Is it hard to learn programming?

Question

I'm 15 and figured that I should start soon, but I have a few questions. How long does it take to learn one of them? and Is it hard for a person who is average at math?
But where do I start? what type of programming language will I start with?

Answer 1

Hard to say how long it will take. It's an ongoing process to learn to program. I taught myself programming when I was about your age. I wrote small, basic programs that did nothing useful. Then I moved to making graphing programs.



It's interesting, as a professional, that I rarely make complete programs. I usually work on large projects I just do a small part of.



Motivation is mandatory. You will have to spend 100s of hours at it, to become proficient if you are typical. If you are a genius, maybe you will do better than that. But there's no substitute for writing programs, and learning all the ways there are to get it wrong, and to fix it. You never stop learning, IMO. It's a process.



I suggest python as a starting language. It's more forgiving than, for example, C++ or Java would be. You can also type in small programs into the python interpreter and learn a lot that way.



You can make basic 2D games by using pygame. For example, start with a "pong" like game. That's very doable once you learn the basics of programming.

Answer 2

I think you should start with coding. Like HTML, CSS, jQuery and then move onto PHP and eventually move onto Java then if you get good enough at Java learn C++ or some .net language (as long as it's not VB -_- ).



Programming nowadays doesn't require much advanced maths, knowing basic arithmetic should be fine. For 3D game programming you wanna have more advanced skills at maths.



And no, it's not hard to learn programming. It's really fairly simple. Just practice and practice and make basic little apps because it all adds up. It may take a while but that's where people your age kinda suck. I talk to tons of people around 12-17 on xbox and they want me to teach them how to program. So I start teaching them, most of them back out after about an hour because they don't understand that you can't just start making a game or make some large social network. You need experience, hence the make basic apps part as this will help you practice small thing to put into big apps.



I started when I was 11, I'm now 13 and I know HTML, CSS, JS, PHP and Java and some C++ and a little VB 6 (for school). My favorite language has got to be PHP though. Love making dynamic sites.



Good luck.

Answer 3

For starter, learn Java, or C#. They are fairly easy to use, very versatile, and comes with a bunch of IDE with graphical interfaces that will make your programming life easier. They are solid, efficient, and well-documented language you'd most likely use to build applications. After that, learn a scripting language such as PHP, Python, or Perl, they're more dynamic, more flexible. You will find a lot of their application in your daily computer use, like send multiple mail, search for files, change filenames, modify multiple documents, ... etc. They can be used for application development as well, though efficiency might be an issue. Afterward, you're ready to tackle on a any other languages. Learning new programming languages then becomes a routine of reading documentations. It's not uncommon that an average programmer will know around 10-20 programming languages.

Answer 4

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Answer 5

No. I started programming when I was 12. I started with HTML and VB. Then I learned JAVA and C#. Managed languages are always better for beginners. It depends on what you want to do. If you want to develop websites and business apps, start with HTML, PhP, and F#. If you want to develop games (which I think you do), you should better start with VB and move to C# and finally start learning C++. You will also need to learn OpenGL and DirectX.



Avoid JAVA for now, since it's not good for game development, and it's slow.



Learn Python and JavaScript as well. It You will need them a lot for scripting.



Hope I halped :-) .

Answer 6

This is my take, as someone who has programmed for a long time.



ANYONE can learn to code.

But NOT EVERYONE can call themselves programmers.



Coding is easy to learn; programming is not. The difference lies in the ability of the engineer to write clean, understandable, orthogonal code which is focused towards readability, ease of maintenance, and modularity.



There's something software developers call spaghetti code. If great care is not made towards designing a non-trivial application with these critical design aspects in mind, the program will become riddled with bugs, difficult or nigh impossible to maintain, and will become eventually unusable. Back when I did freelance work, 90% of the projects I undertook were rewrites of absolute garbage code that had been done previously without care towards design.



Like I said, anyone can learn to program. You can learn to write code by memorizing. If you can memorize you can code. But this does not mean you can write software that should be ever used by others.



It is EASY to learn, but EXTREMELY DIFFICULT to master.

I would go so far as to say that nobody has ever mastered programming.



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As far as learning a language:

Math is not too necessary. The important part is your ability to use logic. That's what programming is, and it's absolutely necessary.

Unless you plan on doing numerical applications you will be able to get by with algebra.



Doing numerical or statistical applications and you'll need the specific requirements, if you're doing 3D graphics you need basic calculus (integration), lots of trigonometry, four-dimensional vectors and matrix math.

For basic applications development, trig may be useful.



I would suggest different languages based on your personality, TBH.

My first language was C++. It's not the easiest language, but I felt that I should cut the BS and get a good foundation in programming, which is exactly what C++ does for you.

It introduces you to different styles of programming and lots of low level manipulation, memory management and inline assembly that many programming languages omit (rather hide), because they are not exactly critical towards whatever paradigm the language is focused towards. C++ is not focused towards any, but rather most, to varying degrees.

If you're not up for that, which I recommend, I suggest Haskell or Eiffel. They are both considered general- purpose, but are not so large and are less widely focused.

The others like Java (you'll get lots of suggestions for this) I feel are not suited towards a learner.

The language is relatively easy, like Python or Microsoft's Visual Basic, and learning those first will be a shock when you realize how far specialized these languages are. In my opinion, they are not suited towards learning to program effectively, rather, learning to code, as discussed above. These languages are fine to use when you recognize when they would be appropriate, but I discourage you from using those as your starting language.

Answer 7

As long as you are motivated and willing to spend the time necessary to learn it isn't that hard. Java or Python are two good starter languages.

Answer 8

Some thigns like JAva and C++ are hard. THings luike HTML, JavaScipt, Python, Ruby can bne easy.

Answer 9

You can learn to programme in a few weeks. But you have to learn it not just memorize it. Memorizing will not work with programming.

Answer 10

Man some of these answers are so long!



Short answer. YES

That's why we get paid the big bucks.

Answer 11

it is hard to learn programming but some softwares make it easy like Scratch

Answer 12

you just need to spend time on it, try using the site codeacademy ?