What is the fastest way to learn a new programming Language?

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What is the fastest way to learn a new programming Language? I've heard of a few programmers that know 5-6 programming languages fluently, how do they do that? Just looking for tips and tricks really? Any advice?

Thanks in advance;-)

Answer 1

Hmm programming. Set yourself a personal project and get into it, there's no better way. You won't learn how to ride a bike just by reading a book.

Also, you have the biggest compendium of information of them all, the Internet.

Answer 2

For me, the fastest way is to, first, skim the reference manual cover to cover, then dive into actual programming problems (getting experts of the language to critique my performance in the latter part is a precious boost in learning speed and efficiency, if I can get that;-). I often find tutorials and books of tips and tricks too slow-going, though there are exceptions.

On the other hand, I did get my early experience in an environment where reference manuals were basically all you had to go on, so I guess I'm used to "skipping the legalese" (though excessive legalese can still swamp me -- e.g., official standards tend to have much more than reference manuals, to the point that learning from them is like wading in molasses;-).

Also possibly a generational thing, I've found that having the manual on paper and in a situation where I can use highlighters and take notes on the margin is a serious productivity enhancer for this task (again: I grew up in an environment where books were on paper, though that may matter... though if you had the book checked out from a library of course you wouldn't be allowed to highlight and write notes on it;-).

Some people love getting lectures and labs to support learning; me, I find they're more often than not incredibly slow and boring (again, with some exceptions for really gifted teachers).

But I know that's just me -- I've been on the teaching side of things often enough to know that a vast majority of people prefers other approaches (slow friendly tutorials, lectures with a lot of repetition, and the like).

One more bit: "fake" problems -- ones where I don't have to worry about analysis or discovering novel algorithms -- work better for me than "real" problems since they allow me to focus all my energy into "how do I apply this languages' specific strengths and quirks to implementing this well-known or obvious algorithm". But I've seen people's mileage vary on that, too: some just can't get motivated to do their best unless the problem itself is interesting and challenging, not just the part about making the solution work in language X.

So teaching in a way that's optimal for all your students, even in a small-ish class, is nearly impossible -- inevitably you'll bore to death some of the top ones and yet be going far too fast for some of the slowest... best you can do is try to meet the needs of the vast majority in the middle, I think.

Answer 3

Fastest way:

• Read other peoples code
• Write your own code
• Analyze lots of code
• Change lots of code
• Ask questions on www.stackoverflow.com

Bonus:

• Talk in code
• Sing in code
• Grow a beard

Answer 4

I think that obviously practicing is the best way, I also think that a good book can be vital in learning a new language/idiom.

I already knew c# but reading MVC pro was great in learning that specific technology which I didnt now about (didn't now any asp before).

I think books are specially important when changing paradigms, like knowing an imperative language such as c# and trying to learn F#, Prolog, or Lua: you'd be there with a WTF face without a book or something [stackoverflow] explaining that snippet of code you found.

So I would say get a GOOD (no learn in 10 days) book, one that also has tutorials, and follow them. Once you start to feel comfortable, then try to do a little project of your own.

Answer 5

Knowing a language "fluently" is overrated, IMO. You need to know how to think like a programmer and writing code in any language becomes as easy as checking the correct syntax and finding the function names:

printf("Hello world!\n"); /* C */
cout<<"Hello world!"<<endl; // C++
Console.WriteLine("Hello world!"); // C#
Console.WriteLine("Hello world!") ' Visual Basic [shudders]
System.out.println("Hello world!\n"); // Java
print "Hello World\n"; // PHP, also Perl
document.write('<p>Hello world!</p>'); // JavaScript outputting HTML
echo Hello world! # bash script

These all do the same thing, only the syntax and/or function names change.