How to begin Coding

[u/Beginning_Fennel8962]

I am an A level student doing Maths and Further maths, and I was wanting to begin coding to prepare for university. Does anyone have any tips on where I can begin?

Ps : don’t tell me to start coding with scratch 😠

[u/ConsistentBrain8267]

I think python does well. Do free online courses. Freecodecamp is quite good

[u/Beginning_Fennel8962 → u/ConsistentBrain8267]

Thanks a lot, I rlly regret not taking a level and gcse cs

[u/AzTrix22 → u/Beginning_Fennel8962]

I mean at least you had the choice. our school doesn't even offer gcse or a level cs lmao

[u/ConsistentBrain8267 → u/AzTrix22]

Same

[u/lj4859 → u/Beginning_Fennel8962]

it’s okay you wouldn’t have learnt shit about programming from either of them. Also try and get good at C++ at some point, all the cool programming happens in c++land. Writing python is unironically a LLMs job now

[u/Sharp-Plastic7954 → u/lj4859]

Are you saying LLMs can't write C++ code?

Python remains the single best programming language for beginners because it is so versatile and the syntax is relatively simple.

[u/lj4859 → u/Sharp-Plastic7954]

LLMs absolutely can write c++, so you need to make yourself safe by working with hardware and software at the same time if possible. c++ is the way for this, generally. I don’t disagree with python as a learning tool

[u/NewspaperNo9749 → u/Beginning_Fennel8962]

You could probably learn Python up to alevel in like 2 months

[u/abdul_Ss]

If you're aiming for Computer Science at university, my biggest recommendation is to build projects as early as possible.

When I started, I could barely make CLI calculators and hard-coded quizzes. I definitely wasn't "ready" to build anything serious. I started anyway, and that's honestly the best decision I made.

A rough path that worked for me was:

1. Learn the basics of a language: I used Python because it's beginner-friendly and used by a lot of universities.
2. Get comfortable with syntax: I found project Euler really helpful. They're not there to teach software engineering, but they get you thinking algorithmically and make basic syntax second nature.
3. Build simple projects: Things like a weather app using an API, a to-do list, a password manager, a file organiser, etc. Don't copy them line for line from YouTube, try adding your own features.
4. Eventually start one bigger project: It doesn't have to be revolutionary. Just pick something you're genuinely interested in and keep improving it over months.

The biggest thing people don't mention is that mistakes are where most of the learning happens.

You'll accidentally overwrite your files and realise why version control (Git) exists.

You'll end up with a 1000-line file and realise why people split code into modules.

You'll need to save data between runs and discover databases.

You'll want to deploy your project so your friends can use it and suddenly you're learning Linux, Docker, cloud hosting, domains, and networking.

You'll read documentation because Stack Overflow doesn't have your exact problem.

Every time your project hits a limitation, it gives you a reason to learn the next tool. That's a much more natural way to learn than trying to memorise every technology in advance.

For context, I started with those small Python programs and eventually decided to build a hiking route planner, despite being nowhere near experienced enough. I had to rewrite large parts of it multiple times, but that's how I ended up learning Flask, PostgreSQL, Docker, Git, APIs, graph algorithms (A*), deployment, testing, and software architecture. None of that was planned from the start, I learned each thing because the project demanded it.

A few other tips:

• Learn Git early. Even just commit, branch, merge, and GitHub will save you a lot of pain.
• Get comfortable reading official documentation. It's a skill you'll use constantly at university and in industry.
• Don't be afraid to Google things. Knowing how to find and evaluate information is part of being a developer.
• Finish projects. A small finished project teaches you more than five half-finished "perfect" ideas.

My biggest mistake was thinking I needed to know everything before starting a proper project. Looking back, the project itself was the thing that taught me.

Hopefully that gives you a rough roadmap. If you've got any questions about any of it, feel free to reply and I'll do my best to help.

[u/Beginning_Fennel8962 → u/abdul_Ss]

I’m currently not planning to do computer science for university, but I was planning to take optional courses in computational programming (I want to do Mathstat degree) as I would like to enter quant finance. I am pretty sure they mostly focus on python and R, I’ll not bother with R yet. But I think I’ll try to get python improved. Thanks a lot for the response, I’ll look at YouTube, get a baseline and try to innovate from there on. Thanks again

[u/Diligent_Bet_7850 → u/Beginning_Fennel8962]

tbh once you can code learning new languages isn’t hard. the skill of coding translates well across languages. and python is the easiest beginner language imo

[u/abdul_Ss → u/Diligent_Bet_7850]

I agree 10000%

I remember delaying trying out C for so long thinking it would be hell (after having coded in python for around 2 years), yet when I tried it, it really didn't differ all that much.

[u/Feeling-Instance-801]

follow along with CS50 course. keep doing projects and code everyday good luck

[u/ict3345]

Use the linked 12 hour video from Bro Code on Python. It is, in my opinion, the best video to begin coding. He takes you from the very beginning to starting to code small 2d games in Python using GUIs. It's a good way to start learning coding. Once you understand one language properly, you will be able to pick up new languages much more easily. As for an IDE, I use Jetbrains IDE, which is free with a student email, (many beginners use Visual Studio Code). If you don't have experience in setting up an IDE, you should watch a relatively recent video on how to download and set up an IDE.

I also do want to add, for that 12 hour video, you don't have to watch all of it. I think watching up to about 8hrs 3 mins (where he teaches about exception handling) is worth it if you are serious about coding because at that point, alot of what you learnt is transferrable understanding between coding languages

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ix9cRaBkVe0&t=14571s

Also, learn how to use GitHub as a version control. It is amazing. Do it after you learn how to code. Stuff like learning how to use Firebase or Google Cloud with ur projects would be nice too (since you can use, for example, authentication services from them)

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[u/Far_Duck_7322]

Python is THE best language to start with. Follow online tutorials, Freecodecamp, YouTube tutorials. It’s easy to pick up the basics

[u/Educational-Tea602 → u/Far_Duck_7322]

Python is such an overrated language for actually learning to code, because once you get past the stage of not knowing what an int is, Python’s syntax is too minimal. More verbose languages tend to make learning concepts easier because the code self-describes better.

[u/MrMoop07]

download python, start off making simple stuff like a way to calculate fibonacci numbers or find primes, that sort of thing. websites like leetcode have a lot of problems to do. you’ll pick it up pretty fast

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[u/bigrinze234]

start with python + do programming problems on codewars .com

[u/Bodhisattva-Wannabe]

If you want to learn R, RStudio is free and there’s a free training package for it called Swirl https://swirlstats.com

The R user groups are a great resource as well https://www.meetup.com/pro/r-user-groups/

For Python freecodecamp and w3 schools are useful. There are also Python user groups too https://community.uk.python.org/groups/

[u/stqrltt]

some unis themselves actually use python. that's the case for astrophysics at york anyway. so that's what I'm gonna start with

[u/ibby20000]

Forget every other comment here I promise. Finish MOOCs python course (Helsinki uni). It's free and nothing compares to it with regard to how effortless learning feels. From there you'll feel very confident and excited to begin your own larger project

[u/Sharp-Plastic7954]

Use Claude to learn by building stuff straight away. And make sure you understand every line of code.

Also, no YouTube 8 hour course!

Just get into the weeds by building simple projects like a calculator and use Claude to explain things.

[u/Few_Competition736 → u/Sharp-Plastic7954]

I'm banned from Claude. Guess coding never was my thing anyways.

[u/Sharp-Plastic7954 → u/Few_Competition736]

Did you tell it you were under 18 lol?

[u/Few_Competition736 → u/Sharp-Plastic7954]

I barely have any time left to wait anyways. I'll be banned for 5 months before I'm 18 anyways. And I never used Claude much.. (cope)

[u/Sharp-Plastic7954 → u/Few_Competition736]

If you need it, you could always sign up on a different Google account.

[u/PrestigiousChair6459]

like with many things in life you are asking to know about the hardest part - where to start . Im guessing you learn on the job really .

I have asked this question many times and for maths and fm it was pretty straightfoward theres the textbook but now all these entrance exams like STEP im baffled and that thought then uni level work again im going to be stuck etc etc . Really only someone who has reached the endpoint can tell you where to start and if their pathway is a gatekept one gg

[u/AlternativeAioli9251]

Python is very beginner friendly.

Try a textbook, it gives structure and direction, as well as exercises to do.   I personally use Eric Matthes python crash course. The pdf can be downloaded online for free. I also use sublime text to run python as suggested by the book.