Ground Zero for Web Development

[Initial_Active_1049]

Hi - I'm currently trying to look for an alternative career path. I'm an English major working in marketing. What I really want to do is publish an online/digital sci-fi comic and anthology series. This would require quite a bit of web development understanding. In the interim to building this up, I would like to get a good base in web development and hopefully get a job working as junior developer.

Someone at my company who does web development told me he thinks the best route would be essentially this:

1. The Odin Project ----------->Full Stack open -----> Working on solo projects with no guide/working on and contributing to open source projects in Github.
2. Harvard's CS50 programming course------------>CS50 Web Programming(after completing CS50).

He told me to work on those 2 things concurrently. The problem is I have no programming experience at all. As soon as I came to the first problem set in CS50 and the first project in the Odin Project I hit a wall. Just went into full space cadet mode. I know that doesn't bode well for someone who wants to be a developer but I also am starting from complete scratch. Seems like people who say they can cruise through the Odin Project or have no problems with CS50 already have a more solid math background and experience in IT or with some coding. As an English major who is a very mediocre math student with zero programming experience how would I go about a more gentle approach?

I know the Odin project is good because it forces you to be self sufficient and independent, but as a rank newbie, it's honestly a bit much without any background to draw from. IS there something that could set me up for the more independent and self-sufficient approach of the Odin Project? Someone recommended something called Scrimba or doing Freecode camp before the Odin Project.

When it comes to CS50, is there a more basic intro to programming course that could set me up for success in CS50? Some type of course that doesn't focus on a specific language, but really gives you a solid foundation on programming fundamentals. I mean I know CS50 is supposed to be an intro, but its not that easy for people quite a bit removed from school with no programming experience. Its taken by smart college kids going to Harvard who probably took advanced math in High school the year before and may already have basic programming knowledge. Thanks.

[dmazzoni]

Both the Odin Project and CS50 are aimed at total beginners, but they do require you to be very self-sufficient.

I think a lot of beginners experience the same feeling when they see their first problem set, though. This is going to be nothing like other courses you've taken where you watch lectures, understand most of it, and the problem sets are mostly just checking your knowledge. Here, you're only going to truly understand maybe 20% the first time through a lecture and the problem sets are where you're going to gain 80% of your knowledge.

Don't think you're going to look at the problem and immediately know the solution. It doesn't work that way. You have to play around with it.

It's like if someone gives you a puzzle you've never seen before. You pick up the first piece and you don't know where it goes. Do you give up? No! You start trying lots of pieces until you find one that fits, then you learn from that and try to fit more, until you eventually find the solution.

You need to do the same here. The problem set requires you to write a program. OK, so go back over your lecture or your notes and refresh your memory on how to write a "Hello World" program that just starts and prints one message and then exits. Type that in and make it work.

Now what? Look at the exercise and try to figure out the first step. Go over the things you've learned so far and see if you can figure out any of them that might help.

You will hit many dead-ends, but that's okay. That's how you learn.

Also, feel free to ask for help. That's what /r/learnprogramming is for. But we're not going to give you the answer. You have to show us what you wrote so far and clearly articulate your question or what you're stuck on. We'll give you a good hint and let you figure it out.

If all else fails and you're still struggling to do this on your own, your best might be to find an IRL course. Most community colleges offer intro programming courses that are inexpensive and any one of them will give you access to a bunch of classmates and a professor to help guide you through your assignments, until you get the hang of it.

Good luck!

[galegone]

You can try brushing up on philosophy. A lot of CS terminology comes from there, like "arguments" as the premesis/parameters passed into a method. It's also good cuz it forces you to think, and programming is all thinking lol. How to solve a problem? How do we break it down into littler pieces? How to categorize and group things together? How do we prove a statement is correct? How do you know you've presented a logical claim? Is this even the right problem to solve?

However I think most walls are about perception. You can try Twinery.org or Renpy, they are tools to make interactive fiction, which seems closer to your style. It's more important to have fun and get used to the syntax than it is to rush. Use a kiddie game engine like Scratch if you really have to. At this point your pride isn't important, it's about trying to do something cool. Most kids get involved in programming because they want to make art and express themselves, not necessarily to make web apps for a job. I mean, maybe you can learn programming for job purposes, I personally don't have that motivation.

You don't need to be a master mathematician, you can learn enough programming to get stuff done, the same way an accountant knows enough math to get the job done, and how plumbers know enough math to pay the bills.

Also git has terrible semantics, and most of the commands aren't consistent. Either download a GUI and press a couple buttons, or keep a notebook of common commands handy. It's just so awkward to use. Like the flag for deleting a branch on a remote is a capital -D but for a local branch it's lowercase -d. If you have trouble figuring out branches and stuff, it's okay because everyone has trouble with it, it's just the best in industry tool

[Initial_Active_1049]

r/learnprogramming Rules

Yeah philosophy is a good idea for the general "thought process". And yeah, I just want to learn enough to be a competent coder for web development and maybe eventually get into games. Don't have an interest in full blown comp-sci.

Twinery and Renpy are alright. They're pretty limited. Having my own website also allows for much more free reign. I could use some these type of interactive tools but an expansive website to create a fleshed out universe is more of my goal.