Ngozi Kalu

Posted on Jul 28, 2020

A Guide Into Programming For Newbies

If you are seeing this page, I want to believe that you are either new to tech or new to programming, and in need of a guide to help you make a choice of what to learn in other to be what you want to be in the tech world. This article mainly aims to direct you in choosing a path in the case where you don’t know what path to go, and also present you with several options to choose from.

First, If you are not sure of a path to take, there are several things you may want to consider in your decision of choosing a path, some of the personal questions you need to ask yourself are;
What really interests me in tech, or what am I originally skilled at? (The answer to this question should be your cravings, do you have interest in beautiful designs, or are you fascinated with data or its analysis, or is it functionality and behavior that excites you? etc)

How long would it take me to learn the technology for my area of interest? (By technology, I mean a programming language or a framework. Don’t worry if you don’t understand what a framework is, in the course of reading this article, you will get a grasp of it.)
What is the job market like? How much are recruiters needing this technology?
How efficiently or effortlessly can I use this technology?
What is the community like? (By community, I mean the number of people currently using this technology)
How old or how recent is this technology? For the most part, if you can find answers to the above questions, it will greatly influence your decision in making a choice. Tips to choosing a path based on your area of interest; If you have a graphic design background, an interest in digital products then becoming a UX or UI designer might be your go-to path.
If you have a thing for the databases? You may want to take a deep dive into the world of databases and become a database administrator.
If you like to analyze trends in data, then definitely, you may want to go into data science.
If you like to implement functionality, or often curious about what goes under the hood in any web application, then you can explore web development (Backend).
If you like to design web pages, then you can explore web app development (Frontend).
If being part of a team that builds apps that you can run on your mobile device excites you, then mobile app development should be your go-to path.

Secondly, assuming you have chosen a path, but you don’t know what programming language to learn, In an age where there are hundreds of programming languages, it is normal to have difficulty in making this choice of a language, Once you choose a language and learn it extensively, it will no longer be difficult to adapt other technologies.

Now, you should have an idea of what your go to path should look like.
If you think you have an interest in Web Application Development, please read further:
There are two sides to any web application, you can focus on either of them;

Frontend development
Backend development

Frontend Development:

Frontend is like the exterior of a house, or a vehicle, or anything, that displays the beautiful interface that someone can visualize and interact with.

Frontend development involves developing what the user sees and interacts with. Also, the Frontend does not have any business with interacting with databases. In other news, a Frontend developer tranforms a UI/UX design into code(again, don’t worry if you don’t yet understand what UI/UX means).
What do I need to be a front end developer?
The basic skills needed for being a Frontend developer are:
HTML (Required)
CSS (Required)
JavaScript (Required)
Frameworks (Optional)

1) HTML:
HTML is the markup language that defines the structure of a web page, note that HTML is not a programming language. In layman’s terms, HTML is what you use to display texts, images, videos etc on a web page, it will define the layout of the page. It is impossible to make a website without using HTML. As an example, you can create a button with the text “Click to see Hello World” and display it on your browser. HTML when likened to a human body, is like the skeleton of the human body, HTML works together with CSS, without CSS, Your web page will be the ugliest ever, just like the image below.

2) CSS:
CSS is a style sheet language that is used to describe how HTML elements are to be presented on the page. Like in the example above, CSS can be used to change the color of the button to blue. CSS when likened to the human body, is like the flesh of the human body, that gives beauty to the skeleton. The button below was styled using CSS.

3) JavaScript:
JavaScript is what provides functionality that your HTML page uses. JavaScript determines the behavior of your web page. In the example above, JavaScript is used to control the behavior of the button, such as when the button is clicked, a message can pop up. JavaScript when likened to human, is like the mechanics that control human movement or any other behavior. In the following image, a script like JavaScript would trigger a message to pop up on the window when the button is clicked.

HTML, CSS and JavaScript are the required technologies needed to become a Frontend developer. When learning these technologies, learn them in this order HTML => CSS => JavaScript.
After learning these, you can go further to learn a Framework.

What is a Framework?

The picture above is the idea of a Framework. It gives you a structure to fix something, in this case your code. A framework will control the design of your application. It will force you to work in a standard way. For instance, a particular framework will force you to code your login functionality in a particular way, or make an HTTP request in a particular way(an HTTP request is just like you trying to access google.com from your application), while another framework will force you to do these things in another way. Also, a framework can consist of libraries that you have to use. (don’t know what a library is, not to worry, read on).

Why should I bother learning a framework if it’s optional then?

While it is not compulsory to learn any framework, it is also important you do. The reason is that frameworks will make writing code faster and more standardized. Also, most companies adopt the use of certain frameworks to aid their development, and trust you want to have the skill that your favorite company needs.

What HTML Framework should I learn?

There are several HTML frameworks that I will not cover in this article, you can explore them if you like, but more often than not, the basic HTML is enough for any web page you want to build.

What CSS Framework should I learn?

For a start, Bootstrap is a good place. This is because Bootstrap is widely and largely used. There are over 15 CSS frameworks that exist. Bootstrap is the most popular CSS Framework, and as a newbie, starting out with this framework would be a good decision.

Note: Learning frameworks without mastering the basics would leave you struggling to understand it, and also jumping from framework to framework, because few of these frameworks stay for a long time and a newer one comes out to displace them.

What JavaScript Framework should I learn?

Popular JavaScript Frameworks you can choose to learn:

Angular: Angular is used to develop single-page applications.
Vue: Vue can also be used to develop a single-page application. Other JavaScript frameworks you can explore are ember, nextjs, Svelte, Backbone etc.

What is a Library?

A library is a bunch of reusable code that you can include inside your program. A common-sense explanation is this, suppose you have a bunch of code that you write every time in different parts of your application, you can write this code once and save it in a file, then call it every time you need it. So as a programmer, you can write and use your own libraries and you can also use external libraries (libraries written by others).

What JavaScript Library should I learn?

You can use any of your choice but the following JavaScript libraries are largely used;

React JS: Currently, this is largely used than other libraries.
jQuery: Usage of jQuery has reduced over time owing to the advent of so many other libraries that offer better capabilities. Regardless, jQuery is so easy and so powerful and can still be used alongside other frameworks.

Backend Development:

Backend is like a vehicle engine, it’s not always seen but it’s the power house of the vehicle.

What do you think happens when you fill a form online and submit it? Whatever happens behind the scene that you cannot see is powered by Backend development. So a Backend developer is one who codes for the Backend. For the most part, there is usually a database interaction in Backend development, so while learning any Backend technology, have it at the back of your mind that you need to store your data somewhere, which means you need to have basic understanding of interacting with a database.

What do I need to be a Backend developer?

You can learn any (just one) of the following technologies/Languages:

Python with Django Framework or Flask Framework: For building Backend for web applications, you have to learn Python with either the Django framework or the flask framework. Its database Support include PostgreSQL, MariaDb, MySQL, Oracle, SQLite.
Ruby: The good thing about ruby is that it aids faster development of web applications However, Ruby on Rails is losing its popularity, Ruby does not have a huge community. Some supported databases are SQLite, PostgreSQL, MySQL.
PHP: PHP is suitable for making powerful and dynamic web pages. PHP supports MySQL, Oracle, PostgreSQL, Sybase, IBM-DB2 databases.
JAVA: JAVA has a huge community of developers. Over tens of millions of developers. JAVA has support for JAVA DB, MySQL, Oracle, PostgreSQL, SQL Server, Sybase, DB2 databases.
C#: With frameworks like ASP.NET MVC or .NET Core, one can develop applications for the Backend, .NET supports SQL Server, MySQL etc.
C++: C++ can code for any platform. But it is not so easy to learn. C++ supports SQL Server, Oracle, Sybase, MySQL, PostgreSQL databases.
NodeJs: node is a runtime environment for running JavaScript code. note that node requires JavaScript, so you must know JavaScript before node. Node supports several databases like; MongoDB, Redis, CouchDB, SQL Server, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, SQLite.

Do you wish to develop applications that run on mobile devices? If yes, then you surely want to be a mobile developer. So read further.

A mobile application is an application that is designed to run on only mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets etc, most technologies used for Backend are also used for mobile development. Likewise, it requires a database to store data and also a programming language.
What frameworks or technologies do I need to be a mobile app developer?
Learn how to use any of the technologies listed below:

Xamarin Framework: It is used with c# language, It supports SQLite and Realm database.
Flutter SDK: Dart language is used with flutter. It supports SQLite database.
React Native: It is used with JavaScript, It supports Firebase, SQLite, Realm, PouchDb databases.
Ionic Framework: It is used with Angular JS, It supports SQLite, Firebase.
Cordova-Apache: It uses HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. It supports SQLite.
Java: It is used with JAVA.It supports SQLite, Realm.
Objective C: This is the primary programming language for developing iOS apps. It is gradually been replaced by Swift. The language used is C. It can support SQLite, Realm
Swift: Swift is used to develop for iOS, macOS, watchOS, tvOS, and Linux applications. It can support SQLite and Realm DB.
Kotlin: Kotlin is built around JAVA, but it offers big advantages over JAVA, one of which is that it can code cross-platform. It can play nicely with JAVA in the same project. It can support SQLite, Realm, Firebase etc.

Do you wish to be a UI/UX designer?

UI and UX are different skills, but go hand in hand with each other.

UX (User Experience):

Generally, User Experience focuses on how something works and how people can interact with it. a UX designer should ensure that a product, be it software or anything, makes sense to the end-user. Think of how easy it is for you to set up and use an app like WhatsApp and also how interesting the app is to the user, a first time user may need little or no help to use it. How easy it is to navigate your Android device? How many clicks does a user have to do in other to achieve a particular thing on your software? It is called User Experience. The ability to put yourself in the user’s shoes is the first required skill you should have as a UX designer.

UI (User Interface):

User Interface focuses on the look and layout of a design. The UI designer does the graphics of the product and should have a sound knowledge of graphics to make a good UI designer. A UI designer is the one who creates graphic designs called mock-ups and gives it to a Frontend developer, the Frontend developer will transfer it into code and run it on a web browser.

What tools do I need to be a UI/UX designer?

UI/UX designers use a range of tools within their reach; examples are
Photoshop, Adobe XD, Sketch, Illustrator, Figma, MockFlow etc.

Do you want to be a Database Administrator?

In simple terms, a database administrator is one who ensures that everything is put in place to ensure the availability of the database to its users. The most popular language for manipulating databases is called Structured Query Language(SQL), understanding this language is key for most databases.
There are several databases and database management systems that exist,
Oracle, MySQL, Microsoft SQL, PostgreSQL, DB2, Microsoft Access, SQLite, Redis.

Do you want to be a Data Scientist?

You may have heard that the future is data, that is absolutely correct. Every company has and uses data. Ability to use existing data to extract insights and knowledge which is beneficial to anyone is what makes you a data scientist. In 2020, the demand for data scientists is increasing at a geometric progression.
What do I need to be a Data Scientist?

Learn how to use Python
R
SQL (Structured Query Language)
Basic Statistics: your basic mean, mode, median etc.

There are several other options in tech you may be interested in but were not covered in this article, Example of other areas include Machine Learning, IOT, Natural Language Processing, Ethical Hacking, Robotics etc. The end goal is to do what makes you happy while you add value to people, and earn money in return.
Choose a path today and start learning all the way until you can create solutions to a person’s need.