Ask HN: Learning to program, how do I learn after I've learned syntax? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Learning to program, how do I learn after I've learned syntax?

1 pointmmanfrin4 comments

I'm learning python and I have a long list of projects that I want to try working on, but I have this anxiety about going forward because I have this feeling that anything I do I'll learn later was a waste of time or done the wrong way.<p>Every day I see projects and applications here on HN made by people here that offer neat APIs or services and my mind churns out applications to use those things, but I want to have a solid understanding of programming before mucking around.<p>So I ask you: what is step two of learning to program well? I've learned some syntax, now I need to learn the grammar of programming.

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"Programming" itself is not the hard part or really what you should worry about, and by that I mean syntax and grammer. What really matters is knowing how to solve problems through programming. To get that knowledge you have to write programs and solve the problems that present themselves. It sounds like you can take your time, so I'd say just write something, maybe a small website in python or a cli-tool, and then when you come across something that gives you problems ( HTTP Caching, or building node trees ), study up on it and then implement it.

Don't worry about learning the right tools, just build things and find the tools - programming language(s) - that gets the job done the best for you :)

Also a note, reading source code is a great way to find out how the experts get the job done, so you can always learn from them by perusing github or a GNU project :)

Like I'm sure almost everyone will say, just start making stuff.

Build until you hit a wall, then figure out why you hit the wall; Did you take a wrong turn? Did you a ladder? Or maybe a Hammer?

Build, build, build. Keep learning. Learn another language. Do things out of your comfort zone. Once you think you know something, try to take another step forward.

Don't be afraid to fail, don't be afraid to ask for help.

Above all else, just keep going. And never listen to people who discourage you because you aren't doing it "right".

Build things. Even if you're "doing it wrong" - you're still learning about how to build the things you want to. As long as you keep building things and keep looking for ways to improve the way you build things, you'll learn. The trick is just building lots of things (the first few will suck).

I would say that instead of worrying what could happen, just go ahead and do it. Sure, it might not be right the first time, but most bugs can be fixed.

P.S: Don't forget that Google is your friend

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