Tag: learning resources

The 3 Best Resources for Learning Calculus

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Never stop learning. Ever. The world is moving forward, advancing, and so should you. Calculus can be a very powerful tool. Here are the 3 greatest resources for learning calculus on your own and where to find them for free.

  1. Videos by Professor Leonard on YouTube – This man is hands down the greatest person to ever teach Calculus. He explains everything very thoroughly and is very easy to understand and keep up with. He has full playlists for Calculus 1, 2, and 3 along with some other mathematics courses. Start here for Calc 1: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLF797E961509B4EB5
  2. James Stewart’s Calculus Early Transcendentals – Use this textbook for a mass of practice problems. Calculus like any mathematics course is all about practice. Make sure to grab the complete solutions manual for this as well so you can check all of your answers. Make sure the editions of the textbook and solutions manual that you get match up. If you want to keep things legal, you should purchase these items. That said, both can be downloaded for free over here: https://b-ok.cc/s/?q=stewart+early+transcendentals
  3. Paul’s Online Math Notes – This website has notes and practice problems from a professor over at Lamar University. The notes are great to review and it never hurts to have more practice problems. Check it out at: http://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/

I have no affiliation with any of these sites/resources other than that I have used them myself and was very impressed by them.

Learn Your First Programming Language

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No I am not going to teach you to program. I will however point you in the right direction.

Python is the programming language I recommend that you learn first. It is a higher level language and is a little easier to understand than languages such as c/c++. It is also well rounded in its possible applications. JavaScript, another popular language that beginners are often told to learn, is very limited. JavaScript is great if you want to be a web developer but outside of the web, there is no use for JavaScript. Python can handle almost anything, including web development and applications.

Start off by learning the syntax over at codecademy.com with their free course on Python 3. After doing this you will know how to speak Python but you still will not know how to program. Learning a language and learning how to develop and create your own programs are two very different things.

After learning the syntax, pickup the book Automate the Boring Stuff with Python (or find the pdf for free online). This book will teach you to actually use that new language you learned in some very neat applications.

If you have made it through Automate the Boring Stuff, next check out the books Impractical Python Projects and then after that Fluent Python.

All of this said, none of these books will do as great of a job teaching you to code as simply coming up with your own projects and tackling them head-on will. You will learn a lot from them but programming takes a lot of practice. It is very similar to math. You don’t learn it or get good at it by watching an instructor do it or reading a book about it, you get good by practicing it yourself – over and over again.