When I first started playing around with code I was 17 and not diligent in learning how to program. I’ve programmed on and off over the years learning it on the go for specific projects. Here are a couple of books I’ve used. I think they are pretty good but superior resources can be found online. I included those resources on the list as well.
HTML & CSS: Design and Build Websites, Jon Duckett
Great book for building websites without experience. I built my own website in the 8th grade and wanted to brush up. The book did just that. I would highly recommend this for beginners and those who are looking to refresh on concepts. It is written very simply and lays everything out clearly.
Eloquent JavaScript, Marijn Haverbeke
I actually first discovered this book my senior year of high School. I was following a VC on instagram and he snapped a picture of this book. I found it on amazon and ordered it. I think it does a pretty good job, but once again, I found more superior resources online.
Eloquent Ruby, Russ Olsen
I’ve always wanted to program in ruby on rails, but an experienced programmer told me to start with the fundamentals in ruby then move on to rails, so I did just that. I liked the Eloquent JavaScript book, so I decided to give the Eloquent Ruby book a shot. It is relatively good, but there were some parts I found rather confusing.
C Programming Absolute Beginner’s Guide, Greg Perry and Dean Miller
I used this book while taking the online Harvard CS50: Intro to Computer Science Course with David Malan. I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in programming and don’t know where to start. The course is free on edX.
Programming in C, Stephen Kochan
Since the first C programming book was for beginners, I wanted to try something a little more challenging and Malan’s course pointed me to this book. I don’t have too many opinions about it. I think it does a similarly good job in explaining the concepts.
Other resources I highly recommend you check out :
- Harvard CS50: Intro to Computer Science
- Stanford Lagunita: Computer Science 101
- Teacher Tree (great reference tool – I still go back to brush up often)
- Code Academy for Javascript Instruction (although its not free)
- Django ( its excellent, and I’ve been told by some veteran programmers that starting out with python is best)
- Code.org ( pretty good for those who are younger and want to pick up coding)
Remember, programming is a learning process. Similar to anything, there is a learning curve. If you keep with it, there will be a day you’ll be happy you didn’t quit. Plus it is really fun 🙂
@TheHungryVC 