How I learned JavaScript, C++, C#, and Python

About me

My name is Anthony Liparulo. I went to school for Post-Production in Film and worked on film and tv sets as an editor. I brought my knowledge of film into the software and programming field. I now design websites, games, programs, apps, and much much more and I love every second of it.

Why I wanted to learn JavaScript, C++, C#, and Python

Born and raised in Colorado all I wanted to do was create! Legos, Magnetix, and Micro-Machines filled this creative need I had as a kid. But as I grew older I wanted to make worlds! Thus, I taught myself four different programming languages.

How I approached learning JavaScript, C++, C#, and Python

First, I found pre-made code snippets that would do specific actions. I would refer to other code snippets and change lines one at a time until I changed the entire function or action the code snippet originally did. I did this 10,000 times over and learned how to code.

Challenges I faced

The rules. Each programming language has its own rules and nailing each one down takes learning through error. Error after error and slowly you understand the syntax or style each language requests. After that I had trouble learning the "most optimized" way to code in that specific language.

Key takeaways

There is always a way. This is the key takeaway I got from my time teaching myself how to code. If you have this grand idea of what you want your software to do, it may be really difficult, but THERE IS ALWAYS A WAY. Knowing that keeps me going and positive no matter how many errors, bugs, or how frustrated you get.

Tips and advice

Do not rush anything. Coding languages are meticulous and sometimes make no sense at all! Go one line at a time and figure out what each function, variable, type, loop, and word mean. Understand the scope each code snippet has and try to write it yourself, briefly referring to the code snippet you already have.

Final thoughts and next steps

Next steps is to just get better and better. There is no mastering a language. They evolve, optimize, or degrade. There is always room to learn, to better yourself, to better the community. Coding is beautiful and it makes beautiful things, learn to treat it as such.