Learning prgramming languages with softwares?

[raystriker]

So the truth is, I want to learn a bevy of programming languages since I'm gonna join college soon. I know about great sites like EduX and Codeacademy but are there any softwares on windows that can provide the same experience, offline?

 

[Frederica Bernkastel]

Firstly, I'd like to apologise for the dire state of most VLEs. They arrogantly assume that people will always have an internet connection, and so exclude a large portion of their audience by not allowing users to continue learning without a network connection. I have an incredible connection both at home and at work, however I frequently travel and even . The point me jumping up onto this soap-box? Progressive web-apps! Progressive webapps are the buzzword of the day, encompassing a few trends that have been pretty prevalent over the past few years - namely, making webpages work irrespective of device size or speed, making things work offline, giving more control to native resources and making everything faster. All of these things are supported by browser technology, and have been in some form for a great deal many years, however the brilliant folks at Google, Opera, Mozilla and Samsung have been working on introducing new and better methods of achieving these goals - (an excellent resource by Addy Osmani is available here).
If you're learning about developing in the web domain, whether building a personal website, or building a complicated web application (in a team?), or even are just offering up some kind of API for consumption in the web - Remember your current frustrations, and try to make it a progressive web-app!

Okay, now stepping down from my soap-box ... I experienced much the same frustrations as you whilst first trying to learn about tech and code, although this sadly predated good VLEs such as Codeacademy - My "solution" was to download a dump of most of the content which now forms http://textfiles.com. It's a wealth of archived information which many people overlook, which is especially ironic as many of the ideas first presented in here keep coming up again and again in tech.

More practically, there are a few decent tutorials on learning Javascript which work completely offline and offer a workshop-style guide - The first of these is available here https://github.com/sethvincent/javascripting which is purely based in NodeJS (it talks about installing NodeJS, but if you have any issues feel free to ask away here and I'm sure someone will help). The other items in this series are available here: http://nodeschool.io/#workshopper-list

I wasn't aware of any other such workshop-like things, and a few minutes googling around didn't reveal anything else so these could be unique! It might be worth checking out your smartphone/table appstore of choice (if applicable) as I distinctly recall seeing some relevant stuff on Android (haven't tried it though so I can't speak for its quality).

Something else that it might seriously be worth doing is buying, or otherwise obtaining, books or ebooks on the subject. There are many "getting started" books out there, however I don't think all that many of them are any good. Some gems I've read in the past include Learn C the hard way, Beej's Guide to C Programming, Learning Java, Eloquent Javascript, and of course the infamous Why's Poignant Guide to Ruby.
On a side-note, recently I've started using Safari Books Online and PacktLib (where you can read @Costello's book on nginx). If you're interested in either, hit me up and I'll find out if there are any discounts available.

However all of the things I've linked are ultimately just information. To learn to code, and to code well, you've gotta just remember to have fun! Think of a crazy idea, or that one piece of software you wish you had, and try and build it yourself! (You should be able to do most of that offline, but of course feel free to ask questions).

Hope this helps!

EDIT: Oh, and all those books I posted are completely free to download.

 

[raystriker]

Thanks a lot! True, there are some apps on the Play store etc but i don't think they're much good.
I think i'll try pdfs or buy proper books



Someone should really capitalize on this

 

[Frederica Bernkastel]

Thanks a lot! True, there are some apps on the Play store etc but i don't think they're much good.
I think i'll try pdfs or buy proper books



Someone should really capitalize on this

I'm tempted to start trying to contribute to NodeSchool now - JS is hugely accessible, and this is definitely a novel approach to learning.

I forgot to post this - Free programming books.

Also of questionable legality (okay, it's not at all legal), there's a massive downloadable archive of programming books compiled by the friendly folks of 4chan's /g/ board, but I won't link to it. Just know it's out there

 

[FAST6191]

I said most of what I would care to say on this in http://gbatemp.net/threads/so-you-want-to-learn-to-program.371255/
That said for you I will say I did not have the worst experience with laby, though I did not put any real effort into it. https://sgimenez.github.io/laby/

As ever though the best way, after you found a book/manual you can get on with, is to have a project you want to accomplish. There are some people out there which can learn for the sake of learning but most have to have some motivation/incentive.

 

[V1Cammy]

you should check out the collection of krobar tutorials ....
it is a essential resource for crackers....it also teaches you the basics of how appplication programming interfaces...work.
to be even able to program quickly and efficiently....you need to understand assembly.

 

[NORBIN]

http://www.programmr.com/practice/

Another site like Codecademy (includes C++ & C# interactive courses), not offline but worth taking a look at if you like these kinds of lessons.