Learning to Program

Working Backward

You might not know from the outset what you are searching for. You might not fully understand what problem you are trying to solve or even how much you need to learn to solve it. Just because you aren’t entirely sure what you are looking for doesn’t mean you can’t search for it. Start at the end and work backward. First, search for your end goal and, as you search through the results, look for unfamiliar words and phrases. Next, search for all those terms that seem relevant, again making note of all the unfamiliar words and phrases you find in the results.

When you get to the point that you understand almost everything in the search results, you can start learning about the things you didn’t understand until you get to the point ...