Learn how to code?

[Lord Dick Tim]

I want to start a dialogue on learning how to code, and what we can do as lamen, amateurs or the generally inexperienced to begin a learning process without expensive courses, or advanced previous understanding.

I'm interested in this because we may all here be fluent in the use of our fancy machines, but very few of us can ever really create much with them.  It's like reading a book, understanding English, but not knowing how to write it.

I've had some success finding a few websites that offer free, basic course work on how to code in different languages, http://www.codecademy.com/ is one such website.

As more and more people become fluent in the use of programming I imagine the education bar is going to be lowered in the near future, almost like how any complex engineering marvel is eventually reduced to the knowledge of a mechanic, which is reduced to the knowledge of a hobbyist, to finally down to the lamen.   
So I'd like to get a jump on gathering up and learning resources that are out there.  Anyone have any suggestions?

[Morblitz]

This won't actually help you learn to code, but recently I've been thinking about the importance/usefulness in learning how to code because of this video, which I'm going to share because I think you might find it interesting:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKIu9yen5nc

So I'm a bit amused by the timeliness of this thread.

You're pretty much exactly right there, coding is something that's getting to be more and more relevant in this day and age, and there's apparently a lot of jobs going unfilled because there aren't enough coders to fill them, and it's a shame that it isn't a thing more widely offered in colleges/universities.

[Lord Dick Tim]

Thanks for the video, salute to you sir!  That was an awesome video.

[-Muse- Cullen]

I'm learning Ruby- Most of my learning material is in book or PDF though. Here's what I got that's actually online and coding related in general.
http://ruby.bastardsbook.com/
http://railsforzombies.org/
I also use codeacademy.

[HamsterIV]

Getting started in programming really benefits from having a live human pointing out what you did wrong. Compilers are notoriously unforgiving and unhelpful when it comes to grammar. Try a community college intro to programming course to get you feet wet. Once you understand one programming language it is pretty easy to pick up another. If you really want to go it alone comb through stack exchange for any errors or problems you encounter. I have been programming for over a decade and stack exchange helps me almost daily. You can ask your own questions of stack exchange as well, but chances are they have already been answered so be sure to search before you ask.

If you are interested in programming games (which I know you are) there are several game development communities that are pretty welcoming TIG Source is one of my favorites. In fact here is their tutorial page: http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?board=16.0

I am pretty good at Unity3D and C# so if you have any questions about those tools I can try an help you. Click on my profile link to see some of my hobby projects (shameless plug).
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[krait]

My recommendation is to pick a language and environment that are modern and easy to learn and debug, rather than choosing something simply based on popularity. C++, for example, would probably not be anywhere on that list (you can write medium sized programs in other languages in the same amount of time that even common mistakes can take to debug in C++). Even if you have a target mainstream language you want to approach, if it's not one of the semantically simpler languages (remember, simplicity doesn't mean less powerful -- sometimes quite the opposite!), then it can be faster to learn general programming concepts first before attempting to transfer those concepts onto learning a harder language.

[HamsterIV]

This debate is an old one, but I learned C as my first language and moved on to easier languages. My C background made it easier to understand the complexities of pointers, pass by reference, and data structures, when learning a new language. Getting started it is much easier to learn Java or Python than C, but the easy way is not always the best way.

[krait]

Getting started it is much easier to learn Java or Python than C, but the easy way is not always the best way.

I know a great many people who use pointers when they don't need them -- and for the wrong reasons, often their intuitions (or what they've been told) about performance are exactly opposite in those cases to how the hardware is working. It's rather easy to only half-learn use of pointers, and that's pretty dangerous. Lacking pointers, a language with extremely clear reference-vs-nonref semantics means that there wont be a lot of the confusion involved if and when a programmer starts learning a pointer-based language.

[FightBoyVash]

Java was my first language, stuck with is ever since and eventually started learning Lua.

[Lord Dick Tim]

http://blog.ted.com/2013/01/29/10-places-where-anyone-can-learn-to-code/

Found this super nifty Ted talks blog post.  Lots of, I hope, good links here.

[Keon]

Python is a good starter language. It has all the things you need and it's easy to learn. I never liked video tutorials, because I found most often I knew most of the tutorial covered and just skipped ahead. The most important thing, in my opinion, is to do it. Coding is learned by coding.