[ADZ]

I am curious.

For those of you who have learnt a new programming language orpicked up a computer-related book and learnt it, what is YOUR way of obtaining info from a written document and learning it???

[Shakie]

When I go to learn something new like this, I put myself in the environment to learn, ie. I am right in front of a computer trying to duplicate examples and scenarios. Books a lot of time give you examples and say "If you do this, you will get this... see?" and a lot of times I didn't, so I learned to make it happen on my PC.

[Iron_Cross]

I try and make my own examples, to add to the ones in the books. Once I know that I can easily apply it to my real tasks in work and such. Somtimes the examples in the book are a little hoky

[Punch-M6.net]

Often books will give an example at the end of a section that ties everything they've been talking about together into and example prog. I've found it useful to skip straight to that example, copy it into the language, compile it, and then go back through the sections learning what each part of the code does, with the constant reference of a working example. This way you can also tweak the code like they mention in the text and see the results.

The other thing is to fiddle with the examples once you've programmed them to work out how they really work, not just rush on to the next chapter. It takes longer this way, but I've found I understand a lot more if I do it.

[didi]

but sometimes the exercises of the book very hard to do.

[Punch-M6.net]

That's true. I was talking more about the examples they often give that are complete code samples. Having these in a working state while you learn is really useful.

[Iron_Cross]

Yeah, usually they have one major "class project" so to speak. It's normally in the last chapter, or in one of the appendixes. Sometimes they work on it throughout the book though.

[milen]

Books with examples
Just retype the examples and you are on
Only to read it it will not clear your picture...

Examples..Examples..Exampless

[hygor]

Personally I find the best way to get a good textbook, read that and also read online tutorials... however additionally (and probably one of the most important activities) I also like to look at things other people have done with that language and see if i can edit it or recreate it. This I find really helps me to learn.
Perhaps trial and error is the most powerful learning tool... as when I use all of the above, i find myself trying things and experimenting with code which helps me to understand it better and then it seems to stick better as well.

Personally I think learning from all of the sources I have mentioned is important as alone they are helpful, but together they can be a great way to learn things quickly and thoroughly!

[nak-1]

Have a goal to aim for. If your just learning the language with no reason for doing so you'll find it hard to maintain your motivation when the going gets tough.

I've always found that printed material is much easier to learn from.

Having a go. If you think you've got your head round the syntax and structure of a language ditch the text book and have a go. Break down the task into the smallest possible pieces and just start writing them. Research the problems you come across, this will also stop you learning things that you don't need to know to achieve what you are trying to do.