Best Way to Learn to Program

Posted by Guy Lecky-Thompson Apr 16, 2008

Programming isn't hard.

It used to be - back in the days when everything was fresh and new. I'm not even talking about 50 years ago, either. I started in the 80s, and even then, there was a sense of newness about programming.

And so, there was little in the way of book-learning. That is, we read the manuals, and the programming language primers, but in the early days there were no tutorials (there was no Internet, either!), and very few of these ubiquitous 'Teach Yourself' books.

How did we learn? By example. By doing. By trying out stuff.

These days, we can put a modern spin on the basic premise. In a recent book, I introduced the concept of glue code, and was pretty impressed when IBM picked up on it. You can, if you're interested, pick up the article at the folling url: www.ibm.com/developerworks/websphere/library/techarticles/0702_shields/0702_shields.html

Glue code is a great learning metholdogy, too. It will help you to learn how to program, save time, and teach valuable mashup skills.

One example area is in the use of AHK (AutoHotKey : windows-programming.suite101.com/article.cfm/autohotkey_windows_macro_scripting) and JavaScript together to provide a solution whereby Web page interaction can be automated. That's the power of mashup at work.

At some point I'll write it up, but in the meantime remember that the Internet is full of little snippets that you can use - be they tools or source code - to create your own projects. And the learning experience will be great!