Without farther delay, here is my top 10 lessons to learn programming in the order they should be taught:
- Environment Setup, Input/Output
- Integers and basic arithmetic (+,-,*,/,%) + order of operations ()
- Float Arithmetic
- Variables
- Booleans
- Conditional Statements & Control Structures
- Functions
- Strings & Arrays
- Classes
- Exceptions
Ok, I lied. A lot of these have to be broken down and cross referenced. However, I think that should be the order in which people are introduced to programming. Too often people try to learn everything all at once. You can’t learn how to swim by jumping into the deep end. Well, some of us can. Learning a new skill isn’t always as easy to other people as it was to the teacher. Whenever I get a chance to be a bookstore, I like to look at beginner programming books. They all promise to teach a lot in a very short time. The honest truth is there is no shortcut. It takes a couple of years of programming in order to become a half dissent programmer. It is not because it is hard, it is just because there are too many variables. There are so many different things that you need to learn, that it can’t occupy just one book. It can’t even occupy the whole Internet. New things come up everyday that change what you knew before. Becoming a programmer is just one of these thing that require time.
So what is with this list? I got asked too many times at this point how I started programming and where/how to start. I have decided to write my own intro to programming. Over the next weeks I will publish small lessons that will build up to an ebook on programming. I will use Python-ish style code and most of the content will be generalized for almost any language. By the end of the book, you will be able to learn the syntax to a new language and program in any language you want. Best of all, the ebook and lessons will all be posted on this site and will be FREE. No strings attached. I believe anyone can learn programming at any age and that education should be available to all.
I have taught a few students before and there are several reasons why my list is different from other learn programming classes. The main objective is to start with something familiar that everyone in the 5th grade should know. Basic arithmetic and numbers. Than slowly build up while introducing new ideas and concepts. The secondary objective is to fully learn a topic before moving forward. That means when we will talk about a new concept we will go back and see how it reflects on other topics we have learned before. We are going to aim to turn fragile knowledge into concrete building blocks that will help us move forward and ultimately complete our objectives.
It should be mentioned what this course will not achieve. Beyond all else, you will not become a certified programmer or a hacker. Like I said before, that will take time. There is no class in the universe that can teach time. After you have completed the lessons, you will have to continuously learn new skills and develop yourself as a programmer. Think about learning programming more like going to the gym. You will not get a six pack and lose 50 lbs. in one setting, it takes time. Same thing with programming. You need to invest time to become a programmer. Just like going to the gym everyday, it will pay off in the long run and you future self will look back and thank you.
There are a bunch of reasons of why you should learn programming, I don’t feel like repeating most of them. I will just mention one. Programming is everywhere and it is here to stay. Programming has become a tool that used in virtually every field, even philosophy and history. Programming is almost equivalent to using excel. It is a skill more and more employers are looking for and will make you more valuable and your job easier. There are endless examples of how programming can shorten your job and sometimes turn an impossible human task into a simple short snippet of code. I believe that if you are reading up until this point, you already have a goal to learn programming. Or maybe you have already been through a class, but feel like you have missed the points and you want to know more. In programming there is always more to learn. Remember that.
First lesson will be published within a week. Make sure to follow me on Twitter @CptDeadBones to get notified.
* Ok. So technical, the class will teach you how to program in almost any language.
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