Message from @Deleted User

Discord ID: 372941463362863106


2017-10-26 02:48:30 UTC  

I honestly don't know

2017-10-26 02:48:43 UTC  

Why do you think you can't learn on your own?

2017-10-26 02:49:18 UTC  

I've tried to learn stuff like Python and Java myself with books and videos but

2017-10-26 02:49:38 UTC  

I think I lack the inclination to get it without more guidance

2017-10-26 02:50:18 UTC  

What don't you "get"? Honest question.

2017-10-26 02:50:20 UTC  

I have the option to take a class at school

2017-10-26 02:50:49 UTC  

I really don't understand what programming languages even are

2017-10-26 02:51:05 UTC  

I don't know how people figure what to put in and where to put it

2017-10-26 02:51:32 UTC  

I can't really tell if there's supposed to be some big list of premise commands

2017-10-26 02:51:39 UTC  

I getcha.

2017-10-26 02:51:51 UTC  

Or if people invent stuff and the computer just figures it out somehow

2017-10-26 02:52:01 UTC  

I don't even know how computers work really

2017-10-26 02:52:05 UTC  

OK, let me start by saying that "knowing how to program" is very much a continuum.

2017-10-26 02:52:58 UTC  

It's a huge skillset. For example, I make applications primarily for automated analysis and visualization of scientific data.

2017-10-26 02:53:16 UTC  

I don't know nuffin about languages like C and Clojure, and I don't need to right now

2017-10-26 02:53:36 UTC  

Similarly I know very little about networking

2017-10-26 02:54:08 UTC  

the "college question" when it comes to programming is a tricky one

2017-10-26 02:54:33 UTC  

I went the STEM route. I have two masters' degrees in engineering. But I didn't really know anything about coding until I got out of school

2017-10-26 02:54:53 UTC  

I taught myself. But those skills that I taught myself are used literally 10X more than anything I learned in school

2017-10-26 02:55:03 UTC  

I probably could have skipped all that college altogether

2017-10-26 02:56:13 UTC  

similarly the CIO where I work barely has a high-school diploma, and one of our mutual friends is a self-made multimillionaire who taught himself some tech stuff and got into the phone-dialer business.

2017-10-26 02:56:28 UTC  

Incidentally I'll be consulting with him to answer @Procella Eques 's question

2017-10-26 02:56:54 UTC  

I've also met people with CS degrees who can't actually solve problems using code

2017-10-26 02:57:31 UTC  

think about programming this way: different languages have different core philosophies and strengths/weaknesses

2017-10-26 02:57:59 UTC  

what I can do in server-side javascript, I can also do with Python, more or less. But some problems will be easier to solve with Python, others with Javascript.

2017-10-26 02:58:16 UTC  

Once you learn a single language, others come much easier

2017-10-26 02:58:34 UTC  

What does it mean to learn a programming language

2017-10-26 02:58:43 UTC  

I started out with PHP, then went to Perl, then C#, then Python and JavaScript

2017-10-26 02:58:45 UTC  

How similar is it to natural language if at all

2017-10-26 02:59:02 UTC  

It means you can solve problems using the grammar and syntax of that language.

2017-10-26 02:59:08 UTC  

"learning" is a constant process

2017-10-26 02:59:18 UTC  

that's the joy of it, but it takes some getting used to

2017-10-26 02:59:40 UTC  

So there's rules like grammar in the way you put commands in and commands are like vocabulary?

2017-10-26 02:59:46 UTC  

yes

2017-10-26 03:00:09 UTC  

Glad I studied linguistics for once

2017-10-26 03:00:22 UTC  

one thing that frustrates many people starting out (including me) is that the computer will do *exactly what you tell it*

2017-10-26 03:00:44 UTC  

you might not understand what you're telling it at first, but it will always faithfully execute your commands as long as your code is valid 😃

2017-10-26 03:01:05 UTC  

don't think of programming as something exotic or big-brain. it's not

2017-10-26 03:01:33 UTC  

at the same time, don't try to learn by diving into the code of some large project. you'll be asking yourself way too many questions to make any progress

2017-10-26 03:01:52 UTC  

here's my recommendation. First, tell yourself you're going to learn. tell yourself you're not going to quit

2017-10-26 03:02:20 UTC  

there are going to be times you'll want to totally give up, because something you think should be simple just doesn't work.