Programming is a very useful and rewarding hobby. There are few better feelings than when someone sees you using a program you helped make your life easier and says it looks really useful. Most people really want to be able to do something on their computer or cell phone at some point in their lives and just can't afford it. If you know a programming language, there is often a reasonable chance that you can write a program to do the task yourself. While there are a large number of programming languages, many of them have a lot in common; this means that once you learn one language well enough, in most cases you will learn a new language much faster.

Limit

One thing that all new programmers should understand is the amount of time it takes to learn a programming language. Although as an expert you can write many programs quickly, keep in mind that it takes years for many programs to be created by a whole team of expert developers. So it's important to understand that knowing one programming language or even multiple languages ​​isn't enough to write some of the more complex programs you've seen. Don't think of this new hobby as a way to save a lot of money, as it will be difficult to write your own versions of most of the programs you now have to pay for.

The most important thing a new programmer should know is that the book "Learn to program in 24 hours" is simply not true. A more accurate title would be "Learn to Code in 10,000 Hours". If you spend 24 hours or a week learning a language, you're not building the next Windows or a new, advanced game. It is possible to learn how to write programs in 10 minutes, and all you need to learn a new language is your favorite search engine, but you will not be an expert. The only way to become an expert is like learning the violin; The answer is practice, practice, and more practice.

Choose your first language

Now that we've explored the limitations and addressed some of the more unrealistic expectations, those of you who still want to learn to code will be happy to know that programming isn't that hard to get started and won't cost you a lot of money. Money. If you're reading this article online, you already have the resources to get started with multiple languages, so let's take a look at what your first language should be.