Conclusion

This concludes the course about learning to code.

Hopefully, I was able to ignite a spark. That’s why I learned to code, so long ago. The idea that I could make my own game or website, that I could let the computer solve problems for me, felt like magic. It still feels like magic, sometimes. Honestly, often my code works and I don’t even know why 😛

I just followed the logical steps towards the solution. I coded each step on its own. I press play (or reload the page) … and if I was right, the computer will flawlessly execute my solution. And it still feels like magic.

My journey into coding started with making games. Back when Adobe Flash was still a thing. I saw my brother playing a game, asked “hey how are those things even made?!”, and he told me to use that software. That same night, as we came home from visiting family, I learned what += meant for the first time in my life. I stayed up until 2 AM trying to make a stupid red square move to the right.

But when I went to bed, I had made a square move on a computer. And that excited me more than the past eight years of school. (Yes, I was 12 when I learned my first line of code.) I really don’t know what I would’ve done if I hadn’t discovered something that I could learn and be passionate about.

At the same time, my introduction to coding was messy. Adobe Flash was, in hindsight, a horrible program and language. I jumped to “make a game” waaaay too quickly. It took years before I understood the wisdom I tried to convey in this course. And all that time, I bashed my head against problems I didn’t understand. Because I’d memorized symbols and syntax—but didn’t even know what the heck a data transformation was.

I … have nothing more to say. Go and code! Go and make awesome games, websites, apps, simulations, whatever!

You only improve by doing—a lot. Try new languages. Try new structures or coding styles. Once you have a few projects, rewrite the older ones. You’ll notice how much better you’ve become, and you’ll learn even more about good coding.

So stop reading now and code!

Well, one last thing: if you have any feedback on this course, let me know! Creating my own programming language was a huge adventure and I’m certain there will be bugs left here and there. Similarly, the major pitfall for teachers is the fact that they know their subject very well, but their students do not. This means I might have glossed over something that you didn’t understand. Or spent too little time explaining a tough concept.

Whatever the case, let me know.

Keep learning,

Pandaqi