I majored in Computer Science in college. A lot of my good friends didn't, and at least some of them have said, "Damn, I wish I had studied CS." Sometimes they even say, "Maybe I should go back to school and learn CS?"
My response is something like, "But you can go out and learn it now!"
But then I'm not able to point them in the right direction.
Here's what I put on the survey:
However, from a beginner perspective, it does have some appeal. Point of success: one person got distracted by Codeacademy during the survey, affirming that it "Sounds interesting!" and "I'm going to try this out right now!" Another person also mentioned planning to check it out. If you try out Codeacademy, I'd love to know how it goes!
P.S. I'm pretty sure the interactive example on the main page is Javascript. There is also a Python tutorial under "Learn" but I am looking at it right now and I'm less impressed because the instructions and the code you type are not as well integrated.
Programming in Processing is basically programming in Java. The only differences are that it's all self-contained (just download it and you're good to go, it even comes with lots of examples) and that the setup cost for making an interactive graphical program is basically zero. You need a setup() function and a draw() loop that will get called every frame, and that's basically it. In fact, you could probably write a program that doesn't even need those.
A sample program I made: http://superfiretruck.com/fingerpaint/impressionist.pde
An extra bonus is that Processing is classroom-approved, in that I've heard about it being used in middle school and high school classes. As is the Impressionist Fingerpaint / Painterly Rendering assignment which I've done at UCSC and UW and taught to middle schoolers using Processing.
Extra-extra bonus, Processing lets you run your programs on an android device with virtually zero effort.
The nicest thing about Python in my mind is that it's not very verbose or chatty. You want to print something? print "meow" It's not bogged down with a lot of weird stuff, like semicolons and variable types. Sometimes you want things that Python can't provide, like types on your variables and super-fast math, but for most things, Python is super useful.
Survey people also seem to use C/C++ a fair amount, as well as CSS. I definitely use CSS to make my HTML look pretty. I, too, code in C++ when I'm not coding in Python.
5/6 people said they used C/C++ as a beginner. I'm not sure if that means beginners these days should go out and try it, or if that's just what was around when people who took my survey started learning to program.
Also, go play with Processing.
My response is something like, "But you can go out and learn it now!"
But then I'm not able to point them in the right direction.
Possible Resources
I have a list in my head of possible ways to start programming (tutorials, easy to learn environments, harder to learn environments that would let you make something you might want to use and show off) but I didn't know which of those sounded good to people. So I made a survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RCP98L5Here's what I put on the survey:
- Codeacademy - Learn to program right in the web browser (http://www.codecademy.com/)
- Project Euler - Math/programming challenges (http://projecteuler.net/)
- Processing - Creative programming environment with tons of examples (http://www.processing.org/)
- Processing for Android - Deploy on an android phone with 1 button click (http://www.processing.org/)
- Android programming - Make apps for your android phone/tablet and share them in the Google Play store (http://developer.android.com/index.html)
- iPhone/iPad programming - Make apps for your iOS devices and publish them in the App store (https://developer.apple.com/)
- App Inventor - Make android apps with a graphical user-friendly programming enviroment (http://appinventor.mit.edu/)
- GameMaker - 2D game engine (http://www.yoyogames.com/gamemaker/studio)
- Unity - 3D game engine (http://unity3d.com/)
- LilyPad - Programmable e-textiles (http://web.media.mit.edu/~leah/LilyPad/)
- Arduino - Open-source electronics prototyping platform (http://www.arduino.cc/)
- Raspberry Pi - Tiny hackable computer (http://www.raspberrypi.org/)
- Python - Straight up Python, the programming language! (http://wiki.python.org/moin/BeginnersGuide)
- Java - Straight up Java, the programming language
- Javascript - Interactive web programming (http://www.w3schools.com/js/default.asp)
- HTML - Web page programming / layout (view source on any webpage!)
- CSS - Style webpages (http://www.w3schools.com/css/)
- Google App Engine - Build an interactive web application and host it on google (https://appengine.google.com/)
- Django python-based web application framework - Build interactive web applications (https://www.djangoproject.com/)
Survey results (8 people)
I was hoping billions of people would fill it out, but alas. And they were mostly programmers already, so the results are more along the lines of "what would you recommend to beginners and what do you currently like/use?"Codeacademy
Based on the survey, not many people (2) said they'd recommend Codeacademy to beginners. |
| Codeacademy python lesson |
However, from a beginner perspective, it does have some appeal. Point of success: one person got distracted by Codeacademy during the survey, affirming that it "Sounds interesting!" and "I'm going to try this out right now!" Another person also mentioned planning to check it out. If you try out Codeacademy, I'd love to know how it goes!
P.S. I'm pretty sure the interactive example on the main page is Javascript. There is also a Python tutorial under "Learn" but I am looking at it right now and I'm less impressed because the instructions and the code you type are not as well integrated.
Processing
Omg, <3 Processing, it's really great. Most everyone I know loves Processing, including me. According to the survey, 4/5 people said they'd recommend it to beginners, 3 people said they liked programming in Processing, and 2 people said they use it now.Programming in Processing is basically programming in Java. The only differences are that it's all self-contained (just download it and you're good to go, it even comes with lots of examples) and that the setup cost for making an interactive graphical program is basically zero. You need a setup() function and a draw() loop that will get called every frame, and that's basically it. In fact, you could probably write a program that doesn't even need those.
Nevermind the rest of this post, if you haven't tried Processing yet, go do it right now:
Download: http://www.processing.org/download/A sample program I made: http://superfiretruck.com/fingerpaint/impressionist.pde
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| Processing Impressionist Fingerpaint program in action |
Extra-extra bonus, Processing lets you run your programs on an android device with virtually zero effort.
 |
| Impressionist Fingerpaint on Android |
Python
A quick shoutout to Python, 5/7 people recommend it to beginners. I would, too, but I think you need a plan or something in mind that you want to accomplish with a Python program. A suggested resource for learning Python: http://learnpythonthehardway.org/Stuff people like and use
Python and HTML were the most likable things on my list. I can agree with that, since I definitely write a lot of Python and HTML and Python that generates HTML.The nicest thing about Python in my mind is that it's not very verbose or chatty. You want to print something? print "meow" It's not bogged down with a lot of weird stuff, like semicolons and variable types. Sometimes you want things that Python can't provide, like types on your variables and super-fast math, but for most things, Python is super useful.
Survey people also seem to use C/C++ a fair amount, as well as CSS. I definitely use CSS to make my HTML look pretty. I, too, code in C++ when I'm not coding in Python.
5/6 people said they used C/C++ as a beginner. I'm not sure if that means beginners these days should go out and try it, or if that's just what was around when people who took my survey started learning to program.
Stuff people don't like
The most disliked thing (4/6 people) was Java. It's probably not the best for beginners, even though it is often used in intro CS courses, because it's very chatty. You want to print something? Oh, that'll be a mouthful: System.out.println("meow");Random tips and tricks
- If you're on a windows machine, please go download Notepad++. It's the text editor that doesn't suck.
- If you're on a mac, TextWrangler is a nice, free text editor.
- Notepad and TextEdit are designed for writing words/prose/text, not code.
- If you're going to program in Python, I recommend making Notepad++ or whatever other text editor replace every tab character with 4 spaces. Python cares a lot about indenting, and tab characters are invisible. Just make them automatically become spaces.
Now what?
Maybe the best thing I can do is collect stories of people learning to program via the internet - how they learned and what they made - and then pass those along to other people!Also, go play with Processing.
I've been using Codecademy every day since learning about it on your survey. I am learning so much! I had an HTML class in middle school and have remembered most of the basics, which I use when blogging. I found out that are tons of basics that I never learned and I have already discovered lots of useful stuff, including stuff that I was taught wrong. I have also done some dabbling in Javascript on Codecademy and I really like it too, although I do find it super frustrating at times. I was recommended a different Javascript basics class by one of my Google+ friends and it was way more complicated and frustrating, even though it taught the same things. From my experience, I would definitely recommend Codecademy for beginners learning HTML, CSS, and Javascript.
ReplyDeleteOh and after reading this post, I'm definitely going to check out Python,, but not through Codecademy.
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