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Learning
Anyone who considers himself/herself a beginner, or does not know/is learning their first programming language, we strongly suggest you start with Ruby. Those who are more advanced in the computer science industry (has made a project or two on their own, comfortable with at least one programming language) should join our JavaScript team.
The book linked below does an amazing job of teaching you the three most essential skills that a beginning programmer needs to know: reading and writing, attention to detail, and spotting differences. Moreover, Ruby is a great programming language for beginners.
Read through the online PDF at your own pace (though we recommend one hour a day). And by read through, we mean do all fifty-two exercises. This seems crazy at first. However, here are some reasons why you should seriously consider doing this:
- Just start slow! Do an exercise or two a day. You will begin to realize that the exercises are not actually that long. If you are a fan of computer science, you will basically lose track of time in this learning experience. Most people finish the PDF in two to three weeks.
- This book is not useful only for learning Ruby. It will help you become a good programmer and problem-solver overall, and will propel you in front of your peers in StuyCS.
- You do not have to finish the PDF by the time we get you in development; we understand that different people learn at different rates. We just want to see you put in the effort and grow as problem-solvers.
We recommend using freeCodeCamp to learn JavaScript (later turning into React, Facebook's JS framework). freeCodeCamp has amazing articles and tutorials, and their JavaScript course is one of the best.
- Make an account at freeCodeCamp.
- Go to Map in the top navigation bar, and find the "Basic JavaScript" course.
- On you go! Just start slow! Do an exercise or two a day. You will begin to realize that the exercises are not actually that long. If you are a fan of computer science, you will basically lose track of time in this learning experience.