Ask HN: What computer stuff should someone learn before learning code?

[weston]

With all of these posts about whether people should learn to code or not learn to code, I figure I'd see what type of resources exist to teach people who are complete noobs to how to better use their computers.

Assume all someone knows is how to turn on a computer and browse the internet. I'd like to see what resources exist to help very computer illiterate people how to be more literate.

I'm posting here because the average computer illiterate person can search Google for this stuff, but they won't know enough on how to find good, quality articles/resources that aren't spam or content farms.

Stuff I'm looking for is everything one should learn after having the ability to launch a browser right up until they are at the point they can learn formal programming/coding.

Thanks in advance!

[Sighduck]

Hi there, I would suggest just getting to know the basics of computer usage can be helpful. Like keyboard shortcuts, or browser shortcuts. Then maybe start getting tools that make you a more efficient worker on a computer (eg.dropbox, evernote, text editors, browser plugins, chat tools, email programs, bookmarking services). Learning these tools will help make your time on a computer more efficient and worthwhile. It will help keep your notes, thoughts, and ideas organized better which are essential traits of any coder. I suggest a site like lifehacker.com's BestOf series for shortcuts, tools, and other general computer related things. Gizmodo.com is another sister site that is part of the Gawker family that will have some decent articles to help you be a better computer-ist. There are tons of other sites out there to help, if you search reddit.com I'm sure they have a couple topics on these things as well.

Good luck!

[octopus]

You should learn to code and learn other "stuff" related to computer usage (in principle how to use your operating system and a text editor) in the same time. This is how I started. (As a side note, my first programming was Fortran, but this was some time ago ...)

If you are completely new to programming I would recommend following the official Python tutorial:

http://docs.python.org/py3k/tutorial/index.html

or reading Zed Shaw - Learn Python the Hard Way (free to read online):

http://learnpythonthehardway.org/book/