Programming with ten years of learning/teach yourself programming in ten years

"Computer languages (C ++, Java, etc.) are easy to learn and easy to teach ". Is that true? Today, I have no intention of reading the following articles. You can review them later. The following are the translations and original texts.

Why can't everyone be impatient with programming with ten years of learning?

When you walk into any bookstore, you will see a long row of similar books next to "Teach Yourself Java in 7 days" (7 days without a teacher, they want to teach you Visual Basic, windows, the Internet, and so on, but it only takes a few days or even hours. I performed the following search on Amazon.com:
Pubdate: After 1992 and title: days and (Title: Learn or title: Teach Yourself)
(Published on: 1992 and title: day and (Title: or:) I got a total of 248 search results. The first 78 are computer books (79th are "Learn Bengali in 30 days", and 30 days are used to learn the bengale language ). I changed the keyword "days" to "hours" and got a very similar result: this time there were 253 books, and the first 77 were computer books, 78th is "Teach Yourself grammar and style in 24 hours" (learn grammar and style 24 hours a day ). 200 of the first 96% books are computer books. The conclusion is that either people are eager to learn computers, or they do not know why computers are surprisingly simple and easier to learn than anything else. No book is meant to teach people a few days to appreciate Beethoven, quantum physics, or even how to dress up a dog.
Let's analyze the meaning of a question like "Learn Pascal in three days" (3 days to learn Pascal:

Learn: in three days, you are not enough time to write meaningful programs and learn from their failures and successes. You don't have enough time to work with experienced programmers. You don't know what it is like in that environment. In short, there is not enough time for you to learn a lot. Therefore, these books talk about superficial proficiency rather than in-depth understanding. As Alexander Pope (English poet, writer, 1688-1744) said,It is dangerous to know half the solution (a little learning is a dangerous thing)

Pascal: in three days, you can learn Pascal's syntax (if you already have a similar language), but you cannot learn much about how to use it. In short, if you are, for example, a basic programmer, you can learn to write a basic-style program using Pascal syntax, but you cannot learn the true advantages (and disadvantages) of Pascal ). Where is the key? Alan Perlis (first Chairman of ACM, winner of the Turing Award, 1922-1990) once said:"If a language cannot affect your thoughts on programming, it is not worth learning.". Another point is that sometimes you have to learn a little bit about pascal (more likely Visual Basic and JavaScript), because you need to access existing tools to complete specific tasks. But now you are not learning how to program, but how to complete the task.

3 days: unfortunately, this is not enough, as described in the next section.

10 years of programming without human skills

Researchers (Hayes, Bloom) research shows that in many fields, it takes about 10 years to develop professional skills, this includes research into chess, composing, painting, piano, swimming, tennis, and neuropsychology and topology. There does not seem to be a real shortcut: even if it was Mozart, he was 4 years old and showed a music genius. It took him more than 13 years to write world-class music. Let's look at another music type of the beaters. They seem to have suddenly taken the lead in the 1964 Ed Sullivan program. But they have been performing since 1957, and even though they have been very attractive for a long time, their first real success-sgt. Peppers-will not be available until 1967. Samuel Johnson (British poet) believes that 10 years is not enough:"Excellence in any field can only be achieved through a lifetime of effort; a little lower price cannot be changed."(Excellence in any department can be attained only by the labor of a lifetime; it is not to be purchased at a lesser price .) chaucer (English poet, 1340-1400) also complained:"It takes so long for you to master your skills."(The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne .)
Below is my recipe for success in programming:

Interested in programming, programming for fun. Be sure you will always be able to maintain enough fun, so that you can invest 10 years in it.

Talk to other programmers and read other programs. This is more important than any book or training course.

Programming. The best learning is to learn from practice. In a more technical language, "the highest level of performance of an individual in a specific field is not automatically obtained as a result of long-term experience, however, even very experienced individuals can improve their performance through deliberate efforts." (P. 366) and "the most effective learning requirement is to develop appropriate difficult tasks, meaningful feedback, and opportunities for repetition and Error Correction for specific individuals ." (P. 20-21) Cognition in practice: Mind, mathematics, and culture in everyday life (cognition in practice: Culture of mind, mathematics, and daily life) it is an interesting reference book on this point of view.

If you want to, spend four years in college (or several more years as a graduate student ). This gives you entry-level qualifications for some jobs and a deeper understanding of this field. However, if you do not like to enter the school, (make a sacrifice) you can also obtain similar experience at work. In any case, learning from books alone is not enough. "Computer Science Education won't make anyone an expert programmer, just as studying paint brushes and paints won't make anyone an expert painter." Eric Raymond, the author of the new hacker's Dictionary (new hacker dictionary) said. One of the best programmers I have ever hired has only a high school degree, but he has created a lot of great software and even discussed his own newsgroups, in addition, stock options allow him to reach the level I cannot reach (the author of Jamie zawinski, xemacs, and Netscape ).

Complete the project with other programmers. Become the best programmer in some projects; be the worst in some other projects. When you are the best programmer, You need to test your ability to lead the project and inspire others through your insights. When you are the worst, you learn what masters are doing and what they don't like (because they ask you to do those things for them ).

Take over other programmers to complete the project. Understanding the programs written by others. Let's see what the program needs to be understood and modified when no original programmer is present. Think about how to design your program to make it easier for others to take over and maintain your program.

Learn at least half a dozen programming languages. This includes a language that supports class abstraction action (such as Java or C ++) and a language that supports functional abstraction (such as LISP or ml ), A language that supports syntactic semantic action (such as LISP), a language that supports descriptive specification (such as Prolog or C ++ template ), A language that supports coroutine (such as icon or scheme) and a language that supports parallelism (such as sisal ).

Remember to include the word "computer" in the phrase "computer science. Measure the test taker's knowledge about how long it takes to execute a command on your computer and how long it takes to obtain a word from the memory (including cache hit and miss ), how long does it take to read continuous data from a disk and to locate a new location on the disk. (The answer is here .)

Try to participate in a language standardization work. It can be an ansi c ++ committee, or it can be used to determine whether the coding style of your team adopts two spaces of indentation or four. Either way, you can learn what people like in this language, how much they like it, or even why they have such feelings.

Have good judgment from language standardization work as soon as possible.

With these ideas, I doubt how much I can learn from the book. Before my first child was born, I read all "how ......" But I still feel like I am a newbie with no clue. 30 months later, when my second child was born, did I pick up those books and review them? No. On the contrary, I rely on my own experience to make the results more useful and reliable than the thousands of pages written by experts. Fred Brooks, in his short article "no silver bullets" (no silver bullet), sets out three steps to discover outstanding software designers:

Identify the best designer group as soon as possible.

Assign a career mentor to take charge of the development of potential objects and help him maintain his career resume with care.

It gives growing designers the opportunity to interact and inspire each other.

In fact, it is assumed that some people themselves have the necessary potential to become outstanding designers; all they have to do is to guide them forward. Alan Perlis is more concise: "Everyone can be taught how to sculpture, but for him, what can be taught to him is how to avoid sculpture. The same is true for outstanding programmers ".

So even if you buy those Java books, you may find some useful. However, your life, or your real professional skills as a programmer, will not actually change within 24 hours, 24 days, or even 24 months. Teach Yourself programming in ten years why is everyone in such a rush?
Walk into any bookstore, and you'll see how to teach yourself Java in 7 days alongside endless variations offering to teach Visual Basic, windows, the Internet, and so on in a few days or hours. I did the following power search at Amazon.com:
Pubdate: After 1992 and title: days and
(Title: Learn or title: Teach Yourself)
And got back 248 hits. the first 78 were computer books (number 79 was learn Bengali in 30 days ). I replaced "days" with "hours" and got remarkably similar results: 253 more books, with 77 computer books followed by teach yourself grammar and style in 24 hours at number 78. out of the top 200 total, 96% were computer books.
The conclusion is that either people are in a big rush to learn about computers, or that computers are somehow fabulously easier to learn than anything else. there are no books on how to learn Beethoven, or quantum physics, or even dog grooming in a few days.

Let's analyze what a title like learn Pascal in three days cocould mean:

Learn: In 3 days you won't have time to write several significant programs, and learn from your successes and failures with them. you won't have time to work with an experienced programmer and understand what it is like to live in that environment. in short, you won't have time to learn much. so they can only be talking about a superficial familiarity, not a deep understanding. as Alexander Pope said, a little learning is a dangerous thing.

Pascal: In 3 days you might be able to learn the syntax of Pascal (if you already knew a similar language), but you couldn't learn much about how to use the syntax. in short, if you were, say, a basic programmer, you cocould learn to write programs in the style of basic using Pascal syntax, but you couldn't learn what Pascal is actually good (and bad). so what's the point? Alan Perlis once said: "A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming, is not worth knowing ". one possible point is that you have to learn a tiny bit of Pascal (or more likely, something like Visual Basic or Javascript) because you need to interface with an existing tool to accomplish a specific task. but then you're not learning how to program; you're learning to accomplish that task.

In three days: unfortunately, this is not enough, as the next section shows.
Teach Yourself programming in ten years
Researchers (Hayes, Bloom) have shown it takes about ten years to develop expertise in any of a wide variety of areas, including chess playing, music composition, painting, piano playing, grouping, tennis, and research in neuropsychology and topology. there appear to be no real shortcuts: Even audio art, who was a musical prodigy at age 4, took 13 more years before he began to produce world-class music. in another genre, The Beatles seemed to burst onto the scene, appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964. but they had been playing since 1957, and while they had mass appeal early on, their first great critical success, Sgt. peppers, was released in 1967. samuel Johnson thought it took longer than ten years: "excellence in any department can be attained only by the labor of a lifetime; it is not to be purchased at a lesser price. "And Chaucer complained" The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne."
Here's my recipe for programming success:

Get interested in programming, and do some because it is fun. Make sure that it keeps being enough fun so that you will be willing to put in ten years.

Talk to other programmers; read other programs. This is more important than any book or training course.

Program. the best kind of learning is learning by doing. to put it more technically, "the maximal level of performance for individuals in a given domain is not attained automatically as a function of extended experience, but the level of performance can be increased even by highly experienced individuals as a result of deliberate efforts to improve. "(P. 366) and "the most semantic tive learning requires a well-defined task with an appropriate difficulty level for the particle individual, informative feedback, and opportunities for repetition and corrections of errors. "(P. 20-21) the book cognition in practice: Mind, mathematics, and culture in everyday life is an interesting reference for this viewpoint.

If you want, put in four years at a college (or more at a graduate school ). this will give you access to some jobs that require credentials, and it will give you a deeper understanding of the field, but if you don't enjoy school, You Can (with some dedication) get similar experience on the job. in any case, book learning alone won't be enough. "computer science education cannot make anybody an expert programmer any more than studying brushes and pigment can make somebody an expert painter" says Eric Raymond, author of the new hacker's dictionary. one of the best programmers I ever hired had only a high school degree; he's produced a lot of great software, has his own news group, and through stock options is no doubt much richer than I'll ever be.

Work on projects with other programmers. be the best programmer on some projects; be the worst on some others. when you're the best, you get to test your abilities to lead a project, and to inspire others with your vision. when you're the worst, you learn what the masters do, and you learn what they don't like to do (because they make you do it for them ).

Work on projects after other programmers. be involved in understanding a program written by someone else. see what it takes to understand and fix it when the original programmers are not around. think about how to design your programs to make it easier for those who will maintain it after you.

Learn at least a half dozen programming ages. include one language that supports class extends actions (like Java or C ++), one that supports functional has action (like Lisp or ml), one that supports syntactic has action (like lisp ), one that supports declarative specifications (like Prolog or C ++ templates), one that supports coroutines (like icon or scheme), and one that supports parallelism (like sisal ).

Remember that there is a "computer" in "computer science ". know how long it takes your computer to execute an instruction, fetch a word from memory (with and without a cache miss), read consecutive words from disk, and seek to a new location on disk. (answers here .)

Get involved in a language standardization effort. it cocould be the ansi c ++ committee, or it cocould be deciding if your local coding style will have 2 or 4 Space indentation levels. either way, you learn about what other people like in a language, how deeply they feel so, and perhaps even a little about why they feel so.

Have the good sense to get off the language standardization effort as quickly as possible.
With all that in mind, its questionable how far you can get just by book learning. before my first child was born, I read all the how to books, and still felt like a clueless novice. 30 months later, when my second child was due, did I go back to the books for a refresher? No. Instead, I relied on my personal experience, which turned out to be far more useful and reassuring to me than the thousands of pages written by experts.
Fred Brooks, in his essay no silver bullets identified a three-part plan for finding great software designers:

Systematically identify top designers as early as possible.

Assign a career mentor to be responsible for the development of the prospect and carefully keep a career file.

Provide opportunities for growing designers to interact and stimulate each other.

This assumes that some people already have the qualities necessary for being a great designer; the job is to properly coax them along. alan Perlis put it more succinctly: "Everyone can be taught to sculpt: Michelin wowould have had to be taught how not. so it is with the Great programmers ".
So go ahead and buy that Java book; you'll probably get some use out of it. but you won't change your life, or your real overall expertise as a programmer in 24 hours, days, or even months.

References
Bloom, Benjamin (ed.) Developing talent in young people, ballanine, 1985.

Brooks, Fred, no silver bullets, IEEE Computer, Vol. 20, No. 4, 1987, p. 10-19.

Hayes, John R., complete problem solver Lawrence erlbaum, 1989.

Lave, Jean, cognition in practice: Mind, mathematics, and culture in everyday life, Cambridge University Press, 1988.

From: http://www.norvig.com/