I’ve always wanted to understand what is actually meant by this. I have wanted to get into programming for years, did some basic python and c, but could never really progress. Not necessarily a linux question but I know since most distros come with libraries already, it’s popular to use for programming.
I have trouble understanding what people are actually programming if it isn’t their job. Like, you go to your computer and start working on…what? I don’t know enough to make an entire program or debug a game, so im just unsure what people do especially when starting out.
Also I don’t really want to learn it for a job. I just want to learn it to know it. But im not sure how to apply it to anything realistic.
Most of my work goes into an opensource game.
Make some apps for yourself. You’ll probably not use them, or even share them, but it’s a good thing to have a vision of what you want to make.
Being a good programmer takes ages. And even then you’ll probably only know a handful of languages and focus on specific branches. If you just want to know it, you’ll lose a lot of interest pretty soon because sometimes it takes days to fix something and you really need to be able to push trough those rough patches and that’s hard without a goal. Imagine trying to become good at woodworking without actually making furniture.
A lot of stuff already has apps for it. And a lot of things are being worked on. People saw the money and a lot of people jumped on the wagon.
The most realistic thing one can do with programming is to make something that does exactly what they want. And that can even be something small. Like learning how to write scripts that automate simple tasks. I suggest high level languages such as Python, PHP, C# or Java to get going. And only look at low level languages such as C, C++, or Rust when you actually start to understand it.
Or even finish them. It’s still valuable experience.