I think you just can't make a blanket statement "Read a book and learn on your own". This just doesn't work for anyone with a learning disability, attention deficit disorder or anything of the like. Most classes also involve a group project. Figuring out how to work in a group is essential for any major software engineering project. -----Original Message----- From: David Phillips [mailto:david at acz.org] Sent: Friday, July 18, 2003 10:06 AM To: tclug-list at mn-linux.org Subject: Re: [TCLUG] Programming classes in the Twin Cities B_o_B writes: > Hi All. I am somewhat new to the Twin Cities area. I am interested > in taking a few programming classes. Can anyone recommend the name of > some schools or tech colleges that might offer programming classes. If you want to learn how to program, you should read books and practice on your own. You can't expect to become a good programming simply by taking a few classes. By taking a class, you can learn from the instructor's experience and from the projects you have to do. If the instructor is good, you may learn a lot. If they aren't, then you would be better off spending your money on books. No one I know that is a good programmer learned how from school. In short, you can learn a lot from classes, but not everything. If you have never programmed before and want a place to start, I suggest starting with Python. It is a simple and clean language and there are some very good resources for it. This is a good online book about it: http://www.ibiblio.org/obp/thinkCSpy/ -- David Phillips <david at acz.org> http://david.acz.org/ _______________________________________________ TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota http://www.mn-linux.org tclug-list at mn-linux.org https://mailman.real-time.com/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list _______________________________________________ TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota http://www.mn-linux.org tclug-list at mn-linux.org https://mailman.real-time.com/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list