Programming

1. 1
Take an introductory course in one (or both) of the following disciplines:
Logic
Discrete mathematics

1. 2
Learn database concepts such as tables, views/queries and procedures. You can use
any simple database package to do this, such as:
MS Access
DB V
Fox Pro
Paradox
MySQL is a good database to learn because its free, commonly used, and
databases are commonly accessed with SQL queries
2. 3
Decide what type of programmer you want to be. Programmers generally fall under
one of the following categories:
Web programmer
Desktop application programmer
Operating system (OS) oriented programmer(tied to a single operating
system or set of operating systems)
Platform-independent programmer
Distributed applications programmer
Library/platform/framework/core programmer
System programmer
Kernel programmer
Driver programmer
Compiler programmer
Programming scientist


1. 4
Learn the technologies and programming languages related to your programming field of
choice.



Method 1 of 6: Web Programming
1.
1
Know what Web programming entails. Web applications are software components designed to
work on top of the internet architecture. This means that the applications are accessed through
a web browser software such as Firefox or Internet Explorer. Being built on top of the Internet
architecture does not necessarily require an active connection to the internet. It means that
Web applications are built on top of standard web technologies such as:
HTTP
FTP
POP3
SMTP
TCP
IP protocols
HTML
XML
ColdFusion
ASP
JSP
PHP
ASP.NET
2. 2
Browse many diverse websites to learn about how they usually look. (Right click, then click View
Source or press F12.) Look for diversity in the type/content of the website, not the quantity of
websites visited. Generally, you will need to visit at least one of each of the following types of
websites:
Corporate presence sites (commercial corporations, not-for-profit
corporate/organizations, governmental organizations)
Web indexing engines (search engines, meta search sites, specialized search engines,
directories)
Data mining sites
Personal sites
Informational/encyclopedic pages (wikis, data sheets, technical specifications, and
manuals listing directories, blogs and journals, news and news agencies sites, yellow
pages, etc.)
Social sites (social portals, bookmarking sites, note-taking sites)
Collaborative sites (this includes other categories mentioned above, such as wikis and
blogs)
3. 3
Learn at least one brainstorming technique/method and a software that is used to implement
that method. For example: brainstorming diagrams and MS Visio.
4.
4
Get familiar with website structuring. This is creating conceptual web diagrams, site-maps, and
navigation structures.
5.
5
Take a crash course on graphics design. Try to learn at least one graphics editing/manipulation
software package (optional, but strongly recommended)
6. 6
Learn the basics of the internet infrastructure. This includes getting a basic idea about:
Base Web services protocols (HTTP, FTP, SMTP, and POP3 or IMAP4)
Web server software (preferably, one for the platform you will be working on mostly)
Web browsing software.
Email server and client software
7. 7
Learn the HTML and CSS languages. You might also want to get the "What You See Is What You
Get (WYSIWYG)" software package for editing HTML.
8.
8
Learn XML and XML related technologies, such as XSL and XPath (optional but recommended).
9.
9
Create simple static websites until you are familiar with and comfortable around HTML.
10.
10
Learn a client-side scripting language. Most users either learn Javascript or VBScript, but some
learn Perl and DHTML.
11. 11
Familiarize yourself with the client-side scripting language you learned. Try to reach your
potential using only that language. Only go to the next step after you've at least become familiar
with your client-side scripting language.
12. 12
Learn at least one server-side programming language. If you choose to restrict yourself to one
server software, learn one of the programming languages supported by that software. If not,
learn at least one programming language on each server software.
13. 13
Create a pilot project for yourself after you finish learning the server-side programming
language.
14. 14
Obtain your own website and start experimenting online within your own page.





Method 2 of 6: Desktop Application Programming
1.
1
Know what you're getting into with desktop application programming. Most desktop
programmers write code for business solutions, so getting an idea about businesses, their
organizational and financial structure will be a big time-saver.
2.
2
Learn about the different computer hardware architectures. An introductory level
course in digital circuits design and another in computer architecture is useful; however,
some see it as being advanced for a starting point, so reading two or three tutorial articles
(such as this one and this one) might suffice. Then you can go back to this step later, after
you learn your first programming language.


1. 3
Learn an entry-level (kids') programming language. Don't be shy to learn such a
language just because you're older than being called a "kid". These programming
languages can ease up the pain in learning your first programming language
tremendously. However, this step is optional. It can also be done before the preceding
step
2. 4
Get an introduction to the procedural, object oriented, and functional programming
paradigms.
3. 5
Take an introductory course in one of the procedural programming languages. No
matter what language you choose later to be your language of choice, it will require
procedural programming at some level. Also, procedural programming is reported by
most programmers to be the easiest to use as a starting point to get the idea of
programming in general.
4. 6
Learn at least one advanced modeling technique such as UML or ORM.
5.
7
Start writing some small console or console-like applications. You can make use of
common small exercises in programming languages books. For this, choose a tool for
writing programs in the programming language you are writing in.
6.
8
Take a more advanced course in your chosen programming language. Make sure you
understand the following concepts well and that you can apply them with relative ease
before going forward:
Inputting and outputting information to users of a program.
The logical flow and the execution flow of programs in procedural languages.
Declaring, assigning and comparing variables.
Branching programming constructs such as if..then..else and select/switch..case.
Looping constructs such as while..do, do..while/until, for..next.
Your programming language syntax for creating and calling procedures and
functions.
Data types and manipulating them.
User defined data types (records/structs/units) and their use.
If your language supports overloading functions, understand it.
The memory accessing methods of your language of choice (pointers, peeking,
etc.)
If your language supports operators overloading, understand it.
If your language supports delegates/function pointers, understand it
7. 9
Apply the advanced techniques you've learned.
Object-oriented paradigm.
8.
10
Take an introductory course in at least one more programming language in another
programming paradigm. It is recommended to learn one programming language of each
paradigm, and most advanced programmers do, however, you usually start with one,
work for a while applying your knowledge and practicing it, then learn the other later on,
after you already had a real-life experience in programming. Try one of the following
language areas:
Logic programming paradigm.
Functional programming paradigm.
9.
11
Try to compare the two programming languages you learned so far. Evaluate the
strengths and weaknesses of each one. Usually this is done by:
Taking simple samples of your early work in the first programming language and
re-write it using the second programming language.
Creating a new project and try implementing it using both languages. Sometimes,
depending on your choice of project and languages, you might not be able to
implement the project in one of the languages!
Writing a cheat-sheet or summary-table comparisons between similar constructs
in the two languages and features unique to each of the languages.
Try finding ways to mimic features that is unique to one of the two languages
using the other language.
10. 12
Learn visual programming concepts using one of the languages you learned. Almost
all programming languages have versions/libraries that support visual programming and
others supporting console or console-like programming. This can be accomplished by:
Get an introduction to event-driven programming. Most visual programming
relies in some level on events and events handling (using the programming
language you choose).
Try as much desktop software as you can and understand what the software does.
Most software development companies offer beta-testing versions of their
products which you can use to test the software. Keep up-to-date on user interface
advancements.
Read some articles or tutorials on graphical user interfaces.
11.
13
Start applying your knowledge on small software projects you design. Try applying
your programming expertise on problems you face in your day-to-day life. For example,
write programs that rename files in mass, compares text files visually, copies the names
of files in a directory to memory/text file, and things like that. Keep it simple at first.
12.
14
Create a virtual graduation project. Complete this to the end, applying the techniques
of visual programming you learned so far.
13. 15
Widen your understanding of the visual framework/library/package you learned
before by taking advanced courses, paying extra attention to detail and learning
more tips and tricks for your framework from online resources.
14.
16
Search for other packages/libraries of visual elements for your programming
languages and learn them.
15. 17
Take a course in graphics (not graphics design). It will be very helpful for
programmers wanting to write appealing user-interface elements.
16. 18
Become a games programmer (optional). Game programming is considered, in most of
its parts, desktop programming. If you intend to become a games programmer, you will
need to learn more about game programming after you finish these steps. A graphics
course is a must for game programmers and the second language of choice in the
preceding steps should be a logic/functional programming language (preferably Prolog or
Lisp).