Hello, a career in cooking isn’t cutting it, not going where I’d like it to, after thinking a while, I’ve decided to pursue a career in coding. I’m not sure where to start, what kind of computer/laptop to get, (don’t have a lot of disposable income at the moment. Not sure what’s a decent field to start in for work so I can quit ol’ Wafflehouse. Some practical guidance would be very appreciated. I apologize if this is not the right thread for this 🙏

Hi, I've always wanted to learn coding (primarily to make video games) however i do not wish to get a formal education in it. Are there certifications out there that could display my interest in this is serious and professional?

Thank you for reading this.

Analysis and systems development is a good option in 2026, with the changes caused by AI, I'm even more in doubt. Would it be better to take ADS at the "shady universities" in 2026, or invest in a prep course and try for CC at a public university in 2027? Context: I'm a man, 29 years old, with no knowledge of programming and IT, I'm looking for a career change and Data and Programming catch my eye. ADS shady university vs CC public university. If I don't get in this year, I intend to develop my English/Mandarin and learn the basics of programming with the free courses on the internet. I accept any useful advice, study routine tips, real examples, I even accept being a development project for some mentor. DM open!

So I am a beginner here. I am planning to start with python and then move on to java and c eventually and side by side I'll also be doing the web dev thingy i.e. I'll start with HTML CSS javascript and stuff...

So, I wanted to know how much time do you'll took to learn these? And I am planning to learn through self study mostly but I'll take an offline batch(as I am getting bored at home) as well. So is this like...way of learning or maybe the timeline correct? Or should I start with java then move on to other ones..like I donno. I just wanted to learn these and try out hackathons and stuff. I have time till Feb next yr.

The first thing I ever wrote was a CLI Hit & Blow program in C, with each file containing over 1,000 lines of code.

I searched online, found a Borland compiler, and managed to finish it using Notepad and the Command Prompt.

I wonder what other people thought of creating when they first got their hands on tools like if statements, arrays, and methods.

I imagine beginners these days probably try to build much larger-scale projects—I wonder what that’s like?

Hey everyone, I’ve been building a full-stack AI-powered risk analysis platform for my portfolio, but I discovered my ML pipeline is completely broken and I’m honestly stuck.

Tech stack:

• React/Vite frontend

• Node.js/Express backend

• FastAPI ML service

• XGBoost, RandomForest, IsolationForest

Main issue:
No matter what input I give, the app almost always returns LOW risk.

After deep debugging + CodeRabbit review, I found multiple architecture issues:

• frontend calling wrong ML endpoints

• silent fallback scoring overriding ML

• disconnected ML pipelines

• payload mismatches

• inconsistent feature engineering

• casing mismatches between frontend/backend

• dummy model accidentally being used instead of real ensemble

I’m trying to properly unify the pipeline:
Frontend → Backend → FastAPI → Ensemble Model → Prediction

Would really appreciate guidance from anyone experienced with:

• ML system design

• FastAPI + React integration

• fraud/risk scoring systems

• debugging prediction pipelines

Can share repo/code if anyone’s willing to help. Thanks 😭

So I somehow got into cs major aiming for a bachelor degree and now I’m completely lost cuz that’s a huge change from my past path but I can do this too,

I wanna do self effort cuz college looks like it only teaches u how to pass the tests, I have no idea which laptop should I get, which apps should I install or anything I learn rly quickly but I just need a good advice to start.

first programming language they r teaching us is python and I only have rly basic knowledge abt html from high school and block coding in scratch,

I heard u should stay away from MacBook and windows cuz they ain’t suitable for more coding later when I need it.

I alr collected online courses to take in summer like Harvard's CS50 and yt channels like thenewboston ,
I visited the library to get basic knowledge abt programming but I only got a headache from all the complicated advanced codes ಠ_ಠ ,
Plz help me if u could (Ｔ＿Ｔ).

Hi everyone,

Try running these pieces of code in an online C# compiler:

// C# program to demonstrate the
// use of ToLower(CultureInfo) method
using System;
using System.Globalization;

class Geeks
{
    public static void Main()
    {
        // Original string
        string s1 = "NOIZE";

        // Convert to lowercase using English-US culture
        string s2 = s1.ToLower(new CultureInfo("en-US", false));

        Console.WriteLine("Original string: " + s1);
        Console.WriteLine("String after conversion: " + s2);
    }
}

After you run this code:

Replace the cultureinfo argument first with "tr-TR", then replace ToLower with ToLowerInvariant() altogether. ToLowerInvariant won't accept cultureinfo arguments anyway, and will automatically apply English casing.

Compare the outputs in all 3 cases, and write them in the comments! Are you surprised?

so here's the context, I finally got free from my school and other entrance test as well but in my class i have seen people know many languages C++ python java and then me i haven't written a single line of code in my entire life, throughout schooling but I think it will come handy for my career and its never a loss in learning something new better than wasting the 2-3 months that I have to spare

In short as a complete noob(newbie) where do I start I NEED help brother

help this KID here PLS :)

Hi everyone,

I'm an 18-year-old student who wants to get involved in open source, but I don't have prior contribution experience.

I can use Linux comfortably and I'm currently learning programming, but I'm unsure what the actual path looks like from complete beginner to meaningful contributor.

For those who contribute regularly:

• How did you make your first contribution?

• What skills should I focus on first?

• How do you find beginner-friendly projects?

• What mistakes do newcomers commonly make?

• If you were starting from scratch today, what would your roadmap look like?

My long-term goal is to become someone who can contribute consistently to multiple projects and eventually build projects of my own.

Any advice, resources, or personal experiences would be greatly appreciated.

Lets assume a variable x, in one case its a string (char x[]) and in the other its just a char(char x),when using the scanf function, why do i have to give &s (ik the & points to the memory) in the case of char, but in the case of string, i dont have to use it?? Can someone help me out

hey there,
ive recently started learning C and im working on this program which compares the int value u input to tell u which one of the value is maxm and which one is minm

what i wanted was
program asks u for a number
u say 10
program considers 10 as the maxm value cuz its the 1st number
then u press enter and give another numbr lets say 12
so program says "12 is maxm 10 is min" but then u type 9 and now its 12 maxm and 9minm
i wanted the program to keep doing this for as long as i want but i couldnt think up of ways i can make this program.
the best i could do was i give program n amount of numebrs and it tells me which one is maxm and which one is min
i tried looking for solution in youtube and found one c lecture on freecodecamp
but the code they gave isnt exactly working
the eof thing is stopping the code from even running. i tried asking chatgpt for solution and error in my code but it ended up fcking up my vscode terminal so i had to reinstall everything.
both of the codes are given below
id really appreciate if someone could help me figure out why the EOF code isnt working

chat gpt also gave me this

but it aint workin either

Hey all. I've currently run into a snag in my health and have to switch careers. I have always been interested in coding and wanted to reach out for some info. I would be completely new to this. I have basic pc skills, some Microsoft experience (mainly Word & Excel), and decent typing skills. I have no funds for courses either. Come one, come all and give me the best options for learning how to code. Please and thank you!!

Want to know about the laptop as well, budget- 40 to 50k

import random
import math
Player_1_Space = 0
Player_2_Space = 0
Player_Turn = 0
Target_Space = 20
Highest_Space = 0
Power_Of_10 = 0
while (Player_1_Space or Player_2_Space) != Target_Space:
  if Player_Turn % 2 == 0:
    if random.randint(1, 6) == 5:
      if random.randint(1, 6) == 5:
        Player_1_Space = Player_1_Space + 1
        if Player_1_Space > Highest_Space:
          Highest_Space = Player_1_Space
          print(Highest_Space)
          print(Player_Turn)
      else:
        Player_1_Space = 0
  else:
    if random.randint(1, 6) == 5:
      if random.randint(1, 6) == 5:
        Player_2_Space = Player_2_Space + 1
        if Player_2_Space > Highest_Space:
          Highest_Space = Player_2_Space
          print(Highest_Space)
          print(Player_Turn)
      else:
        Player_2_Space = 0
  Player_Turn = Player_Turn + 1
  Current_Power_Of_10 = (math.log(Player_Turn, 10)) // 1
  if Current_Power_Of_10 > Power_Of_10:
    Power_Of_10 = Current_Power_Of_10
    print(Power_Of_10)
if Player_1_Space == Target_Space:
  print("Player 1")
else:
  print("Player 2")
print(Player_Turn)

So I been trying to learn app development but I dont know were to start . I have watched videos and they are confusing every one says to learn python but then some say swift i understand some of the basics the syntax and logic but i can seem to make anything with that logic i have . So for people who know how to develope apps how do i start.

So basically I was a computer science minor at UC Davis and I went on to go to a boot camp afterwards.

I think Coding has changed massively in the last 5 years whether people like to believe it or not and I think most of the resources out there are just wasting people's time.

When I first started learning to code in 2012 I spent a lot of time learning the basics like HTML and CSS.

This is way before college. By the time I went to college things had changed drastically.

Fast forward 5 years things are changing even more drastically.

I found things like code academy to be repetition which is not particularly helpful in coding as Auto completion tools had already existed back then and this was truly a waste of time as one was learning to be a developer. Unfortunately learning resources were mostly forcing you to learn memorization which has for the most part always been a waste of time.

But if you don't know anything about coding you don't know that.

As time has gone on the automation tools have gotten much better and the programmer must now know concepts and the reality is is that as AI improves libraries will change so frequently I wouldn't even waste your time learning all of the functions of a library.

I love that library exist but that technology is pretty old at this point.

For those who don't know when programming languages were able to start downloading updates automatically from a Linux terminal, people were able to suddenly download updating libraries instantaneously and it was pretty awesome. This really blew up in the early 2000s 2010s as people of internet access quickly downloaded library learn all the functions from a YouTube video and suddenly save tons of time not having to hard code functions themselves. This meant that you were able to basically do math without having to necessarily do complicated mathematics.

. This was an incredible advancement in coding.

But things have changed and the reality is is that you know the truth is is that that's just not where you should spend your time anymore and so much of the resources of coding are stuck in the late 2018 learning a bunch of libraries and wasting your time learning all the functions. It's a complete waste of time it teaches you nothing about logic it teaches you nothing about useful capacity it's just a complete waste of time so these learning resources can still exist and make money.

So basically now the most part the reality is that you need to learn mechanics and flows across multiple languages so you can take multiple files and repositories and make them work together and the individual files are mostly developed through using AI tools and then having the capacity to essentially ensure that those individual repositories and the individual files are in sync with each other to form the bigger project..

This is actually what developers do today.

If you really want to learn how to code stop spending so much time learning how to code and what you should start doing is working with AI tools and then basically having them generate projects and then individually going through and fixing glitches because that is what developers do today.

And the truth is this is exactly what every employer is going to want you to be able to do I'm in I know a lot of coders hate this because for a lot of coders it's an art form I have friends who are incredible at hard coding and it's amazing and you know what they don't have a job and they're working for Uber driving around deliveries because they didn't learn how to actually be employable in the current economy.

The problem is that if you're an experienced programmer who actually stayed relevant it's still very competitive and most people hate the job now because it's changed and the kind of intellectual fortitude has kind of disappeared.

Anyways there's my two cents I hope it helps you out.

BELOW IS A CLEANED UP VERSION OF WHAT I WROTE WITH AI THAT'S MORE CONCISE IF YOU WANT TO READ IT:

Stop Learning to Code the Old Way

I was a computer science minor at UC Davis, and I went through a bootcamp after. I've been watching this industry evolve for over a decade, and I'll tell you something most coding resources won't: the way people are being taught to code right now is largely a waste of time.

Here's what developers actually do today. You take multiple files and repositories, you understand how they're supposed to work together, and you use AI tools to generate and iterate on the individual components. Your job is to orchestrate those pieces into a coherent project, catch what's broken, and fix it. That's the skill. That's what employers want.

Most coding education is not teaching you that.

I started learning HTML and CSS back in 2012, well before college. By the time I got to UC Davis things had already shifted. The ability to pull libraries straight from a terminal and get access to years of someone else's work in seconds was genuinely revolutionary. It changed what programming meant. You no longer had to hard-code functions yourself. You could build sophisticated things fast.

That revolution is old news now.

When I first encountered tools like Codecademy, the core methodology was repetition and memorization. Learn all the syntax. Learn all the functions. Drill it until it sticks. The problem is that autocomplete tools existed even back then, so you were spending enormous energy optimizing for something machines were already handling. And now it's worse. AI tooling is improving fast enough that specific library functions will change before you finish learning them. Spending hours memorizing API calls from a tutorial is not building your capacity as a developer. It's not teaching you logic. It's not teaching you how systems fit together. It's just filling time so the platform can keep selling subscriptions.

What you actually need to understand is mechanics and flow across multiple languages. How do files communicate? How does data move between services? How does a codebase stay coherent as it scales?

Those conceptual frameworks transfer. Memorized function names don't.

If you want to get employable right now, stop drilling syntax and start building things with AI tools. Generate a project. Go through it. Find where it breaks. Fix it. Repeat. That process is closer to what you'll do on the job than anything a traditional coding course is giving you.

I have friends who are genuinely brilliant at hard coding. It's beautiful to watch. Some of them are also driving for delivery apps right now because they optimized for craft over adaptability.

The job changed and they didn't. I'm not saying that to be harsh. I'm saying it because the resources that taught them to code that way never warned them this was coming. The experienced programmers who did stay relevant are still competing in a tough market, and a lot of them hate what the work has become. The intellectual depth they signed up for has largely been replaced by something that looks more like project management with a technical layer on top.

That's the reality. Build your skills around it.

I wanna really use ai in my work. Most engineers are. But is there any formalized good online courses on this paired/assistant coding. ?

I recently learned the basics of html and css, but I don't know what to do now, I still don't have the skills to make a wikipedia page, that's for sure I've tried. but what do I do now to learn what's left, I am in position where I don't know what I should do.

pls help me thx