A guide for beginners

Anyone can be a programmer, but not everyone wants to. The easiest way to find out is to try it. So, if you ever wondered if programming was for you, you should try it.

Where to start?

You can pick any programming language to learn; I recommend to try Ruby because it’s gentle for beginners, yet powerful and expressive.

If you enjoy your first encounter with programming, then consider reading the books Learn to Program and Explain the cloud like i’m 10.

Reading and coding by yourself is probably not enough, so it might be good to sign up for courses.

Do all the exercises you come across!

Having teachers or mentors talk you through concepts or push you in the right direction can be helpful when you are stuck or lost.

Beyond the basics

Let’s say you like coding and are having a blast doing it. Now is the time to expand your skills one step at a time.

The Command Line Utility and Git are definitely two of the most important tools you’ll learn. I recommend reading Really Friendly Git Intro and Really Friendly Command Line Intro, they are both short and well written with illustrations.

I would also advocate being familiar with Vim. Best way to try Vim is with Vim tutor (this might seem archaic at first, but you’ll come to love it eventually—trust me on this one).

Where to go from here

It is always good to join a local meetup.com group and get to know programmers in your town.

Get a habit of reading programming books. Lucky for you, I have made the ultimate reading list to help you pick an appropriate book so you won’t get overwhelmed.