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.
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 turned off my Facebook, but haven’t yet considered doing this. I think I will. I play the piano and learn languages, and I feel I could be so much better at them, without the inter-webs.