

Ask HN: What resources did you utilize the most when learning to code? - krauses

I've been coding now for two years. My method for learning at this point is digging in and building stuff. But when I first started out, I relied heavily on books (You remember those right?). Lately it's been online documentation for whatever library I'm currently using.<p>What helped you the most when you first started out? Videos, books, online tutorials, school, or another method?
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sophacles
Pick a language with a REPL. More than anything else, this really really
helped me. I would just type in quick experiments and be done with it. No
setting up files. No overhead of printing results. Get it wrong? Want to
further explore the results? No problem, do it _now_ in real time. Reloading a
file is too slow for such learning.

Heck, I really shouldn't be talking past tense on this, I still learn REPL
style frequently, and more, I still "experimentally code". Just double
checking that my basic premise works makes the entire coding experience
faster, easier and more fun.

Further, with decent editor/REPL combos you can turn experimental code into
real code in just a few easy steps.

Also, more generally, just code. Under no circumstances should learning to
code not involve lots and lots of "face" time with the computer. I find one of
the best ways to learn is to do it wrong over and over until I finally get how
to do it right.

