Hmm... a few pages into the book and my brain seems to have stopped functioning!
Everything is weird! Do you really need to memorize all these things? Why cant they give me something a lil bit simpler? Something easier to memorize?
Even Linux cant be this hard!
How do you really learn programming? Did you guys go thru all the examples/exercises in whatever book you were using?
Do I have to code a whole lot?
Well, never mind, just me speaking out my mind...
Dont get me wrong, I want to be good at programming and this forum is gonna be an invaluable resource!
Warning! Steep learning curve ahead.
The word rap as it applies to music is the result of a peculiar phonological rule which has stripped the word of its initial voiceless velar stop.
"Everything is weird! Do you really need to memorize all these things? Why cant they give me something a lil bit simpler? Something easier to memorize?"
That's C++ for you -- weird
"Even Linux cant be this hard!"
No comment... I've had some bad experiences with Linux
"How do you really learn programming? Did you guys go thru all the examples/exercises in whatever book you were using?
Do I have to code a whole lot? "
Well, I learned programming by taking classes (although I did teach myself the basics of C++ one summer, but I already had a lot of Java experience). I basically learned how to program by writing lots and lots of code, mostly class assignments. The lectures helped some and I used the textbooks more for reference than just to sit down and read them straight through, but the more programs I wrote the better I got. When I taught myself C++ I did read the book but I didn't understand a lot of the concepts (especially pointers!) until I started coding the exercises in the book and seeing what happened. Of course you'll make a lot of mistakes, but that's how you learn -- I can give you all sorts of examples where I spent forever trying to fix a bug, and once I fixed it I learned something about the language that I'll never forget. But if I had just read about that bug in a book, I doubt I would have remembered it months later. Even after 2 years of C++ coding I'm still learning new things! So in a word, YES, write lots of code!
My programs don't have bugs, they just develop random features.
It's been a long time since I took my first programming class (Fortran). But, although I don't remember any Fortran, I do remember being totally confused for the first few weeks... I didn't know what the professor was talking about!Hmm... a few pages into the book and my brain seems to have stopped functioning!
Everything is weird! Do you really need to memorize all these things? Why cant they give me something a lil bit simpler? Something easier to memorize?
Once you get a feel for the syntax and the basic idea of giving the computer a sequence of instructions, and learn about loops and if-statements, it should become a bit easier. Of course, some topics will be easier to understand than others. Some things will be difficult if you have to learn the concepts and the programming language at the same time (Pointers, bitwise operations, etc).
Technical books are not like novels. You usually have to read every page more than once. I usually read through a chapter (or a section) quickly, then go back and re-read each section slowly 'till I think I understand it. If your book has exercises, then you will know when you're ready to move-on to the next chapter.
You don't have to memorize everything. Nobody memorizes all of the standard functions. The more you practice, the more you will learn, and the less you'll have to look-up.
Yes! I hand-typed in all of the examples, enen though I also downloaded them. It helps to get the "feel" of the syntax. You get used to putting semicolons at the end of almost every line, matching-up the brackets, etc. (When I buy reference books I don't type-in all the examples.)? Did you guys go thru all the examples/exercises in whatever book you were using?
