Zisly
Intermediate OT User
- Joined
- Jun 9, 2008
- Messages
- 7,338
- Reaction score
- 120
I'll go a bit against the stream. Have you written any code whatsoever, no matter what language? I'll be assuming a bit, based on some people I've encountered, so just dismiss my post if I'm wrong. It might sound pessimistic, but bear with me please.
I feel like you have this idea of what a programmer is and you're seeing mostly the end products. You probably have no experience or knowledge, perhaps apart from the mandatory parts of some course assignment? I think you're best of just getting your hands on something simple, to get into the mindset. Starting with C++ honestly feels a bit overkill and might just discourage you, sure pick it if the school offers it, but also have some language you enjoy too. Try out the waters a bit and start on minor projects. Others might disagree with this approach, as they might feel it's better to start with the foundation languages or whatever, but to me it's more important to establish some kind actual interest and a bit of passion. The languages you start out with, might be ditched by you in a year, but they will still have provided you with valuable knowledge that's applicable to programming in general, but more importantly: they will light something in you.
You are now at the start of the road, you need to get down the basics and get into the mindset. Handing you a giant list of things that "you should learn" is just gonna mess with your head and stress you out. Is programming something you can see yourself enjoying? start out simple, find out, and take it from there. People during high school chose the programming courses, but once they actually sat down and started, it was nothing for them. Either they dropped out or just finished the introduction course. The course was about C++ and it was frankly boring as fuck. I feel they could have enjoyed it a lot more if they went with something "easier", and perhaps that could have driven them to partake in more courses. Anyway, what you pick doesn't really matter at the start in my opinion, just get started. If you start loving it, you'll want to move on soon enough, and now you'll actually have the drive and some orientation.
I'm not saying you should skip starting with C++, but more that you don't really need to start at that end of things. If you checked out C++ and you're not put off, keep at it.
I'll end it off with: write code at home. This is what decides if you actually do enjoy it. Do you write your code at home and don't just see it as some mandatory thing you need to do?
I feel like you have this idea of what a programmer is and you're seeing mostly the end products. You probably have no experience or knowledge, perhaps apart from the mandatory parts of some course assignment? I think you're best of just getting your hands on something simple, to get into the mindset. Starting with C++ honestly feels a bit overkill and might just discourage you, sure pick it if the school offers it, but also have some language you enjoy too. Try out the waters a bit and start on minor projects. Others might disagree with this approach, as they might feel it's better to start with the foundation languages or whatever, but to me it's more important to establish some kind actual interest and a bit of passion. The languages you start out with, might be ditched by you in a year, but they will still have provided you with valuable knowledge that's applicable to programming in general, but more importantly: they will light something in you.
You are now at the start of the road, you need to get down the basics and get into the mindset. Handing you a giant list of things that "you should learn" is just gonna mess with your head and stress you out. Is programming something you can see yourself enjoying? start out simple, find out, and take it from there. People during high school chose the programming courses, but once they actually sat down and started, it was nothing for them. Either they dropped out or just finished the introduction course. The course was about C++ and it was frankly boring as fuck. I feel they could have enjoyed it a lot more if they went with something "easier", and perhaps that could have driven them to partake in more courses. Anyway, what you pick doesn't really matter at the start in my opinion, just get started. If you start loving it, you'll want to move on soon enough, and now you'll actually have the drive and some orientation.
I'm not saying you should skip starting with C++, but more that you don't really need to start at that end of things. If you checked out C++ and you're not put off, keep at it.
I'll end it off with: write code at home. This is what decides if you actually do enjoy it. Do you write your code at home and don't just see it as some mandatory thing you need to do?
