The Neglected First Step when Solving a Programming Problem
The initial response most programmers have when starting a new problem is to open their editor and begin to code. I used to do this, too…
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How to Learn Effectively
When you set out to learn a new topic, you want answers to these questions: What topics should I learn first? What learning tactics should…
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How to Learn a Programming Language
Whether you’re learning your first programming language or your tenth, this article contains the resources to use and the techniques to…
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The Problem-Solving Treadmill (The Road to Nowhere)
Most people want to get better at problem-solving, but aren’t sure how to go about it. So they default to what I call the “problem-solving…
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Can You Explain Your Code?
Programmers often mistake a working program for an effective one. Their code could be a nightmare to read and debug. It could take forever…
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Is Code an Asset or a Liability?
The hosts of the Crafting Code podcast raise an interesting question on an episode about deleting code: is code an asset or a liability…
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Programming By Hand
I was like a fish out of water without my laptop by my side. I needed a new computer battery, so I left my MacBook at the Apple store. I…
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Deliberate Practice for Programmers
You’ve probably heard of deliberate practice: an intentional and informed type of practice that’s used to enhance performance.(1) It means…
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5 Lessons Learned (So Far) as a Programmer
Programming is a fantastic skill to develop. But, as a self-taught programmer, I’ve found the learning process unnecessarily ambiguous and…
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How Julia Child Mastered French Cooking and What It Means for Programming
Something about Julia Child caught my attention. This American author, teacher, and television personality is famous for bringing French…
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The Right Way to Learn to Program
There’s so much new and dense technical information coming at you when you begin learning to program. How do you learn and retain it all…
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Why You Should Write Clear, Meaningful Code (and How to Do It)
It's sometimes thought that short, "clever" code is the aim when writing programs. However, shorter isn’t necessarily better. Neither is…
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Take Time to Reflect
This is the fourth and last big idea in my series on programming effectively, which is based on my new learning tool, Programmer’s Pyramid…
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Make It Happen
This is the third article in a four-part series on programming effectively, which is based on my new learning tool, Programmer’s Pyramid…
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Make It Active
This is the second article in a four-part series on programming effectively, which is based on my new learning tool, Programmer’s Pyramid…
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Focus on the Fundamentals
This is the first article in a four-part series on programming effectively, which is based on my new learning tool, Programmer’s Pyramid…
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Level Up your Programming with Programmer’s Pyramid (it’s free!)
You realize that learning technologies, like React and Node, isn’t enough. So you want to enhance your skills and deepen your knowledge by…
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How to Create your Own Programming Projects
After completing one project, we’re often in a hurry to start a new one. But why the rush? If you complete a quality project, recycle it…
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4 Ways to Get Through the Dark Days of Learning to Program
All of us have them. In any long-term pursuit—getting a PhD, training for a marathon, or learning to program—there are dark days. You know…
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Why You’ll Make More Programming Progress in 2021 with Monthly Planning
I did something different in 2020, and it's had a profound effect on my programming progress. Instead of detailed quarterly plans, I’ve…
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Why You Need a Programming Checklist
It’s a familiar story. The code reads like a cryptic puzzle. The program has lines of “dead” code or contains useless comments. Or changes…
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How to Crush It While Working from Home
Working from home has become the new normal. Without a commute or office distractions, you should be crushing it every day. Are you? If you…
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Why Asking "What’s the Fastest Way to Learn to Program?” Is the Wrong Question
Programmers have a need for speed. This seems particularly true of those who are just starting out in the field. They want to learn to…
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What's on Your Programming Reading List?
“I think you need to read more,” my professor told me bluntly. I’d just shared my idea for an upcoming paper, and he clearly wasn’t thrilled…
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3 Programming Habits to Build Now
You’re learning to program, and looking for some answers. What skills do you need to develop? What concepts matter most? Which resources are…
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Why You’ll Get Better Faster with Feedback
We often think that the best doctors have the most experience. But one study suggests otherwise: the longer doctors have been in practice…
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How to Accelerate Your Programming Knowledge with Multiple Streams of Learning
My recommendation is to apply an approach that I like to call “multiple streams of learning,” or MSL. It means to actively study a field or…
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Learning to Program Is a Lifelong Pursuit
It’s odd to me. People talk about learning to program like it’s a one-time thing; that it’s something for novices. I don’t see it this way…
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Are You Becoming a Better Programmer?
I received an interesting question from a reader recently. He wanted to know how you can tell if you’re making progress as a programmer. It…
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How freeCodeCamp Is Helping Me Become a Better Programmer
Judging by the title, you may think this article is about the programming content on freeCodeCamp. You’d be partly right. But it’s also…
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Cory House’s Analogy Between Writing Code and Writing Prose
Something interesting caught my attention in Cory House’s Pluralsight course, Clean Coding Principles in C#. House makes a strong case…
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How to Get Better at Solving Programming Problems
Most of us have been given the same advice: to become a better problem solver, you need to solve more problems. But this advice is too…
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Learn to Program Better with The Weekly Spot Drill
Most of us have fallen into this trap. We’re so focused on learning a topic or honing a skill that we don’t touch previously learned…
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Improve your Code by Writing Better Variable Names
“You should improve your variable names,” a programmer told me bluntly after reviewing a program of mine. His comment stopped me in my…
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Why Programmers Need a Training Journal
The field of programming is as wide as it is deep. No matter if you’ve been programming for a month, year, decade, or more, all of us have…
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How to Declare a JS Arrow Function—My Recent freeCodeCamp Article
If you find JavaScript’s arrow function syntax a bit confusing, you’re not alone. It can be tricky to nail down at first. And that’s why I…
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2 Traits of Great Programmers
What distinguishes great programmers from good ones? It’s a question I’ve been wrestling with since I began learning to program. I’ve…
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Why Reading Code Matters (and how to get better at it)
It strikes me as odd. We’ve heard the same messages: Write clean code. Write readable code. Write meaningful code. I agree with these…
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The Best Resources to Learn Python in 2020
Finding a good programming resource is like looking for a needle in a haystack. It's hard to find and can take a lot of time. I’ve used…
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4 Ways to Learn Programming Topics
All programmers have something in common. There’s a lot of programming knowledge to learn and we need a way to learn it effectively. In many…
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How Ben Franklin Can Help You Become a Better Programmer
Benjamin Franklin was a lot of things, including a scientist, an inventor, writer, and politician. He was also a great learner. In his…
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Program Better in Ten-Mode
Many programmers don't get the most from their programming hours. In large part, this is because most workplaces don't emphasize peak…
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Why You Should Cross-Train Your Programming Brain
It seemed counterintuitive. Standing in Barnes & Noble one winter evening, I paged through a running book titled Run Less, Run Faster…
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How to Retain the Programming Knowledge You’ve Gained
There’s a lot to learn as a programmer. And there’s just as much material to remember and recall. You don’t want to relearn SQL because you…
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A Better Way to Learn Test-Driven Development
The meetup had a requirement. About fifteen of us sat around plastic tables and chairs listening to the meetup organizer explain the problem…
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Learning a New Programming Topic? Start with the Big Picture
It kept happening. I’d set out to learn a new programming topic and get caught up in the details. Learning something new took forever. I’d…
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The Art of Problem-Solving
On a rainy Monday night in downtown Boston, I sat around a small conference room table with three other programmers. I was at a Python…
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Jocko Willink and The Disciplined Life
Jocko Willink, a former Navy SEAL, underscores the importance of discipline in his latest book, “Discipline Equals Freedom.” It’s filled…
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Use a Standing Desk to Boost Your Energy at Work
People try kinds of tactics to stay awake during the day. Drinking caffeine in one of its many forms — coffee, energy drinks, or soda — is…
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5 Things Artists Can Teach Us about Productivity
Society portrays artists as eccentric people, lounging around their studio or office waiting for inspiration to strike. But after reading…
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Stop the Meetings!
The workplace is meeting-happy these days. We meet to discuss projects. We meet to create processes. We meet to share daily goals. And we…
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Be a Good Manager
I was intrigued by Jason Fried’s recent post on being a bad manager , so I decided to take the opposite tack. This post is about being a…
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Working in Blocks of Time
I used to be a to-do list fanatic. Each evening I wrote the things I wanted to accomplish the following day on a pocket-sized notebook pad…
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