How to Learn a New Programming Language
We as programmers are always seeking new things to learn and tinker a bit, may it reinvent some wheel or simply to have fun with a new tools and programming languages are part of these tools we pick to play a little bit, some remain with us longer than others, but we always have our favorite.
What we want when we get a new programming language is to learn it to a good level as fast as possible, I always feel it, you probably do too, but it is complicated when the language has a lot of different features, functions name and etc that are completely different from what we knew. I am experiencing that with common lisp (I will make a report about it later).
How to Master It Quickly?
Simple and easy, at least this method I have, you probably have other, which I respect, but this is one I use and recommend. Remember those bothersome algorithms you had to implement in your language when you were at college? Or the algorithms people bothered you saying that they were fundamental? Yeah, I ve come here to tell you the same.
Those algorithms, may it be sorting or searching and much more, are great ways to practice in 2 things:
- Function names and conventions
- Data Structures, loops, decision operators… Briefly the syntax
And you also get fundamental knowledge in Computer Science that is great for interviews at companies.