Re: learning to write code

Top Page
Attachments:
Message as email
+ (text/plain)
Delete this message
Reply to this message
Author: Matt Graham
Date:  
To: Main PLUG discussion list
Subject: Re: learning to write code
On 2019-02-08 10:51, Matthew Crews wrote:
> On 2/8/19 10:33 AM, Harold Hartley wrote:
>> I am interested in learning to write code and not sure where to
>> start.
>> I'm looking for anyone that can steer me in the right direction
>> for books or web site that can help me get started.
> https://www.learnpython.org/
> They also have links to learn other languages such as Go, C++, and
> Ruby.


> And of course, there are endless amounts of books on Amazon, B&N, your
> local library.


Books (and websites) can vary widely in quality. I liked _A Book on C_
by Al Kelley and Ira Pohl, as it had very clear instructions, examples,
and lots of exercises. Python is probably fine as a starter language
too, since you already have it installed.

It's much easier to get into this sort of thing if you tie it to
another thing. Many years ago, I liked to play Angband and its variants
( http://www.rephial.org/ ), and Angband is written in C. So I picked
up that textbook, learned enough C to be dangerous, and modified
Angband. (A modified version of a patch I wrote and the data files are
still in Zangband and its offspring.) If you like $GAME, there is
probably a variant of $GAME out there that has its source code available
and can be built on Linux. That makes it relatively easy to learn the
language that thing is written in enough to modify it to your liking.

> Learning to code is more than just learning a language however. You
> need
> to be able to think logically, as in classical philosophical logic,
> and
> you need to have a firm grasp of logical operators.


Those are the easy parts. The hard parts involve learning all the
library functions you'll need, their quirks, and the idioms of the
language you are using.

--
Crow202 Blog: http://crow202.org/wordpress
There is no Darkness in Eternity
But only Light too dim for us to see.
---------------------------------------------------
PLUG-discuss mailing list -
To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
https://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss