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Tips for a computer programmer.

I'm going to high school in a few months but I've been trying to learn different programming languages. I plan to be a developer in the future but want to see if anyone may have tips for what I could learn or do?

22nd Apr 2017, 2:04 PM
Tayjon Bumphus
Tayjon Bumphus - avatar
6 Answers
+ 6
@T Rated55 the fact that you are learning programming at such a young age is incredible for you! Programming is such a desirable skill with high demand in the job market. Tips on what to learn or do: @Adrian A. Hall put it really well with his advice to practice by doing. I suggest finishing an entire Sololearn course first and then practice writing some code. If you struggle coming up with your own ideas to program at first that's okay. Copy some examples from the tutorial or someone else's code on Sololearn and then purposely break them by deleting some lines of code. Then think and try and fix the missing pieces of code to get the program running again. (Don't worry about getting the same exact answer as the original, just worry about trying to get a working program.) Then you could try to add an additional piece of functionality or anything you think of that would improve the code. By doing this — or any other form of thinking on your own to get a program running — you will develop an intuition for programming over time. With intuition will come your own original ideas as you see new ways to solve problems through programming in the world around you. In regards to what specific programming languages to learn it: is up to you based on what industry/career you want to work with. Don't worry too much about this at your age... you are already doing great just to further your learning on your own outside of school! See my next post if you want more advice regarding finding your career's direction in programming in the future.
23rd Apr 2017, 3:40 PM
Bryan Boyett
Bryan Boyett - avatar
+ 13
-Learn by doing. -Practice, practice, practice. -Use it or lose it. -Observe and learn from others as much as you can. -Do lots of research. -Ask questions when you are stuck. -Challenge yourself. -Never give up, trust your instincts... (Okay, that last one was from StarFox...but yeah, don't give up.)
22nd Apr 2017, 8:18 PM
Adrian
Adrian - avatar
+ 4
you should constantly improve your logical capabilities you should always ready to learn new things you should always try to convert all types of logics to programming.....
22nd Apr 2017, 2:13 PM
PADDY
PADDY - avatar
+ 1
@PADDY@Adrian A. Hall and @Bryan Boyett thanks for the advice. I do hope to improve as much as possible and finish a course or two on sololearn
23rd Apr 2017, 3:44 PM
Tayjon Bumphus
Tayjon Bumphus - avatar
+ 1
You're welcome @T Rated55! I tried to learn Java from reading a book in 10th grade but I wasn't very successful. Using Sololearn to learn is wayyyy more effective in my experience. As for which language to start with.. On Sololearn there are three general purpose languages available I recommend: Python, C++, and Java. Based on my personal experience I would recommend starting with Python. C++ or Java will give you a deeper understanding how programming languages work, but they are more difficult to learn. An option is to learn Python first and then later learn C++ or Java. When you go back and learn C++/Java you will see where Python has streamlined coding such as static versus dynamically typed variables. (In C++ you have to type int x = 5 whereas in Python you just has to type x = 5, you do not have to declare the variable TYPE as an integer with int in Python.) As a result... although you have to declare more in C++ code in C++ runs faster... which is one of the main reasons to use C++. Another reason to use C++ is if the company you are working for uses C++. See my post on careers in programming for a little more exposure to careers in programming. https://www.sololearn.com/Discuss/324857/?ref=app
23rd Apr 2017, 4:19 PM
Bryan Boyett
Bryan Boyett - avatar
+ 1
Thanks so much @Bryan Boyett. So if I may ask your opinion, should I go to python and pause c++ or finish C++ and then go on to python?
23rd Apr 2017, 4:26 PM
Tayjon Bumphus
Tayjon Bumphus - avatar