How I usually learn InterSystems IRIS (resources + notes)

Hi, every one. Again, it's me!!😀😀

Recently I was trying to organize some learning materials for InterSystems IRIS😆, and realized that the resources are actually quite scattered.🤐

So I put together a list here—grouped by categories—for anyone who:

• is new to InterSystems
• or wants to go deeper into specific areas

Also adding some of my own experience on what worked (and what didn’t, may be only not work for me🤫🤐).

1. For starters

If you don’t know where to begin, start here:

• https://developer.intersystems.com/

• https://developer.intersystems.com/resources/
  

• https://developer.intersystems.com/intersystems-iris-getting-started/
  

My experience:
Starting from Developer Hub + Getting Started works well. It gives just enough to run something quickly (no installation, test directly yeah!!!!🤪).

What didn’t work for me:
Jumping straight into documentation at the beginning → as I always say... I know every words in the sentence, but simply don't understand 🥲.

2. Setup / installation / tools

When you want to actually start working:

• https://developer.intersystems.com/intersystems-iris-getting-started/#setup-and-tools

• https://docs.intersystems.com/
  

My experience:
Setting up IRIS locally and trying things immediately helped a lot. Hands-on is much faster than just reading.

Tip:
You don’t need to understand everything before starting—just get it running first. Starting with docker is one of the good option for me 😄

3. Database migration

If you are coming from other databases:

• https://developer.intersystems.com/intersystems-iris-getting-started/#migration

My experience:
This only became useful when I had a real use case. Reading it too early didn’t help much. And I didn't try it before...just keep it here as reference 1st ....

4. Learning (courses / structured)

If you prefer structured learning instead of trial-and-error:

• https://learning.intersystems.com/totara/dashboard/index.php

• https://www.intersystems.com/education/course-offerings/
  

• https://www.intersystems.com/knowledge-hub/certification-program/
  

My experience:
Good for filling knowledge gaps after you already tried something yourself. Online learning is free of charge and flexible, classroom course need to pay and need to take care about the course schedule.

What didn’t work for me:
Taking courses before doing anything hands-on → hard to retain. For me it's better to start with a project 😀, and search for related topic on the online learning course 😊

5. Videos

Sometimes easier to just watch:

• https://www.youtube.com/@InterSystemsCorp

• https://www.youtube.com/@InterSystemsLearningServices
  

• https://www.youtube.com/@InterSystemsDevelopers
  

My experience:
Useful when you want a quick overview or see how something works.

6. Hands-on / examples

For actual coding and examples:

• https://developer.intersystems.com/iris-tutorials-for-developers/

• https://openexchange.intersystems.com/
  

• https://github.com/intersystems
  

• https://github.com/intersystems-community
  

My experience:
This is probably the most important part. This is what I usually do:

Reading examples + modifying them (this helped me understand much faster than reading docs alone.)😙

7. Community / discussion

If you get stuck (or want to explore ideas):

• https://community.intersystems.com/

• https://discord.gg/X8aQyK3hwU
  

My experience:
Very useful when you hit real problems.
Also good for discovering things you didn’t even know exist. btw, recently I found the "DC AI Bot" in the developer community is very helpful for answering the question ,which I posted there. Quick and useful response.❤️❤️❤️❤️

8. Others

• https://www.intersystems.com/products/

• https://intersystems.customershome.com/home/challenges
  

Suggested learning flow (just my way)

This is roughly how I would approach it:

1. Start with Getting Started
2. Install IRIS and try a few tutorials
3. Break something (this happens anyway 😅)
4. Search docs / community to fix it 
5. Explore Open Exchange / GitHub
6. Take courses when you know what you don’t know

Final

This is not an official guide—just something I compiled based on what I usually use.

Personally, the biggest improvement in my learning came from:

• doing hands-on early
• not trying to understand everything upfront
• using community resources when stuck

If you have other useful resources or different learning paths, feel free to share 🙂