Teach Yourself Programming in Ten Years

[nrg_alpha]

I was at the local bookstore earlier today (I love bookstores.. so long as you don't purchase anything, it's like a giant library, only you take the books home with you ) and the computer programming section had its fair share of Sam's Teach yourself <insert programming language name here> in 21 days collection.

 

Somewhat ironic considering I ran into this as well:

http://www.norvig.com/21-days.html

 

No doubt, trying to learn a language in a matter of days is absurd (granted, I take it those books are basically a marketing spin to get people to buy what is really nothing more than a rudimentary basic introduction to the syntax and whatnot [i suppose those titles are to lure people into thinking, hey, I can learn this in 21 days! Cool! - obviously, we know the outcome of that]. Could be an usefuly spring board to broader studies for many people I'd wager.

 

In any case, it's an interesting read (in the event you haven't read it yet), and brings up very valid points.

[premiso]

Yea, I attempted to use one of those when I started programming. I got through maybe the first chapter when I decided it was BS and decided to just try and create scripts I wanted, such as a file system stat counter, and learn that way. It worked fairly well

 

But I actually started with Javascript and cookies as I wanted a hit counter for the user. But I learned most of that from Webmonkey.com. Either way, yea those books are kind of a joke in my opinion.

[oni-kun]

Yea, I attempted to use one of those when I started programming. I got through maybe the first chapter when I decided it was BS and decided to just try and create scripts I wanted, such as a file system stat counter, and learn that way. It worked fairly well

 

But I actually started with Javascript and cookies as I wanted a hit counter for the user. But I learned most of that from Webmonkey.com. Either way, yea those books are kind of a joke in my opinion.

 

I know what you mean, half the codes that come out of books like that look like they were written in the '60s and are not fun to copy and have to check every single character for error.

 

I created my own site and did the same, just created whatever I wanted, challenged myself, and over a period of months learned how to make extended objects, sanitize and secure data, create my own purposeful functions for projects, And if it was bad code it would simply not cut what I wanted, being a perfectionist i'd research and look at examples and make it perfect, and retain all that.

[Daniel0]

It's not absurd learning a language in a few days. It just depends on your prior experience with programming. Of course the people with that kind of experience are not the target audience for those books.

[Mchl]

Learning syntax and basic usage in a few days. That's entirely possible, although probably not by people who buy 'in 21 days' books.

 

It might take considerably longer to learn best practices, quirks, or memorise common API.

[oni-kun]

Learning syntax and basic usage in a few days. That's entirely possible, although probably not by people who buy 'in 21 days' books.

 

It might take considerably longer to learn best practices, quirks, or memorise common API.

 

Yeah, it's more of a 'reference manual' of sorts. It's the equivalent (for most) of stating 'this is a car', but neglecting to show you have to drive it.

[nrg_alpha]

It's not absurd learning a language in a few days. It just depends on your prior experience with programming. Of course the people with that kind of experience are not the target audience for those books.

 

Well that's the context I mean when I say it's absurd.. I think those books are geared towards relative newcomers to the language (and perhaps programming in general - if not totally new, probably fairly new with little experience).

[xcoderx]

i too bought 2 books of sam's but to be honest until i started to take em at class and asked my teacher to explain i understood not too much. so now i realize buying this books without any knowledge of the prog launguage its of no use buying lol. its rubish teach urself javascript in 24hr.

[RaythMistwalker]

i do same as everyone else, learn with experience. I'm well experienced with many "BASIC" programming languages and also MSL (mIRC scripting Language) and just started PHP a few days ago to make a member section for my website. This turned into a huge project which is now pretty much finished and i did 98% the coding myself with help from this forum.

 

So yeah, i agree it is easier if you have experience since you get to learn the basic format and stuff.

[Adam]

Ha somehow I don't think a book titled "teach yourself xxx in ten years" would sell quite so well!

 

I have rented some of these style of books in the past from college, but as others have said it's basically just a starting guide that you could just as easily get on the internet these days; and wouldn't have to type every bit of example code out yourself.

[KevinM1]

What I find interesting about these kinds of books is the psychology behind them.  They're aimed at people who want results while doing as little work as possible ("Only 3 days?  Score!") to achieve those results.  It seems similar to the various "you can lose weight by eating fast food" ads that are plastered on TV.  Yeah, eating a Subway sandwich or, laughably, something from Taco Bell's so-called "Drivethru Diet Menu," may be healthy eating, but none of it matters without the other component: exercise.  It indirectly describes the work ethic of our culture, IMO.

 

Someone won't be able to become a professional programmer by merely reading these books in the same way they won't get healthy by merely changing their diet.  Hard work is required.