There’s always demand for sharp, talented engineers.
Computer science is a booming industry in the US —
and it pays extremely well.There’s always demand for sharp, talented engineers, which is why learning how to code can seem like an attractive option.
But, as is the case with any new skill, it can be difficult to know
where to start. Here are a few steps you should take early on and
programming languages that are best-suited for beginners.
Before you learn a language, start with ‘drag and drop’ programming.
“Drag and drop” programming is a basic technique that allows you to
build code by dragging and dropping blocks or some other visual cue
rather than manually writing text-based code.
It makes it easy to understand the basics of programming without
getting caught up in meticulous character placement, according to Hadi
Partovi, co-founder of a website that offers online coding courses
called Code.org.
“Once you’ve learned the basic concepts using drag and drop, you’ll
immediately want to learn [how to] do the real thing,” Partovi said to
Business Insider.
There are plenty of programs out there that can help you get started with drag and drop programming, including
MIT Scratch and
Code.org’s Code Studio, and
Google Blocky.
Python is one of the easiest languages to start with.
Python is an easy language for beginners, according to Partovi,
because there’s less of an emphasis on syntax. So, if you forget your
parentheses or misplace a few semicolons, it shouldn’t trip you up as
much as it might if you were coding in a different language.
But Javascript is one of the most useful languages to know as a developer.
Javascript isn’t as easy as Python, but it runs on every single
platform out there — Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android among others. Every
single Web browser, and even new types of devices like smartwatches use
Javascript at some capacity, Partovi said.
“Once you reach that level of critical mass, it’s not going away,” Partovi said.
Once you have the hang of Javascript, try playing with Ruby and Ruby on Rails.
Ruby on Rails is a great tool that can help you with the backend
aspect of your programming. Although Ruby and Ruby on Rails have similar
names, there’s actually an important difference. Ruby is a scripting
language, just like Python, but Ruby on Rails is a Web app framework
built on Ruby. In other words, Ruby is the language, while Ruby on Rails
is a tool that makes it easy to use the Ruby language to build
websites.
What makes Ruby and Ruby on Rails so attractive, according to
Partovi, is that there’s very little prototyping involved. This means
that once you have the code written, it’s pretty easy to get the final
product up and running.
BONUS: Get familiar with HTML…you’re going to need it if you want to build a website.
While HTML isn’t a programming language in the sense that Python,
Ruby, and Javascript are, you still need it to build a website. HTML is
used to describe how your website looks, while other languages like
Javascript power the interactive components, such as what happens when
you clock a button on the site.
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