The Most Common Mistakes When Learning Programming
In this post, I would like to introduce the most common mistakes made while learning programming, if you want to become a programmer then you should read this post.
1 The mistake is spending too much time choosing a programming language.
If you want to start programming, choose any programming language. There is no such thing as one best programming language, each programming language may be better in a different situation. If you learn programming to get a good job, I recommend C #, but you might as well choose Python, Jave, Php, Ruby or JavaScript, it doesn’t matter at this stage. And if in the future you want to change the programming language, then, knowing one programming language, learning another will be much easier. Just choose the first programming language and start programming, don’t hesitate any longer which language you should choose. Just do it now.
2 The error is too much focus on choosing the right IDE.
Again, just as we spend too much time choosing a language, we also spend too much time choosing the right development environment. C # programmers are wondering if it’s better to choose Visual Studio, or maybe Visual Studio Code, or maybe Rider, or maybe something else … and it doesn’t really matter that much. For starters, it’s good to choose 1 environment. For C # developers, Visual Studio is most appropriate. The longer you work in the IDE of your choice, the more efficiently it will be and the sooner you will gain experience. It is slowly worth getting to know some keyboard shortcuts, which significantly simplify and speed up programming so that programming is simply more convenient for you.
3 A bug is the simultaneous learning of several programming languages.
When we start our adventure with programming, at the beginning we should focus well on 1 programming language. Start by learning the syntax of the language, then write simple applications over time, and then more advanced ones. If we want to learn several languages at the same time, their syntax will be confused. You will not have time to get to know each of them at a good level, at most you will only know some basics.
4 Mistake is lack of patience in learning.
You won’t learn programming in a few or a dozen days. If you are starting to learn programming from scratch, you need to spend enough time learning to properly absorb all the material, and this will take at least a few months. You certainly will not understand everything at once, but with time, with practice, with hours worked, as you learn new issues, the programming will be more understandable to you. Programming especially at the beginning is not always easy. Therefore, it is very important that you be patient at the beginning of learning and not be discouraged by possible failures. With time, with further study, everything will become more understandable. Learning programming is not a sprint, it is a marathon, what counts is persistence and the continuous process of gaining new skills.
5 Error is lack of systematic learning.
If you’ve already decided to learn programming, learn systematically. Systematic learning to program will bring you the most benefits. Learn programming every day for just 1 hour and stick to it all the time. It is not worth taking a few week’s breaks when, for example, you are losing your motivation. Returning to study after a break is difficult and very painful!
6 Error is learning to program by heart.
Thinking that we must know the whole syntax, methods, classes, parameters, or return types by heart is a mistake. Nothing could be more wrong, you should never memorize programming and remember it once and for all. It is enough to know and understand how something is supposed to work and why, it is not worth memorizing everything. If we need to, use some third-party library and, or call some methods that we rarely use and do not remember, then we can search for information in the documentation as it should look like, and not memorize it.
7 Mistake is a constant learning of theory, not enough practice.
Of course, we can read many professional books, many articles on many different technical blogs, but if we do not start using the knowledge in practice, this knowledge will escape us. So when we get to know a theoretical issue, it should be put into practice. When you learn from online courses, it’s the same, after getting to know the theory, you need to put it into practice. Create a new project and try what you’ve learned to implement in your application.
8 The error is not creating your own applications.
Here the greatest truth of programming, the best way to learn is to create your own applications. It is obvious that when you start learning, such applications will not be very extensive, but you have to start somewhere. To begin with, we write small applications, and with time, as our knowledge grows, our applications will also be more extensive and complex, and you will keep learning the knowledge you have learned so far. In addition, thanks to this, you also build your portfolio that will be useful in looking for a future job as a programmer.
9 The mistake is not using your own designs.
The advantage of creating your own projects is that you can reuse code that you have already written. And now the more you create your own projects, the easier it will be for you to program in future projects, you will have code ready to use in new projects. If you have already written some functionality, e.g. reading data from text files, then if you need this functionality in another project, you already have the code ready to use. You should have your own private repository where you will keep your already written projects, and you will certainly be able to reuse some of its code in new projects in the future.
10 The mistake is not to ask questions.
If you do not understand a given issue or if you have a problem that you cannot deal with for a long time, do not be afraid to seek help from other people with help, e.g. technical online forums that bring together entire programming communities, if you have the opportunity , ask a developer friend. It often turns out that the person has had a similar problem before and will be happy to help you. Of course, you can not exaggerate here either, do not ask about every little thing. If searching for a solution on Google takes you a few minutes, of course, start there.
11 The error is the inability to search for relevant information.
At the beginning of your programming career, and not only at the beginning, but all the time, you will be faced with a variety of problems. In such situations, you need to be able to search for relevant information on the Internet. We start with Uncle Google. It is worth looking for information on various forums or websites, blogs, books, courses, and of course it is worth reading the documentation. You have to constantly develop these skills, because both while learning programming and at work, you will often have to do research on a topic and look for the information you need, of course you will find the most valuable information in English. English is a must have for a programmer.
12 Error is copying solutions without going into details.
At the beginning of learning to program, it often happens that we have a problem that we cannot deal with. In such situations, we look for information from Uncle Google. And when we find a solution, some sample code that we will use in our application, we necessarily try to delve into the details of the solution used. See what exactly this code does. We’re trying to understand why our previous solution didn’t work, and it works. Thanks to the fact that we delve into the details of a given solution, we will develop much faster. That is why it is worth spending more time and studying a given problem, thanks to which we will develop and we will not make the same mistake in the future.
13 The bug is a poor ability to debug the code.
Good use of the debugger helps in finding bugs in our application. In your work as a programmer you will definitely have to look for some bugs in the application and without understanding how the debugger works it will be difficult for you, you have to make friends with the debugger.
14 The mistake is not to enjoy learning.
And remember that learning to program should be fun. Study the way it suits you best, but be systematic in what you do. If you want to learn from YouTube videos, watch videos, if you prefer online courses, then buy a course and learn from it. If you prefer to learn from books, then learn from books. Just remember that after getting to know the theory, you have to put it into practice. Try to write your applications right away, don’t be afraid of it, try this, The best fun learning programming is writing your own applications!
And that’s the end of this post. These were the 14 most common mistakes beginners programmers make when learning programming at the beginning of their journey.
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