Natural progression to learning a new computer language...The lights and switches mentioned in this progression are metaphors for inputs and outputs Make light turn on Make light turn off Make light turn on, then off Make light turn on/off/on... (blink) Read switch Make light turn on if switch is pressed, off if not pressed Read two switches and make light turn on or off depending on switch pattern ...in other words, take baby steps. It'll all fall into place. I started with BASIC (self taught) by taking baby steps and not trying to learn a language for a single significant goal at the start. I then taught myself Assembler, C, PERL, Python, JavaScript, Pascal, along with variations on any of those. Each time, I learned to manage the basic input and output capabilities of the language before digging deeper into its more powerful syntax. It's like learning to play a musical instrument. You can't expect to become proficient with musical instruments until you learn music theory first. On Thu, Jan 19, 2017 at 10:42 AM, Dan Roganti via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote:
Evan, you just can't keep making excuses like this, I know this is just a hobby but, like I mentioned very early in this topic here, you have to find your motivation. The rest will fall naturally into place, no amount of book work will get you motivated. Building up a good sense of intuition helps too, in any field, that takes practice of course.
But consider the reality, as you may be aware, there a tons of people out there that have to make desperate career choices in life. Because they might get laid-off from work, sometimes it's a massive job lay-off. The have to make career changes , not just search for the next job, so they can afford to live, so they don't go bankrupt. And one of the biggest careers which people transition to just so happens to be CS
Those people come from all walks of life, accountants, mine workers, secretary, etc,etc,etc. You be surprised how motivated you get when you can't find a job in your current occupation. I know guys when we were stuck in the dot com lay-off, with 10's of thousands of job losses, they had to leave the entire industry, both hardware and programming, because of the job saturation. Mostly because they just couldn't up and move their families across the country, sell their house, etc, when they have little reserves.
Getting a CS career has become versatile now. Mostly because there's little or few essentials to get equipped, most people have a laptop to start coding. They can start a online degree, or attend night classes, so they study while working a day job to pay bills. They might not be become expert programmers or work at CERN, but they still do an acceptable job, after several years grinding the stone, they make their boss satisfied and actually help the bottom line, that's what counts to get a paycheck.