It’s been a month and a half since I started learning programming. It’s going well, I’m halfway through “The C programming language”. I’m on chapter five, “pointers”, which is supposed to be the hardest part of C. It’s actually not so bad.

I’m lucky in that I’ve found two good resources to help me along.

1. Notes on the C programming language, by Steve Summit

I don’t actually know who Summit is, but he provides a very nice gloss on K & R. It’s invaluable to read over his notes after finishing a section. They help confirm me in my understanding of key points, or help me figure out any part where I’m stuck.

2. The C Answer Book

This book provides official solutions to each exercise in K & R.

Doing the exercises is a major part of learning C (and learning programming). The answer book is useful for two reasons:

1. If I got an exercise right, I can see how my solution compares to the expert solution.

2. If I’m completely stuck, and have tried for a while, I can get an answer.

I hope to finish K & R in 3-4 weeks, and move on to SICP.

I started learning German using Pimsleur.  It’s an audio course you do using an ipod, for half an hour each day.  I got my roommate excited about the program, and so we decided to learn German together.  He’s a musician, and will find the language useful for his craft.  I just wanted an excuse to learn a new language.

The program teaches you to be conversational.  You’re taught a few words, along with excellent prononciation.  Then the program asks you to say things to another person.

It doesn’t tell you what to repeat.  It asks how to say things in the target language.  You have to remember, and sometimes improvise.  It lets you practice saying things out loud, the same way you would in a normal conversation.

I’ve used it before, for Italian.  After 3 months, I could have conversations during my trip to Italy.  It gives you everything you need to know to improve rapidly.  And you sound nice enough that people enjoy speaking with you.  Italians thought I had been learning for years.

The best part is that you can do it whenever you have a half hour of chores.  I do it while cooking lunch, and cleaning.  I always felt that half hour was wasted.  Now I get to learn a language instead.

I can’t love this enough.  I’m now using it to do all of my email.  It switches from one message to the next instantly, so you don’t have to go back to the inbox in between.

1.  Glance at email.

2.  Archive, Delete or Reply.

3.  Repeat.

I find I go twice as fast.  It’s especially useful for just checking email a few times a day.  Then there will be a few messages, and the gains are multiplied.

I finally got around to registering my own domain.  I couldn’t get graemeblake.com, but I think this will do nicely.

Many inanities to follow.  And the occasional useful tip.