Help please programming for housebound son

Alpha47

Hello

Can anybody tell me what is the best way to learn programming. This is for my 24 year old who has severe ME/CFS and has been housebound for 10 years. It is progress that he actually wants to learn programming now, but he cannot access college yet. He is bright. Will programming for dummies do? Or will it just put him off.

Owain_Moneysaver

I think Programming for Dummies covers several languages, which might be confusing. Try Python for Dummies. Python is quite a good language to start learning on, and is real-world useful too as quite a lot of web programming is or can be done in it.

penrhyn

I guess to some extent it depends on what programming language he wishes to learn, and what applications he wishes to put that knowledge to.

Being very old, I started out with BBC Basic, and then did some Pascal at Uni.
The softies at work had moved on to UNIX, C and the like.

Not sure what basic computer programming courses start with these days.

peaceandfreedom

Alpha47 wrote: »

Hello

Can anybody tell me what is the best way to learn programming. This is for my 24 year old who has severe ME/CFS and has been housebound for 10 years. It is progress that he actually wants to learn programming now, but he cannot access college yet. He is bright. Will programming for dummies do? Or will it just put him off.

Has your son considered studying with the Open University? They have a huge range of courses that can be studied from home. Your son could have a look at their website and decide what level he might need to start at. It's possible he could get funding which would pay the course fees. The OU are very sympathetic to students with disabilities and/or health problems - tutor support and advice is generally excellent.

Just though it worth considering as usually you make quicker progress with a structured course than with self-guided learning.

If that doesn't appeal, I agree with an earlier reply that Python would be a good place to start.

littlepanther

There are a number of online courses at lynda.com, I think they are excellent. There are some programming languages there, you can try some for free.

bonzer

I'm also from the BBC BASIC era

These days JavaScript might be a good start. It's a language that's very commonly used to build interactive web sites (including this one).

You don't need anything other than a web browser to get going. It has immediate practical application in web design and you can see something working with very little effort. There's a tonne of free material on the web. Just google "JavaScript tutorial" to get going or there are many books.

Possibly some structure might be good though in the long run - I like the OU course suggestion.

Alpha47

Many thanks for all your replies, I think I need to ask what he needs the programming for. I had not realised how many languages are involved nowdays. I think the OU might be too hard for him as he still has brain fog problems. He did is good once he makes up his mind to do something, he managed to pass all his GCSE,s from home. I might make a start with Python for Dummiez, and let him explore your other ideas on line.
Thanks again I did not know where to start and now have some idea.

[Deleted User]

Start with either HTML (for making web pages) or Visual Basic (for making simple programs) and see how he takes to it. What you don't want is to overload him with something unnecessarily complex that will discourage him from learning.

Learning HTML will be a good footing if he wants to go on and do some more advanced things, whereas Visual Basic is a decent enough introduction into understanding structure and how it all comes together.

jaydeeuk1

bonzer wrote: »

I'm also from the BBC BASIC era

These days JavaScript might be a good start. It's a language that's very commonly used to build interactive web sites (including this one).

You don't need anything other than a web browser to get going. It has immediate practical application in web design and you can see something working with very little effort. There's a tonne of free material on the web. Just google "JavaScript tutorial" to get going or there are many books.

Possibly some structure might be good though in the long run - I like the OU course suggestion.

Was about to suggest JS as a good start. You'll get used to the idea of using built in functions, constants/variables, libraries (include files) and creating your own functions. You can do some advanced stuff in JS too.
Any other language will be just a matter of learning syntax and structures and objects and building on the above

arietta

Alpha47 wrote: »

Hello

Can anybody tell me what is the best way to learn programming. This is for my 24 year old who has severe ME/CFS and has been housebound for 10 years. It is progress that he actually wants to learn programming now, but he cannot access college yet. He is bright. Will programming for dummies do? Or will it just put him off.

I've studied computing in Uni and we got told to learn the simpler ones first and then progress to the harder ones.
Apparently once you become familiar with one language they all get a bit easier to learn

The way i got taught was:
1.HTML/ XTML/CSS (these are used to create actual web pages/layouts)
2.Java (this is used for platforms/applications/games etc).
3.Visual Basics
4.Javascript (adds functionality to pages, validates forms, etc)
5. ASP/PHP( makes interactive web pages)

A useful website to learn programming is
w3schools.com
They have lots of info and tutorials and could be a good starting point

Alpha47

Hi

Do you know you are all brilliant on here.
I am printing out your replies so I can go over them, they are so helpful.

Thank you all.