Learning software engineering

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Hello,I'm a total beginner to programming or anything code related. But I've made a decision to go into software engineering,I like the idea behind it and I want to challenge myself. Please where do I start from,what's step 1.

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<pre>Hello,I'm a total beginner to programming or anything code related. But I've made a decision to go into software engineering,I like the idea behind it and I want to challenge myself. Please where do I start from,what's step 1.

Posted 20-Mar-21 7:51am

Member 14788459

Updated 20-Mar-21 9:37am

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2 solutions

Solution 1

Quote:
where do I start from,what's step 1.

You have to know that you can do pretty much anything in any language, simply some languages are harder for beginners because there is more pitfalls to handle.
You need to master a set of techniques that are the basis of the job and are not linked to a language.

Advices:
- Start with an easy/safe language: VB, Java, C#, not C or C++. I do not recommend to start with Python either because of the usage of indentation.
- Read documentation / Follow tutorials (a lot of them)
- Start with tiny/useless projects, the purpose is to learn programming, not doing something useful.
- Start with console mode programs (no fancy graphics, no mouse)
- Learn debugger (an incredible learning tool)
Debugger - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[^]
Mastering Debugging in Visual Studio 2010 - A Beginner's Guide[^]
- A problem ? Google is your friend.
- Learn one or more analyze methods, E.W. Djikstra/N. Wirth Stepwize Refinement/top-Down method is a good start.
Structured Programming.pdf[^]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top-down_and_bottom-up_design[^]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structured_programming[^]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edsger_W._Dijkstra[^]
https://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/ewd03xx/EWD316.PDF[^]
Program Development by Stepwise Refinement[^]
- Learn Algorithms and Data-Structures.
GitHub - The-Art-of-Computer-Programming-Books: "Everyday life is like programming, I guess. If you love something you can put beauty into it." ? Donald E. Knuth[^]
Skiena The Algorithm Design Manual
- Learn Boole algebra
- Learn SQL
- Learn Databases design and Administration
Introduction to database design[^]
1NF, 2NF, 3NF and BCNF in Database Normalization | DBMS Tutorial | Studytonight[^]
- Learn Regular Expressions

Interesting link:
stanford.edu: Learn to Program[^]
CodersLegacy - Imparting knowledge to the Future[^]

There is no shortcut to knowledge, no one can learn for you, you are the only one that can do it.
Remember the exercises and little projects are not here to make something useful, they are here to teach you programming.

My most important part is probably: Learn one or more analyze methods.

Posted 20-Mar-21 8:01am

Patrice T

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Member 14788459 20-Mar-21 14:28pm

@patrice T,thanks so much,so much to learn,I'll learn them according to how you've arranged them

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RickZeeland · Accepted Answer · 2021-03-20T09:37:00

Solution 3

There are lots of opinions on what might be the best beginner language, and you will have to take these with a (big) grain of salt.
Here you can see an overview with votes from the users of Slant: best-programming-language-to-learn-first[^]
The problem is that you probably will be dazzled by all the options available, so try to keep calm and don't panic :)

Also see: best-websites-to-learn-to-code[^]

Posted 20-Mar-21 9:37am

RickZeeland

Updated 20-Mar-21 9:47am

v2

Comments

Member 14788459 20-Mar-21 15:48pm

The thing is I came across a website(link below) of a guy showing how he went from newbie to a software engineer,and I thought to myself,if I learn exactly everything he learnt and be very good at just those things, will it mean I've arrived at my destination to becoming a software engineer?

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-i-went-from-newbie-to-software-engineer-in-9-months-while-working-full-time-460bd8485847/amp/

The things he learnt aren't as many as what the answer recommended I learn and I would like to know why that is

RickZeeland 20-Mar-21 15:58pm

FreeCodeCamp seems to be very popular, but it's not my cup of tea as a lot of popular languages like C# seem to be missing. Also I have some objections to the article as it seems more salary oriented than focusing on becoming a good programmer. But if salary is your prime concern that might be an option for you.

Member 14788459 20-Mar-21 16:22pm

Yes it is,I want it to take it as a career path. After I've gotten the knowledge need for me to get paid I plan to learn as much as I can till I die. So what do you advice sir

RickZeeland 20-Mar-21 16:28pm

Then I would recommend edX https://www.slant.co/topics/965/viewpoints/30/~best-websites-to-learn-to-code~edx
These are free courses from universities, you will only need to pay for the certicate.
And for getting a well paid job, certificates are quite important.

Member 14788459 20-Mar-21 16:29pm

Thank you very much sir. I'll look into it