
Some how you didn't get to Study Computer science but your passion and desire for coding is undeniable. You can learn to code on your own. This is how
Learn from Top to Bottom.
When you have no background in Computer science, learning to code by trying to understand the principles of any programming language is the wrong route to take. You will give up before you know it. Though it may be easy for a computer science student to learn a new programming language, most of them believe Programming is difficult. That’s because they’ve been discouraged by the slow and boring nature of learning fundamentals. The best way to learn coding without a computer science background is to learn from top to bottom and by this I mean learn by trying to build something. In other words learn by duplicating what others have done and try to figure out the principle that underline the program ad you go one. Understanding the principles is key to replicating the result without having to copy what some else has done. In web development frameworks help you achieve learning from the top to bottom. Frameworks simplify complex lines of code into modules like pieces of a puzzle that you can use to achieve a particular result
Start With the Easiest Framework.
Anything you see in your browser has these three languages coming together to render what you see: -HTML, CSS, JavaScript. In layman terms (that is what I actually am anyway) HTML is like the bricks of the building, CSS is the rending that beautifies the building, JavaScript is the power that makes the building come alive. To build anything that works online, basically, you will need to learn these three. It doesn't take long to get the hang of HTML and CSS. JavaScript, however, can be overwhelming and the best way to beat this is to use JavaScript frameworks. The easiest JS framework in my opinion is Jquery.
You will later find out that jquery is loosing its steam(maybe not) but it is a great place to start learning JavaScript as a novice. There are many other frameworks out there but this is why I think Jquery is the simplest. The thrill of making something move in the browser by combining a few characters that represent a code, makes you feel like you can built the next big thing and that is just what you need to stick to learning further. The Conventional way of learning never gives you this feeling from the start. What jquery does, and all other frameworks, is to compress huge lines of code into simple methods you can call on html elements, to make something happen in your browser. For example $(#my-leg).show(), will display an element with an ID of name ‘my-leg’ in your browser. Trust me, as a beginner., you don’t want to go into the JavaScript code that will do the same thing.
Beat frustration.
Nothing is as frustrating as repeating a bunch of code line by line, code for code from a tutorial and still ending up not having it produce what you’re told it will produce. This situation is a dream killer. It could take hours even days to figure out what went wrong. The way to overcome this frustration is to work at understanding errors messages. If a piece of code does not produce what it promises to produce, majority of the cases you’re doing something wrong. So don’t ask yourself why is this thing not working? Ask, what am I not doing right? With this mindset you can go after finding solutions. The best way to do that is to inspect the debugger to see what the error says. Copy that error message and you guess right, paste in google. Many other people have faced the same error. I have learned faster digging solutions for errors than reading documentations. The way to Learn is to solve a problem. Once you get the problem solved, that knowledge sticks with you. If you’re learning any web development program, your testing environment is most likely the browser. The sweetest thing modern browsers have ever given developers is the console. Quickly inspect what’s going on with a “right-click” and “inspect” or “inspect element” or hit the F12 key on your keyboard to get there .. click the “console” tab and see the loud red error texts screaming at you. Take your time to read through and you have an indication what you may be missing. You’ll most likely find the solution a community website where someone has suggested the solution.
Read documentations.
Documentations provide one of the cleanest ways to learn a program. They are usually very detailed and with examples. The downside of documentations is that it’s often written for people who already understand some Programming language. To optimize the use of documentations, watch tutorial videos along side to see how the documentation applies. Be patient. If you do not understand what the documentation says at the moment, do not fret, ditch it and back later on.
