How to learn programming | Charles Isbell and Michael Littman and Lex Fridman 

A bit long to read, but here’s my programming path and advice: I started with C++,failed it the entire year, but the next year I attended a few extra classes(no pun), i eventually understood the different concepts and passed it very well. I then discovered Python, it was much easier to grasp and found a lot of use cases for it. I’ve been building applications with Python/Django for years now, loving it. I also watch videos and read books about Algorithms, Data Structures etc to enhance my skills. My advice to anyone starting out, especially in a non-academic way: -Pick a language that you can build a small project with -Try to understand how the code works -Add more functionalities to your project -Never copy and paste a piece of program that works but you don’t know how. -EVERY BUG IN A PROGRAM IS A LESSON,AND LEARNING NEVER STOPS.

Start small but have something specific you want to build.

For people who want to learn how to write code, as someone who's been coding for 10+ years my biggest piece of advice is this; Don't worry about what language you start with, just pick something that has a relatively simply syntax so you can focus on learning the CONCEPTS. Once you understand the concepts like data structures, loops, functions/methods, you can transfer that to any language.

I have no idea what they're talking about but I'm just like "Mmm, yes, makes sense. That's right, yes, LISP is best, of course."

I've been writing code for 9 years. I almost can't believe I have reached the level I have reached. When I first started out I seriously doubted I could ever become a software developer. I also almost dropped out of my studies because I felt like they kept adding material on top of the stuff I was still struggling to understand. It is very abstract when you're not familiar with it. When I got my first job I was still not good at coding, but slowly I got better and better and it became a lot more natural to me. I guess you can compare it to learning to read or learning a new language. Things became more and more obvious to me. At this point, I feel like I can understand most concepts and I can learn new frameworks fairly quick. So I really recommend that if you study it and you're close to giving up. Just keep grinding. You will end up learning it if you put the effort into it. On a side note. I've noticed that some of the developers I studied with, who found it super easy back then, are now struggling. Being an employee is more than just being able to code, and some of these former classmates have their own way of doing things, and sometimes it does not align with working in a team or working in a company on bigger projects. So yeah, don't lose hope.

There are only 3 things (6:08): 1. Reading from a variable 2. Writing to a variable 3. Conditional branching Everything else is syntactic sugar.

In math = is equality, in programming = is assignment. This concept, once it was made known to me, made such a huge difference in my computer science journey. I'm still not a great programmer but defining basic stuff like this explicitly really helped me.

2 ways to decide what language to learn: 1. What are you most interested in - gaming, apps whatever and pick accordingly 2. What is well supported. Nothing worse than wanting help and not being able to find it.

That was biggest problem for me when I started learning C++ in first year I remember being so mind blown by just hello world and not getting at all why it worked. I really didn't like taking it for granted. I think the problem for me was not grasping the concept of 'abstraction' - to me it was just some buzzword that I didn't really get. Wasn't until I knew about assembly , compilers and how basic processor architecture worked that it all started to click.

X=3; Y=4; What is X? (Ans=3) What is Y? (Ans=4) Y=X; What is Y? (Ans=3) X=7 What is Y? (Ans=3 But would be 7 if x and y would be anchored with an ampersand) I Couldnt see this in the comments and the ans wasn't clear in the vid so I figured I'd type it up for others.

Lex please talk more about this void feeling, I bet we all can relate to that when it comes to programming

Lex's statement about being ok in a state of confusion speaks to me so much! that is the vast majority of my 2 months or so of getting into cs

I just learned the basics of Javascript using the Headfirst book. It was enough to make my own card game. From reading the book to finishing the program took a month of full time commitment. I only recommend coding to people who are willing to problem solve often and can learn to sit in uncertainty for long periods of time. Those skills should be learned prior or along with coding.

What helped me learn the most was focusing on error handling in regards to UI/UX/QoL issues (started with Python after failing C++). Building a simple program and doing everything I could to break it, then creating fixes to handle said errors. I create data entry forms and do a lot of work in Excel as well, and I cannot stress how much learning basic programming helps in regards to building solutions in Excel workbooks. Things like interactive dashboards and the like need to be resilient when sharing with say your boss or other end users. It also has to make sense and be dependable. The thing is, "programming" has such a wide variety in application it's not just "I'm going to grow up and become a software developer". For me, it was "I'm going to learn data science, including standardization, enrichment, ETL, reconciliation, management/strategy, etc. etc. then apply to marketing automations for a dozen different customer journeys". In the end, learning to code is learning how to solve problems. The better you are at solving problems the more valuable you become in anything you do (especially in any tech field). Working in marketing, having these skills should be required nowadays and at the very least, gives one a huge edge over any non-tech counterparts you may be working with.

Coal miners are gonna love this video.

This episode is incredible. Love the third mind sanity check

Seeing Lex focus so hard on the question, expecting something really difficult, is gold.

C was my first language, and I use it from time to time for performance reasons. I like C for its simplicity when doing just raw number crunching. Input and string parsing is painful but the memory management aspect is the most painful of all.

I am starting to get into programming (One year in) I really wish there were more videos such as this. I have never heard about Charles, but he seems to understand the position that a complete beginner find themselves in, and that's what I would like to have from someone who is trying to teach programming.

Learning Python and SAS, and It's been tough to stick with it. This helped. I wish everyone luck on their journey of becoming better.

I learned HTML and CSS when I was about 10 or 11. I was fascinated with making websites so I grabbed a book from Chapters and just followed it. I read it in the bathroom, on road trips. I didn't get much time to practice but I knew the basics, however, because I didn't practice it I never really got good. Now, I use it almost daily for small tasks in my job. I understand it more and more and more, but I want to be better and get into Javascript as well. I am 32 now but I hate my marketing job and want to go into strict coding. I think I am going to start studying again.

Thought I had no idea what I was doin but I guess I have a pretty good understanding and should get back to learning

This makes me feel better about learning C++. I'm on my midterm and I don't really know what's going on sometimes but I do understand the majority of what I'm seeing, I just need to learn how to build a program using my own notes and skills. As a visual learner, the text doesn't help me as much as watching youtube or googling others' blocks of code and seeing it in action. I don't know how I'll grade at the end of the semester but I enjoy programming and the high I get after my programming running as intended is new and awesome

It's interesting hearing these guys, I struggled a ton trying to understand recursion until my TA showed me how it worked in memory on the call stack. It seems dumb now but it's interesting how good teachers can really get you understanding concepts.

I remember in elementary school math doing word problems where the answer would involve something along the lines of Let x= ..... and maybe this helped to set me up for understanding the difference between equality and assignment

I am completely in love with programming right now. I mean just the process of problem solving is so fun, and I actually hated it when I was attempting a CS degree. I have no idea what changed other than a maturing view of the world...Anyway all the love to Lex

This was so good, I don't even know how good it was.

I was taught assembly and as soon as I started learned C++, I begun to flush out assembly altogether. At some point it becomes unproductive to think at such a low level of abstraction because what you wish to accomplish will significantly outweigh the capabilities of the language you're using.

Soooooo happy, as a beginner I understood all of that!!

When I first got into programming this talk (languages, etc) got me endlessly excited. Now syntax is hard to get excited about. It’s all the same basic formal structure. Now when I see experienced guys still get excited about this, it usually means they aren’t making much that is truly creative. Like an artist spending most his time admiring his paint brushes and testing them out for insignificant differences, but rarely actually painting.

I feel like flowcharts are the best way to introduce programming. You can clearly follow what the program does, without needing to learn almost any syntax, and it teaches you how to visualize programs in regular programming languages.

I started with C# and there were all of these best coding principles, but what kept me going was kind of being a 'rogue' programmer and doing it the way i wanted to. Now a days I can see that what I was doing was called 'procedural' programming style, and it was oop style that I was learning at the time.

This cut gave me some sort of relieve... I'm new to programming, I'm studying JavaScript right now. I realized the thing I have the most difficult with is the abstractions! It screws my mind hard! But seems normal as my mind is not really used to logics behind it all... not sure if I was clear enough... anyone at the same boat?

Teaching concepts from intro to programming to someone with no background is a real art. That in itself is a problem most of us have trouble solving.

Morpheus started programming when he retired from Matrix

Im learning fullstack development right now in school, where u train for 1.5 years here in Sweden then u get released into the workforce as a dev. Honestly, it's fun and stimulating. But also very hard at times and frustrating... I remember being stuck in react for hours, but it ended up being like 4 lines of code that solved my issue. I assume this is what it's like for everyone. But I really like it so far. Not the front end side, I like SQL and c# way more so far, but front end is not that bad.

00:6:09 breaking it down to its primitives, very interesting and useful take on programming

I'm currently enrolled in an AI/ML Associates of science. We're having to learn python along with some other ML knowledge. It seems interesting and espite the steep learning curve I'm going to force myself to love it.

Charles Isbell walks a fine line between condescending and humble. idk thats just the vibe I get from listening to him speak

I am only a couple months into my coding journey and the fact that I understood all of that really gives me hope. Maybe this is something I was supposed to do. I always thought I could never grasp these things but they actually came naturally to me. It's making this whole experience fun.

I learned Microchip assembly (MPASM) first. I still use it and love it.

9:50 to 10:04 So much truth in this process you mentioned. Don't know how I wasn't subbed to you before but I'm rectifying that right now. Liked and shared also.

Thankyou lex,this is very educational as a person who just started programming

I put a lot of emphasis on building stuff using documentation over solving problems from the popular competitive programming websites and as a result failed at so many interviews.

So important and true what lex said that when you are learning programming you have to be ok being confused for a while

Theres usually a tradeoff between efficient to use and easy to learn. To make something easy to learn you shoehorn a lot of familiar concepts into the most intuitive form. To make something efficient to use you try to simplify the most frequent operations at the expense of intuition

Shure SM7B is a dynamic microphone and should be directly in front the speaker's mouth, around 1 inch away from the lips. With this audio equipement you are able to achieve nearly radio sound quality. Enjoyed the video tho!

Thank you for these videos Lex

This man and Paul Graham have absolutely convinced me to learn lisp

Learn programming by thinking of a cool thing to build. You learn way faster, and it's fun as hell. I taught myself programming in 2019 initially because I wanted to make some tools and automate my work. It sort of just morphed from there. It doesn't really matter what language you start with, but I personally started with Python and then Nim. Ever since I tried Nim my fingers wouldn't let me type in any other language lol

9:00 Good point. In Pascal, it's ":=" specifically to address this. Xerox's Mesa programming language used left arrow ("←"), but only because their computer keyboards had an "←" key that was distinct from the left arrow key. I think that before the age of Java people avoided this pitfall by being required to study assembly language very early in the CS curriculum (in my experience, it was couse number two and was required to be taken before the department would allow you to major in the subject).

Finding a project you're really interested in helps a lot, I wanted to build an ML model to predict the outcome of the Tour de France because I am interested in cycling and I taught myself how to Webscrape to get the data I wanted, and I learnt how to train a model and I ended up with a decent output which I am still working on. I even tried learning TensorFlow but that is still something I haven't fully got to grips with.

I wish I had Charles as my intro to C++, I was stuck on what syntax meant from the beginning and why it was required.

As someone who's learned the very very very basics of python, the fact that I could understand and answer his question correctly makes me feel really great and motivated to keep going.

I think I have a decent level at C, C# and Python, and if I had to chose a tool to learn programming, it would be Excel and VBA. It's like a language and a test bench at the same time and of course, it's one of the most usefull skills you can learn if you work in any kind of office.

Awesome video. I was hesitant to click because I’m pretty confident in knowing the pathways to learning programming but I’m so glad I did anyway. Really cool insights from some great thinkers!

If you want to learn how to program, know a few of the basic concept like variables, loops and if statements, then trying to build some basic web UI functionality with Javascript is a great way to get started building something you can use and interact with. Great visual feedback. Build a dropdown menu in JS. Build a modal with JS.

I agree with start simple, but also with an emphasis on starting with something simple that you find interesting. You will always find ways to make a simple idea more complex as you build it and think of more features to add, and that's the best way to learn. If you just build simple things for the sake of building them you will lose motivation

My humble opinion which was inspired by my friend a long time ago, is that because programming languages can only evolve in a backward compatible manner, the most efficient syntaxes tend to be the ones of the languages that are new. For example TypeScript , elm , rust. That is only 1 consideration for picking up a language. Adoption rate in a particular field could also be a big factor, if someone want's to develop software for others (mostly for corporations).

Assembly is very great language. You get to understand the conversion process to raw machine code. In my study, it was a marvel

I'm 45 years old. Starting small changed careers drifting away from nursing while swinging hard into in bits with front end and python. Web dev is so far my goal while starting out my first year in BS CS, Im feeling happy learning.

"Python is basically lisp but with better syntax" "...blasphemy" xD

Staring into the void has been me and still is me. Very good point made by Lex

AHHAHA "Stare into the void with tears slowly rolling down your face". Lex is such a gem.

I think dig this more than JRE

I know how to write Hello World!

Start from the basics and practice every day. Just like everything else you need to build the muscle memory for what you're doing.

This was helpful. I felt stuck at a beginner python level for a while. Not because the language is difficult to learn. But it's difficult to articulate my ideas as code.

God damn. I'm 6 weeks in and loving this clip. Failing miserably so far but this is encouraging to see we all go through the same pain.

“The very basics are often not made explicit.” Very very good insight there. This is true in teaching most complex topics, but seems to be especially present in teaching programming. I can’t count the times where I’d finally get a concept and think, “why the fuck do they teach it this way.” Or, “why don’t they explicitly point this out.” Or worse, to understand a concept, decide to dive deeper, listen to “teachers” and start thinking holy fu.. I don’t understand this at all, only to come around and realize my original understanding was correct but the way it’s taught is a convoluted mess.

Love this as a newbie

Lisp is the only language that gives standard language programmers pause and takes some getting used to, due to its code foundation of everything is essentially a list. It only matters how you interpret/evaluate the list and its elements. It's why AI started to get popular back in the 1980s with natural language parsers and planning and scheduling.

I’m learning to code right now and this was very insightful. I have a mathematical oriented brain and the syntax seems to be my biggest issue and now I know why.

I remember these guys from Udacity's Reinforcement Learning course

The debate on which is better is funny because he first starts out saying his is better, but when challenged on that decision he reverses it stating "SO you're going to say it's better than anything?" while just prior saying the same about his suggested.

I am learning Assembly and C++ and at this point I feel like these are the two languages I'll ever need...I personally see arguments made for other languages being easier to learn and etc but I've had no issue learning any concept so far in either Assembly or C++...it's definitely doable

From a software developer's perspective, I would suggest learning javascript because it broadens the scope of what you can develop. Websites, servers, native mobile applications just to name a few.

Abstraction is probably the most important yet understated concept in all of programming! I'm not a good programmer by any means and I haven't coded in over a year but when I was just starting out learning about classes and objects, I was so confused as to why they structured things that way. I also couldn't understand how software could talk with hardware and it made programming seem like a thought experiment. Once I understood the concept of abstraction, everything clicked and fell into place. Someone should really make a map of how everything in programming fits together in ascending abstraction, starting from transistor logic gates and storing charge in capacitors to act as memory, to ALUs, binary, all the way up to Python and JavaScript.

Thank you. I needed to hear this

Python reads and writes how you think. It is so fast and comfortable. For a new beginner: just write out all of the things you want a program to do. KEEP IT BASIC. Then slowly google how to write those statements out: If X is greater than Y, then Z is equal to X plus 2.

I think python is a great first choice. One of the problems with learning python on the internet is that a lot of people seem to use python without the OOP approach. I ended up learning without the OOP approach until I learned the advantages of OOP.

I have been learning c # for the past few months. Its going alright I know more then when I Started.

Great piece of advice

I started with html/css then move to JS then React. It's hard to understand some concept like: Thread, Composition, Loop, Dependency... My recommend would be start with some basic fundamental knowledge about OS, Networking (http), Binary logic... then an programming introduction (course or book is ok), OOP, OOAD and design pattern

I didn't go to college for CS, I have an Industrial Engineering degree. I have been teaching myself to program over the last few years now. Was able to change my career to a software developer role last year. It takes time to learn but you can do it. Don't give up!

I hate programming so much, but I have great respect for programmers who've built the technologies of today's modern world that we can't live without.

love it & i know nothing about it... thanks you tube & LEX

i have a sufficient experience with Microsoft SQL, working with scripts and queries managing my work database. I've always wanted to get into coding, just been scared I may not be smart enough to understand...

As an IT recruiter, I don’t pretend to know how to write code (though I’m trying to start learning the basics). But I see most of the Fortune 100 using or moving to Java. I’m surprised Java and JavaScript aren’t mentioned here. Would love thoughts from other developers though!

Commenting so the RU-vid algorithm suggest more videos like this for me.

Everything you need to know is online or on RU-vid for free. C, Python, Docker, Linux, Excel and so on all you've got to do is take the time to learn it.

My recommendation is, start with a language that has a mature unit testing framework. Right from the get go, writing unit tests to test your own code will give you insight into how it behaves. Python and Java both have great unit test frameworks. When you get into writing larger programs, writing parts of your code so that they are easily unit testable will automatically lead to better composition and decoupling of code.

I'm teaching high schoolers javascript. It's funny how you need to have coded for two years before you can appreciate how deep this convo about starting really is.

I wonder if programming were made to be more relatable, such as comparing it to cooking, would be a better way to get people interested in, and help to better understand programming. So explaining a piece of code, such as the rhythm game he was referring to, could be simplified into terms like you need to understand that the code is like a recipe and you have to have all the ingredients, some of which could be main ingredients and others sort of added to spice up the dish. You could look at the main body of functionality in a piece of code as being the entree, or meat of choice, while other objects are seen as side dishes, while cooking techniques are like the condition statements within code.

I started doing C up as far as pointers and memory allocation for fundamentals then moved to Java to get to grips with object orientation. Also think using HTML and JavaScript as a beginner is really helpful!

It's really interesting that he mentioned Pac Man because that was exactly the first thing I tried to do on a VIC-20 sometime in the early 80s. I also managed to do it, but it took me a lot longer than an afternoon. I started by placing an @ character in the middle of the screen. Then I wanted it to react to joystick movement. That took quite a while. Next, walls. First I just had an outer wall right next to the border. For some reason, Pac Man was the itch I had to scratch. Should probably have started with breakout, Space Invaders or something, but I didn't know that some games were more complex than others. I was just a little dumb kid. But, at least it taught me never to give up. It was when I got to the ghosts ($ characters in my version), that it began to get challenging. Had a lot to learn there. It took me about a month to have a first playable version, then another month to rewrite it based on things I learned through building the first version. I figured out LDA, STA, ADD and those things quickly. Took much longer to understand ROR and ROL and things like that. The concept of flags, overflow, program counter and instruction related to flag values such as BEQ, BNE and the others took me a lot of suffering to figure out. (To be honest, I've forgotten many of the instructions on the old 6502 by now). Another thing I remember I needed to wrap my head around was in which areas of memory you could actually stick your code. There was no operating system, no protected mode to save you, just you and the memory, some of which was reserved for specific purposes like character maps, interacting with hardware, etc. There was a lot to learn, but I was totally hooked. I could sit for hours and hours on end, telling myself I hated programming but actually loving the fact that it kept challenging me and I had to try to figure out how to overcome each challenge. I still love programming. It's what I've done professionally my whole working life, but I must say that some of the early magic is gone. There was something so simple and beautiful with simple switch on/switch off instructions, which is lost with big complex languages of today. Don't get me wrong, I love Haskell, Lisp and even C, but to program those old CPUs directly was just so much fun (even up to the older members of the Motorola 68xxx series). I could never really wrap my head around assembly on Intel processors. I'm sure it's beyond my brain power. Too many instructions, too complex, better to just let your C or Haskell compiler figure it out.

print(“What’s up Lex!”)

I started learning programming before I can read English properly. It took me 8 years to understand memory management and pointers.

"I want to learn programming, what language should I start with?", the answer should almost always be Python. • Python is like trying to learn how to drive automatic. You'll learn how to drive. You'll learn it fast and you'll be able to do it well. • Java is learning to drive a stick shift. Java is the best balance of learning how to program as well as learning how programs work. • C++ is like trying to learn to drive by learning how to manufacture, assemble, and then use a car.

Just like learning a natural language, use the tool that's best for your job. I learned programming in 1976 on my dad's Wang computer, and he bought me a TI55 for college. It helped me do my homework. FROM THEN I WAS MOTIVATED and after that I used whatever language was best for the job: Fortran, Assembly, C, Pascal, Perl, Python (and C++ or Java or Objective C when forced). Similarly when I learned Japanese I first learned phrases to get the girls' attention, and later I learned technical terms by reading ASJ papers. 4 hours for the first page, 2 hours for the next page, down to 20 minutes for the last page. Worked great. So if your daughter wants to do a rhythm game, have her learn whatever language is most appropriate for it. I write for iOS and for server-side. Guess which one I use Python for? Ever tried to get Python to work on iOS? Good luck.