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Learn To Program

It's now easier to learn to write your own computer software than it has ever been before. Now everyone can learn to program for themselves--no previous experience is necessary. There are lots of books and programs teaching anyone who wants to learn to become a programmer.

At hand are many ways to learn to program, and each has its allies and enemies. There has never been an issue on which experts are so violently divided as on learning to program. One of the most widespread approaches is to learn to program by using a very easy and very limiting language.

For example, many people learn to program visual basic before moving on to anything else. This has some advantages.

Visual Basic has an easy interface, where it is easy to see what every function does, so if you have no experience with anything but windows, it is an easy step to learn to program in it.

Regrettably, when you learn to program with visual basic, you don't really learn to program. You see, they simplify everything so much with this language, that you get no grasp of the inner workings of computer software, or the methods of programming design and flowcharting.

These are the real problems, the real things that you need to learn in programming, so in my opinion, this approach is kind of stupid. The best way to learn to program is to dive right into it, if you ask me.

The MIT approach to learning to program is, in my opinion the best one. It is also free. They have their textbooks, and lectures accessible online, so that anyone can learn to program from the comfort of his or her own house.

Their introduction to computer science course has you learn to program in LISP, a sophisticated language used in artificial intelligence research. When you learn to program with LISP, you learn every step of programming, from the design of the assembler on up, so that when you are done with the course, you will be able to really think like a programmer.

This is diverse from the approach numerous colleges are using nowadays. They are not interested in turning out real computer programmers, but instead they want people who know how to work as software engineers in a business environment.

You will not learn to program, but instead learn how to follow instructions and do routine software work as you are told to. Programming is not about following instructions, but about learning how to solve problem, how best to make the machine accomplish a specific goal.

Honestly, it is almost better to be taught to program on your own than at one of these schools, which aim to crush your thoughts and wonder at computers.

Work on projects with other programmers. Be the best programmer on some projects; be the worst on some others. When you're the best, you get to test your abilities to lead a project, and to inspire others with your vision.

When you're the worst, you learn what the masters do, and you learn what they don't like to do (because they make you do it for them). If you are committed and want to learn to program then I hope I have cleared up some doubts you may have had and I wish you success.

Resources

Learning Program - there seems to be very little for the absolute beginner to programming on the Web. Yet the Internet and the Web encourage interest in computers and that interest naturally leads to a desire to "take control", which means learning to program!

How To Program - Maybe you've always wanted to learn how to program computers, but couldn't find a book that made sense. Maybe you're already a programmer, and you'd like to help your spouse or partner see what you do. Or, perhaps you'd like to get your child started.