> Programming is also a skill, but it’s not at all intuitive or tangible. Without guided learning, it’s impossible to even get started.
I have to disagree. Especially with web programming, it's surprisingly easy to get started. I know plenty of people who started out by just copying and pasting bits of html they found through 'view source'. Even when I had a basic grasp of html (through the "guided" learning of a 5-page tutorial), my first javascript was trying to change a counter on a snippet I'd copied from somewhere else on the web.
I realize that "you need a mentor" is a profitable piece of advice for a site that sells web development tutoring, but it's blatantly incorrect.
I agree (with you) 100%. I got started by reading the Java docs six years ago, and the Internet is all the instruction I've ever needed. In fact, I find that people that have a mentor when learning to program don't learn as much as when they have no mentor.
How did any of us discover it? Presumably they saw an interesting button and clicked on it. That's how I first discovered that pages had source like that.
Correct. Programming is not intuitive, so you need something (like books) to help you. I suppose you could learn by pure trial and error, but that's really only helpful after you've picked up a lot of the basic syntax.
I learnt to program by typing ? at a BBC BASIC prompt. Later on I found some manuals and after that magazines started appearing. Intuition is just experiences you haven't thought through yet. Not that I'm recommending this approach, it takes an unnecessary amount of time to build sufficient experience by trial and error.
I have to disagree. Especially with web programming, it's surprisingly easy to get started. I know plenty of people who started out by just copying and pasting bits of html they found through 'view source'. Even when I had a basic grasp of html (through the "guided" learning of a 5-page tutorial), my first javascript was trying to change a counter on a snippet I'd copied from somewhere else on the web.
I realize that "you need a mentor" is a profitable piece of advice for a site that sells web development tutoring, but it's blatantly incorrect.