In my last entry, I talked about the need for people
interested in software development to download a compiler or mobile development
tool and to start “playing”. Using
tutorials on the internet, reading books and, if they could afford it, classes
at their local college. With this entry,
I want to expand on my last entry and talk about additional ways that people
looking at a career in creating software can put a foot forward, expand their
knowledge and get a leg up on the competition.
First, one of the things that I forgot to link to in my last
entry was a list of some of the more popular scripting languages in use
today. These are all free to download.
Web Scripting Languages:
- Java: http://www.java.com/en/
- JavaScript: http://www.javascriptkit.com/
- Python: http://www.python.org/
- Ruby: http://www.ruby-lang.org/en/
So, between my last post and the above links – anyone should
be able to find a “language” that interests them and get playing.
The only computer languages that I learned formally were
assembler, Cobol and fortran (and yes, that should be a reminder that I’ve been
doing this for some time). Since my
education, I’ve taught myself language after language: RPG III, C, C++, C#, Clipper,
VisualBasic, Java, Ruby, and frameworks such as Ruby on Rails. Before the internet became accessible – that meant
buying books at the local bookstore and immersing myself in the books to figure
it all out. The cool thing about
development is that once you figure out how to program in one language – the concepts
translate from one language to the next.
Picking up the next language is much easier.
It doesn’t matter what it is you attempt to do, but keep it
simple at first. Hit the internet and
look for primers/how-to guides that introduce you to the language of your
choice. Get on websites for newbies and
ask questions – lots of questions. There
is no question that can’t be asked. The
beauty about the internet is you’ll get answers to your questions by someone
who has been there – in your shoes!
Once the internet came on the scene it dramatically altered
the way that I could learn. Suddenly,
the world was my classroom. I distinctly
remember the first time I figured out I could post my questions to a developer
board via the internet and get a reply.
It was close to 1:00 AM and I had been toiling away on a problem –
attempting to understand how to do something in VisualBasic (VB). I’d been programming in VisualBasic for
several years at that point, but was attempting to build a fairly sophisticated
client/server app that was going to need to sync between multiple
locations. As I sat there staring at the
screen, I decided to put a question up on a developer site that I had been
frequenting dedicated to VB. Within an
hour of posting my question, I had received answers from as far away as Australia. While today, that is normal – back then, it
was a new experience.
My direction to you – don’t be afraid. It is ok to hit developer web sites and ask
for help. Someone will reach out to respond
to you. That’s the whole beauty of these
sites. They're frequented by experts
that don’t mind spending some time passing along advice or knowledge to people
that want to learn. Yes, sometimes you’ll
get a response from someone that really should have crawled out the other side
of the bed. But, most of the time, you’ll
get answers or advice from people who genuinely want to see you succeed.
You can learn, so make your choice – pick a language and GO!
View my LinkedIn profile and
request to connect: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/david-collison/1/640/503/
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