***A special note from the author 2/2015
I have been absent from revision and the next book I speak of within these pages as well as my blog. Rest assured, these are underway this Spring/Summer. A completely revised edition of this title is on it's way, with new chapters and some (more) of my experiences in the past year.

Programming sucks.

Atleast that's what I thought. I started with a closed mind. As with any new experience, there's a lot to learn.

Concept after concept.
New struggle after struggle.

HTTP protocol. Command-Line. HTML. CSS. Programming Languages. Frameworks.

Is your head ready to explode? Mine was.

I felt stuck. And more often than not, wanting to throw all web development endeavors away.

I started journaling all of my problems. It just felt like I'd never get there with too much to learn -- and starting from nothing. Nothing but books that were dry, dull, too challenging, or not challenging enough. I tried to look everywhere for some inspiration -- that something to spark that little voice inside the back of my head. That's where this book comes in.

This book is largely dedicated to my own experiences. In fact, when writing it, it was as if I was writing to myself a year ago. Kicking the stupid out of me one page at a time.

"Programming Sucks!" -- The Aspiring Developer's Guide is one of both personal experiences, and advice. You'll dig deep into some basic programming concepts. This will lay out an incredible foundation, and prepare you with a solid mindset of how to proceed. It's also not geared toward any particular programming language (although it makes heavy usage of Ruby.)

You'll enjoy the occasional metaphoric and dry humor, while thinking outside the everyday-box and setting the stage to learn effectively as a developer.

The best way to describe this book is not one to learn how to code.

If anything, it's a book to, "Learn how..to learn how to code."

What's Inside

• Dealing with Frustration. Every programmer experiences it. Even more when you're new. The first chapter of this book will tell you a little about my story, how to get where you want to be, making mistakes, and the pitfalls of juggling concepts and languages by multitasking.



• Chapter 2 will provide some insight into developing Programmatic Problem Solving skills. This includes addressing problems, a unique tool known as mind mapping, as well as some bad practices to avoid.



• We'll then dive into what it means to focus, and decipher the context of one of Steve Jobs' most famous quotes, "Focus is about saying NO." We'll discuss the importance of why we, as developers, need to always be coding -- else we'll face consequences of wasting time and hard-earned knowledge.



• Chapter 4 is all about the two most popular programming paradigms. We'll learn some new lingo, as well as take an inside look of examples in programming. You'll also develop the necessary background to understanding Object Oriented Programming. Not only that -- but you'll come face to face with what I felt, was the most struggling part of learning OOP -- understanding classes and methods.



• Chapter 5 is all about the nature of being a developer. You'll take away one important phrase to carry with you the rest of your developing career -- be the architect. Not the innovator.



• We'll close our book with Chapter 6 -- understanding the principles of being a part of the programming community. We'll also cover what it means to write quality code, and why it's important.


This book isn't for everybody. I wrote it with the aspiring developer in mind, the guy (or girl) who's never programmed in their life -- but has always wanted to.

Are you ready?Let's begin.