I personally grew up in a Buddhist family. So the teachings were effortlessly picked up by me over the time. I've even been meditating since I was first grade. I never really got into deep long meditations. It became more like a part of life which I engage in whenever I feel like it. Personally I've found the best times to be before going to sleep and right after waking up. But let's just put that aside for a while and talk about programming. There is something I figured out.

Basically I was having a chat with a friend of mine at his place. He started learning for an IT degree. The very first thing they had to learn was programming. There was a book which was a little over 100 pages which contained what they had to learn in 8 weeks. The first thing I thought (and later expressed) was What the Hell!!!

It was C++ and it was the first times the most kids were learning programming

I'm no programmer but I've learnt some since middle school. I haven't touched C++ but I know that it's important and I've been told that it offers a lot of flexibility to the devs. I've written pseudo code but the only real programming I've done was on GUI. After a dozen or so hours I was making a small programs where I can view pictures, enter stuff into text boxes and click buttons which serve various functions. I was even making simple grading tools where students are automatically assigned grades based on their exam scores. I'm pretty sure I didn't spend 20 hours learning and even with the time I was practicing alone, I pretty much got the basic stuff in 30 hours or something. This was middle school.

The study material I read on C++ were bit more advanced near the end of 8 weeks. It was a really well setup course that covered everything from the very basics and it was airtight and complete. The problem is that none of it seemed like it was fun to learn and the students were to be doing menial nothings with the programming language they learnt for the first few weeks. That sure as hell doesn't build confidence. Personally I made my first APP in less than 30 minutes after I opened Visual Basic for the first time. It took 30 mins because I had to write notes. After a couple of hours I was already making something that resembled a program that can do a pretty basic task and a little later I made a simple calculator. But I barely knew anything about the software or programming. It was just a few tricks I picked up.

Sometimes the most efficient way is jumping into the middle

I haven't tried writing much about Buddhism and I've intentionally avoided teaching anyone much about Buddhism. I didn't know where to begin. I learnt my stuff organically and naturally so I don't know how to methodically and gradually teach someone about Buddhism in a way that isn't forced or too intimidating but also without being preachy or hand holding. But what about the people who spoke with Buddha for the first time??? A great many of the sutras are simply just summarized documentations of answers given by Buddha. There needs to be a certain set of memetics that allow people to grasp certain truths easily. If I go out and tell people that I have a million books in my backpack, after some initial confusion, people are going to think "E-Books". When I say socialism only brings misery and bloodshed and free markets are the way to go, there are certain groups who understand that. There are also billions who would never understand no matter how much they see, read or experience.

https://oxfamblogs.org/fp2p/venezuela-latin-americas-inequality-success-story
That's a real article from a very influential global confederation of 19 independent charitable organizations. That kind of stupidity exist. So I thought it was just better to throw some deep stuff on people's faces and let the wise understand those things on their own. If I'm not a great teacher, I can find great learners and steemit is simply the very best place for that. This is the most intelligent massive online community on Earth. I've even seen some of my articles on the first page of Google. So steemit is a great place to play with Google's algorithms too.

Verse 85. A Few Reach The Other Shore

Among folk they are few
who go to the Further Shore,
most among humanity
scurry on this hither shore.
Explanation: Of those who wish to cross over to the other side only a handful are successful. Those others who are left behind keep running along this shore. Those masses who have not been able to reach liberation continue to be caught up in Samsara.

Verse 63. Know Reality. Be Wise

Conceiving so his foolishness
the fool is thereby wise,
while ‘fool’ is called that fool
conceited that he’s wise.
Explanation: If a foolish person were to become aware that he is foolish, by virtue of that awareness, he could be described as a wise person. On the other hand, if a foolish person were to think that he is wise, he could be described as a foolish person.

Verse 64. The Ignorant Cannot Benefit From The Wise

Though all through life the fool
might wait upon the wise,
no more Dhamma can he sense
than spoon the taste of soup.
Explanation: The fool, even if he kept the company of a wise person intimately over a life-time, will not become aware of the nature of experience, just as a spoon will not know the taste of soup.

Verse 70. The Unconditioned Is The Highest Achievement

Month after month with blady-grass tip
the fool may take his food;
he’s not worth the slightest bit
of one who Dhamma knows.
Explanation: A foolish person sets out to attain the highest reward of spiritual life. As an austere ascetic, he eats a mere morsel of food with the tip of a blade of grass. And, that too, only once a month. Still that kind of misguided ascetic will not at all be nearer liberation than when he started. With all that, he is not worth even one-sixteenth part of an Arahant who has achieved the Unconditioned.

Verse 72. The Knowledge Of The Wicked Splits His Head

Truly to his detriment
skill is born to the fool;
ruined is his better nature
and scattered are his wits.
Explanation: Whatever is learned by the ignorant is conducive to harm. It brings about his own downfall. Misplaced learning destroys whatever potential the learner possesses and renders him useless in terms of real knowledge.

Verse 43. Well-Trained Mind Excels People

What one’s mother, what one’s father,
whatever other kin may do,
the well directed mind indeed
can do greater good.
Explanation: Well directed thoughts can help a person better than one’s father or one’s mother.

All of the above verses are from Dhammapada which is also dubbed The Handbook of the Buddhists. There are 423 verses in 26 chapters and it's originally written in a language called Pali. The different verses were spoken at different occasions and I haven't really found any pdf which gives context to these texts. I had a print version that explain each verse with context (which is extremely important when it comes to learning Buddhism). For now you'll have to try this link: http://www.buddhanet.net/dhammapada If you do find a better link, please put the link down in the comments.

WHAT IS SEEN IS NOT WHAT IT IS: LIBERATION FROM SUFFERING THROUGH THE RIGHT VIEW

“ As an English – speaking person with a curiosity of Buddhism, I have found this booklet to be a valuable resource. Traditional Western values and thinking makes certain concepts difficult, if not impossible, to accept. The booklet has, for instance, enabled me to understand and accept the principle of impermanence and how human beings erroneously come to view things as permanent through the application of the senses. This use of the senses inevitably leading to a craving for imagined outcomes and eventual disappointment. A greater understanding of any subject encourages further study and investigation, which is certainly true in my case.”
Robert Beverley - Sydney

The above quote made me think that this book would be a great place to throw people into. It's only 38 pages and it's a work by a contemporary Buddhist monk. So it would be easier to understand and connect with for many people compared to directly reading a 2600 year old sutra. Here is the link to download the E-Book: http://www.mediafire.com/download/8rqo4g5f5giju5t/What%20is%20Seen%20is%20not%20What%20It%20is.pdf

If I just end here, that would be too boring. That would be like Doctor Who escaping through the door instead of jumping out of the window. It'd also be boring if I were just sharing stuff that I already knew. That's why after I started typing this article, I did some digging and discovered the book named Nibbàna- TheMindStilled written by Most Ven. Katukurunde Nyanananda Maha Thera. I was originally going to share this wonderful book http://www.forestdhamma.org/ebooks/english/pdf/Mae_Chee_Kaew.pdf which is only a 247 page Biography about Mae Chee Kaew which also happen to be the best Biography I've ever read in my life. But no...... I present you 795 pages of deep analytical Buddhist text http://www.ent.mrt.ac.lk/~mevan/Public/Nibbana-the-Mind-Stilled.pdf which is actually 7 volumes put together. Now I hope you are seriously considering that 38 page book. So go read and enlighten yourselves!