Where do I start to learn how to code?

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Mandatory reading

>>58801037
Fuck that's actually pretty deep. Unfortunately I don't have this problem and simply love computers and want to learn more.

>>58801019
It depends on <em>why</em> you want to learn how to write code.

So first, ask yourself: why do I want to learn how to code?

What do you want to achieve through writing code? Do you want to make websites, games?

>>58801019
Actually, just go take cs50 on edx.org. It'll land you on a path that will help you determine what you want to do.

>>58801060
I want to learn how to code because it'll give me more experience for future jobs and it is very neat.

One of my goals is to make games, yes. I wish to go into computer science in college so it'll help me during that time, but just being able to have more control over your computer is something not many people realize how important it can be.

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Once, I came near the realm of competent programming I hated it.

It's not magic. EVERY. LITTLE. THING. happens because somebody built something you're using to do it or because you built it.

I wanted to program because I wanted to understand what was going on top to bottom. I learned I could only program if I forced myself to forget everything above and below the level of abstraction I was working at. This removes 99% of the fun / goal I had.

There is something strangely awesome about seeing stuff you wrote running in a production environment but it's only magic to other people. To you it's the sum of all the fucked up code you didn't get to fix, the tradeoffs and code smells and poorly implemented things.

I'm sticking to the sysadmin side of things now because the dev side isn't for me.

also: asp....? really?

>>58801037
saw that thread when it happened.
shit hit so close to home that i actually turned off my pc and had to find something to do that wasnt depressing. which meant taking a nap.

>>58801118

I want to recommend web development. I think it's a great introduction because in a matter of minutes, you can start seeing significant changes on your screen. Check out freeCodeCamp.com, it'll introduce you to HTML/CSS/JavaScript, and a few other languages. It also has a great community willing to help you with whatever you need.

>>58801143
you were just a shit programmer. you need to know what environment your code executes in (vm/interpreter, architecture/instruction set, hardware resources/behavior/quirks) in order to write a performant and well-optimized program.

you need to understand the external libraries used by your program, what they're meant to be used for, and how to use them correctly. this is especially relevant for ui/display libraries.

you need to know how your clients or users will interact with your software.

if you pigeonhole yourself into thinking at one level of abstraction, you'll end up with code which 'looks good' but isn't functional, isn't optimized, isn't maintainable or extensible, and isn't good.

>>58801019
Learn how to "how to code".

>>58801019

Download yourself a few of the learn whatever in 24 hours book PDFs. Chew on and work through the examples/exercises and see if that helps you.

I'd recommend Perl and C.

Maybe check out the art of assembly if you're a masochist.