When did programming start making sense to you?

Hi Lee, I think it's great you started programming and keep your head up! :)

Back in school I didn't code that much and when I joined the university and started my computer science studies I was totally overwhelmed. I think the biggest problem of learning to program is that the learning curve is usually to effing steep.

I do believe that it's very important to take things slowly at the beginning. Unfortunately I don't have a good ruby-reference and I've not programmed in ruby yet.

But the first book that really helped me was "How To Think Like A Computer Scientist" by Allen B. Downey. It's a free book with a Creative Commons license. There are different versions for java, python or C++. I've used the java version and that really helped me to get my head around programming.

Here is the link: How To Think Like A Computer Scientist - java

Things started making more sense when I worked through one of Cay Horstmann's books, Java For Everyone. Going through all the great examples step by step helped me understand the basic building blocks.

Hey Lee,

I started to program when I was 11 years old. I might be in the minority, but I found that everything really clicked for me when I learned C and C++. But, I don't think I'm jaded by the process of learning a new language. Any time I want to learn a language I've never worked with before, I always get the feeling like I'm not going to be able to understand the core constructs of the language.

For example, and for whatever it's worth, I think Ruby could be a tough first language to learn. That's just my opinion, and it's not because Ruby is a tough language. I think that there's a lot of cutesy things to wrap your mind around -- conveniently cutesy things, no doubt -- but I don't know that I personally would have felt that I truly understand how to program if I just started playing around with Ruby. Everybody's different, but I can certainly understand the feeling of being confounded by a lot of the introductory Ruby tutorials.

I think Matthias' advice is great. I used to teach programming to college students, and the most important thing I could impart on them is the notion that programming is really a conflation of two skills: 1) the ability to analytically solve a problem and 2) the ability to semantically and syntactically translate that problem into a high-level programming language.

My biggest advice to you would be to keep working hard. Practice makes perfect and it allows to you get your hands dirty and learn how things are supposed to work; even more so, it allows you the ability to experiment and see what happens when things don't work the way you might have expected them to work. Everybody's different, and some people take longer than others; as long as you feel like you're getting something out of the education that you're seeking (even if a large amount of it goes over your head the first time through), you're on the right track.

As always, feel free to hit up the Treehouse forums if you feel like your struggling with any of the programming concepts covered on Treehouse. There's an awesome community here that would be more than happy to help you out!

Best wishes,

J.T.

Ok, this may seem a little weird (well, actually, it is), but I don't remember. I owned my first computer at age two, an iMac G3 (the first model with a slot-loading drive). I started testing the waters of programming at age six with AppleScript, and it just went on from there. So now, when I look at code, I can read it. It's like reading a book to me. So I'd say that nothing caused it, other than experience.

So, my advise: don't give up. Dream of great ideas, and try to learn how to make them. Imagination is what made coding come alive for me, and I'm sure it will make it come alive for you.

Happy coding!

Thanks guys

Interesting to read other people's journeys into coding.

Thanks for the input :)