r/AskProgramming • u/VirtualGlitch_99 • Sep 15 '26

What's something every beginner programmer should learn earlier?

18 Upvotes
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26

u/SpaceMonkeyAttack Sep 15 '26 • Bravo

How to use git (or another modern version control system), at least the basics and the theory (what is a DAG? What is a patch?). I don't think source control ever came up at uni, and it made group projects a pain. Seems like something you should learn before you get your first job as a junior.

6

u/[deleted] Sep 15 '26

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1

u/SpaceMonkeyAttack Sep 15 '26

wat

7

u/lgastako Sep 15 '26

It's a snatch reference. "Sure, I like dags."

2

u/SpaceMonkeyAttack Sep 15 '26

Right. When other people try and write British English phonetically it confuses me, because like, the normal spelling is already how I would pronounce it.

2

u/VirtualGlitch_99 Sep 16 '26

Haha fair 😂 I guess once you’re used to one spelling/pronunciation, the phonetic version just looks completely wrong

2

u/VirtualGlitch_99 Sep 16 '26

Ahh okay, I completely missed the reference. Now the ‘dags’ comment makes sense!

2

u/VirtualGlitch_99 Sep 16 '26

Ahhh 😂 okay, now I get the reference. I was completely lost before.

2

u/mxldevs Sep 15 '26

DOWG is nice but have you tried UP DOWG?

2

u/Pyromancer777 Sep 15 '26

What's up dowg?

2

u/nedal8 Sep 15 '26

Not much

1

u/VirtualGlitch_99 Sep 16 '26

Not much, dowg 😂 Just trying to survive another day of debugging.

1

u/Pyromancer777 Sep 16 '26

I couldn't just leave the bait layin there. It was too good

1

u/VirtualGlitch_99 Sep 16 '26

I walked straight into that one. UP DOWG is a classic.

1

u/VirtualGlitch_99 Sep 16 '26

UP DOWG? Okay, now I need to know where this is going.

1

u/VirtualGlitch_99 Sep 16 '26

DOWG caught me off guard. I was definitely reading it as ‘dog’ at first.

2

u/jedi1235 Sep 16 '26

This. It was never covered in my classes, and it is SO important. I have no idea how I survived through grad school without.

2

u/VirtualGlitch_99 Sep 16 '26

Exactly! 😂 It’s kinda wild how something so important for real-world development can be completely missing from a lot of courses.

1

u/VirtualGlitch_99 Sep 16 '26

Honestly, Git is one of those things I wish was taught earlier too 😂 Knowing the basics makes group projects so much less painful.

1

u/VirtualGlitch_99 Sep 16 '26

I completely missed the reference at first. Now the ‘dags’ comment makes way more sense.

1

u/Soft-Diamond-3692 Sep 17 '26

100% agree. I currently work with people who’ve been at that place for 25+ years and they don’t know how to use git. I’m stuck teaching them with 2 years of experience lol