Anyone else self-taught coding/programming from scratch?



Learned HTML and CSS back in 2000 and had a bright future in coding if I would've stuck with it. But instead got distracted by design and other things and then marketing 5 years ago.

I want to get back into coding and have brushed up on HTML5 and CSS3.

Currently, I'm learning Javascript using Codecademy and Bucky's New Boston tutes on YouTube. Check out the latter if you're starting from ground zero. Dude explains things so well that a retarded chimp could understand it.

If anyone knows of any intermediate Javascript tutes, let me know. I want to get to the point where I can code my own text adventure.

After that comes Jquery and a 80k/year job.
 
You can spend ages comparing all the different sites or just crack on with these two:

1. Learn to code | Codecademy - Free. Just instructions. All online.

2. https://teamtreehouse.com/subscribe/plans?cid=1178&discount_code=REDDITLEARN100 - Code from Reddit. Should give you a month's free trial. From there you can see of it works for you. Videos, code challenges and quizzes. Offline/online.

To start with I'd do Web Fundamentals on Codecademy (HTML/CSS) and then do Treehouse Learn HTML/CSS. If you don't have the basics down after that then something is wrong.

After doing that you'll probably want to learn Javascript/jQuery and possible some PHP. Again, start with codecademy and then go on to Treehouse as it's more project based and you generally build something.

Disclaimer: Everyone has their own site preference, whatever works for you...
 
If you want to do programming as a career and don't already have job experience doing it, getting a CS degree is a good path imo.

If you are in a good cs program, you can learn a lot of the complicated stuff really quickly. Like object oriented programming, data structures, recursion, sorting algorithms, timing of programs, etc. It seems unlikely you will learn this sort of stuff on your own.
 
You'll get biased responses here, as most people are self taught in pretty much everything they do.

There are plenty of self taught programmers out there. I was originally self-taught, then did a year of comp sci at university before dropping out (to pursue a business opportunity -- I had angel investors interested, and committing myself to the company 100% was a requirement for them investing in the company).

The key with learning to code is to avoid the common pitfalls. Learn how to code properly, and study the math behind it like you would on a CS degree (propositional/predicate logic, set theory, vectors, induction, number theory, graph theory, state machines, probability in particular).

Don't just go out and code for a few years, or you'll develop tons of bad habits that will limit your potential and need "resetting". Find structure, and work on projects between some more formal learning (e.g. studying the math, teaching yourself the common patterns, algorithms, etc). There's lots of "coders" out there, but very few are much good (whether they are self taught or went to university).

Stuff like codeacademy are good for learning specific languages, contributing to opensource projects is a great way to learn too. Try to learn at least 1 procedural (e.g. C), 1 object oriented ("most" languages you'll hear about, e.g. java/c++/php etc) and 1 functional language (e.g. haskell), to roundly develop your coding skills, too. There's languages like Python that include elements of all of types too, which can give a good grounding too.

I'd avoid starting with PHP as a first language, as although it's very useful from a web perspective, it encourages tons of bad habits.

Of course, all my advice hinges on you wanting to develop a career around programming. If you want to hack apart a wordpress site, make some minor changes and build simple dynamic websites, just learn basic PHP and stop there.
 
Just recently started picking up Python on codecademy and following some video tutorials (if you want all the material I have, just send me a PM and I'll give you the list. It's sorted from Beginner to Advanced)

Nothing can describe the boost of euphoria you get when you see your program is working :D Really try it mate, it's amazing!
 
Started in BASIC on a Commodore 64 when I was 8-9. Got it at a yard sale for like $10 with a bunch of manuals including the beginner's manual and one on graphics and sound that was way over my head. Got into QBASIC around 7th/8th/9th grade or so, and then started learning C so that I could work on MUD games. Picked up HTML and CSS somewhere in there, and branched out to learn enough of PHP to do shit I wanted to do for stupid shit that went nowhere. Took C++ classes in college as a part of my applied mathematics major that I never finished. Lost a lot of interest in programming at some point.
 
erect said:
I'm conflicted, in one hand that's a manly fucking name you've got there Van Basten ... is your first name Dirk?

On the other hand, you've got a soccer fag in your avatar. Please tell me that's rugby or something because I'm utterly conflicted.

Yes, i be self tout ... there's no better way to learn IMO because you're not forced to think inside a classroom and therefore are free to use your imagination, something that's significantly important for any high end hack.
Click to expand...

I think his first name is Marco.
 
Wow! Thanks for all the info guys, it is great to see that so many people just had a genuine interest in the subject rather than going along purely academic pursuits. I have had some lessons on CodeAcademy so far and I would thoroughly recommend it.
 
Van_Basten said:
Wow! Thanks for all the info guys, it is great to see that so many people just had a genuine interest in the subject rather than going along purely academic pursuits. I have had some lessons on CodeAcademy so far and I would thoroughly recommend it.
Click to expand...

Assuming you're not one of those naturals who's driven to code out of intellectual curiosity (and you're probably not, or you wouldn't be making this thread), the best advice I've seen on teaching yourself to code is to focus on real projects.

I've tried to teach myself coding on and off since high school - but I'd always start a tutorial but quit before I reached the end. Or I'd finish it, but not really truly understand the concepts, or how to troubleshoot problems along the way. I'd learn a thing or two, but nothing I could really takeaway to build my own app without following the guide step by step.

At the beginning of the year I bought a domain for 3k and decided I was going to build out the site myself from scratch - no matter how ugly it got - I wouldn't outsource it.

Took me 3 months to put together the first version of a really rudimentary, poorly coded CRUD app that a pro could have done in a few days, but actually having real money and a real idea behind it forced me to follow through and actually made it really rewarding instead of pure frustration (although there was a lot of that).

I wouldn't suggest taking on a 6 figure project or anything integral to your core business, but if you have a real, relatively simple project you're excited to launch and there's real money behind it, you'll be motivated to power through problems that you just won't be that motivated to solve when you're doing yet another "build a blog" tutorial.
 
I'm self-taught as well, by spending hundreds of hours in the computer lab in high school. My advanced years means I self-taught on Commodore PET's using Basic. No windows, no interwebs - just a CRT monitor and ASCII text. Those were the days.

There were some programming classes in college, but at that point I was simply learning new languages as the concepts were more or less the same.
 
IMO you can only go to a certain level with formal education and the people who are self taught are often the true experts but never recognized as such as they have not been accredited by someone else who has been accredited. When you think about the very nature of genuine interest and self taught someone in the system cannot really complete. Who will know more, someone who does something 24/7 because they like it or someone who leans it for a few hours a week clock watching.

Im scare of the day SEO accreditations start to carry any weight!
 
Programming is akin to torture for me. Just pay Indians slave wages to do that shit.
 
I wish I had programming skills. The amount of money I spend on programmers, not to mention the difficulty of finding a good reliable one, is unreal.

Sadly, I suck at what I have tried so far (flash, and some php).
 
theemu said:
IMO you can only go to a certain level with formal education and the people who are self taught are often the true experts but never recognized as such as they have not been accredited by someone else who has been accredited. When you think about the very nature of genuine interest and self taught someone in the system cannot really complete. Who will know more, someone who does something 24/7 because they like it or someone who leans it for a few hours a week clock watching.

Im scare of the day SEO accreditations start to carry any weight!
Click to expand...

Are you serious? Silicon Valley is chock full of college dropouts that have the world by the balls.

With that said. Yes if you want to move up the "corporate ladder", yes a formal education is a must. You simply can not be trusted to micro-manage people without that formal education.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom