It may or may not be true that you can learn a programming language
in 7 or 21 days, and it may or may not depend on what "learn to program"
book you read. However, it does take a lot longer than that to gain
experience in how to use a language most effectively. It is a cumulative
process that builds up your skills day after day and year after year.
Programming can also be fun and rewarding (mentally, spiritually and
financially). This guide does not promise to give a magical easy way to
becoming a programmer, and the ordering of the steps is not sacred, but
you'll get a general outline of how to become a programmer in one of the
modern programming fields.
Before you even begin on your journey to become a programmer, make sure you know what you’re getting yourself into.
- Take an introductory course in one (or both) of the following disciplines:
- Logic
- Discrete mathematics
- Learn database concepts such as tables,
views/queries and procedures. You can use any simple database package to
do this, such as:
- MS Access
- DB V
- Fox Pro
- Paradox
- MySQLis a good database to learn because it’s free, commonly used, and databases are commonly accessed with SQL queries
- Decide what type of programmer you want to be. Programmers generally fall under one of the following categories:
- Web Programmer
- Desktop Application Programmer
- Operating System (OS) Oriented (tied to a single operating system or set of operating systems)
- Platform Independent
- Distributed Applications Programmer
- Library/Platform/Framework/Core Programmer
- System Programmer
- Kernel Programmer
- Driver Programmer
- Compiler Programmer
- Programming Scientist
- Learn the technologies and programming languages related to your programming field of choice. The following sections break down the tasks for different types of programming.
