How and where is the best place to start learning programming?

Question

PHP

Good day to all.
I would like to tell a little why I need to learn programming.
I have been working on the Internet for several years with a friend and we have several of our own web projects. In recent years, our projects have become more complex and interesting from a functional point of view. A lot of ideas come up, the implementation of which suffers due to the lack of programming skills in both. Plus, it has become very difficult to find good specialists for implementation. On top of that, the costs of such specialists are becoming more and more.
I have little experience in "editing" other people's HTML, CSS and PHP code, but I understand their structure. I also know several popular CMS very well, I understand MySQL databases a little. The comrade, on the other hand, knows Excel very well, on which we write almost all the technical requirements for our projects for programmers in terms of calculations, accounting, etc.
The choice of the studied languages ​​fell on - PHP, Javascript and Python. I chose them, because. I think that these languages ​​are suitable for our current and future projects (sometimes, programming is needed not only for web development, but also for desktop applications).
The goal of learning programming languages ​​is to translate your many ideas into reality on your own, or at least partially, to reduce the cost of third-party performers.
Actually the question is: How and where is it better to start learning these languages?
I read a lot of articles about this, looked at a lot of sites with online courses, googled about personal training via Skype, but the question remained open. At the moment I'm looking towards personal training with a coach via Skype or towards similar services like www.codecademy.com/ru/. The option of studying from books was practically discarded, because. did not find a clear answer on which books are best to teach, and I think that this method will take much more time.
The option with online services most likely also disappears, due to ignorance of the English language. I found several suitable resources in Russian, but I'm not sure that I can fully learn these languages ​​in them.
If you are looking for a coach for training via Skype, where is the best place to look for him? I would not want to run into some "Info Businessman".
In general, please express your point of view on this difficult issue for me.

Answer 1

A bit offtopic, but still.
You need to learn not php, js, python, whatever, but English. It is the only language that every programmer should know.
If he is already at the level of reading with a dictionary, then he can be pulled up by studying the programming languages ​​\u200b\u200bof you are interested.
Next - come up with a problem and try to solve it. Here is the documentation on PL and stackoverflow (on it, in my opinion, you can find the answer to any programming question) to help you.
Unfortunately, there is no magic button. To learn how to program, you have to program.

Answer 2

IMHO, programming, first of all, is not specific languages, but algorithms and data. If you can build an algorithm for solving a problem and choose the data structures that are optimal for this algorithm, then most of the problem has already been solved. Translating an algorithm into a programming language (encoding) is an order of magnitude easier task. As you become familiar with a particular language, coding will be easier and more efficient.
It is highly desirable to learn English, it is in it that almost all official documentation goes, most of the developers communicate in it.
It is also useful to learn some low-level language, assembly or C (no pluses), programming in them makes it easier to understand what is hidden behind the abstractions of high-level languages.

Answer 3

And when in your work you come across the fact that "it will become very difficult to find a good accountant for finance" will you study accounting again? And if someone gets sick and you can’t find a good doctor, will you yourself learn to treat people?
You don't need to learn how to code, because "it has become very difficult to find good people to implement." Better learn to find specialists, they are.

Answer 4

If, look towards PHP.
Syntax basics video course: infospir . I watched different videos. But no one in Runet explains better than this guy. It's a pity that he closed his project...
After that, it will be much easier to edit the scripts on his site. Next, a lot of small practice. It is desirable to practice, and not to solve tasks invented by oneself. At one time, I practiced by parsing the database of Yandex city codes to create a universal weather banner. In addition, you need to turn your eyes to the official manual, and constantly google questions (the ability to correctlyGoogle is generally one of the most important skills). When you feel ready, go nowhere without a book. The best thing to find on OOP in PHP is "Matt Zandstra. PHP: Objects, Patterns and Practices". Incredibly boring book, but it gives the most complete understanding of classes, objects, and other good things. After that, you can take up the study of any framework on the MVC pattern. First of all, read somewhere what MVC is and into battle. For the first experience, it is better to take something more or less simple, such as CodeIgniter. In general, if you do not go astray from the path of the righteous, then in three years, you will be strong.
About "teachers". I've tried it before, I know. Oddly enough, but the main problem is that these people are programmers. For the most part, they are not capable of teaching well. Maybe you'll be lucky to run into a "unique", but most likely not.

Answer 5

The course just started yesterday https://class.coursera.org/interactivepython-004 you can still enroll.
Personally, I recently started with Lutz's book (Lutz M. - Learning Python (4th Edition) - 2011)
Then I found out about the site www.codecademy.com
There is also an interesting site with Python problems to practice www.checkio.org

Answer 6

I am more than sure that my answer may not work, but try the bundle that I picked up for myself (I write right away, this is Java). CS101 https://class.coursera.org/cs101-selfservice
Pretty interesting proger page www.skipy.ru/technics.html Great
basic reading and additions from Sedgwick introcs.cs.princeton.edu/java/home
+
Listen to the Java Course at hexlet.org

Answer 7

1. An experienced programmer is always better. Here you need to weigh the willingness to spend your time against the willingness to spend your money. Sometimes it's cheaper to order ready-made.
First of all, you need to set a task for yourself and solve it in a programming language.
It is better to take a simple and obvious language (for example, PHP, and without a "Web-muzzle", that is, a console one).
Set the simplest tasks, for example, building a tree. you have a MSSQL table
<UniqueRecordNumber><ParentRecordNumber><Naming>
WhereParentRecordNumber if 0, then the item is the root
Compose a tree from this list, display it as a tree (so that the nesting is clear), make a web face, make it beautiful so that it unfolds on a mouse click (js), add the ability to add and remove items (and entire trees), add the ability to one records have multiple parents, add a search, forget about the search and do a search on a normal engine (for example, Sphinx)
Gradually, you will create algorithms and search the Internet for methods of implementing them (how to display something on the screen, how to get data from MSSQL, what JQuery has options, how do I use this, like that, etc.)
Well, the “most important thing”, at first, get attached to what you plan to work with. If you want Web Development, don't start with non-web oriented languages. Even with "not-only-web-oriented" you should not start either (I'm talking about all sorts of asp.net and webmords on cgi\c#)

Answer 8

Thanks everyone for the replies. Started learning with the book - Summerfield - Programming with Python 3.2009

Answer 9

I'm surprised that hexlet.io didn't sound , in my opinion, the best courses on the Russian-speaking market today, and cost a penny, compared to the "infobusinessmen" you mentioned. You can even not pay for courses, but simply join them in a slack chat, and you will learn a lot of new things. Highly recommend.