You don’t need to spend a dime in learning how to code 👨‍💻

Since when internet and internet connected devices are free?

Well, fuck that, let's imagine you are learning from a public library and assume the library has computers for public use too.

That way you won't _have to_ spend a dime, but you will be filled with outdated/useless ideas and knowledge 90% of the time.

It's helps though. If you buy the right courses and books which is difficult already

@melezorus34 I think the implication is "beyond existing". Face it, most of us have a computer, internet, and use electricity to play games on our computer. Plus all other costs. It probably saves us money to learn to program rather than running that monster RTX3080 to play a game.

@Demolishun my point exactly

But time and mental anguish are a sort of currency as well. Learning JavaScript definitely takes it toll in mental anguish. Negative returns.

@Demolishun 100% agree

Nitpick: you do need to spend to learn to code in proprietary solutions (SAP, Actionscript), and to get the feel of working with servers (hosting)

@webketje That's not a nitpick, that's a very different topic.
That's like saying speaking is free, unless you want to speak as someone who has bought something.

@webketje servers could be done via IIS and equilavents of it.

While you don't need to spend money when you already have the basic infrastructure covered, spending a shitton of time is a hard requirement though. So there is a high opportunity cost involved in learning how to code.

There are still plenty of people that some have a dime to get. A decent internet B a decent machine to actually code on.
Just installing and maintaining an OS can be daunting in 3rd world countries.

@Crost buy courses? I get the books, yes, but but courses?! There’s a shit ton of free university level courses out there if you know where to look. Why on earth would you spend a dime on shit like what’s on udemy or pluralsight or whatever overpriced bs is out there?

@hjk101 Not having Internet access or a PC can make it harder. But i started with a C64 before Internet became available for normal people. I used books borrowed from public libraries for tutorials and in-depth information. It was still fun.

If you start fresh today, you can have an okayish start with anything that is directly and fully supported by Linux and has USB to connect mouse, keyboard and a memory stick - even an Raspberry Pi or a fifteen years old PC would do. You also still can just use public libraries for tutorials and in-depth information. Today, some libraries also provide Internet access and let you borrow digital media.

So as long as you aren't literally living in a slum without electricity and have to work your ass off to just get food on the table, it should be relatively easy to get what you need to start learning coding. You still need to invest a shitton of time to git gud though. And that time is, what most people in any country just can't afford.

@Oktokolo times have changed a bit. When I started out it was also feasible to do it without internet. Books came with CDs containing, tools, the complete sample code and sometimes an entire OS. On DOS it was possible to just use the copy comment to code assembly with a good book of CPU instructions and interrupt codes in hex.

Now I feel it's much harder. Perl, Python and bash are likely installed in a raspberry pi. Now just hope that the python book you got is for the right version and don't need any cpan, pip or dpkg action to follow the books instructions.

You are also correct that a next meal, water and enough electricity for a flickering light are likely a higher priority.

@gymnasium Can save a lot of time if you just buy a book and read it.

@hjk101 Times have changed indeed. Today storage is basically a nobrainer. You can store the whole Wikipedia, a complete Linux distribution repo and tons of ebooks on an HDD. And HDDs have become damn cheap. They can be carried to an internet access terminal and filled with whatever you desire.

You also don't need to know mnemonics or use crude tools anymore. Can start with a state-of-the-art fully integrated IDE and a high-level language which comes with batteries included (yes, Python is a good beginner language).

The only parameter that moved only slightly towards making it more easy is the required time investment. But not a single thing related to learning how to code became any harder.

IT is like investing

Everyone hears about the big earnings and want to jump in, so the vultures are ready to "help" you with some head start courses and exclusive chance to invest through them

The truth is that no book, course or school will make you either a programmer or an investor. It will definitely help, but if you don't have the drive and interest by yourself, you will be just as lost after being done with that, only with some less money or/and more debt