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Hey there!

It's Sunday, which means that it's time for an email packed with some great content, just for you.

Learning Programming

As you may know, I've just started a new semester.

We are very focused on designing (and evaluating) user interfaces, building systems, and object-oriented programming. As such, we're learning C#.

I've been programming for quite a while now. So I thought that I'd give my few cents on what it's like to pick up a new programming language.

I spent a lot of time during my summer vacation learning C++. Mostly to do coding exercises - which I've

shared my solutions to

.

That really helped expedite the process of learning C#. I already knew C - so learning C++ wasn't hard to do. And then, learning C# on top of that is not proving very difficult either.

I'm definitely not an expert yet. But once you learn the fundamentals of programming, it gets much easier picking up a new language. A book like

Composing Programs

can help you do that.

I once shared my advice for someone who wants to learn how to program. The following points are my advice. If you have any questions, feel free to reply to the email - I might be able to help!

1. Learn the basics and master those first. You can always try the exciting things later.

2. Machine learning is exciting. But there are huge requirements unless you want to depend on tutorials.

3. Controversial, but learn a lot of different things. That's what I've done. Gives you a broader understanding of how everything works together. You don't have to go deep on everything, but try to know the basics.

4. Go deep on some subjects. Those that interest you the most.

5. Practice. A lot. Sometimes, quantity > quality.

6. Always be coding.

7. Don't get stuck in tutorial hell — try on your own. Read the documentation. Search Google for answers.

8. Courses provide great structure, and if you have a good lecturer, you'll learn a lot. But don't mindlessly follow along. Put your own twist on things.

9. Fail fast and fail a lot. Go fast and break things along the way. You'll build a deeper understanding by fixing things you don't understand.

10. You don't have to have a Computer Science degree.

"I’ve always had the view that how successful you are is really a function of how you deal with failure. If you deal with failure well and you persist, you have a high probability of being successful." — Bill Ackman

To your success. Regards,

Christian Bager Bach Houmann