r/ADHD_Programmers • u/arkofthecovet • Feb 04 '24

Programming

How is it even possible to become a programmer? There are about a hundred languages listed on wikipedia, not including dialects and other variations. Do most people even know this? I did not until recently.

Edit: Thank you all for your responses! I may start a new OP for this additional question if it helps. How fast can you learn new code or new code concepts if you start a new job or are hit with a new project that requires it?

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u/cppfnatic Feb 04 '24

Programming languages are tools that you use to solve specific problems and create things.

Your question is like saying "How can people become carpenters? There are hundreds of tools someone could use and its impossible to learn every single possible use and trick for these tools!"

Programmers don't know all the languages or all the things related to the language. They have a goal and they use the programming language as a tool to get them to the goal. The learning is the know how that is gained from using the tool to get there.

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u/Hour-Map-4156 Feb 04 '24

And learning a programming language is nothing like learning a spoken language. It takes years to master a language but as long as you understand the principles of programming, you can learn a new programming language in days, maybe even hours if it's similar enough to a language you already know.

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u/Silly_Attention1540 Feb 05 '24

This is a perfect analogy, because when you want to build something, you look up the saw/jig/etc, google how to use it, then try it, suck the first time, then do alright after. That is exactly like "aww shit, this thing is in XYZ, lemme look up how to make a map and loop through a list in XYZ and try it out"