I'm learning to code

Hello, there!

If you’ve never wrote a single line of code in your life before - don’t fear. Before I took a college Intro to Computer Science class, I didn’t even know what writing code meant. So, the very fact that you are looking at this post means that you’re far ahead of the game. With that said, let’s continue!

Python is a programming language that is popular in high school and some college classes because of how easy it is to learn (whew, right?). 

So, why should YOU learn Python? The easy answer would be: because it’s totally cool. But, in all seriousness, it’s a great ‘first language" to help you understand how to communicate with computers - those darn things don’t speak English. It’s also a great way to build analytical thinking skills, and it looks great on a resume. Going back to the coolness factor: Google, NASA, and a ton of other companies program in Python. It’s pretty powerful.

Now, let’s get started!

Here’s what you will need for this Tumblr tutorial series:

1. Python 3.4

You can download Python here: https://www.python.org/downloads/

2. Wing IDE 101

You can download Wing IDE 101 here: http://wingware.com/downloads/wingide-101

Make sure you download Python first, so that when you download Wing, Python 3.4 will be set as the default version of Python to be used.

Mac users should be able to do this as well (you just have to add Wing and Python to your Applications folder). If you’re having trouble getting started, feel free to send me a message or comment below!

When you’re finished downloading both Python and Wing, open Wing and click on the blue paper icon (Create a new file). You should have something that looks like this:

(Note: I have Python 2.7, just out of preference).

If you do have something similar to what’s in the photo above: Congrats! You just set up an intelligent development environment to work with Python in.

Basically, an integrated/interactive development environment (IDE) is a program that allows you to work with code in an editor so you can write code faster, fix your code easily, and just have a nice workspace. It’s like using Word instead of Notepad or TextEdit to write a final paper - if that makes any sense.

everyone should learn how to code. it’s a lot of fun, its a useful skill in any field, and its a really easy skill to learn if you have a good place to learn it, and in my experience it’s learnt best when its self driven!

learn the basics of coding and algorithms with a cute cat sprite by mit

learn many coding languages by codecademy

intro to computer science; learn python and algorithm theory by mit

learn javascript and html and also play games!! by codeavengers

learn javascript and cryptology (and lots of other stuff) by khanacademy

notepad++ and atom are really good applications for writing code

I’ve said this to my non-techie friends countless times. It’s no secret that being able to code makes you a better job applicant, and a better entrepreneur. Hell, one techie taught a homeless man to code and now that man is making his first mobile application.

Learning to code elevates your professional life, and makes you more knowledgeable about the massive changes taking place in the technology sector that are poised to have an immense influence on human life.

(note: yes I realize that 3/5 of those links were Google projects)

But most folks are intimidated by coding. And it does seem intimidating at first. But peel away the obscurity and the difficulty, and you start to learn that coding, at least at its basic level, is a very manageable, learnable skill.

There are a lot of resources out there to teach you. I’ve found a couple to be particularly successful. Here’s my list of resources for learning to code, sorted by difficulty:

Novice

Never written a line of code before? No worries. Just visit one of these fine resources and follow their high-level tutorials. You won’t get into the nitty-gritty, but don’t worry about it for now:

Dash - by General Assembly

CodeAcademy

w3 Tutorials (start at HTML on the left sidebar and work your way down)

Intermediate

Now that you’ve gone through a handful of basic tutorials, it’s time to learn the fundamentals of actual, real-life coding problems. I’ve found these resources to be solid:

Khan Academy

CodeAcademy - Ruby, Python, PHP

Difficult

If you’re here, you’re capable of building things. You know the primitives. You know the logic control statements. You’re ready to start making real stuff take shape. Here are some different types of resources to turn you from someone who knows how to code, into a full-fledged programmer.

Programming problems

Sometimes, the challenges in programming aren’t how to make a language do a task, but just how to do the task in general. Like how to find an item in a very large, sorted list, without checking each element. Here are some resources for those types of problems

Talentbuddy

TopCoder

Web Applications

If you learned Python, Django is an amazing platform for creating quick-and-easy web applications. I’d highly suggest the tutorial - it’s one of the best I’ve ever used, and you have a web app up and running in less than an hour.

Django Tutorial

I’ve never used Rails, but it’s a very popular and powerful framework for creating web applications using Ruby. I’d suggest going through their guide to start getting down-and-dirty with Rails development.

Rails Guide

If you know PHP, there’s an ocean of good stuff out there for you to learn how to make a full-fledged web application. Frameworks do a lot of work for you, and provide quick and easy guides to get up and running. I’d suggest the following:

Cake PHP Book

Symfony 2 - Get Started

Yii PHP - The Comprehensive Guide

Conclusion

If there’s one point I wanted to get across, it’s that it is easier than ever to learn to code. There are resources on every corner of the internet for potential programmers, and the benefits of learning even just the basics are monumental.

If you know of any additional, great resources that aren’t listed here, please feel free to tweet them to me @boomeyer.