What tips or advice is there for keeping concentrated learning. I find myself envious of those able to create coded things games,websites etc. Whenever I start learning can't take take in more than 10 minutes at a time. Are their any methods you know that help you ? Thanks !
Hey, I don't have the time to do so right now as I am busy programming something for work (How's THAT for concentration?) but I will try and give some tips in a few hours or so. There's a lot more ways to become a programmer than following the code.org, google hipster path. I'll be needing some info about your interests and what you hope to accomplish, but I will ask my specific questions when the time is right. Gotta get back to work.
I'd advise you to find a simple task that you want to do using a language and dedicate yourself to learn enough to acheive that task. Per example, learning how to do graphics using python's matplotlib instead of excel, or making a small and simple GUI that simply controls a CLI program, etc. Lurk all over the internet for examples and fixes to the issues you'll inevitably encounter, make a stackoverflow account; that's how I've personnally learned all I know about computers and programming. Keep it simple and then make the next project a bit more challenging. If the project is just hard enough, you'll feel like you've acheived something after each small step and you'll ask for more. It's like playing contra really.
@someguy1 Ok, I guess I would start by asking you what your end goal is. Why do you wish to become a programmer? What do you hope to be able to accomplish through programming? Also, what, if any, programming experience and knowledge of general computing do you currently have? Don't worry if the answer to that last one is none, I'm not here to judge, I'm here to help.
@MachineCode My goals were never specific to one thing sorta all over the place. however right now would be interested in recreating old games for old consoles like ps1 or animations with vintage computer software recreating early polygon graphics porting them to be run on different and modern game systems. recreating vintage synth music video game style. I have a very basic understanding of computers mainly windows some very light linux never owned a mac but would like to someday. I don't know how it always seems to me it is either really hard to find good learner material or just staying on the ball with it and not getting distracted to other things. SO could be this question is more of a psychological nature. I find myself daydreaming / thinking often about doing great programming and making great stuff but always, always never getting into the thick of it.
I've always known myself to have a very short attention span when it comes to studies, but I am okay when I actually get down to doing actual work. If you're like me, then perhaps you need to have more hands-on coding, rather than just reading and yet more reading. I found reading technical stuff or anything that isn't related to my interests to be very boring and uninteresting (but yea, duh!). :/
Programing or not. If you have no goal, you won't progress. When you study something new, you must have a 100% interest in the topic. Have a goal at the end, whether that be your own simple game or a program to do a certain task. At least you'll be working towards something. Remove distractions, like music and pretty women and possibly buy a programing book with exercises to keep you focused. It's somewhat similar to anything new you want to learn. Remember, keeping motivated is difficult, but not so difficult if you have a goal. Also stick to a certain time of day and hours so you don't burn out, otherwise you'll put it off each time.
These are both good pieces of advice. I don't agree with removing music while you are actually working on something unless you find yourself focusing on it too much. You don't wanna make this a boring and dry activity, even though some of it will be inevitably boring and dry. If it is too much like school, you are just gonna find yourself wanting to do literally anything else your mind think of. Actually, when I was bored in school I used to program my TI-83+ calculator all the time. Made a small Leisure Suit Larry demo once using only BASIC and not dipping into z80 ASM. Applied learning is HUGE when it comes to understanding and retaining the information. If you just read a bunch or watch a series of videos and don't actually do anything, it's gonna be in one ear and out the other and you are gonna find yourself repeating your reading/viewing multiple times in order to retain it all. What you are going to find is that the older stuff was generally done at a much lower level. By lower level, I'm not referring to quality but rather in how directly you are interfacing with the hardware. Almost everything today is very high level. There are many layers of abstraction between you and the machine. Your goal is a noble one and I wish more programmers today would aspire to learn such things. The prevailing mentality today is "There's a library. Someone already did that." In all but a few cases, this is just pure laziness and prevents full learning. It also leads to extreme bloat as most 3rd party libraries are full of crap that you absolutely do not need in your program. Don't be that guy. The people who actually know what's going on and can perform lower level tasks are almost always better programmers in my experience. These two links are some examples of the things involved in graphical programming in the DOS days. You actually cannot work on some of this outside of DOSBox post Windows XP as you are blocked from protected mode. You have to run a copy of Turbo C in there and emulate. At least I did to mess around with it. http://atrevida.comprenica.com/atrtut07.html https://scalibq.wordpress.com/2011/11/23/just-keeping-it-real-old-skool-style/ On to your learning plan. You will be starting out at a higher level. The low level stuff will come, but we need to build some basic programming and logical foundation that can be applied to any language with a simple tweaking of syntax. First we need to pick a language. Nowadays, I recommend starting with Python. It is free to use, the syntax is loosely in the vein of C, and since whitespace matters (If you don't space and indent correctly your program will not run) it forces you to code in a more neat and legible fashion that you can apply to your future work. Also, since it is interpreted and not compiled, you have the benefit of a console, and the ability to step through line by line at runtime in search of errors so you can see where you went wrong. Also, it can be used for server side web scripting which is useful. It is a great starting language. Stay away from Visual Basic. It is trash. Block out an hour every night. Stick to that. Even if it takes you longer, the code ain't goin anywhere so you can just pick up the next day. If you find yourself wanting to work past the hour mark, GREAT! Then by all means do it. The hour is a minimum, not a cap. Start with the basics and work your way forward. Everything starts with "Hello World." The best advice I can give you to make you stick with it is try to amuse yourself and make yourself laugh. Take the examples and exercises and plug in the most obscene and absurd data you can think of. Ridiculous shit stands out and kinda beats you over the head with what's going on. Instead of Hello World, have the computer tell you to go fuck yourself or something. Change apples to dildos or something, make a text based game about trying to buy weed when you don't have a solid connection. The point being, make yourself laugh. Get some enjoyment out of it because the work itself isn't going to make you smile for a while. You can always clean it up afterwards. Remember that programs aren't written, they are rewritten. You can PM me whenever you want and I will find time to get back to you. If you are unsure about an exercise, just ask. Happy Coding! Hope this helps.
