How to Accidentally Learn to Code
A completely serious guide to doing something without meaning to. Results not guaranteed. Accidents never are.
Short answer
Try to automate one annoying thing in your life — renaming files, a spreadsheet, a reminder. Three weeks later you will be arguing about tabs versus spaces and you will have learned to code.
The step-by-step accident
- Get annoyed. Every programmer started by being irritated at a computer doing something stupidly.
- Copy something that works. Then change one line and watch it break. Then fix it. That loop is the entire profession.
- Build something for yourself. Not a to-do app. Something only you need. You will finish it because you need it.
- Lie awake thinking about it. This is how you know it has happened. There is no cure.
People also ask
What is the easiest programming language to learn by accident?
Python or JavaScript — they run almost everywhere and give you results quickly, which is what keeps the accident going.