Ask HN: What resources did you utilize the most when learning to code?

2 points by krauses 15 years ago | 1 comment

I've been coding now for two years. My method for learning at this point is digging in and building stuff. But when I first started out, I relied heavily on books (You remember those right?). Lately it's been online documentation for whatever library I'm currently using.

What helped you the most when you first started out? Videos, books, online tutorials, school, or another method?

sophacles 15 years ago |

Pick a language with a REPL. More than anything else, this really really helped me. I would just type in quick experiments and be done with it. No setting up files. No overhead of printing results. Get it wrong? Want to further explore the results? No problem, do it now in real time. Reloading a file is too slow for such learning.

Heck, I really shouldn't be talking past tense on this, I still learn REPL style frequently, and more, I still "experimentally code". Just double checking that my basic premise works makes the entire coding experience faster, easier and more fun.

Further, with decent editor/REPL combos you can turn experimental code into real code in just a few easy steps.

Also, more generally, just code. Under no circumstances should learning to code not involve lots and lots of "face" time with the computer. I find one of the best ways to learn is to do it wrong over and over until I finally get how to do it right.