I feel like I can more officially say that I'm learning to program now. I've been trying, for the past few years, with some months more intense than others, to very informally learn programming. My informal learning has included several online tutorials, attempts to go through a few books, and even some MOOCs. I've stuck with it because it's challenging, so useful, and I really enjoy it. And because my informal way of doing things has allowed me to get things done, albeit sometimes very frustratingly.
Now I feel like I'm officially learning it because I'm taking a Java class at a community college, and am in week 8 of it, and I'm learning so much. Before this class, I wouldn't have said that I was informally learning programming, because I thought what I was doing was pretty good and allowing me to make progress. But now I feel like I actually understand it so much more. It's great. And I want to do more.
It's taking up some of my time, and I had been in the beginning (first three lectures) part of trying to do the online course available through ITunes U, Developing iOS 7Apps for iPhone and iPad. I went back to it a few days ago, but had to start again from Lecture 1 because I needed the refresher. And oh my, after two months of this Java class that covers so much object-oriented knowledge needed for Objective-C, I understand these lectures so much more! I'm trying to find time to do go through these videos and complete the assignments on a regular basis, while still staying on top of the Java class, so that I don't lose the time investment to learn what I've learned from the Developing iOS class. I'm eager to begin my next project, but I need to slow down to learn more first, I think.