How to learn programming languages effectively? Experts answer
The answer largely depends on the programming language and its scope.
Suppose a person is engaged in scientific research, and the staff of his laboratory in projects use Fortran – this is one situation. Another option is a machine learning student who wants to write projects in Python. Another option: the developer decided to learn C ++ in order to get a job in a commercial company. These and other situations require a different approach and the amount of effort required to learn the language.
I will try to give general recommendations, but in each case, corrections should be made to this algorithm.
1. Find a good book that covers the basic syntax of the language, with examples and an explanation of how it works. Much depends on the correct choice of a book; it will shape your initial “vision” of the language. Of course, in the future it will be adjusted as your personal experience with it accumulates.
2. Practice. Each language has its own "Hello, world!". Try to immediately apply the acquired knowledge in practice, consolidate the mastered language constructs.
3. Be curious. As soon as a question arises in your head, the answer to which you do not know, look for it without delay! The Internet is full of forums and blogs in which developers discuss almost all the nuances of languages. No book can cover them all. This is especially true for languages that have a rich set of expressive means.
4. Learn the basics of OOP, programming patterns, algorithms, and data structures. See how the libraries are arranged inside, take a look at their code. Excellent formal knowledge of the language does not mean that you will write elegant and effective code on it.
5. Try to get as many colleagues as possible to see your code so that you can get feedback on how you write or write code as early as possible. Designing code or code style in large projects is a separate topic, and it should also be studied. As well as the code review process.
6. If you need a deep understanding of the language (for example, if you are a developer in a large commercial company), do not limit yourself to learning only one of it. Look around for the rest: scripting languages, assembler. Ask yourself, how do they differ, why are they arranged differently, what was the purpose of the authors of these languages? Study various frameworks, libraries, dive a little into the theory of compilation, understand how the process of "building" projects in different environments works.
7. You have to learn English well enough to read the developer forums, technical documentation. This is useful in life.
8. At some point, it’s worth opening the documentation, or, more simply, learning the “standard” of the language. Many familiar things at this moment will open to you from a new angle. It also does not hurt to trace the historical path of development of the language, to understand what has changed in it from one version of the standard to the next.
9. Attend various events, conferences, seminars. They can be devoted to the further development of the language or to various fields of its application.
10. Remember that you cannot "learn" some language "from and to." Language is not a monument; it lives and develops; the same is true with respect to natural languages. And if the language is “living” in demand in the world, then the process of changes in it becomes more and more intensive over time.
That’s all for me. Look for your way, do not be afraid to step on the "rake". The sooner you “collect” them, the less “mines” will be in the projects that you leave behind.
