/prog/ - Programming

i started on C, in the third grade; if you need a "starter language," programming isn't for you

>>245

You had a fully grown neckbeard by the 3rd grade? That's impressive

>>245
I found it useful to not have to deal with extra boilerplate like #includes and cryptic output syntax. It was easy to see what parts of a program did what. We only used it for a semester before moving on to Java.

>>265

Agreed. While I did learn a lot from C when I started with it, I didn't really grok programming concepts or feel fully comfortable developing until I picked up python on my sophomore year of CS. So there is definitely value in 'friendlier' languages.

I meant to make a thread on this.
I'm doing Python at CodeAcademy and wondering how easy it is to transfer that stuff like functions, loops, if/else/elif, dictionaries, tables, etc to other languages.

My main issue is I have no roadmap to get anywhere. CodeAcademy, at least, just walks you forward step by step, but it starts and ends with Python or JS or HTML. No progression path. No instruction on how to branch out or progress.

What's a good step after finishing a basic Python course? Making some Python apps to really cement it and then switching to something else? Or using the fundamentals to switch immediately because most people don't use Python for real projects now?

>>281

People use Python in the industry *a lot*, so definitely use it for 'real' projects if you can.

Once you 'know how to program', there really isn't a set path to follow anymore, just build what you want to build.

Do you plan on sticking with web development? Try a couple tutorials on Django and/or Flask. Looking to make desktop apps? Try out some GUI frameworks like qt or something. Going into gaming? Try PyGame. Etc, etc…

There's also https://www.udacity.com/ if you just want to learn more CS stuff. And http://cleancoders.com/ if you want to really get serious about this as a profession. But other than that, it's just about hacking on stuff. Learn version control, set up a github, put some pet projects up in there, etc. There's a limitless array of paths you can take from here, it's just up to you to decide what you're interested in…

>>282
That's really helpful. Thanks a lot.

>>281
I think web/server scripting is probably the worst starting place for the very beginner due to the added obtuseness of HTTP posts/gets. I was dropped into a Struts/JSP project once and for a good while I was mystified about the relations and connections between the xml definitions, jsp HTML/Struts markup, and the backend java code.