Learn To Program

There are many ways to learn to program, and each has its allies and enemies. There has never been an issue on which experts are so violently divided as on learning to program. One of the most common approaches is to learn to program by using a very easy, and very limiting language. For example, many people learn to program visual basic before moving on to anything else. This has some advantages. Visual Basic has an easy interface, where it is easy to see what every function does, so if you have no experience with anything but windows, it is an easy step to learn to program in it.

Unfortunately, when you learn to program with visual basic, you don't really learn to program. You see, they simplify everything so much with this language, that you get no grasp of the inner workings of computer software, or the methods of programing design and flowcharting. These are the real problems, the real things that you need to learn in programming, so in my opinion, this approach is kind of stupid. The best way to learn to program is to dive right into it, if you ask me.

The MIT approach to learning to program is, in my opinion the best one. It is also free. They have their textbooks, and lectures available online, so that anyone can learn to program from the comfort of his or her own house. Their introduction to computer science course has you learn to program in LISP, a sophisticated language used in artificial intelligence research. When you learn to program with LISP, you learn every step of programming, from the design of the assembler on up, so that when you are done with the course, you will be able to really think like a programmer.

This is different from the approach so many colleges are using nowadays. They are not interested in turning out real computer programmers, but instead they want people who know how to work as software engineers in a business environment. You will not learn to program, but instead learn how to follow instructions and do routine software work as you are told to. Programming is not about following instructions, but about learning how to solve problem, how best to make the machine accomplish a specific goal. Honestly, it is almost better to learn to program on your own than at one of these schools, which aim to crush your imagination and wonder at computers.