How does humanities become a programmer?
I started writing this post two months ago before the appearance of the “Want to be a programmer, become him” post cycle. I read comments on articles, rewrote the article. Ultimately, taking into account all the comments from people who are convinced that some special brains are needed for programming, my answer is: “For the reluctance to do anything, any excuse will do.”
So, how does the humanities learn to program?
Answer. We must follow the principle: "The eyes are afraid, the hands are doing."
A picture to attract attention. Replaced by a cat, the previous one resembled an inflamed brain.
Next, you will find a collection of helpful tips that have helped me. A few words about the author: I am a humanities graduate in history.
Imagine a historian who decided to write a book about the famous battle. The first thing he does is collect all the known facts. Second, he analyzes the material obtained and draws conclusions. What did the man who became a programmer do? In fact, the same thing that the historian did when he wrote a book about the famous battle. The same and similar process.
At the heart of any intelligence are operations of comparison and sorting. Any knowledge that we get, first of all, we try to arrange them into some kind of hierarchical scheme, at the subconscious level. And when the knowledge is already streamlined, we try to start using it.
This means that a person can know any field of knowledge from archeology to astronomy. It all depends on two factors:
1) Personal desire
2) And how much time you are willing to spend on it.
You can start with several at once. You need to find one that you like. One that you understand, from which there will be no tearing away.
There is a benefit to this. Sometimes in one language you can find the necessary explanations that the authors forgot to add in the language that you liked.
You are afraid that you are learning a non-fashionable language, or that will go out of fashion and then you will not be needed with this non-fashionable knowledge. Do not be afraid of it. The main plus that you get when learning at least one language. You will be rebuilt, you will learn to think like a programmer. You will get a concept of how everything works. Having such experience, it will not be difficult for you to learn a new language in a very short time.
Which textbook to read? Find all the tutorials you can find. Start reading everything at once, there is sure to be one where everything is described in great detail. Do not be embarrassed by books: “We study in 24 hours,” you are left to your own devices, whom are embarrassed? Do not try to read the right books, because they are correct in the opinion of your friend. Maybe this correct book is understandable only to your friend.
But you don’t need to remember. Just drive in examples from books and see how it works. If you cram hard, your brain will begin to hate it. You need to study the subject in calm conditions. Say to yourself: “Let me try this, nothing bad will happen.”
Below you will read how to remember everything.
Have you hit the code, started it, is it working? Write it down. I use docs.google.com for this to have access from anywhere. There I distribute everything into folders, each document is an example of a small code. Every time I turn as a cheat sheet. In the final analysis, you will reach such a level when you remember everything.
The basis of this method is the usual note taking of the material. To deploy svn, as programmers recommended in the comments, for the humanities will become a stumbling block that may stop him forever.
Suppose you struggled to solve a problem. They solved it, write down the code of the working program with a detailed description of what the problem was and how you solved it. According to the law of meanness, the next day, when you decide to improve the code, you will break your working solution and then you will be perplexed for a long time, but how did it work yesterday?
If you find a small working example that runs without errors, then make a mistake on purpose. Write down what error the debugger will show you, how it will be called. This will come in handy in the future when you write a more serious program and encounter an error, having experience, you will immediately understand where to look. Do not be afraid to experiment. Improve the code, make changes. This leads to an understanding of the subject being studied.
When reading a textbook, this situation often arises. They show you the code, you see it for the first time, but you understand how it works and read on. There is a great danger in this. Type the code from the book and make it run. While you drive it in, your brain engages in different departments, from receiving information to transmitting it for use in the musculoskeletal system (arms, in this case). Which means - information will pass through different parts of the brain. And therefore it will be perceived differently. The real case, while you are reading, you say to yourself: “Yes, of course, it works like that”, and after driving it in and starting the performance, seeing the result, you exclaim: “Eureka!”. That's why the written information is remembered better than the one you just read.
From time to time, despair will visit you. You will think that there is too much material, you cannot study it. Elementary fatigue. In such cases, just open the textbook and watch it for 10 minutes, scroll through the different sections. The benefits of this action will be such that even in this case your brain will memorize material. Subconsciously, imperceptibly for you. One day you will encounter a problem and suddenly remember that you seem to have seen its solution on page 536.
Sometimes nothing is clear from the documentation. Because the author speaks several languages, he has a lot of experience, it seems to him that he writes quite clearly, without going into details, without even giving examples. Be prepared for this, it will be constantly met. Sometimes it helps to read an example from another programming language. For example, a shared library is used in two different languages, in another language the community is larger, the documentation is better. But it’s important for you to understand the principle of work. Read how it is done in another language, gradually understand how to find a solution in your language.
It often happens when the documentation is written by an avid programmer from another language. I did not understand the details myself and confused the others.
Among your acquaintances there will be people who ask you this question: “Why do you study programming?”
I was quite surprised by this question. Come up with some moronic excuses for them to keep up. For example: “I want to find a programmer's job. The average salary of a programmer ... blah blah blah. "
What is most interesting, after some time, when you achieve a serious result, for some reason this will not impress them at all. I do not know what it is, envy?
"Gurus" at all kinds of forums sometimes say something about coders, beginners get scared, ask questions: "But how not to become a coder?" You should know that when you learn to seriously program, you will have so much optimism, you will feel like such a superhero that you will reason like a combat fighter pilot. Soon, you too will start to write something on the forums about Indians and cattle-coders.
How long will it take you to study? If you spend 10 minutes every day, then after six months you will notice that you can already do something. And in two years you can already look for work. And maybe even earlier, it is up to you.
Thank you all for reading. I am sure that the article will help someone, as the same innocent motivating articles helped me in due time.
Update 1: Judging by the comments, some quickly ran through the article. And some questions are caused by carelessness. About 10 minutes is also said under the heading “Despair”. The essence of 10 minutes, so that a person does not quit studying when he already has no strength. Otherwise, if you give yourself a week of rest without touching the material, then the second and third will follow the week ...
Asked to add personal experience. Learning began with TurboPascal at school, I liked the language. But there was no computer at home. After school I entered the university, at the history faculty, where I also had success. At the Faculty of Applied Programming, I would not be able to enroll, since I could not pass exams in mathematics.
After university, finding work, I bought a computer and tried to study Delphi. He set himself the task, as some wrote in the comments, but as it turned out, Delphi could not cope with it. On this my training ceased. The next attempt was made a few years later. I decided to attack several at once: Delphi.NET, Php, C, C ++, C Sharp, ObjC, Assembler, Python, Ruby, Perl, Javascript, Java.
Result: Python went very well. I know the rest of the languages a little. But now it has become much easier to study them, since there is no previous fear and insecurity.
So, how does the humanities learn to program?
Answer. We must follow the principle: "The eyes are afraid, the hands are doing."
A picture to attract attention. Replaced by a cat, the previous one resembled an inflamed brain.
Next, you will find a collection of helpful tips that have helped me. A few words about the author: I am a humanities graduate in history.
Introductory word
Imagine a historian who decided to write a book about the famous battle. The first thing he does is collect all the known facts. Second, he analyzes the material obtained and draws conclusions. What did the man who became a programmer do? In fact, the same thing that the historian did when he wrote a book about the famous battle. The same and similar process.
At the heart of any intelligence are operations of comparison and sorting. Any knowledge that we get, first of all, we try to arrange them into some kind of hierarchical scheme, at the subconscious level. And when the knowledge is already streamlined, we try to start using it.
This means that a person can know any field of knowledge from archeology to astronomy. It all depends on two factors:
1) Personal desire
2) And how much time you are willing to spend on it.
What language to learn?
You can start with several at once. You need to find one that you like. One that you understand, from which there will be no tearing away.
There is a benefit to this. Sometimes in one language you can find the necessary explanations that the authors forgot to add in the language that you liked.
You have chosen the language, what about the rest?
You are afraid that you are learning a non-fashionable language, or that will go out of fashion and then you will not be needed with this non-fashionable knowledge. Do not be afraid of it. The main plus that you get when learning at least one language. You will be rebuilt, you will learn to think like a programmer. You will get a concept of how everything works. Having such experience, it will not be difficult for you to learn a new language in a very short time.
Find a thick tutorial
Which textbook to read? Find all the tutorials you can find. Start reading everything at once, there is sure to be one where everything is described in great detail. Do not be embarrassed by books: “We study in 24 hours,” you are left to your own devices, whom are embarrassed? Do not try to read the right books, because they are correct in the opinion of your friend. Maybe this correct book is understandable only to your friend.
How to remember all this?
But you don’t need to remember. Just drive in examples from books and see how it works. If you cram hard, your brain will begin to hate it. You need to study the subject in calm conditions. Say to yourself: “Let me try this, nothing bad will happen.”
Below you will read how to remember everything.
Record Work Slices
Have you hit the code, started it, is it working? Write it down. I use docs.google.com for this to have access from anywhere. There I distribute everything into folders, each document is an example of a small code. Every time I turn as a cheat sheet. In the final analysis, you will reach such a level when you remember everything.
The basis of this method is the usual note taking of the material. To deploy svn, as programmers recommended in the comments, for the humanities will become a stumbling block that may stop him forever.
Record the right decision
Suppose you struggled to solve a problem. They solved it, write down the code of the working program with a detailed description of what the problem was and how you solved it. According to the law of meanness, the next day, when you decide to improve the code, you will break your working solution and then you will be perplexed for a long time, but how did it work yesterday?
Make a mistake
If you find a small working example that runs without errors, then make a mistake on purpose. Write down what error the debugger will show you, how it will be called. This will come in handy in the future when you write a more serious program and encounter an error, having experience, you will immediately understand where to look. Do not be afraid to experiment. Improve the code, make changes. This leads to an understanding of the subject being studied.
Type code
When reading a textbook, this situation often arises. They show you the code, you see it for the first time, but you understand how it works and read on. There is a great danger in this. Type the code from the book and make it run. While you drive it in, your brain engages in different departments, from receiving information to transmitting it for use in the musculoskeletal system (arms, in this case). Which means - information will pass through different parts of the brain. And therefore it will be perceived differently. The real case, while you are reading, you say to yourself: “Yes, of course, it works like that”, and after driving it in and starting the performance, seeing the result, you exclaim: “Eureka!”. That's why the written information is remembered better than the one you just read.
Warnings
Despair
From time to time, despair will visit you. You will think that there is too much material, you cannot study it. Elementary fatigue. In such cases, just open the textbook and watch it for 10 minutes, scroll through the different sections. The benefits of this action will be such that even in this case your brain will memorize material. Subconsciously, imperceptibly for you. One day you will encounter a problem and suddenly remember that you seem to have seen its solution on page 536.
Bad documentation
Sometimes nothing is clear from the documentation. Because the author speaks several languages, he has a lot of experience, it seems to him that he writes quite clearly, without going into details, without even giving examples. Be prepared for this, it will be constantly met. Sometimes it helps to read an example from another programming language. For example, a shared library is used in two different languages, in another language the community is larger, the documentation is better. But it’s important for you to understand the principle of work. Read how it is done in another language, gradually understand how to find a solution in your language.
It often happens when the documentation is written by an avid programmer from another language. I did not understand the details myself and confused the others.
Your friends and acquaintances
Among your acquaintances there will be people who ask you this question: “Why do you study programming?”
I was quite surprised by this question. Come up with some moronic excuses for them to keep up. For example: “I want to find a programmer's job. The average salary of a programmer ... blah blah blah. "
What is most interesting, after some time, when you achieve a serious result, for some reason this will not impress them at all. I do not know what it is, envy?
Internet guru
"Gurus" at all kinds of forums sometimes say something about coders, beginners get scared, ask questions: "But how not to become a coder?" You should know that when you learn to seriously program, you will have so much optimism, you will feel like such a superhero that you will reason like a combat fighter pilot. Soon, you too will start to write something on the forums about Indians and cattle-coders.
Well, the last
How long will it take you to study? If you spend 10 minutes every day, then after six months you will notice that you can already do something. And in two years you can already look for work. And maybe even earlier, it is up to you.
Thank you all for reading. I am sure that the article will help someone, as the same innocent motivating articles helped me in due time.
Update 1: Judging by the comments, some quickly ran through the article. And some questions are caused by carelessness. About 10 minutes is also said under the heading “Despair”. The essence of 10 minutes, so that a person does not quit studying when he already has no strength. Otherwise, if you give yourself a week of rest without touching the material, then the second and third will follow the week ...
Personal experience
Asked to add personal experience. Learning began with TurboPascal at school, I liked the language. But there was no computer at home. After school I entered the university, at the history faculty, where I also had success. At the Faculty of Applied Programming, I would not be able to enroll, since I could not pass exams in mathematics.
After university, finding work, I bought a computer and tried to study Delphi. He set himself the task, as some wrote in the comments, but as it turned out, Delphi could not cope with it. On this my training ceased. The next attempt was made a few years later. I decided to attack several at once: Delphi.NET, Php, C, C ++, C Sharp, ObjC, Assembler, Python, Ruby, Perl, Javascript, Java.
Result: Python went very well. I know the rest of the languages a little. But now it has become much easier to study them, since there is no previous fear and insecurity.