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[Farseer]

Yes, I know what you're all going to think, "HURR DURR HERE'S ANOTHER RETARD THINKING CODING'S EASY" etc etc.

But that's not the trouble. I've tried coding in the past, and I'm fine with the simple stuff. It's just there's a jump in difficulty and concept execution that I can't seem to cross because there's really no explanations for it.

As an example: It's impossible to teach yourself maths because, whilst most people can understand 2+2=4, the concept of A+A=B requires leaps in logic execution that are just nearly impossible, never mind the fact that so much of the lingo requires you to know what the hell they're talking about which requires advanced knowledge etc etc.

So, does anything know of any really good guides (paid or not) and an easy coding system to ease someone into this business?

[Rysith]

Do you care about what language you learn in, and if you are learning a programming language or how to code[1]?

If you don't care what language you learn in, or are learning how to code, I've been suggesting Why's (Poignant) Guide to Ruby as a starting point, if only because it does an extremely good job of starting off assuming that you don't know anything about coding and building from there.

If you're interested in learning to code, I'd also suggest Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs, which is much more textbooky but will teach you a lot of what you need to know about how to think like a computer scientist. From there, going off to explore other languages (via online tutorial or whatever) should be much easier.

If you have a specific language (or type of language) in mind, what is it?

[1] I'd use a programming metaphor here with higher-order functions, but it probably wouldn't work... Are you interested in learning how to write in some specific language, or learning how to pick up and use (with some effort) whatever language you come across?

[Farseer]

Do you care about what language you learn in, and if you are learning a programming language or how to code[1]?

I'm mainly interested in learning how to learn coding. :p That's what I'm trying to say.

Language doesn't matter as much to me due to the fact that, I assume that if I start off on one, I can transfer my thought processes over to the next and it'll still work with changes in syntax etc.

[ILikePie]

Ruby is kind of... less popular, meaning less resources, etc. I'd go with Java or Python, both are popular, and are considered easy to get into. O'Reilly publish some nice books about programming, just google "O'Reilly <language> book". They sell them in print and in various ebook formats.
If you're having trouble, you can always go with Game Maker.

[runiq]

Ruby is kind of... less popular, meaning less resources, etc. I'd go with Java or Python, both are popular, and are considered easy to get into. O'Reilly publish some nice books about programming, just google "O'Reilly <language> book". They sell them in print and in various ebook formats.
If you're having trouble, you can always go with Game Maker.

Java easy to get into? Python I’m okay with, but Java… eh.

Still, it could be the best language for whatever you’d want to do with it. I’m learning Python (and Haskell) especially because I’d like to use it for scientific computing, and it’s prevalent for the projects I’m interested in.

[Frajic]

I wholeheartedly recommend Python as a language to start with. The syntax is so easy and logical the only thing you'll have trouble learning is coding itself. Just look for beginner's tutorials and find one that suits your interests.

Examples:
Beginner's Python Tutorial
Learn Python The Hard Way

After you've gotten all the basics down(functions, classes, all that stuff), Dive Into Python seems to be very thorough with information. It's what I'm currently reading.

[Levi]

Ruby is a pretty fun language to program in(my personal favorite), but I have to recommend python as well.  Its just more established.

But if you want to learn ruby, I rather liked this guide:  http://www.ruby-doc.org/docs/ProgrammingRuby/

[ILikePie]

Java easy to get into? Python I’m okay with, but Java… eh.

Java's object oriented-ness is what makes it so awesome. Eclipse is also *the* IDE (Aside from, of course, MS's Visual Studio.).

[qwertyuiopas]

Java also has just about a hundred overloads for anything you want to do, except somehow it doesn't include that *one* overload that you need most. Same problem with .net, too many ways to do something to be easy to use, but to few to satisfy every single situation logically.

I have heard that python went more for having just one good way to do everything, so it would be far easier for beginners in that aspect.

Also, some of java's error messages are baffling and unhelpful, so python might or might not do better there. (It could at least elaborate that the reason why it can't instantiate the variable is because you are trying to instantiate an interface, so you need to find an implementation of that interface...) Somwthing that can give nice, friendly, error messages that don't require understanding 60% of the language to find why it went wrong is generally required for someone trying to learn something new.

[ILikePie]

There's a reason why they teach C# and Java to kids that have never seen any form of computer code before. Wrap an IDE around those two, and they become so easy to use it's amazing.

[Virex]

Ruby is kind of... less popular, meaning less resources, etc. I'd go with Java or Python, both are popular, and are considered easy to get into. O'Reilly publish some nice books about programming, just google "O'Reilly <language> book". They sell them in print and in various ebook formats.
If you're having trouble, you can always go with Game Maker.

I'd say that it's not as much the quantity of the resources that matters, but the quality though. If there is one awesome ruby book for beginners, then that's probably enough because beginners aren't going to be working on 3 programming for beginners books...

[inteuniso]

I'm learning Java right now through my school, and it is rather easy to pick up. I suggest taking Java as it is rather easy to understand (Bit longer to write, but it's generally complete words)

[Falc]

I would say that the real key to learning coding on your own, would be to have a nice little project so that you have enough motivation to actually get something finished.

[eerr]

Java is a pain

C# however, is really nice.

Like really really nice.

It's just not old enough to have a huge amount of libraries, especially compared to the ubiquitous c and c++


Could you post more examples on leaps in logic though? It may pay or at least be fascinating to attack the problem directly.

[Max White]

C# however, is really nice.

Dear god visual c# with intellisense is dead sexy.

Sorry, got distracted. Might I suggest, if you have some spair time, going to a comunity collage? They will teach you not only how to code, but how to code propperly, using propper software methodology. Not everybody has the time for a full university corse, but from what I hear, community collage set ups (They are called TAFE down here in Australia, no idea what you have where you are) are flexiable with time, and will teach you what you realy need to know.

There are to many programmers that just do not know simple things like division of labour that leads to poor programming, making things much longer and harder then they have to be.