The same old story: how can I start learning to code?
Hello, everybody! :D
On the last post I told everyone a little bit about my story, but now let’s begin the fun part! As I am studying and becoming a programmer I will try my best to pass along the fun and good things I am learning in the process, ok!?
The first question everyone asks me: where do I begin?
Ok, first thing that was very important to me was to find a good book to follow as long as I could. My recommendation, no doubt, would be “Beginning Python: From Novice to Professional” by Magnus Lie Hetland. It is not so expensive (I just saw it on Amazon for U$24) but it goes from simple concepts until complex ones such as abstractions. If you know another book for beginners, please feel free to recommend it on the commentaries!
One colleague of mine said to me “run away from tutorials, invest in books”. He said that tutorials present usually one way, and one way only. I bought one book so far, but I think I will keep this tip in my mind, so that’s why I wrote it here, so you can know it as well!
The second thing I recommend is to challenge yourself. Usually, you don’t have many exercises in the books and tutorials. What to do? You can look for some exercises for beginners on the internet. The python wiki for Brazilians (such as myself) has lots of exercises (http://wiki.python.org.br/ListaDeExercicios) and I just found this awesome site: http://www.practicepython.org/ . So, there is no excuse: challenge yourself!
The last tip of today’s post is: keep an eye on twitter. For me twitter was a dead tool that only celebrities used. That’s not true! There is a huge world out there and the hot news is usually posted there. You have to follow the right people! Who are right people? First start with associations and then follow whoever they retweet that you find interesting! For example, I started following Pyladies, Python Brazil, CodeAcademy, Code.org, Women in Technology, Girls in Tech and people I know that work in the area. When I find someone interesting, I will recommend here, ok!?
Hope this can help someone to begin and see you soon!
❤ Cheers! Letícia