How Not to Learn Programming
One thing you want to strive for is to learn your programming language in as little time as possible. You don't want to be sitting there after 6 months and not be able to finish a program. Here are a few suggestions to get there as quickly as possible.
Master Your Course Material
A great start to your programming career is by completing your course (I assume you will be going on some course) with flying colours. Having lectured programming I can suggest the following:
- no messing around in lectures, you need to focus and concentrate
- things that need explaining need to be written down, you won't remember it
- don't be afraid to ask questions, but don't hog the lecturer’s time either
- do all your exercises, this is where you learn to program
- rewrite the notes in your terms, leaving out the nonsense (especially valuable if you will write an exam)
- get a good nights rest every night, and keep your relaxation healthy, you need your brain.
Program, Progam and Program
The quickest way to becoming proficient is to jump right in and get your hands dirty. Like all things in life, practice makes perfect. The more you do the better you get - it's that simple. You will find the learning curve steep in the beginning but the more you code, the flatter the curve becomes.
You need to keep 'pushing on' in the beginning and soon enough you will get to a point where you can build code straight from your head. Get to know your Textbooks
Let's face it, you won't come off course knowing and remembering everything. Hopefully, what you will know is where to find it, and key to this is knowing your textbooks. The better you know your textbooks the quicker you learn. The trick here is not to know all the content (ideal but unrealistic), but how to find stuff quickly.
Again, this will only come from spending time in them, and soon they will become your programming 'bibles'. They give the correct code and usually accompanying examples, so give it a bash on your own and if there is no success, pull out the books.
Learn to Search on the Web
A great tool available these days is the internet. Time and time again, I use the available search engines to find out how to code something. The key to this tool is using the right search phrase. I always type in "what I want do" followed by the programming language e.g.
"Date Validation" COBOL
"Calling subroutines" JAVA
Keep your search phrase simple. This tool can save you hours of "hair pulling" when your code just doesn't seem to work or when you don't know where to start.
Get more free tutorials like this one at www.intro2programming.com.
Learn about:
* moving data accross different field types
* how to unload tables (arrays)
* merging files
* how to start building your first program
* testing
