Programming for Beginners

What is this all about?

There are, honestly, a lot of websites out there that have lessons on programming for beginners. So why do another one? The honest truth is that I always enjoyed writing these little “help” articles, but frankly, I didn’t want to be bound by the restrictions on how to format my lessons. Even when I was a teacher, I preferred using my own approach to writing my lesson plans, and frankly, they seemed to work out pretty well.

At any rate, I am presenting, here, lessons in the approach I find most feasible. I will accept feedback from people in the near to answer questions as they come in; in the meantime, feel free to read through my lessons and you can start learning the imposing (not really) art (or science) of programming.

Who is this for?

This is mainly intended to be a source of material and guidance for someone who’s never done programming before – or perhaps for someone who’s had a bit of experience and was curious to learn more. Which is not to say someone who’s further along may not benefit from some of my later lessons; but I try to cater first to the new programmer who might feel intimidated.

Why learn programming?

The truth is, you probably aren’t doing this for a job; more than likely, the reason you’re doing this is for fun. At least, that’s my intention on these lessons. The real reason to learn programming, outside of work, is just to try your hand at something new. It’s a great little hobby because, if you have a decent computer, you can actually try new things and it doesn’t cost you much of anything . Virtual hobbies can be enjoyable and not break the bank. And if you find yourself wanting to bridge out past that, you certainly can do so, and break into some of the hardware-specific stuff like electronics.

When can I do this?

The whole purpose to me setting up these lessons is so you can do them whenever the mood strikes you. These aren’t college courses, there are no certificates, the material presented here is intended to be worked on whenever you have the time to do it. I’ll try to keep things structured so you can pick up pretty quickly from one lesson into another. Of course, if you go for a longer stretch without doing anything, you may need to go back and refresh yourself on prior content, but I’ll do my best to guide you down the process as we go.

Where do we do this?

Find yourself a relatively quiet area. I realize if you have a family or pets that might not always be simple, but try to give yourself a bit of time and quiet to work on this. In fact, if you have kids over the age of 10, you might even be able to get them into this, too. Most of what I’ll do requires a minimum of mathematical knowledge, and I’ll walk you through the logic to accomplish things; so find a comfortable place to sit, make sure you have some water nearby (I try to promote that now, because it will help you feel better to not load down with soft drinks, coffee or the like) and start diving in. Make sure you take adequate breaks in your sessions; get up and walk around for 5 or 10 minutes every hour, just so you don’t get stiff, and because you don’t want to sacrifice your health for this stuff.

Summary

Just jump in. I’ll be covering a host of different topics through my lessons and articles, so there are plenty of things you can learn. Early on, I intend to focus mostly on using C Sharp, which is a language used heavily in the Microsoft Windows world. However, it is possible to also do this work with a Mac, so if you’re an Apple fan, don’t feel you can’t participate – you absolutely can!

Other languages I’ll introduce throughout the articles will include HTML, JavaScript, CSS, PHP, TypeScript and working with databases (using SQL or MySQL). If I get enough requests for it, I will also introduce some other content as well. The reason I am starting with C Sharp is that it will teach you most of the best skills for general programming, but is not an overwhelming language to learn. You can do quite a bit with it; business apps, simple calculator tools; even programs with nice graphical interfaces (including games).

So prepare to get your nerd on and start learning to code today!