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I was 13 when learned HTML by reading source code, playing, and a very good tutorial (no longer around), then CSS. I tried different languages, C++ with Borland compiler, but I could not understand how the basic syntax can be translated into a game - this is what I really wanted to do. I wanted graphics. JavaScript did not make sense at all, I found it too complicated, I did not understand the difference between client and server. Then I learned PHP to run a website of our school class, I used PHP to automatically generate a gallery of pictures located in a folder. Saved me tens of hours of time. Then I started playing with Flash and ActionScript and I was shocked to discover that different shapes - triangles, circles and rectangels are objects that share methods (resize, fill colour etc.) and that was the Object Oriented revelation. Years passed. I got a job in IT where I had to learn the internal scripting language and do a lot of SQL - so I've learned that. The product did not allow you to do certain things and they had to be "hard hacked" in JavaScript, so I had to learn that, and I realised it's no longer difficult. I learned C++ finally when for a short time I enrolled into University (software engineering). Then I got a new job where the product was made in Java and in order to make any extensions they had to be coded in Java, so I learned Java (Head First Java). In the process I realised what are the unit tests and how to first write a test and then your object. Somewhere along the way I learned about Design Patterns, but I cannot say I really can use them effectively. I also learned C. I no longer work in IT, coding is just a weekend hobby. Now what I still have to learn is to make bigger things that would make sense for others, both in therms of usability and code readibility (I write heinous-ugly code). I am ignorant of MVC model. I don't know much about linux administration or scalability and functional paradigm. I hate myself for not knowing math beyond highschool level. Still a long long way to go :) |