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How To Learn To Program |
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Programming, we found out, is a difficult skill. Just like it takes lots of practice to perform other activities, like swimming, cooking, or walking a tightrope, so does programming. Here are some suggestions, verbatim, written by a student who learned programming in my CS1500. She gracefully gave me (Dr. Silverman) the permission to publish this information. |
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Guessing at what a certain command might do or signify, before really learning about it in class, helps me to "grok" it more easily once the topic is taught. 2) I go to class. 3) I try to do the programming homework early if it looks difficult so that I can ask questions about it in class. 4) I practice programming in several ways: (a) I experiment with parts of programs from the lecture notes and from the book to see what they do. Using the free programs on the web is particularly helpful when I need to be reminded about the correct structure and syntax of a program. (b) I also write my own programs to see what I can make a computer do. This helps my attitude toward programming and therefore improves how receptive I am to learning programming. 5) I skim chapters in the textbook relative to the subject(s) we are discussing in class. |
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Copyright All information on this website is copyrighted by Robert R. Silverman, 2002, ... current date. No part of this system or information presented here can be reproduced using any means, such as: book print, physical, electronic, chemical, biological, mathematical, telepathic, or other not yet discovered means without the explicit permission by Dr. Robert R. Silverman, CSU Stanislaus, rsilverman@csustan.edu An explicit permission is given to all my students to copy this material as needed for educational noncommercial purpose. |