How to Teach Yourself to Code.

Part 1:Stop Waiting for the Perfect Technical Co-Founder and Start Learning How to Code

Why learn how to code?

A lot of you just have

an idea

If you’re expecting to find someone to build that idea for you, it’s never going to happen

Demand for developers has

skyrocketed

Think about it…

Anyone with any programming talent is getting offers from

Facebook, Google and dozens of other startups right now

Why should a programmer choose your idea over any other?

Do you want to pay someone?

1) You will pay too much

1) You will pay too much2) You’ll be unhappy with the process

1) You will pay too much2) You’ll be unhappy with the process3) You’ll get something back you didn’t want

WHY?

WHY?Software is hard to estimate

WHY?Software is hard to estimate

“Should this really take 15 hours, or am I getting ripped off?”

If you’re an entrepreneur waiting for someone to execute your idea for you,

you’re not an entrepreneur

(sorry)

If you’re an entrepreneur waiting for someone to execute your idea for you,

you’re not an entrepreneur

“Pre-Dodgeball I went through 3-4 years thinking I was going to meet some magical engineer who would build all the stuff I was thinking about. But I never met that person, so I taught myself ASP and MS Access out of a book and got to work just hacking stuff together. I’m still a really shitty programmer but I know enough to hack a prototype together.”

- Dennis Crowley, Foursquare

Learning how to code≠

How to be a software engineer

The point is for you to learn to

code well enough to build a prototype

(aka Minimum Viable Product)

The point is for you to learn to

code well enough to build a prototype

MVP = quick + dirty

“Product with the fewest number of features needed to achieve a specific objective.”

– The Entrepreneurs Guide to Customer Development

Side note: build products that are valuable despite being ugly

Eventually you’ll need to find a lead developer

Knowing how to code helps you find, pitch and manage good

developers

More and more, the things we interact with in the world

around us qualifies as

“technology”

There are 10 kinds of people:

There are 10 kinds of people:

Those who understand binary and those who don’t

Society is quickly dividing into two groups:

1)Those that know how to code –they can manipulate the very structure of the world around them.

If you’re interested in learning more, read Program or Be Programmed: http://amzn.to/yzd6hm

2)Those that don’t – their lives are being designed and directed by those that do.

Part 2:Choosing a Programming Language

I get it,it’s scary to

jump in.

C, Java, C++, PHP, JavaScript, Python, C#, Perl, SQL, Ruby, Shell, Visual Basic, Assembly, Actionscr ipt, Objective C, Lisp, Where do you start? Delphi, Pascal, Scheme, Haskell, Tcl, Backbone, Fortran, Ada, Lua, ColdFusion, Cobol, Erlang, D, Scala, Smalltalk, Ocaml, Forth, Rexx,

Breaking down a web application

Web applications are applications accessed over the internet

(which are different from mobile applications)

Every web application has a front-end and a back-end

The front-end is what you see

Front-end languages:• HTML• CSS• JavaScript

Web Pages

<h1>Welcome to Twitter.</h1><p>Find out what’s happening, right now, with the people and organizations you care about.</p>

<h1>Welcome to Twitter.</h1><p>Find out what’s happening, right now, with the people and organizations you care about.</p>

This is HTML

The back-end is what you don’t see

DatabaseWeb Pages Rules

Programming languages:PHP, Ruby, Python, Java

Database languages:SQL

echo “Hello World”; print(‘Hello World’) puts “Hello World”

They’re all the same, just different

PHP Python Ruby

Hello World Hello World Hello World

And then there are web application frameworks

DatabaseWeb Pages Rules

Web application frameworks: Ruby on Rails, Django

“alleviate overhead associated with web development by providing libraries for database access, templating frameworks, and session management. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.”

Web application frameworks

“alleviate overhead associated with web development by providing libraries for database access, templating frameworks, and session management. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.”

Web application frameworks

build web apps really quickly

If your goal is to build a prototype, start withRuby on Rails(aka ‘Rails’)

Ruby on Rails is a web application framework

for Ruby

Rails is the easiest to dive into

Rails is the easiest to dive into (tons of resources and a huge community)

Ruby (and therefore Rails) is easier to understand

exit unless "restaurant".include? "aura"

['toast', 'cheese', 'wine'].each { |food| print food.capitalize }

['toast', 'cheese', 'wine'].each { |food| print food.capitalize }

(try saying it out loud)

Rails hides all the stuff you really don’t need to know

Rails is just shortcuts like this

rails new application

create create README.rdoc create Rakefile create config.ru create .gitignore create Gemfile create app create app/assets/images/rails.png create app/assets/javascripts/application.js create app/assets/stylesheets/application.css create app/controllers/application_controller.rb create app/helpers/application_helper.rb create app/mailers create app/models create app/views/layouts/application.html.erb create app/mailers/.gitkeep create app/models/.gitkeep create config create config/routes.rb create config/application.rb create config/environment.rb . . . create vendor/plugins create vendor/plugins/.gitkeep run bundle install

So you can do stuff like this

There’s a temptation for programmers to say

“Start with PHP or Java”

They say this because:

1. it mirrors the way we learn things in school

2. it’s how they learned

IGNORE them

With those languages, you’ll spend MONTHS learning the basics so that you can do this:

(make a yellow square)

With Rails, fast and simple is the name of the game

The ability to get quick and positive feedback on your

projects is crucial

A final note: “Scaling” Rails

Does Rails scale?

Yes Some of the most heavily trafficked sites in the world use Rails

Basecamp Twitter Shopify Yellow Pages

GitHubLivingSocial GrouponSoundcloud Zendesk

Hulu

Part 3:How I Taught Myself to Code in One Month

I find traditional learning extremely tedious

So do you.(Otherwise you’d have learned how to code by now.)

So I developed my own methodI call “brute-force” learning

In college I would download podcasts of classes I was taking (from other schools)

Then I’d listen to the podcasts on the subway or walking

around the city.

Doing this ended up eliminating hundreds of hours of studying

(also teachers loved my “unique perspectives”)

Why does this work?

Have you ever been confused by something when it's explained one way but when it’s

explained a different way it just clicks?

The result is that learning is

less tedious

More importantly, the stress of feeling like you have to learn something the first time

disappears

It’s OKAY to not understand something the first time

It’s OKAY to not understand something the first time

Isn’t that sort of the point?

The first time you learn something, your mind creates a mental map. A fuzzy picture of all the pieces and

how they fit together.

When you go back, you relearn the specifics and it all starts to

make more sense

Just speed through as many introductory tutorials as possible

Here’s what I recommend:

One Month Railsby Mattan Griffel (Me!)

Ruby on Rails Tutorial by Michael Hartl

When you finish, you’ll be able to build your own basic web app

But there will be specific features you don’t know how

to implement

Railscasts by Ryan Bates

At some point along the way, you may feel a temptation to STOP and

learn Ruby (or HTML or CSS)

At some point along the way, you may feel a temptation to STOP and

learn Ruby (or HTML or CSS)

Don’t.

Ruby Rails

Ruby is huge

Ruby Rails

Ruby is hugeAnd you only need to know a tiny bit of it

Besides, you’ll learn all the Ruby, HTML and CSS you need

to know along the way

After you’ve finished, check out these fun resources that cover

basic Ruby:• Codecademy’s Ruby Track• Why’s (Poignant) Guide to Ruby• RubyMonk• RubyKoans• Learn Ruby the Hard Way• Ruby Warrior

Troubleshooting

75% of coding is Googling*

75% of coding is Googling**totally made up statistic

Stack Overflow

A lot of times you know what feature you want to build, but you

don’t know what it’s called

For example: Cron jobs let you schedule tasks in your app

Ask someone

Rails is very popular atthe moment and has a

LARGEcommunity for support

The best way to learn is to go to a Rails meetup and ask someone who

knows more than you

in NYC

• NYC.rb• NYC on Rails • New York Ruby Meetup • Ruby Nuby

Go attend some

hackathonsand find teams to work with

To hear about hackathons, sign up for the following mailing lists:• General Assembly• This Week in NYC Innovation• StartupDigest• Startup Weekend

The ∞ list of Rails includes:

• Rails for Zombies• Peepcode• Agile Web

Development with Rails

• Ruby on Rails Guides• Hackety-hack• Teamtreehouse• Code School

Part 4: Coding in a nutshell

Installing Rails issuper easy

This is your command center

Command Line Text Editor

Browser

The text editor is where you

write your code

Sublime Text

The command line is where you

run your code

Terminal

The browser is where you see

the result

Google Chrome

Rails uses a Model View Controller (MVC) architecture

Controller

View

Model

Database

DatabaseWeb Pages Rules

ControllerView Model

Rails uses a Model View Controller (MVC) architecture

Github is where you save versions of your project files

Heroku lets you deploy your app so that it’s live in seconds

Part 5: Let’s begin

1. Go to RailsInstaller.org

1. Go to RailsInstaller.org

2. Download the right installer

1. Go to RailsInstaller.org

2. Download the right installer

3. Follow the instructions

1. Go to RailsInstaller.org

2. Download the right installer

3. Follow the instructions

4. Yes do the Git thing too

Some people get this error:

Error changing group of /opt/rix to rvm

Some people get this error:

Error changing group of /opt/rix to rvm

Who can solve this first?!

Let’s check if it worked

Find your command line

Find your command line

Open Programs > RailsInstaller > Command Prompt with Ruby and Rails

Type this command and hit enter

rails -v

Type this command and hit enter

rails -vRails 3.2.13

If it says something like this, then it worked!

You’ve installed Rails, and you’re ready to create your first app

Go to onemonthrails.comto keep learning

Thank you :)

Mattan Griffelmattan@onemonthrails.commattangriffel.com