There’s a lot to think about when you want to learn coding. You’ll need to decide why you’re interested, what kind of language you’re looking for and how much time and money you want to invest. You’ll also need to find a method and stick with it, because complex programming projects take a long time to complete, even for experienced programmers.
There are plenty of resources available to help you get started, from online courses to books and video tutorials. Many of these are free and provide a certificate when you complete them. Online courses are popular with beginners because they’re self-paced and offer the flexibility to learn at your own speed. There are courses on nearly every coding language and topic, including those from universities like Harvard’s CS50x Introduction to Computer Science.
You’ll also need a good text editor. A popular choice is Notepad++, which has features like color coding and auto-complete. You’ll also need to familiarize yourself with your computer’s console, or UNIX terminal, which allows you to run commands faster than the standard GUI. You can practice with a coding game or by working on real-time coding challenges that let you create your own programs.
Learning to code is becoming increasingly important for almost all careers. Even jobs in seemingly low-tech industries such as the arts or environmental science require some level of coding. It’s not impossible to work in these fields without coding skills, but having them can give you an edge over your competitors. Plus, it’s a great way to improve your logical thinking and problem-solving.