On-line courses

Are there decent on-line courses that you have done? Or off-line for that matter for any example.

How do programming classes on-line work? Like just concepts to read? Or graphical presentation - as you learn?

From what I've seen all of the learn online classes suck. Just get a bunch of good books on the subject and have at it. That's how I learned.

Most on-line programming courses are not easy for people starting out in programming. It can be done if the instructor has done good planning and students taking the class are motivated.

Mr. C.

If it is an online programming course, or one by mail, how credible are their certificates?

Would it be better to go to Technical College, or a UV for computer related courses?

(I'm going to a Tech College)

Quote:

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Originally posted by Dr. Bebop
From what I've seen all of the learn online classes suck. Just get a bunch of good books on the subject and have at it. That's how I learned.

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From 'what you've seen', what exact courses did you take? And what parts were you learning or not learning specifically?

I can not answer to like 'bunch of books', but I happen to think that 90 % are pathetically written, and riddled with typos and faulty program code.

Quote:

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Originally posted by Dr. Bebop
From what I've seen all of the learn online classes suck. Just get a bunch of good books on the subject and have at it. That's how I learned.

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Everything I've learnt is from books.

Hey,

I learnt most of what I know from online stuff.
Books will obviously save you alot of time in the long run.
If you're just starting, PM me or send me an e-mail and I'll give you a couple of useful URLs where to find tutorials, ebooks etc. :)

Rgrds,
Marc :D

Yeah, books rock.

It also helps to have a job where you don't have to do much so you can sit around and practice the things your reading about too. ;)

Wherever you get the information, the key is to practice practice practice.

I haven't taken any online courses, but I know a few people who have taken VB online and said it went very well.
They seemed to like it.

Well, I guess that topic has run as far as it'll go.

My only other comment is, why is it from all the disciplines, History, Mathematics, Philosophy, and on and on, C++ programmers (or generally) are the only ones who feel that there should be no teacher, prof, or any guidance? And all the rules it all goes by were all made up in the last couple decades. At least high schools texts were never really riddled with errors, and typos. Just unexciting.

au contraire, high school text books ARE riddled with error...it just isn't as widely known. They are also written by teams of people who know what they are talking about, while most programming books are soloed. Furthermore, if you want someone to teach you C++ in a formalized classroom setting, go to a good technical university and major in computer science. But the real way to learn is by reading the raw stuff in the books that most people couldn't stay awake through, not to mention comprehend, and then experiment with your computer and your compiler for hours at a stretch. Perhaps, to answer your question another way, the difference between why programmers don't look for teachers while students of other disciplines do is because, while history is something you learn, programming is something that you live.

We feel there should be no teachers because teachers are usually the ones who know jack and can't get a real job programming, so they teach. There're exceptions, just like everything, but judging from the crap everyone has learned after getting out of school it's fair to say that most teachers have no clue what they're doing. Also, no one can teach you how to program, they can help you understand concepts and syntax of languages, but the only one who can teach you how to actually program is yourself, that means practice. Teachers can't give you that.

If I was trying to learn without taking a course I would get
the book deitel deitel and someone's exercise list. From there
it would be just a matter of doing the exercises.
It will be interesting to see how this looks http://web.mit.edu/ocw/
once it's released to the public.