Who got into "coding" later on in life?

El_Mero_Mero

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Did your brain have to "change" when you started learning this stuff? Did you go to a course/camp, or did you do something like "Idiots Guide to Coding"? I briefly looked at some beginner's material and I was pretty dumbfounded. If you also didn't "grow up with this stuff", how easy was your transition?
 
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Just start small then continue the build up. I suggest doing a little bit each day.

I’m not a coder per se. But I can navigate my way through sql, r and write a bit of python.

Also remember not everyone remembers everything, for that there’s google.

Over time, you’ll start notice certain patterns between different languages.
 

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Did your brain have to "change" when you started learning this stuff? Did you go to a course/camp, or did you do something like "Idiots Guide to Coding"? I briefly looked at some beginner's material and I was pretty dumbfounded. If you also didn't "grow up with this stuff", how easy was your transition?

if you can think abstractly, logically, spot patterns and also put in the hours you will be fine.

if you want to learn to code make sure to understand the concepts and the underlying theory as you go along.

two good channels on youtube are computerphile and scishow comp sci.

find someone who can help you. someone who can explain concepts and help you with questions you may have.

decide which direction you want to go in.

after that the main thing is to practice. a lot. doing useful stuff.

in all that remember that the fundamental key to computing is abstraction: One system built on another.

Code:
Keymaker: There’s a building. Inside this building there’s a level where no elevator can go, and no stair can reach. This level is filled with doors. These doors lead to many places, hidden places, but one door is special. One door leads to the Source. This building is protected by a very secure system. Every alarm triggers the bomb.
Vector: Bomb? Did he say bomb?
Keymaker: But like all systems it has a weakness. The system is based on the rules of a building. One system built on another.
Morpheus: Electricity.
Keymaker: If one fails, so must the other.

when you are coding you are making more order out of less order at that level. and that pattern is repeated all the way down through language primitives, assembly, binary, chipset, chip microcode, the electronics, the physics, the quantum physics.

e.g. a web example https, http. tcp/ip, udp, sockets ...

with programming there is a logical basis to much of it and that makes it easier to learn and remember if you understand the why.

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also about programming despite all the keywords, syntax and idioms remember that the languages that we mainly talk about here are logically equivalent.

they ("procedural languages") "all" break down to the following: sequence, repetition, conditional, state.

e.g.. do X if Y then do Z 10 times and then A until B and then store value C.

that is no different from the instructions on how to cook a meal for example.

so if any change takes place it is changing how you decompose problems. how you seek patterns for clues to solutions.

some concepts seem odd at first, or even quaint (recursion for example)
 
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