Quote:
Originally Posted by felgall
learning from a long outdated source (eg. attempting to learn JavaScript from w3schools)
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I have to agree with you there. I don't like w3schools one little bit. The javascript tutorial there and even the javascript reference is extremely poor IMO. The same applies for the php tutorials and the only thing I do find of any use is the html tag reference. Even then I struggle to decide if I should be looking at the V4 or V5 reference
As for learning at home with your own PC, yes and no. One of the key things to writing code is being able to think clearly, logically and step by step. Basic things like sorting a list some people don't realise can be a task that they need to do - they might just put the contents into a list box and then wonder why the order is jumbled etc.
Sometimes you need someone to give you a guiding hand. I don't know about others but sometimes I find it hard to learn from reading text on a screen and likewise it doesn't always sink in from a book either. I have the Delphi 6 developers guide - it's thicker than most phone books but try learning from it and you'll be confused by quite a lot of it.
The key to learning any language is to break things down and keep them simple. Programming book authors unfortunately don't always seem capable of this.