Learn a Framework; forget the language!

If you’re new to programming or have just a bit of experience, you’re probably thoroughly confused, wondering whether what you’ve been told all this while was bogus! If you’re an experience developer, you’re probably laughing (or scorning) at the title by now, wondering if I was high when I wrote the article. What I’m about to tell you is something that I’ve seen happen, and could be professionally beneficial to you. Although, I must warn you that it’s not what everyone is going to approve of, so read further but implement at your own risk.

Okay, so I was saying, learn the framework, not the language. I’m going to explain why to take this approach, keeping two sets of audience in mind. The first, are total newbies, who’re probably working in some X field and now want to switch roles but have realised that with all the buzz of automation and the rise of tech, the new role demands a basic understanding of programming. The latter are developers who probably have varied levels of experience with programming, and now want to get into a new job, which requires them to have a particular skill. Later I will clearly list down the benefits of taking this approach. Let’s take audience #1 first.

You’re a young Peter Parker just bitten by the programming bug

You’re completely new to programming and haven’t the slightest clue about what it’s all about. You can spend close to a month trying to figure out a programming language like maybe Python or Java and then try to build something with it. Or you could jump straight into learning a framework and building something out of it. Now, in both cases we’re going to assume that you’re learning from a book, a video course or maybe a simple online tutorial.

When you choose to learn the framework and build something, you’re going with the move fast and break things approach, which according to me, is the best way that anyone can learn something new. Once you have something built in front of you, you’re probably going to remember it much easier than when you’re just learning something theoretical first and then tried to apply it in practice at a later stage.

How to do it?

1. Start by understanding your goals first. Where do you want to go from where you are currently at. Now if your answer was that you wanted to get into Web Development, to build websites for a living, you have your first answer.
2. What you need to do next is to understand what skills your “dream” company is actually looking for. You’ll understand that from the Job Description and a little help from someone technical.
3. If the skill is web development, look for the accompanying tools/frameworks. Say for example, you found it was Node.
4. Start learning Node!
5. Pick up a book/video/tutorial that will help you build something as you learn. Spend at least a good week getting used to stuff.
6. Have it reviewed by someone knowledgeable and watch carefully as the person works.
   You’ll be able to relate quite easily to what is going on, and will pick up some really useful tips and tricks quickly.
7. Keep practicing another week, you’ll start getting good at it.

Why will it work?

Well, to be honest, several organisations work primarily with frameworks on a number of projects, mainly because frameworks simplify the building of large applications. Very rarely will you find the need to work with the vanilla language. By taking the Framework-first approach, you’re gaining the skill, i.e. web development, fast, rather than worry about using the medium or tool that will enable you to build it. You’re not spending too much time on learning the foundations, which you may never use in your development.

Another example – Say you’ve been longing to learn how to build games, but don’t know how to program. Plus C++ is a treacherous language for a newbie to learn. Don’t worry at all! Just start learning how to work with Unreal Engine or any other game engine/framework. Use its in-built features, like Blueprints, which allows you to drag and drop things to build your game, and voila! You have your very own game! 😉

You’re a Ninja wielding a katana in Star Wars

Now you’re the experienced one, you probably have a couple of apps under your belt and are looking to learn a new skill, maybe because that’s what your dream company is looking for. Let’s say you’re a web developer, who now wants to move into mobile or enterprise application development. You’re familiar with JavaScript but don’t really want to take the time to learn a new language like C#. Don’t learn it, then. Just learn Xamarin or .NET Core!

In this case, you’re already familiar with how programming works, but all that you don’t know is the syntax and working of the new language, C#. When you jump straight into .NET Core, you’ll be able to pick up the nitty gritties much faster than if you were to learn C# first and then start with .NET Core. No harm done if you were to take that path, but you’re just slowing down your learning by picking up the language first.

Impossible is what?

I know for a fact that by now, half of you are itching to tear me apart! I encourage you to vent your frustration in the comments section below! 🙂

I honestly think it’s quite possible for someone to learn how to build an application without learning the programming language. You could learn how to drive an automatic car first and not know a damn thing about gears, but you’re still driving, right? You don’t always need to know the alphabet to be able to hold a conversation. At this point, I could cross the line by saying that this is true even in the the latest most cutting edge tech domain: machine learning. It might be possible even for buddying Data Scientists to start using Tensorflow straight away without learning Python, but I’ll hold my horses there.

Benefits of learning a Framework directly

There are 4 main benefits of this approach:

• You’re learning to become relevant quickly, which is very important, considering the level of competition that’s out there
• You’re meeting the industry requirements of knowing how to work with the framework to build large applications
• You’re unconsciously applying a fail-fast approach to your learning, by building an application from scratch
• Most importantly, you’re avoiding all the fluff – the aspects you may never use in languages or maybe the bad coding practices that you will avoid altogether

As I conclude, it’s my responsibility to advise you that not learning a language entirely can be a huge drawback. For example, suppose your framework doesn’t address the problem you have at hand, you will have to work around the situation by working with the vanilla language. So when I say forget the language, I actually mean for the time being, when you’re trying to acquire the new skill fast. But to become a true expert, you must learn to master both the language and framework together.

So go forth and learn something new today!

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