Top 6 Tips on Learning how to Program

Reading this obviously means you may have interest in becoming a programmer and therefore should have a hint on what programming is all about.

Programming is the process of developing and implementing various sets of instructions to enable a computer system to carry out a certain task. These instructions are considered computer programs and help the computer to operate.

These instructions however, are written in several languages depending on the task to be carried out and are not easily understood by an untrained eye.

There are several programming languages, some of the most widely used today include: C, C++, Java, Visual Basic, Python, HTML, PHP, SQL, Ruby, Pascal, JavaScript e.t.c.

Good news is, learning just one of these makes it very easy to learn the others as the only difference between them may just be their respective syntax (i.e the way they are written)

So, if you want to learn how to program in these languages, you'll find the following tips to be of great help:

First, Interest!: Get interested in programming. Get a PC/laptop or similar device and do some because it is fun.
Check out Top Websites Beginners should visit to learn how to code
Make sure that it keeps being enough fun so that you will be willing to put in more time and effort.

Second, Program!:The best kind of learning is by doing. Select any language of interest and get to work. An effective way of learning is by creating well-defined tasks with appropriate difficulty levels as you progress. The book Cognition in Practice: Mind, Mathematics, and Culture in Everyday Life is an interesting reference for this viewpoint.

Third, Interact!: Talk with other programmers with more experience; read other programs. This is even more important than any book or training course.

Fourth, Course!: You may wish to put in four years at a college or university. This will give you access to some jobs that require credentials, and it will give you a deeper understanding of the field, but if you don't enjoy school, you can, with some dedication, get similar experience on your own or on the job. In any case, book learning alone won't be enough. However, computer science education is not an automatic guarantee to becoming an expert programmer any more than studying brushes and pigment can make somebody an expert painter.

Fifth, Practice!: Work on projects with other programmers. Understand a program written by someone else and think about how to design your programs from what you discover.
Ensure to participate actively on projects; this enables you to get to test your abilities. When you're not doing it well, learn what the masters do and what they don't do

Sixth, Expand!: Move onto other programming languages. take up any language that emphasizes class abstractions (like Java or C++), one that emphasizes functional abstraction (like Lisp or ML or Haskell), one that supports syntactic abstraction (like Lisp), one that supports declarative specifications (like Prolog or C++ templates), and one that emphasizes parallelism (like Clojure or Go).

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How about setting a time target and working hard to see how far you've improved? Well, now you're starting to get somewhere...I hope these tips help.

Have any questions? Please drop them in the comment box below!