As an overwhelmingly recurring theme in my efforts to learn to be an actual programmer, massive amounts of change came my way and my journey was once again delayed. Strictly speaking, there's still a lot of change happening, but at least it's change that permits me a little time of my own once again. The short version is after my workload picked up at work, then tapered off to be replaced by all the things I needed to focus on to prepare for my departure from the military, then in trying to re-plan it all as things continuously insisted upon going completely against plan (which, strictly speaking, I did kind of plan on happening, and I hope that makes this sound incredibly convoluted now), I started looking back into this.
Still frustrated by the issues I've expressed in the past, I began my search anew for the resources I would use to learn programming. As before, I found the massive numbers of "from the very beginning" lessons, and not a whole lot beyond that. Actually, to be more accurate, the vast majority of what I found was the exact same lessons I came across before. Apparently not too many people have made any new materials for the past year, at least not that had it's SEO squared away to any reasonable extent. So, I knew that now was as good a time as any to do what it really took to get some quality learning done, and start comparing some paid sites (with great scrutiny). My true dream website either does not exist or is just borderline impossible to find through conventional means. Obviously, cheap is a must. I'm not looking for some kind of widely accepted certifications, I'm just doing this because I really want to learn it at the moment. If I want documented proof I can do it, it'll be my major in school coming up soon.
So, to break paragraphs in a really awkward manner here (just because it suits how I've bounced around anyway), though cheap was important I did inherently require a level of quality if I'm going to spend money on it. Naturally, I'm not expecting a 1 on 1 video session with Dr. Computer McProgrammer, but I do absolutely demand the ability to learn with some reasonable structure. So far, these expectations weren't too terribly difficult to find. The place it fell apart, sadly, was the one part I thought would be inherent in all of them. To find a cheap but sensible lesson structure that gives you a lot of freedom to explore a path that suits your goals, and to attain what I've found to be a very pleasing level of quality, I feel I've had to give up hopes it would also come with some "here's an exercise for you to try to practice what you've learned" thing that is all relevant to what has been taught. Of course, I love tinkering on my own and all, but I was definitely hoping for that addition of the possibility of being presented specific challenges along the way that I might not have thought of trying to tackle on my own. Of course, the 'net abounds with practice ideas, and it's not that difficult to just pick and choose pieces or set aside ones that are almost within the scope of what I've learned until I get a bit further, but it was still a sad moment.
In spite of that actually minor let-down, after what I had seen, I started a basic membership on www.lynda.com and, only a few days in, I was actually quite surprised with the quality of instruction. People who really seem very proficient in the topics present them in a clear order, and most importantly, they're not fully staffed with a bunch of "professional lesson starters" who just kinda fizzle out, like, say, 100% of the YouTube community (sorry to those who did provide quality videos, I just wish they could have ended at clearer points rather than just all with the famous last words spoken on a chain of YouTube tutorials, "Then in the next video, we're going to be doing some really exciting stuff.")
The moment I knew I'd be pleased for the immediately foreseeable future with lynda.com wasn't the first moment I embarked into new programming levels beyond what anyone ever dreamed of covering on YouTube. I'm actually still a decent way behind that moment, having been away from programming for such a length of time once again. Just to be thorough, I started- yet again- at square zero. What blew me away was how much even that taught me that I never even learned in my actual programming class. I was just watching some kind of "absolute programming fundamentals" set that didn't even begin to discuss a specific language, and I was able to learn some pretty awesome stuff already. As I progressed into language-specific lessons after that, I was met with almost as much brand new beginner-level information as I was refresher material for me. The best part is that while the beginner level stuff isn't absolutely 100% all based on the most up-to-date versions of Java, it's been much more so than about 99.9% of YouTube, and the only actual difference I've encountered between the version being taught to me and the current version was very minor, and in fact the instructor for that video even covered exactly how it would look in the "next update" at the time he shot the video, so for me I was instantly able to see what I could actually do now, since I have the latest version.
As a slightly unexpected side-effect, getting back on the programming goal has come with some benefits above and beyond just being happy to be doing it again. I've been struggling for the past few years with feeling like my own mental faculties were decreasing. I was far less capable of focusing, maintaining a logical train of thought, and understanding things that just honestly should not have been so difficult for me. Almost the minute I started to feel the ol' programming gears starting to turn a bit again, I started to feel a very noticeable difference. There's definitely a major use-it-or-lose-it quality to the brain, though. Beyond just the fact that people say it, I mean, there's plenty of evidence in the field of neuroplasticity to back that up. I had been allowing my mind to essentially vegetate, and it was doing just that to the best of its ability.
Just as a final note, though I can certainly say that lynda.com appears to offer a massive variety of different lessons in things in and beyond programming, I wouldn't begin to know who to say it's best for, but I will say that if you want to learn some kind of programming language (or maybe the graphical design, 3D, animation, photography, and some other stuff they offer), and might consider shelling out $25/month for some quality, I figure it's at least worth perusing the available lesson sections and watching some of the free stuff. I will say, however, while each series is clearly structured and presented, it does look to me at the moment like it might be complicated trying to pick which series of videos I might watch after the one I'm on. Regardless, I'll probably either come to sing the sight's praises when I see how easy it is upon completion of this one or to sit back and complain and rant about how I was so angry I demanded a refund and was promptly forwarded to the answering machine of an actual orphan child who proceeded to call me back to tell me that if I did not continue the path I had paid for surely the entire world would explode or something.
Still frustrated by the issues I've expressed in the past, I began my search anew for the resources I would use to learn programming. As before, I found the massive numbers of "from the very beginning" lessons, and not a whole lot beyond that. Actually, to be more accurate, the vast majority of what I found was the exact same lessons I came across before. Apparently not too many people have made any new materials for the past year, at least not that had it's SEO squared away to any reasonable extent. So, I knew that now was as good a time as any to do what it really took to get some quality learning done, and start comparing some paid sites (with great scrutiny). My true dream website either does not exist or is just borderline impossible to find through conventional means. Obviously, cheap is a must. I'm not looking for some kind of widely accepted certifications, I'm just doing this because I really want to learn it at the moment. If I want documented proof I can do it, it'll be my major in school coming up soon.
So, to break paragraphs in a really awkward manner here (just because it suits how I've bounced around anyway), though cheap was important I did inherently require a level of quality if I'm going to spend money on it. Naturally, I'm not expecting a 1 on 1 video session with Dr. Computer McProgrammer, but I do absolutely demand the ability to learn with some reasonable structure. So far, these expectations weren't too terribly difficult to find. The place it fell apart, sadly, was the one part I thought would be inherent in all of them. To find a cheap but sensible lesson structure that gives you a lot of freedom to explore a path that suits your goals, and to attain what I've found to be a very pleasing level of quality, I feel I've had to give up hopes it would also come with some "here's an exercise for you to try to practice what you've learned" thing that is all relevant to what has been taught. Of course, I love tinkering on my own and all, but I was definitely hoping for that addition of the possibility of being presented specific challenges along the way that I might not have thought of trying to tackle on my own. Of course, the 'net abounds with practice ideas, and it's not that difficult to just pick and choose pieces or set aside ones that are almost within the scope of what I've learned until I get a bit further, but it was still a sad moment.
In spite of that actually minor let-down, after what I had seen, I started a basic membership on www.lynda.com and, only a few days in, I was actually quite surprised with the quality of instruction. People who really seem very proficient in the topics present them in a clear order, and most importantly, they're not fully staffed with a bunch of "professional lesson starters" who just kinda fizzle out, like, say, 100% of the YouTube community (sorry to those who did provide quality videos, I just wish they could have ended at clearer points rather than just all with the famous last words spoken on a chain of YouTube tutorials, "Then in the next video, we're going to be doing some really exciting stuff.")
The moment I knew I'd be pleased for the immediately foreseeable future with lynda.com wasn't the first moment I embarked into new programming levels beyond what anyone ever dreamed of covering on YouTube. I'm actually still a decent way behind that moment, having been away from programming for such a length of time once again. Just to be thorough, I started- yet again- at square zero. What blew me away was how much even that taught me that I never even learned in my actual programming class. I was just watching some kind of "absolute programming fundamentals" set that didn't even begin to discuss a specific language, and I was able to learn some pretty awesome stuff already. As I progressed into language-specific lessons after that, I was met with almost as much brand new beginner-level information as I was refresher material for me. The best part is that while the beginner level stuff isn't absolutely 100% all based on the most up-to-date versions of Java, it's been much more so than about 99.9% of YouTube, and the only actual difference I've encountered between the version being taught to me and the current version was very minor, and in fact the instructor for that video even covered exactly how it would look in the "next update" at the time he shot the video, so for me I was instantly able to see what I could actually do now, since I have the latest version.
As a slightly unexpected side-effect, getting back on the programming goal has come with some benefits above and beyond just being happy to be doing it again. I've been struggling for the past few years with feeling like my own mental faculties were decreasing. I was far less capable of focusing, maintaining a logical train of thought, and understanding things that just honestly should not have been so difficult for me. Almost the minute I started to feel the ol' programming gears starting to turn a bit again, I started to feel a very noticeable difference. There's definitely a major use-it-or-lose-it quality to the brain, though. Beyond just the fact that people say it, I mean, there's plenty of evidence in the field of neuroplasticity to back that up. I had been allowing my mind to essentially vegetate, and it was doing just that to the best of its ability.
Just as a final note, though I can certainly say that lynda.com appears to offer a massive variety of different lessons in things in and beyond programming, I wouldn't begin to know who to say it's best for, but I will say that if you want to learn some kind of programming language (or maybe the graphical design, 3D, animation, photography, and some other stuff they offer), and might consider shelling out $25/month for some quality, I figure it's at least worth perusing the available lesson sections and watching some of the free stuff. I will say, however, while each series is clearly structured and presented, it does look to me at the moment like it might be complicated trying to pick which series of videos I might watch after the one I'm on. Regardless, I'll probably either come to sing the sight's praises when I see how easy it is upon completion of this one or to sit back and complain and rant about how I was so angry I demanded a refund and was promptly forwarded to the answering machine of an actual orphan child who proceeded to call me back to tell me that if I did not continue the path I had paid for surely the entire world would explode or something.
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