The path to becoming a coder: 5 things I should have done long ago

In the past few months, I have been learning how to build iOS applications with Objective-C, and now I finally have some clues. I have to sigh, this is much harder than I thought.

Tangled, confused, frustrated, the time spent actually writing code is not even as much time as finding and fixing bugs. But when I finally got to play with the mobile app game development I made myself, I suddenly felt that all the hard work was worth it!

On the road of making apps, I learned a lot - not only about how to develop iOS apps, but also about overall planning, and even my programming skills improved. But in fact, there are many problems that can be avoided if I adopt other methods when learning Objective-C.

Integrating these experiences, if I were asked to re-learn code today, I would do this:

Find a "coding friend"

First of all, find someone with whom you can exchange your experiences "Code Friend".

A friend of mine, Josh, a Python developer who also knows Objective-C, was very grateful for the many substantive questions I asked ("How to use if statements again?"), and when I was at a loss for words When I was trying to figure it out, he would also help me debug a thing or two. It can be said that teaching and learning complement each other.

Honestly, I benefit a lot from having such a patient coder friend explain basic programming principles to me. If I had such a friend earlier, I believe I would not have taken so many detours in Objective-C.

Use all available resources

If you don’t have such a patient coder around you, then you can use the following methods to get help:

1. Stack Overflow

When you encounter specific grammar and development questions, just go to StackOverflow. However, I personally have not asked questions online because just reading other people’s questions and answers is enough.

2. Subscribe to online journals

The learning resources on the Internet are complicated and sometimes confusing for beginners. Some online journals will regularly push recent highlights to you. , allowing you to study selectively.

3. Treehouse

teaches you how to program through video lessons and built-in community forums.

4. askadev

askadev can connect you to experienced developers when you need help. I haven’t tried it myself, so I don’t know if this covers all programming languages, but one thing is good, it’s free. So next time if you encounter any problem, you can give it a try.

5. Codementor

If you don’t mind spending some money to get help from experienced developers, then give Codementor a try. It will match you with the best options, including Android, iOS, HTML, CSS, PHP, Python, etc.

6 It can also be a toaster. When you explain, you will often have an idea and suddenly think of the answer (or find something wrong).

Learn the basic principles

The reason why many things become obstacles is because of our own misunderstanding or unfamiliarity with the technology we are using.

For example, using an API means understanding how the API works, how to use POST and GET requests, and how to parse JSON data. Even how to receive JSON data needs to be known.

If you want to build an iOS application, just learning Objective-C is not enough - at least not enough to build the app I have in mind. I've made this mistake before.

What’s worse is that I often get stuck. Even though there are forum explanations, online tutorials, and book chapter explanations, they all skip some basic principles-thinking I know but actually I don’t. .

If I were asked to learn again, I would definitely master the basic knowledge of HTML and CSS. If I were asked to make an app again, I would never start blindly like now, but would lay a solid foundation first.

The first language

Any language is wealth. Even if the HTML and CSS I learned have no use yet, I still don’t think learning them is a waste of time.

Beginners can try building a website with HTML and CSS at the beginning. These are essentially markup languages, so they may not be of much help to you when building mobile or web applications. But even if it is useless, we can still gain a lot of knowledge and experience in the learning process, which will facilitate us to learn the next programming language.

If you just started learning code but don’t know where to start, just pick your favorite books, tutorials or online courses, and don’t hesitate as long as you feel ok. Once you have a specific goal, you can immediately move on to learn different programming languages.

Find a project that you really want to do

I consider myself a pretty studious person. I first learned HTML and CSS when I was a teenager, and then a few years ago. I have learned the basics of Ruby, and recently set my sights on Python.

Then I decided to learn Objective-C, but I learned Objective-C not because I liked it more, nor because I was greedy when I saw others learning it, but because I wanted to make an iOS application— —I really, really want to make one myself.

It can be said that the passion for learning Objective-C language is higher than any other language in the past.

The most important thing is that when I encountered various difficulties and when I was frustrated, I never thought about giving up - because this is a project that I really want to do. Even a small improvement is the motivation for me to persist.

If you are considering learning to code and don’t have any other constraints, choose a programming language that you are truly passionate about and that you need to build projects.

Everyone’s learning process is different, so your experience may be different from mine, but if you are starting out or thinking about learning to code, I really hope that my experience and lessons can help. You learn faster.

Receive LAMP Brothers original PHP video tutorial CD/"Essential PHP in Details" for free. For details, please contact the official customer service:

http://www.lampbrother.net