Quickest Way to Learn From Books?

[ComputerNovice]

I've taken Object Oriented Programming, C#, and I can remember my instructor saying that we would probably want to play with the program examples more than reading the book, as he said that's probably the best way to learn. But I ignored his advice because I was still learning to build my foundation in OOP.

This semester I'm taking COBOL, and I'm wanting to know what some of you seasoned veterans did to pick up other languages after you already had a programming foundation built. I know that COBOL is not OOP, but I still dread the thought of reading every single chapter of my COBOL book. I see some students in class pick things up fairly quickly without even reading the chapters. I have to admit, that I've tried it, but I don't see how they do it. I'm guessing that they play with the code first, and then when they run into a problem, they will do a quick search by flipping through the book. I suppose everybody has their different ways of learning.

Any of you guys got any tips how you used your time efficiently to learn other languages when on the fly? Time is extremely precious and valuable to me right now. Thanks in advance! :bald:

 

[mgoldb2]

I know lots of languages already so when I go to learn a new language I donÂ’t buy concepts books I buy reference book for the language. I use the reference book to learn all the syntax and basic structure. I learn a few things about it like does it support recursion, what are references and what is not. Pretty much the internal structure of how the compiler works. Then I program and use the reference books when I donÂ’t know the syntax for something.

PS: They making you learn Cobol? You have my regrets that a really un-fun language to learn.