I’m sympathetic to the idea of programming for the purpose of technological literacy, brain exercise, and coolness (as opposed to programming as required for your work, which tends to have a much narrower focus and, in my case, stays at a pretty primitive level.)
If someone who doesn’t have a primarily “coding” job wants to actually take your advice, where would it be a good idea to start, concretely?
Stuff I’ve considered:
learning/reviewing something like C++ that would let me do big computations and simulations (+1 for obvious professional value)
learning web development, beyond HTML (no obvious professional value, but it would be cool, and lends itself easily to a DIY project)
Learning something about computer architecture, operating systems, etc, and building toy models of those (no obvious professional value, looks terrifying, but has the advantage that I’d understand the technology I use instead of playing with a “magic box.”)
My advice would be, think of something you actually want to write, then learn the tools that will enable you to write it. It sounds like what you most want to actually write is simulations for use in your day job?
I’m sympathetic to the idea of programming for the purpose of technological literacy, brain exercise, and coolness (as opposed to programming as required for your work, which tends to have a much narrower focus and, in my case, stays at a pretty primitive level.)
If someone who doesn’t have a primarily “coding” job wants to actually take your advice, where would it be a good idea to start, concretely?
Stuff I’ve considered:
learning/reviewing something like C++ that would let me do big computations and simulations (+1 for obvious professional value)
learning web development, beyond HTML (no obvious professional value, but it would be cool, and lends itself easily to a DIY project)
Learning something about computer architecture, operating systems, etc, and building toy models of those (no obvious professional value, looks terrifying, but has the advantage that I’d understand the technology I use instead of playing with a “magic box.”)
Something else?
My advice would be, think of something you actually want to write, then learn the tools that will enable you to write it. It sounds like what you most want to actually write is simulations for use in your day job?