How to master a programming language?

I would say the best way is to learn by doing. However, that's just me. Everyone has their own way of learning. One site to try (its free) is Codeacademy.com. It walks you thought excercise and teaches the basics of many popular languages. If you get stuck, there are forums to asking for help from other students etc.

The think with programing is its very picky. A dot in the wrong place or mistyped character can mess up the entire script. So, don't give up. Start with simple languages like HTML or CSS then work your way up

 

Practise a lot. Sure you can get the basic idea by reading, but you won't understand why it happens until you practise. The general rule would be to look up some programming challenges for the language you are trying to learn and then try to complete those challenges.

 

You must have a great motivation and passion to learn something on your own especially mastering any programming language. Practicing everyday makes you even more knowledgeable about it since you are experiencing first hand the errors and mistakes you commit which motivates you to be even better.

 

How long it takes depends on a range of factors,
1. How much time you put into your learning
2. How difficult the language your learning is
3. Your personal aptitude for this kind of subject
4. The level of proficiency for which you are aiming.

If you can only put one hour a day into learning, and are studying a difficult language such as Java, it will take much longer than if you are trying to learn HTML or CSS - even more advanced functions of these languages.

 

How long it takes to "master" a language depends on many factors. Really, there is no short answer to that question. You can be very good at a programming language and still have a lot to learn, so how you define mastery also comes into play.

I don't consider myself a master, but I do quite a bit of PHP, CSS, and HTML programming, and I learned just by doing more than anything else. I'm not the kind of guy with a lot of spare cash sitting around, so paying for an $80 textbook isn't an option. I've heard codeacademy.com is a really great resource for beginning programmers, and many have had a lot of success with it. If you already have some programming experience, I'd recommend just diving straight in and using a reference as a guide. I personally used w3schools' reference material to help me learn PHP, and within a day I knew the basics of the language.

In any case, whether you choose to follow tutorials, buy a large manual for the programming language, or simply use online reference material, the best way to learn is just to program. You'll be surprised at how fast you learn when you give yourself the confidence to take on big projects.

 

Start with basics and learn tutorials.Also use w3schools.com which is best site to learn about programming.

 

May I ask which languages are we discussing?

If these are normal application (software) developing languages like Visual Basic, Java etc, I think the best is to find out similar applications and do them on your own. Say for instance, start developing a small application to manage simple things like - accounts of your daily expenses, then move on to a little bigger ones like Library of a College (keep it as simple as you can to start with and then after completion you can keep adding onto it).

If these are web based languages - maybe like HTML, CSS, PHP, ASP.NET etc, you should open up any website and try to re-build it on your own without looking at the codes of that page.

The more you practice the better you get.

 

It is all about doing more exercises. You have to be consistent in doing the programming language not suing it today and then come back months later. You need to be consistent with your practice.

 

practice, practice, practice, ...... have patience .... practice some more and even more! Be prepared to feel lost and confused while you try and piece everything you are learning together :/

 

Useful post bagi. Thanks for sharing it with us.