How to Teach Yourself to Code

How to TeachYourself toCode.

Part 1:Stop Waiting for thePerfect Technical Co-Founder and StartLearning How to Code

Why learn how to code?

A lot of you just havean idea

If you’re expecting to find someoneto build that idea for you, it’snever going to happen

Demand for developers hasskyrocketed

Think about it…

Anyone with any programmingtalent is getting offers fromFacebook, Google and dozens ofother startups right now

Why should a programmer chooseyour idea over any other?

Do you want topay someone?

1)You will pay too much

1)You will pay too much2)You’ll be unhappy with the process

1)You will pay too much2)You’ll be unhappy with the process3)You’ll get something back you didn’t want

WHY?Software is hard to estimate

WHY?Software is hard to estimate“Should this really take 15 hours, oram I getting ripped off?”

If you’re an entrepreneur waiting forsomeone to execute your idea for you,you’re not an entrepreneur

(sorry)If you’re an entrepreneur waiting forsomeone to execute your idea for you,you’re not an entrepreneur

“Pre-Dodgeball I went through 3-4 years thinking Iwas going to meet some magical engineer whowould build all the stuff I was thinking about. But Inever met that person, so I taught myself ASP andMS Access out of a book and got to work justhacking stuff together. I’m still a really shittyprogrammer but I know enough to hack a prototypetogether.”- Dennis Crowley, Foursquare

Learning how to code≠How to be a software engineer

The point is for you to learn tocode well enough tobuild a prototype

(aka Minimum Viable Product)The point is for you to learn tocode well enough tobuild a prototype

MVP = quick + dirty

“Product with the fewestnumber of features needed toachieve a specific objective.”– The Entrepreneurs Guide to Customer Development

Side note: build products that arevaluable despite being ugly

Eventually you’ll need tofind a lead developer

Knowing how to code helps youfind, pitch and manage gooddevelopers

More and more, the things weinteract with in the worldaround us qualifies as“technology”

There are 10 kinds of people:

There are 10 kinds of people:Those who understand binaryand those who don’t

Society is quickly dividinginto two groups:1)Those that know how to code –they can manipulate the very structureof the world around them.If you’re interested in learning more, read Program or Be Programmed: http://amzn.to/yzd6hm2)Those that don’t – their lives arebeing designed and directed bythose that do.

Part 2:Choosing aProgrammingLanguage

I get it,it’s scary tojump in.

C, Java, C++, PHP, JavaScript, Python,C#, Perl, SQL, Ruby, Shell, VisualBasic, Assembly, Actionscript,Objective C, Lisp, Where do youstart? Delphi, Pascal, Scheme,Haskell, Tcl, Backbone, Fortran, Ada,Lua, ColdFusion, Cobol, Erlang, D,Scala, Smalltalk, Ocaml, Forth, Rexx,

Breaking down a web application

Web applications are applicationsaccessed over the internet

(which are different frommobile applications)

Every web application has afront-end and a back-end

The front-end is what you seeFront-end languages:• HTML• CSS• JavaScriptWeb Pages

<h1>Welcome to Twitter.</h1><p>Find out what’s happening,right now, with the people andorganizations you care about.</p>

<h1>Welcome to Twitter.</h1><p>Find out what’s happening,right now, with the people andorganizations you care about.</p>This is HTML

The back-end is what you don’t seeDatabaseWeb Pages RulesProgramming languages:PHP, Ruby, Python, JavaDatabase languages:SQL

echo “Hello World”; print(‘Hello World’) puts “Hello World”They’re all the same, just differentPHP Python RubyHello World Hello World Hello World

And then there areweb application frameworksDatabaseWeb Pages RulesWeb application frameworks: Ruby on Rails, Django

“alleviate overhead associated with webdevelopment by providing libraries fordatabase access, templating frameworks, andsession management. Blah blah blah blahblah blah blah.”Web application frameworks

“alleviate overhead associated with webdevelopment by providing libraries fordatabase access, templating frameworks, andsession management. Blah blah blah blahblah blah blah.”Web application frameworksbuild web appsreally quickly

If your goal is to build aprototype, start withRuby on Rails(aka ‘Rails’)

Ruby on Railsis a web application frameworkfor Ruby

Rails is the easiest to dive into

Rails is the easiest to dive into(tons of resources and a huge community)

Ruby (and therefore Rails) is easier to understand

exit unless "restaurant".include? "aura"

[toast, cheese, wine].each { |food| print food.capitalize }

[toast, cheese, wine].each { |food| print food.capitalize }(try saying it out loud)

Rails hides all the stuff you reallydon’t need to know

Rails is just shortcuts like thisrails new applicationcreatecreate README.rdoccreate Rakefilecreate config.rucreate .gitignorecreate Gemfilecreate appcreate app/assets/images/rails.pngcreate app/assets/javascripts/application.jscreate app/assets/stylesheets/application.csscreate app/controllers/application_controller.rbcreate app/helpers/application_helper.rbcreate app/mailerscreate app/modelscreate app/views/layouts/application.html.erbcreate app/mailers/.gitkeepcreate app/models/.gitkeepcreate configcreate config/routes.rbcreate config/application.rbcreate config/environment.rb...create vendor/pluginscreate vendor/plugins/.gitkeeprun bundle install

So you can do stuff like this

There’s a temptation forprogrammers to say“Start with PHP or Java”

They say this because:1. it mirrors the way we learnthings in school2. it’s how they learned

IGNORE them

With those languages, you’llspend MONTHS learning thebasics so that you can do this:

(make a yellow square)

With Rails, fast and simple isthe name of the game

The ability to get quick andpositive feedback on yourprojects is crucial

A final note:“Scaling” Rails

Does Rails scale?

Yes Some of the most heavily traffickedsites in the world use RailsBasecamp Twitter Shopify Yellow PagesGitHubLivingSocial GrouponSoundcloud ZendeskHulu

Part 3:How I Taught Myself toCode in One Month

I find traditional learningextremely tedious

So do you.(Otherwise you’d have learned how to code by now.)

So I developed my own methodI call “brute-force” learning

In college I would download podcasts ofclasses I was taking (from other schools)

Then I’d listen to the podcastson the subway or walkingaround the city.

Doing this ended up eliminatinghundreds of hours of studying(also teachers loved my “unique perspectives”)

Why does thiswork?

Have you ever been confused by somethingwhen its explained one way but when it’sexplained a different way it just clicks?

The result is that learning isless tedious

More importantly, the stressof feeling like you have tolearn something the first timedisappears

It’s OKAY to not understandsomething the first time

It’s OKAY to not understandsomething the first timeIsn’t that sort of the point?

The first time you learn something,your mind creates a mental map. Afuzzy picture of all the pieces andhow they fit together.

When you go back, you relearnthe specifics and it all starts tomake more sense

Just speed through as manyintroductory tutorials as possible

Here’s what I recommend:

One Month Railsby Mattan Griffel (Me!)

Ruby on Rails Tutorialby Michael Hartl

When you finish, you’ll be able tobuild your own basic web app

But there will be specificfeatures you don’t know howto implement

Railscasts by Ryan Bates

At some point along the way, youmay feel a temptation to STOP andlearn Ruby (or HTML or CSS)

At some point along the way, youmay feel a temptation to STOP andlearn Ruby (or HTML or CSS)Don’t.

Ruby RailsRuby is huge

Ruby RailsRuby is hugeAnd you only need toknow a tiny bit of it

Besides, you’ll learn all theRuby, HTML and CSS you needto know along the way

After you’ve finished, check outthese fun resources that coverbasic Ruby:• Codecademy’s Ruby Track• Why’s (Poignant) Guide to Ruby• RubyMonk• RubyKoans• Learn Ruby the Hard Way• Ruby Warrior

Troubleshooting

75% of coding is Googling*

75% of coding is Googling**totally made up statistic

Stack Overflow

A lot of times you know whatfeature you want to build, but youdon’t know what it’s called

For example: Cron jobs let youschedule tasks in your app

Ask someone

Rails is very popular atthe moment and has aLARGEcommunity for support

The best way to learn is to go to aRails meetup and ask someone whoknows more than you

in NYC• NYC.rb• NYC on Rails• NewYork Ruby Meetup• Ruby Nuby

Go attend somehackathonsand find teams to work with

To hear about hackathons, sign upfor the following mailing lists:• General Assembly• This Week in NYC Innovation• StartupDigest• Startup Weekend

The ∞ list of Rails includes:• Rails for Zombies• Peepcode• Agile WebDevelopment withRails• Ruby on Rails Guides• Hackety-hack• Teamtreehouse• Code School

Part 4: Coding in a nutshell

Installing Rails issuper easy

This is your command centerCommand Line Text EditorBrowser

The text editoris where youwrite your codeSublime Text

The commandline is where yourun your codeTerminal

The browser iswhere you seethe resultGoogle Chrome

Rails uses a Model View Controller(MVC) architectureControllerViewModelDatabase

DatabaseWeb Pages RulesControllerView ModelRails uses a Model View Controller(MVC) architecture

Github is where you save versions of yourproject files

Heroku lets you deploy your app so that it’slive in seconds

Part 5: Let’s begin

1. Go toRailsInstaller.org

1. Go toRailsInstaller.org2. Download theright installer

1. Go toRailsInstaller.org2. Download theright installer3. Follow theinstructions

1. Go toRailsInstaller.org2. Download theright installer3. Follow theinstructions4. Yes do the Gitthing too

Some people get this error:Error changing group of /opt/rix to rvm

Some people get this error:Error changing group of /opt/rix to rvmWho can solve this first?!

Let’s check if it worked

Find your command line

Find your command lineOpen Programs > RailsInstaller > Command Prompt with Ruby and Rails

Type this command and hit enterrails -v

Type this command and hit enterrails -vRails 3.2.13If it says something likethis, then it worked!

You’ve installed Rails, and you’reready to create your first app

Go to onemonthrails.comto keep learning

Thank you :)Mattan Griffelmattan@onemonthrails.commattangriffel.com

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How to Teach Yourself to Code

by Mattan Griffel

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