Learning to program in your free time

One of the biggest barriers, when trying to learn a new programming language after a long workday, is lack of time to spare. 

Having only a few minutes a day to invest for studying, we need to maximize learning by choosing a course that "sticks" at first attempt.

One course specifically designed for occupied people is The Go Programming Language Tutorial - Volume 1 on Udemy.

Its curriculum is short, focused, paced, and recursive. Here, you will not find major projects to do, just little exercises that help assimilate concepts, allowing the student to grow rapidly.

The Go Programming Language - Volume 1, introduces the language using easy examples. Although some advanced topics are covered early on, this volume teaches how to achieve programming outcomes without getting into data structures. Data structures will have its own volume in the series.

The Go Programming Language Tutorial - Volume 1

As an example, one detailed explanation hard to find anywhere is how to write to a computer file. You see, an external program runs in its own sandbox and only the computer Operating System has direct access to the computer hardware. 

The Go Programming Language Tutorial - Volume 1 takes the time to explain the implementation details of writing to file by using illustrative analogies. 

The idea is not to memorize syntax but to understand what needs to be done with the simplest example possible, and based on the curriculum covered in the first volume.

This course in programming is short but recursive and designed to teach.

Go for it,

Tony

Is it hard to learn how to program a computer?

If you have never programmed before, you may think that programming is hard or just "too involved" to mess with. 

Well, my friend, the term programming is so broad that we can't really make good sense of it in one fell swoop. 

The word "programming" has a thousand different meanings. Programming is not something we learn and master from beginning to end. It could take a lifetime to become a master programmer, but for most of us, becoming a master is not a goal or destination; we just want to take advantage of knowing a little, and do a lot with what we know.

Learning a programming language is like learning English or any other human language. Do you really know everything about the English language? Probably not.

We should learn a programming language by slowly putting it to use. Here, going slow is faster. 

I have met many programming students that jump from language to language and years later still can't create a simple calculator, or create a file with a list of their favorite music collection, but they claim to have mastered several languages in a short time. They are not aware of their limitations. 

Being aware of limitations, is a product of experience. And experience comes from creating many programming solutions, as well as failing often in the process.  So, dear friend, go slow, enjoy the ride, and put your knowledge to use.

Now, which language should you start with?

It's up to you, of course. For example, you could go the popular route by learning JavaScript. 

Well, JavaScript is a labyrinth you really don't want to get involved with as a first language.

Instead, learn a new and fresh language, something not patched, a language on the way in, with lots of potential, something minimalist and to the point.

You can visit my post about Google Trends to see what I mean:

• Google Trends: PHP vs Go or Golang vs JavaScript

If I was going to begin my programming journey right now, I would pick the Go language, also known as Golang.

Why the Go language? 

• Because it was designed by master programmers to circumvent many of the problems popular languages have encountered.  
• Go brings wisdom and experience to modern programming, and takes in consideration the latest computer technology -- things that older languages did not foresee. 
• Go is easy to start and simple to understand if you approach it with an open mind, but it may get complex later when you don't study from a well written and well-structured tutorial.

Where to go from here?

So, there you have it, if you are learning a programming language for the first time, or if you are looking for a good second programming language, go with Go (pun intended).

Just make sure you pick a good tutorial, such as
The Go Language Tutorial - Volume 1
on Udemy.

Good luck, my friend.

Tony