How do you learn to program?

Obviously, if you want to be a software developer, you need to learn to program, so let’s start this activity by looking at how to do that.

Just like learning a language, learning to program takes some patience, some practice, and a whole lot of determination.

One thing to bear in mind as you learn is that the programming community will be happy to support you. They have a large online network of open-source resources and are eager to help new programmers as they contribute to the community’s progress and advancement.

Where do I start?

If you have never programmed before, you should think about what kind of language you want to start with. If you have done some research and started looking at different languages which are wanted in your local area or in the sector you’re interested in going into, then you might want to pick one of those.

If you haven’t decided, or you’re worried that those languages seem quite complex, then the language of choice for beginners is Python. Python is great for beginners for a few reasons:

• it uses simple words for its functions such as ‘print’ and ‘input’.
• its variables and data structures are very flexible.
• you can do some really interesting things with it easily!

Whether you want to make a web application, process some data, or even make a simple game, Python has a lot of libraries (collections of code which you can use in your own code) which allow you to use it for a lot of different things.

Other good beginner languages are:

• JavaScript: a scripting language used on websites, usually learned alongside HTML and CSS
• Java: a simple object-orientated programming language
• Ruby: similar to Python, this has a very simple structure.

You will find that there are many free online courses which will teach you programming in any of these languages (and any other language you want to learn!). These courses will also teach you some of the key programming concepts which you’ll need to know about as well.

There are many books which will teach you how to program, but if you do use books, then you should always make sure that it’s a recent edition as programming languages do change over time! Languages will normally be backwards compatible (any code written in an older version will still work in the newer version) but you might be missing out on some useful new features.

How do I continue to develop?

Once you’ve got the basics of programming down, the key thing is practice, practice, practice!

Here are five ideas to think about; all of them will help you develop once you have the basics:

• There are many sites which will give you small tasks to work on and these are fantastic when you’re just starting out and you need to learn the basics. As you continue to develop your programming skills, you’ll also want to think about developing your software development skills by working with a larger code base, working in teams with other developers, and using version control to collaborate.
• One great way to begin is by checking out open-source projects on websites like GitHub. There are countless projects covering a wide range of industries that require developers, and you can typically browse through their issue tracker to pick a task and begin working on it right away.
• As you gain in confidence, you can create things like chatbots for services such as Discord or Slack.
• You might be interested in modding games, or you might even have your own idea for an app.
• If you want to get involved in your local maker or programmer community, keep an eye out for hackathons, which are usually day or weekend-long events where you compete to complete a certain task and present your work at the end for the chance at a prize.

All of these are great ways of practising your programming.

Other approaches

There are also many other ways of learning to program. You will find evening classes or events where you can learn programming by searching for local classes online.

You can also study towards a computer science qualification through your local university or further education college if you want to.

If you’re keen to get into work and want to learn while you go, there are also many apprenticeships where you can learn on-the-job which are offered to people of all ages. This can be a fantastic way of getting into software development, as you will get all the training you need and the chance to work on projects straight away.

Next steps

OK, having briefly looked in this step at how to get started as a programmer, let’s move on to look at some of the other important elements of being a software developer: the ethical aspects of the work.