Learning a new programming, scripting or even a mark-up language can be a daunting task.  For many of the people I teach, the volume of information is overwhelming.  Before you feel paralyzed by the sheer size of the task of learning a new language, here are five tips on How To Learn a Programming Language:

Tip #1 Type All The Code Yourself
My freshman year of high school I took a class known as College Prep Typing.  The teacher once said that there is  such thing as “muscle memory” and that touch typing relied on it.  When trying to learn a new programming language, typing in the code yourself is helpful in that it creates that “muscle memory” that Mr. Weiss spoke of in 1988.  In addition, when you type in the code yourself (rather than load it and study it or review it in a book) you ar forced to correct whatever typos you make.  This light debugging is a great way to learn the patterns and syntactical nuances that exist in the code.

Tip #2 Learn Each Skill in Isolation
Many books and longer tutorials tend to build one or two large projects while teaching the various api’s, skills and structures that are part of a programming language.  I actually disagree with this approach. In my classes, I have found it is better to learn each skill in isolation without having to decipher or interpret other newly learned concepts.  Integration comes later.  Learn each new skill in isolation and you’ll get a better result.

Tip #3 First Modify, Then Write Original Code
When thinking about how to learn a programming language, I remembered something the great (now retired) Computer Science professor James Browne taught me. He said that you should always try to modify existing code before trying to write original code.  Modifying code when learning gives you a strong starting point instead of the blank slate that trying to code from scratch provides.

Tip #4 Learn Procedure and Syntax, Then Objects
When I first learned Java at the University of Texas, the instructor tried to teach the object oriented philosophy and concepts first and then layer the syntax and procedural code on top of that.  Many students were frustrated because they were trying to learn the OOP concepts without a substantial context of why it was necessary or useful.  It seems to be a less frustrating and more successful approach to first establish context through syntax and procedural code and then move on to Object Orientation.

Tip #5 Combine a Book with Video
If you are learning from  a book, also seek out supplementary materials on youtube, Udemy (which hosts my Beginning Javascript Course) or other video search engines.  Watching concepts demonstrated on video involves a different part of your brain than reading out of a book.  It is also helpful to get multiple perspectives on concepts and material.  One author may explain something in a particularly relevant way, while another does not.

Good luck with your learning!  Please feel free to add your own tips and tricks on how to learn a programming language in the comments.