There are many languages you can learn; and its easy to get spoiled with some of them. For me, its C# and its LINQ abilities. But I like Swift and its readability. AppleScript is a great way to type some code and see what happens. A few tips when learning to program:
1) Start small, don't do the go big or go home. No. Instead implement something simple that you may use or would like to see. Change a few things and see what reacts differently. Example: build a simple calculator to do math functions; do an adlib program where you prompt for adverbs, adjectives, and what not; build a program that takes an order and outputs the item, quantity, and total. Implement taxes too.
2) If you get discouraged, take a break. I've had to look up some of the simplest questions. E.g., how do I declare a variable of type ____ in ____. Even the best most advanced experts search for simple things.
3) Don't worry about algorithms in the beginning. They seem exciting and new, but really, a lot of libraries will do what you want already.
4) Search on DuckDuckGo, Bing, Google, etc. for questions you have. Many times, its been asked.
5) Build and run your program often. It sucks to get close to being finished and find out the middle of it won't work how you expected. I've done this, reworked code, etc. all to find out it was a simple small issue.
6) Use names that make sense to you. X, Y, I, J, don't make sense. For example, if you're getting user information like first and last name, use the names firstName, lastName (or surName) instead of fn, ln. Believe me, the more descriptive the variable names and functions, the easier it is to read what the code is doing. Even functions:
Code:
// C#
//... removed for berevity
string userFirstName = GetUserFirstName();
string userLastName = GetUserLastName();
7) If you ever need help, please ask. There are so many people that can help with so many things. While we may not all be experts in one area or another, we can offer guidance. But don't feel like programming is something you have to do alone. Ask questions. It's very helpful. =)
Finally, here's some links to help you get started:
https://tutorialspoint.com/ - they have lots of simple quick tutorials for things like C#, Java, JavaScript, Swift, etc.
Apple Books - Swift 5.2 Book is free.
https://stackoverflow.com/ - great resource for asking coding help or seeing if someone's asked the same questions.
Twitter and #100DaysOfCode - I recommend looking at tweets related to 100DaysOfCode because lots of people are doing just that. Learning about it and tweeting their experience. =)
YouTube - as odd as that sounds, there are some good tutorials on there.
