Transcription
So, in this video, we will look at the top 5 ways to learn programming faster, and these methods are suitable for absolutely any language, absolutely for any age. In this case, it doesn't matter how old you are; you can learn programming at absolutely any age using these methods. So, let's begin.
The first method relates to reading books, taking courses, and when you read articles. Many people who study programming take a book of about 1000 pages and just start reading it. Even though they have read a thousand-page book, they cannot write a simple program using a loop or variables. They don't know why `string + char` gives an error, or why, when iterating through a list with a zero index, they get the same values. Sometimes it becomes funny that a person has read several programming books totaling several thousand pages, but they don't know how to use functions and why arguments that they themselves specified need to be passed into a function. Therefore, the first method is that you don't just need to read books, just read articles, or just watch videos. Every piece of information received must be worked through very thoroughly. For example, you are reading a book on C# or C++ or Python. You have a section on variables. You don't need to just read and understand that variables are a kind of memory cell where you can put a certain value. No, you need to open the code and start experimenting. You need to try putting different values into the variable, try adding these values, try experimenting with data types. Only in this case will you be able to understand why they are needed. Loops and functions are used in exactly the same way. Before moving on to the next chapter of the book, you need to thoroughly work through the chapter that came before. You cannot study functions without studying loops, or study OOP without knowing what a variable is and why `string + char` gives a syntax error. In this case, writing simple programs and modifying code helps very well, that is, just experimenting with the code, changing values, rearranging them, trying to make the code a little more complex. For example, if you are studying functions, don't just write one function; try passing several values into it, try returning a value from the function, try calling several functions within itself, and so on. In this way, you will make many mistakes and thereby learn from your mistakes. If you think that by reading several thousand pages in certain books on a particular language, you become a professional or at least a good programmer, then specifically for you, I have a task. Right now, you can open a code editor and write a simple program that is elementary even for a complete programming novice, which can be written in literally two minutes. You just need to choose a specific folder, and in this folder, there should be several files, about 100. The program should go through all the files, pack them into an archive, and use the file name as the archive name, and at the end, simply add an underscore flag `_result`. If you cannot do this example task, but you have read several programming books, then I can upset you by saying that you have simply wasted your time. If, while reading the book, you had worked through it in practice, this task would have been completed quite quickly.
The next method is that you need not just to read code, but to run it. There are quite a lot of ready-made code examples that perform specific tasks, and many people just look through them with their eyes without even running the code. In this case, they might understand how it works, perhaps even very well. But when you run the code, you absorb information much better. In this case, you can also change some values, experiment with the code, and understand even more deeply how it works.
The next method can be avoided when studying deeper technologies, but it should not be violated when studying the basics of a language under any circumstances. It consists in the fact that many try to learn a language as quickly as possible without understanding the principles of how the previous technology works, and then start learning the next one. For example, they start learning variables, get to what data types exist, then don't understand anything and start skipping it. They start learning loops, learn a little about loops, but don't understand, for example, how the value changes with each iteration, they skip it. Next, we have functions, for example, they don't learn functions at all and move on to OOP, for example. In this way, all the time is wasted because a person studies OOP without understanding what data types exist, without understanding how loops work, and how functions work. Thus, they will have to start all over again from scratch, and in this way, they will lose all the time they could have spent learning the language. This method consists in the fact that under no circumstances should you skip a particular chapter until you understand everything in detail. When you study loops, for example, you must fully understand how they work, thoroughly work through them in practice. Only when you have fully studied loops, with complete confidence, can you say that you know loops, that you have written, for example, 10-15 programs using loops, and you perfectly know how they are structured, you can calmly move on. On this principle, you study the language itself, and you will gradually approach more complex things, and at the same time, you will not need to go back and study something again.
The fourth method is that you need to learn to use a debugger. The ability to use a debugger is perhaps the most important skill in programming. Because while you are learning programming and writing 50 or 100 lines in one program, you generally won't notice the need to use a debugger. But when the program is several thousand lines long, and there is an error somewhere, or very often there are errors that the compiler or interpreter does not directly output. This can be an error, for example, related to calculations. For example, you need to get the value 2, but your program outputs the value 5. In this case, this is a very difficult-to-debug error that will take a very long time to find without a debugger. Also, when studying the basics of programming, a debugger helps very well to understand the principle of code operation in general. You can, for example, write some functions or write a loop and at the same time step through it with a debugger and see how the code changes, how the values inside the code change, how variables change, and so on.
And the fifth method is that you need to look for as many sources of information as possible, such as courses, books, articles, and so on. But the most important thing is not just to read, but to study everything in practice and write your own programs. Even if you think that a program using loops that outputs values from 0 to 100 is some kind of idiocy, or that such a program will be useful nowhere, then you are very mistaken. With the help of such mini-programs that you can write in literally a few minutes, you significantly improve your skills. Even now, when I write programs with an interface or network programs, I always write simple programs that are really not used anywhere, but the use of such simple programs allows you to analyze the principle of operation of this technology in more detail. Therefore, the most important detail in learning programming is to thoroughly work through everything in practice. Programming, like any other field, also requires learning in practice. You cannot just read a few pages or a few books and thereby learn to program, just as you cannot watch a design course without ever opening Photoshop and becoming a good designer. Therefore, as in any endeavor, here you need maximum practice, maximum mistakes, because it is precisely on mistakes that we learn. It often happens that by fixing some bug within a program, you get two or three times more bugs afterward. Therefore, errors within a program, within writing code, should already become your habit. You should not be afraid of them, and in principle, any programmer should react adequately to getting an error within a program; it's normal, anyone can make mistakes.
And I want to point out one very important point: when you are learning programming and you get an error in your code, you don't need to immediately run to another more experienced programmer and start asking them to solve this error, ask what the problem is, or how they would solve it, by giving ready-made code. This is what beginners often do, that is, they simply don't understand some technology, immediately run to a forum or other platforms, and start asking stupid questions. In this case, no one will answer adequately, because the main skill of a programmer is to Google. Any programmer must be able to find information themselves. Searching for information is a very important skill for a programmer, because very often you encounter errors or methods that are simply impossible to solve on your own, and you need to look for additional information. But this does not mean at all that you should immediately go to forums or run to chats and ask questions, because in this case, most often you will either be directed back to read the same documentation that you were looking for, or simply sent away. And in this case, you will still have to search for information yourself. In very rare cases, you will be given ready-made code, but this is not good because you will simply copy and paste the code and, at the same time, you will not understand how it works. But much more experience comes when, when an error occurs, you can search for information, for example, on Google for several hours. For example, you searched for information on this error for 2-3 hours, you read articles or forum posts, and you got a lot of information on this method, and you will most likely understand the error. Next time, you definitely won't make it, or even if it is made somewhere, you will fix it in a few seconds. If you copy the code, you will again run to the forum and again start asking the same stupid question, and again you will get the same link to the documentation, and again you will run to read. Therefore, by using all five methods plus the method of searching for information, you can learn programming quite quickly, namely, when you write programs, make many mistakes, then search for information on Google, rack your brains why it doesn't work, and then at one moment you will finally understand what the problem was, and thereby significantly improve your skill.
Finally, if you liked this video and you got some benefit from it, I ask you to subscribe to my channel to support this project. I also ask you to write in the comments about which method you used to learn programming, whether you read books or took some courses, how you reinforced the information received, or whether you simply read the basics, practiced, or did you not read at all and immediately started writing code for some projects.