Best way to learn to program?
BlitzMax Forums/BlitzMax Beginners Area/Best way to learn to program?
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| Im new to programming and have the book game programming for teens using bmax. Im learning quite a bit from it but I was wondering what yall thought about being the best way to learn to program. My major is computer engineering and Ive only been able to learn a little of basic and just want to be more prepared when I take a few of the programming classes I need. Do yall have a sort of guideline as to what is the best way to learn to program? Like so many hours a day, or what to practice and so on.. The help would appreciated greatly Thanks Bran |
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| Everyone's different. The best way to learn is to understand the way you learn and work with that. I know that's probably not the answer you want, but it's the answer to the question. Some people learn best with a teacher while others learn better alone. Some people learn best by reading while others learn best by doing. Some people are most receptive in short periods, while others are better at cramming over long periods. Some people are more receptive in the morning while others are more receptive in the evening. If you don't yet know the way you learn best, you can really only try as many different ways as possible and see what works best. If in doubt, do what feels natural first, because it probably is. |
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| Start simple, and work your way up. Try to get the absolute basics straight first: How to work with the various variable types, how to do basic math. Then try to pick simple problems, and figure out how to accomplish the tasks. If you are looking for ideas, you can pretty much pick up an introduction book to any programming language -- the sample problems presented can be tackled in pretty much any language after all, but they may give you some ideas for specific problems to try to solve. Then slowly work your way up to more complex tasks. Try to mentally break them down in the necessary sub-tasks, and take it one step at a time. Over time, you'll learn more and more, and you can work your way up to complex programs and games. |
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| And something else to consider: the actual *language* you use to program almost doesn't matter at first. the biggest hurdle is to learn the concepts and mechanisms necessary to write programs. Once you know those, switching to different languages is fairly minor. |
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| Thanks for the awesome responses guys. |
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| Always break a bigger problem or task into logical and feasible steps. Never tackle a big thing all at once. EDIT: This not only with programming but with almost everything in life as well. Last edited 2011 |
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| ..as xlsior said 100%.. |
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| Don't rely too much on a single book. Programming guide books commonly contain errors in their sample code. That can be part of the fun - fixing problems in their code! But if you take everything they say as gospel, it can be confusing. The best way is to practice, practice, practice. |
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