Learning a new language

Whenever you prepare to learn a new programming language, it is a good idea to have a consistent approach, at least to get the basics right.

I tend to start by summing up the language in the following terms:

1. Interpreted or compiled
2. Programming paradigm
3. Coding conventions, especially for naming
4. Supported commenting styles
5. Core data types (including core classes, if any)
6. Operators
7. Control constructs (if, else, else-if, switch cases, etc)
8. Looping constructs (for, while, do-while, etc, along with break, continue, etc)
9. Typing (static, dynamic, duck, etc)
10. Function/method implementation (arg types, default args, named parameters, return type, signature, etc)
11. OO implementation (for OO languages)
    1. class definition
    2. constructor, destructor, initialization
    3. inheritance (different types like multiple inheritance, if supported)
    4. polymorphism (overloading, overriding, virtual methods, etc)
    5. access modifiers
    6. abstract classes, interfaces
    7. nested classes
12. Packages
13. Scope/lifetime of variables (global, static, etc)
14. Exception handling
15. Advanced features of the language
16. Popular libraries

Somewhere along the way, when I feel I'm getting used to the syntax of the language, I quickly invest time in finding an xUnit framework for the language, so that I can progress my learning supported by unit tests.

Tags: technology:general Last modified 03:04 Wed, 22 Oct 2008 by AmanKing. Accessed 1,260 times Children What Links Here Share Except where expressly noted, this work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.