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How did you get into coding/programming? (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I've always had trouble getting into coding/programming because I've never truly dedicated myself to it. Mostly, this is because I kinda always lose momentum to learn it. I'm a heavy FOSS user; I love coreboot/Libreboot and am interested in getting into firmware development. I've already helped test hardware for Libreboot and enjoy learning about firmware.

I have just started to cut out gaming from my life to focus more on this. Maybe I should start with Python? At the same time, though, I feel like I should start with C, but don't want to jump the gun too quick.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

The used Commodore64 my parents bought from my cousin included a book on programming in BASIC. I wrote a few games and was hooked.

From there I moved on to ZZT and its internal scripting language, making dozens more games and sharing them with friends and Internet strangers. At the same time I was teaching myself HTML from online tutorials and making my first webpages.

By the time I was in college I was writing my own blogging software and doing freelance projects for grad students who needed specialized data-processing widgets. Also learning the more mathematical side of CS like computability theory and complexity theory and graph theory, and some boring computer engineering stuff that wasn't nearly as interesting to me.

When I left college I needed a job and stumbled into teaching, first just web design and later into to CS. The senior teachers in the CS department taught me even more about both how computers really work as well as how to talk about information and the ways we use and manipulate it. I finally understood both the Fourier transform and JavaScript.