This simple book is meant to give you a first start in programming. The title says it is the hard way to learn to write code but it’s actually not. It’s the “hard” way only in that it’s the way people used to teach things. In this book you will do something incredibly simple that all programmers actually do to learn a language:

1. Go through each exercise.
2. Type in each sample exactly.
3. Make it run. That’s it. This will be very difficult at first, but stick with it. If you go through this book, and do each exercise for 1-2 hours a night, then you’ll have a good foundation for moving on to another book. You might not really learn “programming” from this book, but you will learn the foundation skills you need to start learning the language. This book’s job is to teach you the three most basic essential skills that a beginning programmer needs to know: Reading And Writing, Attention To Detail, Spotting Differences.