Want to learn to code but afraid to dip your toes in?

Aesi · October 2015

https://www.codecademy.com/learn

Aesi Recommends:

Javascript (especially if you use nexus)
Python

Each have their inherent quirks, but the skills are transferable.

Austere · October 2015

Which one can get me a job coding? Which one will my lua knowledge transfer over cleaner?

Sobriquet · October 2015

I've been working through the python one there, it's come in handy writing some pen test scripts for work. Nothing earth shattering, but I find I learn better when I have something to achieve instead of working through their labs.

Antonius · October 2015

JavaScript is a lot closer to Lua than Python, so your knowledge is going to transfer over a lot more easily. My experience could very well be skewed, but there also seem to be a lot more jobs that have JavaScript as a requirement over Python.

Aesi · October 2015

Depends what road you traverse. Python powers a remarkable amount of projects as well. It is also what you learn early on in a lot of computer science classes

javascript is very popular these days though.

at the end of the day, when you have the knowledge you just look at the manual to figure out the syntax.

Kasya · October 2015

I need to learn javascript so my Nexus scripts are less scrub.

Lyr · October 2015

JavaScript is SUPER popular. Python is as well, to a lesser degree. JavaScript gives you a huge leg up on websites/web applications. The project I'm working on is 100% JavaScript (backend with node.js, front end with normal JavaScript + some libraries).

Python is perhaps more common in scientific computing? It isn't compiled so you don't have as many headaches when learning. I personally don't like it but others do. It's the most popular after the C-style languages (Java, C, C++, etc.).

Antonius · October 2015

Having seen a lot of people's Lua code for Achaea over the last couple of years, I imagine the thing a lot of them will struggle with the most is that Python syntax is heavily dependent on whitespace to indicate blocks and scope. Seriously, you guys write some fucking ugly code.

Sobriquet · October 2015

Antonius said:

JavaScript is a lot closer to Lua than Python, so your knowledge is going to transfer over a lot more easily. My experience could very well be skewed, but there also seem to be a lot more jobs that have JavaScript as a requirement over Python.

I'd fully agree with this.

Aesi · October 2015

Sobriquet said:

Antonius said:

JavaScript is a lot closer to Lua than Python, so your knowledge is going to transfer over a lot more easily. My experience could very well be skewed, but there also seem to be a lot more jobs that have JavaScript as a requirement over Python.

I'd fully agree with this.

Agreed.

Trevize · October 2015

I highly recommend it. My life in a nutshell:

Image: https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/11th_grade.png

Seftin · October 2015

codecademy is pretty solid, though the site can bug out sometimes.

Dochitha · October 2015

Once I had a sever issue that took me entire weekend and still couldn't resolve. Before I went to bed, I hit up codementor and within an hour, my problem is solved. Since then, I learned to outsource, efficiently.

Aesi · October 2015

I should also note, if anyone needs help or tutoring, Mudlet or otherwise, I have zero problems helping you. Teamviewer or piratepad. I don't give a shit what city you're in.

I firmly believe in learning something from help though, so I will be pushing you in the right direction, not doing it for you.

DICLAIMER: not coding jesus, but I've been around

Trevize · October 2015

Daeir said:

Would also suggest JS over Python, at least for a beginner. JS gets you familiar with C syntax languages of which there are a lot of, and once you know the general idiosyncrasies of the lot, you can code in all of them relatively easily with a bit of guff and duct tape.

I agree but for a different reason.

Python will spoil you.

Honestly, though, pick up and learn 3-4 different languages and aside from a few specialized ones, learning any of the others is much easier.

Aesi · October 2015

Trevize said:

Daeir said:

Would also suggest JS over Python, at least for a beginner. JS gets you familiar with C syntax languages of which there are a lot of, and once you know the general idiosyncrasies of the lot, you can code in all of them relatively easily with a bit of guff and duct tape.

I agree but for a different reason.

Python will spoil you.

Honestly, though, pick up and learn 3-4 different languages and aside from a few specialized ones, learning any of the others is much easier.

yeah Python does spoil. It just forces you to write half decent code.

Manach · October 2015

JavaScript definitely has more weight if you're looking for jobs. Between Node.js backend prevalence and the widespread adoption of JS frameworks like AngularJS, ExpressjS, etc. for both web and mobile applications, I would only expect its value to increase.

Python is probably more useful for application development (as an auxillary utility, like build scripts and package management) and system administration purposes, specifically on Linux systems.

I guess it depends on what you want to do. If your interest is web, mobile, or general scripting, I would personally suggest JavaScript or Ruby, or both. Both should be easy to transition to from Lua and both are used in the professional world more frequently than Lua or Python, I'd wager (except in some specific settings).

Manach · October 2015

Also, seconding Daeir's promotion of StackOverflow and Trevize's assertion that learning PERL is insanely useful for work purposes. As a general purpose language, I would rate it much higher in terms of value and usefulness than Python, though it is admittedly less friendly on the eyes of a newbie than Lua or even JavaScript (or even Ruby.)

Antonius · October 2015

As a pretty regular contributor on SO, primarily in the JavaScript and jQuery tags, I will point out that if you're not used to StackOverflow it can be a bit of a culture shock. Do your research first, know what you need to ask and make sure you include your code. Otherwise you will likely not receive a warm welcome.

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