10 Tips to Learn How to Program

Want to learn how to code? Try my 10 tips:

1. Start as early as possible - Being young is when you have the most free time. Instead of playing games, learn to code instead. As an example, the people finding and writing exploits for jailbreaking iPhones - they're kids, somewhere in the mid-teens. Remember, Geohot unlocked the iPhone when he was 17. This is far from basic programming. 
   
   
2. Find a motivation - For me, I wanted to be a hacker or a virus writer when I started coding. You may use this as a motivation. If you follow the same path, just learn programming first before doing anything illegal. The urge to do nefarious things that can get you to jail goes away after realizing how much more you can do with programming. 
   
   
3. Choose a language - Try a simple programming language first. wikiHow recommends Python.
   
   
4. Solve problems - Look for resources that gives programming problems. wikiHow also recommends  ProjectEuler.
   
   
5. Google is your friend - Chances are, someone else has encountered the error message before you did. Google the error, most likely you'll land on a forum that explains the problem and the solution.
   
   
6. Work with examples - The best example for this one is when reading and writing files. Once you have the template, you can just replace the sizes and variables for the snip of code to work with your program.
   
   
7. Create your own problems - The best problems to solve are usually ones that interest you. Try looking for a task you want to automate. You can also try looking for functions in programs that you  want to imitate.
   
   
8.  Talk to programmers - Try to find programmers in person for help. Programmers on forums and IRC tend to assume that you're doing homework. 
   
   
9.  Reap - A working solution is a reward by itself.
   
   
10. Rinse and repeat - Practice makes perfect. As the saying goes, it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become a master.