Teach Yourself Programming in Ten Years (1998)

2 days ago

The prevalence of 'Teach Yourself X in 24 hours' books, especially for programming, reflects a cultural rush but does not lead to deep understanding or true expertise.
Research shows that achieving expertise in any complex field, including programming, requires approximately 10 years or 10,000 hours of deliberate practice.
Effective learning involves getting interested in programming, learning by doing, collaborating with others, reading code, and working on real projects.
Book learning alone is insufficient; personal experience and working on projects with other programmers are crucial for growth.
Recommendations for first programming languages include Python or Scheme for their simplicity and interactive learning, with JavaScript as an alternative due to abundant online resources.

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