How Should a Non-Techie Learn Programming?

CurtMonash writes "Nontechnical people — for example marketers or small business owners — increasingly get the feeling they should know more about technology. And they're right. If you can throw up a small website or do some real number-crunching, chances are those skills will help you feed your family. But how should they get started? I started a thread with the question on DBMS2, and some consistent themes emerged, including: Learn HTML + CSS early on; Learn a bit of SQL, but you needn't make that your focus; Have your first real programming language be one of the modern ones, such as PHP or Python; MySQL is a good vehicle to learn SQL; It's a great idea to start with a project you actually want to accomplish, and that can be done by modifying a starter set of sample code (e.g., a WordPress blog); Microsoft's technology stack is an interesting alternative to some of the other technology ideas. A variety of books and websites were suggested, most notably MIT's Scratch. But, frankly, it would really help to get more suggestions for sites and books that help one get started with HTML/CSS, or with MySQL, or with PHP. And so, techie studs and studdettes, I ask you — how should a non-techie go about learning some basic technological skills?"

The tao of programming

[Radres]

Give someone a program, frustrate them for a day. Teach someone to program, frustrate them for a lifetime.

How to start programming in PHP

[Anonymous Coward]

How to start programming in PHP:

Step 1: remove half your brain
Step 2: enjoy how clearly documented the standard library now seems

For .Net, the instructions are similar, but you take out the other half too.

Because every journy has a first step...

[Anonymous Coward]

Start with what a lot of old pharts did, buy a cheap Apple II from fleabay and start coding in Applesoft BASIC... (Commie64 is for 1053r5)

Re:learn the standard way

[interval1066]

High School/Jr.High

                10 PRINT "HELLO WORLD"
                20 END

First year in College

                  program Hello(input, output)
                    begin
                          writeln('Hello World')
                    end.

Senior year in College

                  (defun hello
                    (print
                      (cons 'Hello (list 'World))))

New professional

                  #include
                void main(void)
                  {
                    char *message[] = {"Hello ", "World"};
                      int i;

                      for(i = 0; i = 0) {
      while(defined($arg=shift(@ARGV))) {
          $outfilename = $arg;
          open(FILE, ">" . $outfilename) || die "Can't write $arg: $!\n";
          print (FILE $msg);
          close(FILE) || die "Can't close $arg: $!\n";
      }
  } else {
      print ($msg);
  }
  1;

Experienced Hacker

  #include
  #define S "Hello, World\n"
  main(){exit(printf(S) strlen(S) ? 0 : 1);}

Seasoned Hacker

  % cc -o a.out ~/src/misc/hw/hw.c
  % a.out

Guru Hacker

  % cat
  Hello, world.
  ^D

New Manager

  10 PRINT "HELLO WORLD"
  20 END

Middle Manager

  mail -s "Hello, world." bob@b12
  Bob, could you please write me a program that prints "Hello, world."?
  I need it by tomorrow.
  ^D

Senior Manager

  % zmail jim
  I need a "Hello, world." program by this afternoon.

Chief Executive

  % letter
  letter: Command not found.
  % mail
  To: ^X ^F ^C
  % help mail
  help: Command not found.
  % damn!
  !: Event unrecognized
  % logout

Re:The tao of programming

[Reilaos]

You're obviously not trying hard enough if you only frustrate them a single day with a program.

Re:n/a

[shikaisi]

You've obviously never done an install of NetWare 4. As those with experience will tell you, sacrificing a black cockerel on the night of a full moon was the only way to get it up and running.

Re:name your pleasure

[gregrah]

I've seen plenty of car analogies on slashdot. This is the first watercraft analogy I've ever seen. I applaud your willingness to experiment with new forms of analogy.

That being said - I have to say that if you want readers to have any idea what you're trying to say, you would be better off sticking to cars.

Re:Drupal.

[Anonymous Coward]

Not learning Drupal?

Scott Adams' take on it

[iMadeGhostzilla]

... when Tina the Tech Writer wants to get better pay and tells Alice, "Alice, teach me how to be an engineer. I don't care if it takes all day." And then adds greedily (as Alice is gritting her teeth), "but let's keep quiet about this. I don't want others to get in on this scam."

Re:Don't box the guy in!

[TheVelvetFlamebait]

Don't box the guy in... Writing "I want to be a programmer" is like saying "I want to be a doctor!". There are a million different sub-fields, from orthopedics (EG: fixing borken bones) to orthodontics (fixing teeth) and there's a million details to know for each field.

So what you're saying is, don't box the guy in, even though it's really, really large box that he'll never see the sides of?