How hard was programming for you?

Question

i am a junior in high school and have taken programming into serious consideration,my friend showed me what he did with programming by making a game and i found this to be pretty cool, so he told me i could learn on my own. im taking a computer science course next year since it teaches JavaScript but at before i do that i want to grasp c++ first. so as a kid that wants to go into the programming world i want to know your advice and knowledge on how this job is whether it's stressful or fun.

Answer 1

I started learning programming when I was 14 using Python. Like someone else said, grasping c++ first would be pretty tricky, you would be better to go with a language like Python first if you want to keep motivated and see results from your hard work.



In my experience, the best way to learn is to enjoy it. Think about a game or program you really want to make and work towards it. Sometimes it can get frustrating especially when you are stuck on a problem for ages but the majority of the time it is one of my favorite hobbies.



Finally, you should definitely have a look at "Invent with Python" http://www.inventwithpython.com

It is aimed at people your age and teaches you by making games. You can do some awesome stuff with programming and it is really worth the time and effort.

Answer 2

Javascript may look difficult but if you follow the tutorial below - I am sure you will find it easy

Answer 3

programming is such a wide field, that there too many jobs to be able to determine whether programming is stressful or specific advice for a career.

for example videogame development is extremely stressful with 80 hour weeks being not uncommon.

while maintaining a database can be quite relaxed and allows for much free time and time for other projects.

what I can tell you is that programming is a practice based skill. also no matter how easy your first programs are, you need to document everything because picking up the habit once you already know how to write code is far more difficult than from the start.

there are many videos on youtube that teach programming basics. I'd start with java (not javascript) or c++ (I personally started with java then in grade 10 in school i did turing then java again in grade 11, 12 and first 2 years of college) because they are great languages to start on. (they teach pure programming logic fairly well) just remember that your first programming classes are supposed to be made to teach you how to program in general not in one specific language. this means that making the switch from one language to another will be very easy and quick to do. you can learn a lot more on your own than what you can do in a high school class however the structured method of high school and first semester college classes means that you will get all the basics covered.



overall programming is fairly rewarding if you do your stuff right. while it can be quite stressful at times, the rewarding feeling you get when your programs finally work is amazing.

also remember that programming for a purpose is much more rewarding than programming just for the sake of learning a new keyword, see if you can join a robotics team at your school or a nearby school that has one. robotics programming (mostly done in java) will teach you about classes and object. external libraries, and how to get code working fast. from my high school career I really enjoyed programming on the robotics team and found it to be a much better learning experience than any class I had taken prior. (just a basic program to control a robot with 2 joysticks in tank drive mode will teach you to use external libraries, classes and object, IFs, Whiles, and some boolean logic).

Answer 4

You should start with C or Visual Basic.

Object Oriented languages like C++ and java could get real difficult if you don't understand the basics of programming, sort of like trying to ride a motorbike before you learn how to ride a bicycle.

And you should learn HTML basics first, before you attempt learning a scripting language like javascript (java and javascript are NOT the same, not even related).

Programming is like mathematics. It's hard to learn. But when you get your basics right, you will find it addictive. You will end up spending most of your free time writing programs on your computer instead of wasting time with facebook and twitter.

WELCOME TO THE LAND OF PROGRAMMERS :-)

Answer 5

It may be hard at first, but you just have to practice and use it as much as you can and then you will eventually grasp the programming language of your choice.



Mine was java.