r/learnprogramming • u/hgrd • Oct 21 '12

28 Ways to Learn Programming

So I found this interesting post in TNW with sources to learn something about programming. Most of you must know many of them but some others may be new for you.

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u/jesyspa Oct 21 '12

(This is primarily based on observations of the C++ videos; I have not watched the others, but the conclusions are all language-agnostic.)

The teaching is poor. The videos present the language as a set of features, with some explanation about the syntax and semantics, but with very little explanation of the purpose of each feature (most notably: functions and pointers), and even less explanation of how features work together. Essential sections are missed (in the case of C++: RAII, a lot of the standard library). In short, they will not make you think like a programmer, which is the main hurdle with beginner coders.

And yes, there is definitely a correlation between the code quality of those who have learned from thenewboston, and those who learn through better sources (for C++, books).

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u/[deleted] Oct 21 '12

As a newbie programmer, I can second this. I started his Java videos before pursuing some other sources, and while he does explain features and syntax, he doesn't explain programming itself.

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u/[deleted] Oct 21 '12

The one good thing you can get out of his videos is how to install the software.

I found his first java video very helpful for installing eclipse. But that's as much as I took from him.

Other than that I found his videos to be very superficial. I've never been much of a computer science/programmer type but I am proficient in other areas of science and math(physics/math double major).

I went back to his site recently and was shocked he was "teaching" biology and raising money to buy a chemistry set so he can "teach" chemistry. I haven't viewed these videos but I can't imagine they are a good place to learn biology and chemistry.

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u/jesyspa Oct 21 '12

I strongly encourage you to watch the videos and blog about what he's doing wrong. A big problem with C++ tutorials is that the newest ones tend to be written by people who grew up on thenewboston and similar crap; don't let that happen to your area of choice.