, with the majority of all programs and operating systems written using them. While it is the most common, don’t get fooled into thinking that you must learn them first, or even at all. Of course, there must be a reason for the advocacy of C and C++, otherwise, why do so many use it. The first step to programming is picking the right language for the job. An in depth article on picking a programming language will be covered in a future post, as I intend this article as a primer to programming.

Before you start on programming, you should think about how you will see programming and what to expect. You may be programming as a hobby, or you may be stepping into the world of the computer industry. These two different views will affect how you program. A professional programmer will spend much more time, and will usually have more resources than a hobbyist. This leads into the next topic: Your Environment. All programmers have usually have a specific environment they like to work in. The most common environment is the Integrated Development Environment (IDE), which is a pre-made set of software where all the development can be done within a window. Others may like a text editor only, or even just cat and append. Consideration of these elements of programming is very important to the beginning programmer, as it will help with learning the language and make the development smooth.

So, what next? There are many paths that one can take when programming. The main branch is software vs web programming, and each of those split into smaller sub-branches. It is up to you to pick where to go next. It can be developing a website or making a game. As a final not, I encourage you not to stick to only one type of programming, play around with different styles and methods. Learning and programming in narrow views is limiting the amount of work you do. Read what others say, try new concepts. All of it will be helpful to you, and last but not least, enjoy yourself. Remember: more than once a programmer’s problem is resolved by an epiphany overnight.