Newly updated for today’s #tedxpoynter conference, the Life and Code Learn to Code Resource Guide has 90+ resources for beginner and aspiring programmers.

This is a list of resources you can use to begin to write your own programs, written with journalists in mind.  I focus mostly on free resources that are available to anybody online, and resources useful to people starting from scratch. I will be adding to this over time.  If you’d like to know about new additions, subscribe to this blog (or follow us on Tumblr).  If you have additions or corrections, please leave a comment below. You can also follow me on Twitter, where I am @lisawilliams. 

Getting started building apps: concrete steps for beginners

rugb:

The Short Version

1. Note down an idea that you want to make real.
2. Mock it up.
3. Make the mockup real with HTML/CSS.
4. Lay the foundation with Ruby.
5. Bring the static mockup to life with Rails.
6. Join the community.

The Long Version

For beginners who want to…

MAKE Magazine for the Codecademy Generation

Codecademy (and many other coding-101 efforts) have unleashed this entire new population of people with some basic skills, but without some interesting beginner projects to tackle, they’ll probably lose interest; so if you’re aiming at that, I certainly think you’re on to something!

It would be great to have a few themes — games, coding for the civic good (maybe showing people how to do something interesting with some public data), automating some stuff, APIs….

thedistanceinsidious:

lifeandcode:

thedistanceinsidious:

I own it now.

I just need to point it at my big shiny API and the Hack-A-Week project will be in badass shape.

One thing the amateur coding movement needs is widely available small project plans. We need a MAKE magazine for aspiring coders.

…

thedistanceinsidious:

I own it now.

I just need to point it at my big shiny API and the Hack-A-Week project will be in badass shape.

One thing the amateur coding movement needs is widely available small project plans.  We need a MAKE magazine for aspiring coders.  

A federal judge learned to code - O'Reilly Radar

But what language?!

(Source: disleksi)

Reid Dossinger: Please learn to code 

I don’t actually think the piece on Coding Horror is as bad as Reid seems to think it is.  

I do think that the “real coders” v. “people doing Codeyear” thing is going to end up looking exactly like “bloggers v. journalists,” only much, much smaller.  

Steve Meyers rounds up the reaction from a journalism point of view, tackling the newly-perennial “should journalists learn to code” question  (My answer?  No, absolutely not.  Only if you want to have fun and enjoy some shred of job security.  Otherwise, carry on with your badass narrative journalism, friend).

OH MAN!  Do I feel you.  

I get frustrated all the time!  

There are two major causes of my frustration as a novice coder, and there are a few things I’ve found that help me make progress and lessen that frustration.    

The two big causes of my frustration:

1. Being in over my head.  I’ve picked up a lot of “programming for beginners” books and tutorials — and there were a lot of them I couldn’t make heads or tails of.  Perhaps they really meant “this is a book for people who already program in another language, but are new to this language.”  In any case, I’d end up typing example code I didn’t understand, and not know what went wrong when it didn’t work.  
2. Getting stuck.  At some point, I always get stuck.  I’m writing a program — perhaps I’m even retyping example code — and when I try to run the program? It doesn’t work.  And for the life of me, I cannot figure out why. 

These are some things that I’ve found lessen my frustration: 

1. Fail fast.  You know that startup axiom “fail fast”?  I think you should do that with learning, too.  If a book, tutorial, or class is too difficult, and you feel completely baffled?  Ditch it.  It’s not the right book, class, or tutorial for you.  Spend time finding the right book, class, or tutorial, instead of trying to make one work that doesn’t fit you.  
2. When you get stuck, ASK a PERSON for help.  Yes, ask Google first.  But when that doesn’t work, ASK A PERSON.  If you don’t have any people in your life who you can ask yet, try a site like Stack Overflow.  Be sure to look to see if your question has been answered first, but in general if you are polite and sincere, I’ve found that people are friendly and helpful.  I’ve actually cut and pasted code into a question, and described what’s not working, and had people answer me within 5 minutes. 
3. STEP AWAY FROM THE COMPUTER.  I always find I’m the most frustrated when I’m tired — either because I’ve been at it a few hours, or because it’s late at night.  Now if it’s late and I’m frustrated?  I go watch a movie or exercise and pick it up again in the morning :)

Now, about your “is it too late” question.  Here’s what I think: I think if you want to make your living as a computer programmer, that’s going to take several years of full-time effort.  

I already have a profession I really like, and I have a husband and a family I REALLY REALLY like.  I don’t ever intend to make my living as a computer programmer.  However, I already use several simple programs I made for my own use every day. I started writing stuff for my own use after about three months of daily effort, where I devoted the equivalent of an hour a day (I sometimes skipped days and doubled up on others). It’s my aim to get good enough to make simple programs for the civic good — and something like a map of public gardens with weather information, or a guide for parents on how to apply for magnet schools or find special education resources doesn’t require the same amount of skill I’d need to get a job at Google.  

So, it’s not really a matter of “is it too late” — it’s a matter of what kind of end result you want, and whether or not you have the resources right now to achieve that end result.