So You Want to Learn to Program

Intro

Learning to program isn’t easy. It requires a growth mindset, and the knowledge that your brain can learn things. Natural talent is overrated.

Resources

The following are resources that I found helpful when I started my journey. It’s definitely heavy on the Ruby, because that’s where I wanted to go and it’s what the program I was entering required. This list is by no means exhaustive or comprehensive. Google “learn to program” and you’ll find an embarrassment of resources.

These are just the places I point people when they say they want to program.

Websites:

There are a lot out there, but these are the ones I learned on.

Codecademy.com: This was one of my first stops on the programming trail. While this is a good place to start if you want to demystify how something works and if you just want to try things out, I would recommend spending some time programming in your terminal first and foremost.
Team Treehouse: This is where I usually go when I need to learn a new technology or get a refresher on something. If you don’t mind paying for content, this is the place to go.

Learn The Hard Way:

It sounds daunting, but this series just tells you what to do and you do it. You learn by copying, but it makes sure to make you question why you’re doing what you’re doing. It even helps with the setup and installation of things you will need.

Books:

Learn to Program, by Chris Pine: An entertaining book that works at making code accessible to all.
How to Count, by Steven Frank: Computers count. But not like people. So here’s how to do count like your computer.

There’s Always More

And trying to keep track of it all is a daunting task. So if none of these seem to peak your interest, try googling. I hear that that search engine is pretty good at finding things.