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F*ck it, i'm learning to code

A detailed account of a Fastlane process...

SeanLewis

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F*ck it, i'm learning to code

This has been nagging me for years now.

I'm sick of having great software ideas and not being able to build them.

I'm sick of not having any marketable skills.

And i'm sick of making excuses!

Why coding?

When my last business failed i realised i didn’t really have any “real” skills.

This is why i’m taking a step back before i launch another business and learning to program.

I’ve been interested in programming for a long time, but i never got around to learning anything more then HTML/CSS. I really like the idea of being able to build whatever i want, no matter how dumb it is.

I’m learning to code because i want to, not because it’s the fastest way to make money.


Here is the game plan:

I don't plan on wasting any time on this. Once i have a good understanding of the basics I plan on learning through DOING.

I'm currently going through the odin projects "web development 101". I already know HTML/CSS and Javascript is next.

I wasted a lot of time researching which back end language to learn but i've decided on "Ruby / Ruby on Rails". (there is no best language btw)

Once i know JS and I'm going to start applying to jobs/contracts while still learning RoR. My hope is to find something part time that is remote, that way i can spend the rest of my time learning and working on my own project.

Execution

The goal is to:
  1. Learn programming.
  2. Get a job and further develop this skill.
  3. Create a “web app” of my own.

In this thread I'll share a weekly recap of the things i've learned, challenges encountered and wins. If you're a programmer and have tips, feel free to pm me or leave a comment.
 
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lowtek

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Don't get caught up in tutorial purgatory. Tutorials exist to answer a specific question that you encounter while working on a project. This shift in mindset will double your rate of learning or better.
 

csalvato

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If you’re going to do Ruby on Rails, then you should know that I require all my new ROR hires to do the Rails Tutorial


It’s how I and several other senior engineers learned Rails and have seen people with years of rails experience severely level up after completing it.

just knowing HTML/CSS and what’s in the Rails tutorial is enough for you to get some jobs making web apps imo

Do that tutorial and start up your own project and you’ll learn very fast.
 

alexkuzmov

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F*ck it, i'm learning to code

This has been nagging me for years now.

I'm sick of having great software ideas and not being able to build them.

I'm sick of not having any marketable skills.

And i'm sick of making excuses!

Why coding?

When my last business failed i realised i didn’t really have any “real” skills.

This is why i’m taking a step back before i launch another business and learning to program.

I’ve been interested in programming for a long time, but i never got around to learning anything more then HTML/CSS. I really like the idea of being able to build whatever i want, no matter how dumb it is.

I’m learning to code because i want to, not because it’s the fastest way to make money.


Here is the game plan:

I don't plan on wasting any time on this. Once i have a good understanding of the basics I plan on learning through DOING.

I'm currently going through the odin projects "web development 101". I already know HTML/CSS and Javascript is next.

I wasted a lot of time researching which back end language to learn but i've decided on "Ruby / Ruby on Rails". (there is no best language btw)

Once i know JS and I'm going to start applying to jobs/contracts while still learning RoR. My hope is to find something part time that is remote, that way i can spend the rest of my time learning and working on my own project.

Execution

The goal is to:
  1. Learn programming.
  2. Get a job and further develop this skill.
  3. Create a “web app” of my own.

In this thread I'll share a weekly recap of the things i've learned, challenges encountered and wins. If you're a programmer and have tips, feel free to pm me or leave a comment.

Hey Sean,
I have about 11 years of experience as a developer
If I can help you with something, go ahead and drop me a question in this thread.

That being said, I believe in crossing bridges when you come to them.
If you have an app in mind, or some software you want to make, then focus on learning the tools needed for that.
If RoR is the tool you need, then great.
If not, then dont waste time on it. Instead learn what you`ll need.

Also, there are concepts in programing which apply for any language (excluding HTML, XML, CSS, LESS, etc. the UI languages basically, or SQL and others). You should focus on them regardless of which language you choose.
Dont focus on ALL of them, just the ones which are available in the language you are learning.

1. Logical structures. (if then, else, switch ...)
2. Cycle/Loop operators (for, for..in, while, foreach ...)
3. Variable types(string, bool, int ...) and scope (learn where a variable is visible and where not, SUPER IMPORTANT!)
4. Data structures (Array, Matrix, Stack, Heap ...)
5. Object oriented programing (abstraction, inheritance, interfaces, implementation ...)
6. Design patterns (Repository, Factory, Singleton ...)

If you understand these, you can learn any language.
 
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csalvato

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Hey Sean,
I have about 11 years of experience as a developer
If I can help you with something, go ahead and drop me a question in this thread.

That being said, I believe in crossing bridges when you come to them.
If you have an app in mind, or some software you want to make, then focus on learning the tools needed for that.
If RoR is the tool you need, then great.
If not, then dont waste time on it. Instead learn what you`ll need.

Also, there are concepts in programing which apply for any language (excluding HTML, XML, CSS, LESS, etc. the UI languages basically, or SQL and others). You should focus on them regardless of which language you choose.
Dont focus on ALL of them, just the ones which are available in the language you are learning.

1. Logical structures. (if then, else, switch ...)
2. Cycle/Loop operators (for, for..in, while, foreach ...)
3. Variable types(string, bool, int ...) and scope (learn where a variable is visible and where not, SUPER IMPORTANT!)
4. Data structures (Array, Matrix, Stack, Heap ...)
5. Object oriented programing (abstraction, inheritance, interfaces, implementation ...)
6. Design patterns (Repository, Factory, Singleton ...)

If you understand these, you can learn any language.

I think #1 to #4 on that list are pretty crucial fundamentals.

I learned those the classical way in college. How would you recommend someone in 2019 learn that on their own? Are there some resources you recommend for those basics? Like a YouTube video or CodeAcademy course or Udemy course or something?
 

alexkuzmov

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I think #1 to #4 on that list are pretty crucial fundamentals.

I learned those the classical way in college. How would you recommend someone in 2019 learn that on their own? Are there some resources you recommend for those basics? Like a YouTube video or CodeAcademy course or Udemy course or something?

Everybody learns in a different way and I think that fundamentals in programming are no different.
Over the years I`ve found these to be good starting points (because of their simplicity and utility)

0. http://www.googleguide.com/print/adv_op_ref.pdf
1. W3Schools Online Web Tutorials
2. Learn C++
3. Software design pattern - Wikipedia

Courses, videos and other materials on the subject can work just as well.
Depends on if you are a more visual person, auditory person or maybe you understand the logic better if its presented similar to math explanations.

However. The best way to start IMO is to be mentored. No contest.
Having a more experienced dev present to oversee and check your progress will always yeild the fastest results.
 

MJ DeMarco

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Congrats, I've always been on the side of learning a high-leverage skill that could morph into something else later, worst case, a better paying job, a better functioning blog, a better freelance skill, a better understanding of how the internet works, or what to know when hiring a code person.
 
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Smuggo

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Do you recommend any languages to learn?

I've been developing for two years as Java Dev (+Spring, SQL, ORM) and I think this language is mostly for big, corporate projects so I'm thinking about swapping to something else, but there're sooo many possibilities...
 
G

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I would highly recommend learning to code. Initially I started learning to complete a specific project I was working on, which didn’t end up working out due to the complexity and market.

However, I now have enough knowledge to manage technical people and see an entire web app development from start to finish. I would recommend taking your time with learning, it’s going to take many months to get remotely proficient especially with backend stuff. It took me about 6 months to get to a point where I could create a decent production (key word) web app from start to finish - including backend, frontend, and deployment.

The deployment is the hardest part because there are guides out there, but you have to piece together a million different resources because every project is different and you’ll run into many hurdles along the way.

Find a system you like, document everything, and master that tech stack. This is why it’s important to pick one with longevity, not trendiness. ROR is good although I prefer Django/Python.

My friend and I just released our first web app and while it probably won’t make any money due to the nature of the tool/niche, we both learned a lot and now have something we can practice marketing. We’re also open sourcing it so I will get some experience managing a project without having to pay anyone. My next app will be something that has a better market and hopefully I will make some decent money with it.

The reason I say take it slow is because I got a bit burnt out learning for 3+ hours a day on top of my 9-6 job, so after 6 months I had to take a bit of a break from coding to clear my head. But I am back on the grind now, just working smarter and with more direction, hopefully taking on some clients for small web dev jobs so I can quit my job and free up time to focus on my own software products.

This shit is hard, but man is it worth it. The barriers of entry are super high because most business people don’t want to put in the work to learn this stuff, so you’re competing with “passion” engineers with sub par business acumen, who are more worried about trendy tech stacks, thinking they need to raise VC dough for everything rather than actually building a business that’s profitable from day 1.

The koolaid is real in the software business, but treat it like any other fastlane venture and you’re golden. I’m not there yet but well on my way.
 

TreyAllDay

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I think it's a great start. If I can recommend where to start, it's with developing your first basic webpage. From there everything else falls into place.

1)HTML/CSS - Which is basically the structure of the page, words, styling.
2) Setting up hosting/domain.
3) PHP - To manage logic.
4) MYSQL - For interacting with a database.

Honestly, as long as you can mark up a page with html, and style it with css you have the first half down. Then get it online with hosting so you can practice. Then - learn and practice php for dynamic content. Then MySQL to interact with a database so you can store information.
 

OhMyGuersh

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F*ck it, i'm learning to code

This has been nagging me for years now.

I'm sick of having great software ideas and not being able to build them.

I'm sick of not having any marketable skills.

And i'm sick of making excuses!

Why coding?

When my last business failed i realised i didn’t really have any “real” skills.

This is why i’m taking a step back before i launch another business and learning to program.

I’ve been interested in programming for a long time, but i never got around to learning anything more then HTML/CSS. I really like the idea of being able to build whatever i want, no matter how dumb it is.

I’m learning to code because i want to, not because it’s the fastest way to make money.


Here is the game plan:

I don't plan on wasting any time on this. Once i have a good understanding of the basics I plan on learning through DOING.

I'm currently going through the odin projects "web development 101". I already know HTML/CSS and Javascript is next.

I wasted a lot of time researching which back end language to learn but i've decided on "Ruby / Ruby on Rails". (there is no best language btw)

Once i know JS and I'm going to start applying to jobs/contracts while still learning RoR. My hope is to find something part time that is remote, that way i can spend the rest of my time learning and working on my own project.

Execution

The goal is to:
  1. Learn programming.
  2. Get a job and further develop this skill.
  3. Create a “web app” of my own.

In this thread I'll share a weekly recap of the things i've learned, challenges encountered and wins. If you're a programmer and have tips, feel free to pm me or leave a comment.
Congrats and welcome to the world of coding. I've been coding for 2 years and I can say it was worth learning the skill. Most of my ideas come in the form of applications or web apps so I understand exactly where you are coming from. One bit of advice I will give you is that of you plan on pursuing your business ideas, there will be a point where you will have to step away from coding to focus more on growth and development of the business. To me it seems extremely difficult to to both.
 
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Tourmaline

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@SeanLewis What sort of app are you wanting to create?
 

csalvato

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@SeanLewis What sort of app are you wanting to create?

This is a very important question.

You need to start with a project in mind, or this will be very painful. Even if you are unsure of it being a marketable product. If you have no ideas, that's fine.

We can always post up some for you.
 

Sadik

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You need to start with a project in mind, or this will be very painful.

This. More than anything else. I would be called a Developer by any definition of the term. But outside of outdated irrelevant course in university, I have never completed any course / curriculum of any kind. I start with a problem and then find the best way to solve it using whatever programming language / tool / method is suitable for the process. I learn by looking at how other applications / code has solved the problem or implemented the feature I need. If not the same, at least something close to it. Then I research everything about the code I don't understand and learn tonnes in the process.

So instead of following set curriculum I would strongly urge you to define a problem to solve / product or app to make. Then learn whatever it is you need to accomplish that.

All the best... :)
 
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Roli

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Well done. Interesting how the narrative has changed on this forum, when I started I made a similar thread, (or joined one, I can't remember) and the general consensus was "NO! Learn marketing instead!!"

A big part of me wishes I ignored that advice.
 

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Welcome to the club OP! I have been learning for over 6 months now and still going strong. If I may I would like to share a few things I have picked up along the way.

1) Do the basics first.
I followed the Rob Percival course on udemy and that opened a whole new world to me. There are many other courses available depending on language and application. I just bought a course as I had no idea even what CSS or HTML was at the time. In the end the concept of full-stack engineering including setting up databases and hosting. Overall the WWW will become clear and that you have taken your first step on a very very very big mountain.

2) Design Design Design
I cannot say how much of a game changer this is. I jumped in to MVC, web security and back-end coding. FAIL! While it is necessary and interesting it was an unproductive approach. After receiving advice from @Andy Black a month or so back, he helped me step back and strategise my approach. So I explored a few options including outsourcing the engineering. To accomplish this I knew I had to write a specification, make a wireframe and tender the work package. By wireframing, the complexity of the web app becomes very quickly evident. I initially used Adobe XD following tearing through yet another Udemy course on UX design.

3) Consider all avenues
After the specification and wire frame were ready I held two interviews and received very similar quotes, in and around €70,000 only for the web app. This job posting was made through upwork to get a price indication. With advice from @Jon L where he explained the risks of using upwork engineers and the risk became more quantifiable. I assumed a >50% failure rate for a project (an MVP by the way) that I would sink all my assets into. I do not have the appetite to risk everything for something that may not work.

4) Hack hack hack your way to the finish line
This takes some home work, this takes a lot of home work. I was weeks busy looking for off the shelf php scripts and template designers.

Front End:
What I found was a program called Webflow. I am still really very very busy with it, but the real advantages are;
  • it took me two weeks to learn but you gain design freedom unlike a lot of other web builders (e.g. wordpress). For my purpose this is ideal.
  • It can be used for rapid design prototyping like Adobe UX but at the same time you are building the site and can test it and adjust it on multiple platforms .
  • It is based on CSS, HTML and Javascript and automatically writes the code in the background
  • This code can be exported and copied into your own hosted site (using the Webflow Bootstrap version)
  • You will still learn a lot about the CSS, HTML languages without spending hours coding.
  • They seem to be making updates and improvements constantly.
  • They offer hosting and data-basing as well but it is a subscription service depending on your site size and traffic. I really do not understand the potential here yet. But I am pretty sure there will be limitations (e.g. only normal map and shopify plugins) that will not meet the requirements that I what to achieve
Back-end:
  • Start first with the data-base design - no idea how this works yet, something with OOD and mySQL (Udemy to the rescue)
  • Use youtube and udemy to create the applications/functions in a secure way.
Further, Cloud hosting, APIs etc I am going figure this all out out when I need to.

Hope this can help give you some direction and speed up your process. The WWW is bloody immense and not something that you will conquer in a month especially if you are aiming for full-stack development. Keep us posted on your progress and good luck!
 

Jon L

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Welcome to the club OP! I have been learning for over 6 months now and still going strong. If I may I would like to share a few things I have picked up along the way.

1) Do the basics first.
I followed the Rob Percival course on udemy and that opened a whole new world to me. There are many other courses available depending on language and application. I just bought a course as I had no idea even what CSS or HTML was at the time. In the end the concept of full-stack engineering including setting up databases and hosting. Overall the WWW will become clear and that you have taken your first step on a very very very big mountain.

2) Design Design Design
I cannot say how much of a game changer this is. I jumped in to MVC, web security and back-end coding. FAIL! While it is necessary and interesting it was an unproductive approach. After receiving advice from @Andy Black a month or so back, he helped me step back and strategise my approach. So I explored a few options including outsourcing the engineering. To accomplish this I knew I had to write a specification, make a wireframe and tender the work package. By wireframing, the complexity of the web app becomes very quickly evident. I initially used Adobe XD following tearing through yet another Udemy course on UX design.

3) Consider all avenues
After the specification and wire frame were ready I held two interviews and received very similar quotes, in and around €70,000 only for the web app. This job posting was made through upwork to get a price indication. With advice from @Jon L where he explained the risks of using upwork engineers and the risk became more quantifiable. I assumed a >50% failure rate for a project (an MVP by the way) that I would sink all my assets into. I do not have the appetite to risk everything for something that may not work.

4) Hack hack hack your way to the finish line
This takes some home work, this takes a lot of home work. I was weeks busy looking for off the shelf php scripts and template designers.

Front End:
What I found was a program called Webflow. I am still really very very busy with it, but the real advantages are;
  • it took me two weeks to learn but you gain design freedom unlike a lot of other web builders (e.g. wordpress). For my purpose this is ideal.
  • It can be used for rapid design prototyping like Adobe UX but at the same time you are building the site and can test it and adjust it on multiple platforms .
  • It is based on CSS, HTML and Javascript and automatically writes the code in the background
  • This code can be exported and copied into your own hosted site (using the Webflow Bootstrap version)
  • You will still learn a lot about the CSS, HTML languages without spending hours coding.
  • They seem to be making updates and improvements constantly.
  • They offer hosting and data-basing as well but it is a subscription service depending on your site size and traffic. I really do not understand the potential here yet. But I am pretty sure there will be limitations (e.g. only normal map and shopify plugins) that will not meet the requirements that I what to achieve
Back-end:
  • Start first with the data-base design - no idea how this works yet, something with OOD and mySQL (Udemy to the rescue)
  • Use youtube and udemy to create the applications/functions in a secure way.
Further, Cloud hosting, APIs etc I am going figure this all out out when I need to.

Hope this can help give you some direction and speed up your process. The WWW is bloody immense and not something that you will conquer in a month especially if you are aiming for full-stack development. Keep us posted on your progress and good luck!
I love your thought process on this.

the overall architecture of the system (mainly the back end db stuff, but there's more to it than just that) ... can really bite you in the butt if you don't have experience. I'd recommend hiring someone to advise you on that. $5k can save you a ton of grief.

70K is a ton of money to dump into an MVP unless you have millions. I was expecting that you'd find quotes on upwork for more like 10K
 
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csalvato

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Well done. Interesting how the narrative has changed on this forum, when I started I made a similar thread, (or joined one, I can't remember) and the general consensus was "NO! Learn marketing instead!!"

A big part of me wishes I ignored that advice.

Maybe it correlates with most of the scam artists disappearing :p

Focusing on learning to code is, imo, a shift back towards focusing on making an incredible product. That's what we should all be focusing on, anyway. I welcome this change!
 

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Agreed with advice about having a project in mind, but don't let it delay your learning. Honestly 5 years ago I started off with basics like
  1. Styling a basic html page and writing very basic CSS which I had some knowledge of.
  2. Writing php variables, printing them.
  3. Trying out basics like arrays, loops.
  4. Writing mysqli - creating tables, inserting data, selecting data.
Two years later I started my business and made my first 20k
 

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Don't get caught up in tutorial purgatory. Tutorials exist to answer a specific question that you encounter while working on a project. This shift in mindset will double your rate of learning or better.

Duuude this advice is fantastic. This was me for my first several years of coding. Obviously working as a developer helped, but the most effective way of learning to code is trying to build something, then reading up and seeing how you can do it better. Then build, build, build.
 
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TreyAllDay

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Duuude this advice is fantastic. This was me for my first several years of coding. Obviously working as a developer helped, but the most effective way of learning to code is trying to build something, then reading up and seeing how you can do it better. Then build, build, build.

Agreed. Great advice. Don't get caught up on trying to learn anything too specific either. I have been doing it for 5 years and still google the most basic tasks.

A big part of programming is getting good at googling things lol. You want to do something, you google "how to x" and there is always one article that explains it
 

Roli

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Don't get caught up in tutorial purgatory. Tutorials exist to answer a specific question that you encounter while working on a project. This shift in mindset will double your rate of learning or better.

I'm just wondering how this would work in the real world?

Say I have an idea for a mobile app, however I have zero experience in coding, how can I use a tutorial to answer specific questions, when I have one overriding question which is; how do I code an app?

I'm not being argumentative for the sake of it, I'm genuinely interested how you create this shift in mindset that you mention. I've tried that approach, however because I lack some basic knowledge, I have found myself just simply following tutorials.

I guess what I'm asking is; at what point will I know when to shift my approach to learning code?
 
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lowtek

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I'm just wondering how this would work in the real world?

Say I have an idea for a mobile app, however I have zero experience in coding, how can I use a tutorial to answer specific questions, when I have one overriding question which is; how do I code an app?

I'm not being argumentative for the sake of it, I'm genuinely interested how you create this shift in mindset that you mention. I've tried that approach, however because I lack some basic knowledge, I have found myself just simply following tutorials.

I guess what I'm asking is; at what point will I know when to shift my approach to learning code?

Great question, and I should have been more explicit. If you don't know anything at all, then a basic tutorial is a good place to start.

If I were personally going to make an android mobile app, here are the steps I would take.

1) Spend a few days learning the fundamentals of java. I don't know anything about the language, but I know how programming languages work, so it shouldn't take very long to get a basic grasp of the syntax and common idioms of the language.

2) I would search for official documents from Google on how to make an app, and start working through those.

3) As I got stuck, I would either seek out tutorials or, better yet, check out github for examples of simple Android apps. Often times I understand what needs to be done, but not the precise way to do it. Real world code is great for that, and is much faster than reading a tutorial.

Edit: If you're completely new to coding, I would pick a language (preferably one related to what I want to do as an end goal) and start working through algorithmic problems. Something like project euler or the like. The reason is that it teaches the fundamentals of how to think like a computer, and there is a definite answer. The solutions are generally pretty short, so it won't take much actual code to complete.
 

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Great question, and I should have been more explicit. If you don't know anything at all, then a basic tutorial is a good place to start.

If I were personally going to make an android mobile app, here are the steps I would take.

1) Spend a few days learning the fundamentals of java. I don't know anything about the language, but I know how programming languages work, so it shouldn't take very long to get a basic grasp of the syntax and common idioms of the language.

2) I would search for official documents from Google on how to make an app, and start working through those.

3) As I got stuck, I would either seek out tutorials or, better yet, check out github for examples of simple Android apps. Often times I understand what needs to be done, but not the precise way to do it. Real world code is great for that, and is much faster than reading a tutorial.

Edit: If you're completely new to coding, I would pick a language (preferably one related to what I want to do as an end goal) and start working through algorithmic problems. Something like project euler or the like. The reason is that it teaches the fundamentals of how to think like a computer, and there is a definite answer. The solutions are generally pretty short, so it won't take much actual code to complete.

Thanks @lowtek, that was a pretty comprehensive answer. My problem is I've started loads of different tutorials (Java, python, C++, solidity, React, P5, etc. etc.), however can't make the leap to designing my app.

I like your suggestion about the euler project (I'll google it, never heard of it) and using real world code in github.

One more question though; and it's a bit embarrassing, however I just seem to fog over when I go to github. Can you give me some user tips for navigating and just how to use it in general please?

Or perhaps point me to a Github tutorial :rofl:
 

lowtek

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Thanks @lowtek, that was a pretty comprehensive answer. My problem is I've started loads of different tutorials (Java, python, C++, solidity, React, P5, etc. etc.), however can't make the leap to designing my app.

I like your suggestion about the euler project (I'll google it, never heard of it) and using real world code in github.

One more question though; and it's a bit embarrassing, however I just seem to fog over when I go to github. Can you give me some user tips for navigating and just how to use it in general please?

Or perhaps point me to a Github tutorial :rofl:

the search functionality on Github is pretty robust. A search for simple android app returns a bunch of results, but this one sticks out

nisrulz/android-examples

I'm not an android app dev, but it looks like it's got a bunch of simple apps to control the core functionality of a device.

Edit: as far as using it, you can just download the source code as a zip and play with it on your local machine, if you want.

Ironically, I do recommend the github tutorials. It's pretty quick and you can just google how to do whatever you need.

The basic idea is that it is a version control system. You initialize a repo and set it as your origin master. Then you can git add filename, git commit -m "message that describes the change" and git push origin.

Don't use the GUI, just learn to use the terminal. It's much cleaner and simpler in the long run, and well worth the extra time investment.
 
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Thanks @lowtek, that was a pretty comprehensive answer. My problem is I've started loads of different tutorials (Java, python, C++, solidity, React, P5, etc. etc.), however can't make the leap to designing my app.

I like your suggestion about the euler project (I'll google it, never heard of it) and using real world code in github.

One more question though; and it's a bit embarrassing, however I just seem to fog over when I go to github. Can you give me some user tips for navigating and just how to use it in general please?

Or perhaps point me to a Github tutorial :rofl:

A great way to make the jump from tutorial to app, is to make increasingly complex iterations of a simple idea.

For example: A calculator.

1st iteration: A basic calculator in a Java class.
2nd iteration: You add calculation functions until it is a fully fledged scientific calculator.
3rd iteration: You add a simple SLQ database to store the results of the calculations
4th iteration: You add time and dates so you have a history of when you did what.
5th iteration: Oh logging might be interesting as well, let's add it.
6th iteration: Shit this looks awful, lets refactor into an MVC structure.
7th iteration: Hmm I have no view, lets learn Java FX so I can have a calculator view.
8th iteration: How can I host this? An indian tribe and a camel, what??? lets learn and apply.
...
783th iteration: Let's finalise the OAuth 2.0 API so I can incorporate financial flows from bank X into my financial app.

etc...
 
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I'm just wondering how this would work in the real world?

Say I have an idea for a mobile app, however I have zero experience in coding, how can I use a tutorial to answer specific questions, when I have one overriding question which is; how do I code an app?

I'm not being argumentative for the sake of it, I'm genuinely interested how you create this shift in mindset that you mention. I've tried that approach, however because I lack some basic knowledge, I have found myself just simply following tutorials.

I guess what I'm asking is; at what point will I know when to shift my approach to learning code?

I assume your question is hypotetical.
In your described case it sounds like you would need a consult, or several.
That will save you time and money, if you are hell-bent on coding the app yourself.

My advice is to prepare these and discuss them with a experienced dev:

1. Description/Document for the project. What does it do? Who will use it? What functions will it have? What data will it collect(emails, names, age, images, etc.)? What data will it contain(do you need a complex Database)?
2. Mockups for the project
- Photoshop if you can
- Paint, if wireframes will be enough to explain
- Flowchart Maker & Online Diagram Software is pretty good for mockups too (although draw.io is not for mockups generally)
3. What is the bare minimum to deploy the project? What minimum/core functions can you get away with and still have a product/service to sell?

If you have no experience coding and/or basic skills, I`d suggest consulting with a dev so you can get directions.
 

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