|
It is the hardest way, but probably the best. A mentor is centainly a nice thing, but most people won't have the change of having one 
Forget "At school": german schools just teach "computer science" (take notice of the brackets)..
they intoduced the subject "computer science" in 2004 I think... I had opportunity to watch such a lesson, and the pupils were taught how to sort and select files from wincommander and windows explorer... how miserable!
Don't try it, just do it! 
|
|
|
|
|
... 
You left me high and dry and changed me
You lied to me and now i’m angry...
|
|
|
|
|
I spend 70% of my time at work, 20% of my time working on my own applications. 10% reading new articles or books.
one I think many people should try out is the "Art of computer programming" by donald knuth.
Its a great read.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Paul Watson wrote:
Sleep? Eat? Wife?
One word: multitasking
fact that he does something 100% of the time doesn't necessary mean he can't do something else
best regards,
David 'DNH' Nohejl
Never forget: "Stay kul and happy" (I.A.)
|
|
|
|
|
hehe, very true... My girlfriend is very supportive of my work. I guess that would have to be true in any relationship.
but i could not imagine doing anything else for a living.
I hope you enjoy those books, some of the math is kinda boring. but the algorithms involved and the pure raw mechanics are incredible.
|
|
|
|
|
before I stumbled onto this site (most likely before it existed), sourceforge.net is where I got (or more rather, experienced) most of my development exposure. then there was school which was a poor excuse for retired assembler programers to attempt to (learn much less teach) OOP design & development.
/bb|[^b]{2}/
|
|
|
|
|
Originaly, Books/Magazines and 4 years of writing DOS Libraries in 'C' that worked:
1) Multiple window UI that worked in multiple text/graphics modes:
Windows, Menues, Buttons, DialogBoxs, EditBoxs (Text editor w/optional color code embeding), virtual memory (sort of), extended support for keyboard, and don't forget the mouse.
(That was my first major project)
2) DBase syle database.
3) Descent-recusize algebraic equation solver w/user definable equations and variables.
4) Graphics: Bitmap files (loading/saving/displaying/editing), arcs, pie, circles, rectangle, lines, flooding, clipping, world coordinates (and a little 3D to boot).
All the above and more was done in my spare time (for my self) to learn all that I could. When I was not at work I was: coding, reading about coding (Books/Magazines) or thinking of some new way to solve a coding problem. Heck, half the solutions I came up with I later found, in one form or another, in some book or article.
Note: The only problem with most books is that they tell you to check for errors, but use very little error checking in the code they are presenting ( because it will destract from what they are trying to teach you ).
Last of all: Many years of doing it for a living and Many years spent fixing other peoples code.
I am still learning! Good coding practices in 'C' is easy (in my opinion), but good coding practices in 'C++' are harder for me to define (so I keep trying to improve).
P.S. I have never worked on a project with another programmer, but I would like too!
INTP
"The more help VB provides VB programmers, the more miserable your life as a C++ programmer becomes."
Andrew W. Troelsen
|
|
|
|
|
Fortunately, after finishing school where you learned academic stuff, Code Complete from Steve McConnell was a recommended book by a working friend.
It was a good book back then. The second edition is even better. And I have both on my shelf.
Gig
|
|
|
|
|
I totaly agree. A few years back the lead programmer handed me Code Complete and said "I refuse to work with anyone that hasn't read this".
He was sooo right.
The only other experince that came close was fixing/maintaining some CrappyCode(tm) we bought. But that built up my forensic code reading skills more than anything else 
[ Jason De Arte | Toy Maker | 1001010.com ]
|
|
|
|
|
Just a great book. An humbling read.
My favorite part is when the author points out that source code is meant to be human readable 1st then machine or compiler readable after. Thats what I remember most about the book and I keep quoting it everywhere I can.
Its just too easy to grok a problem and throw some code to the compiler to have something work. Having really understood a problem, one should not be ashamed to write a "code" aka "solution" that can equaly be understood by the next reader. (Often the other reader might be yourself, 18 months in the future).
Lots of tiny jokes and all that.
Great book.
P.S. : I did not know of the 2nd edition ???
|
|
|
|
|
If the question is "good coding practices" and the answer selected is "Self taught" then what are you comparing the code to, for the result to be good ?
just wondering....
|
|
|
|
|
Better than my programs last year?
Come on, there is enough code on the internet you can compare to.
|
|
|
|
|
Books give us a toe hold.
On-line gives us a foot hold.
Source from others gives us a hand hold.
LONG LIVE SOURCE FROM OTHERS!
... and thanks for everyone's hard work and support.
If it wasn't for you, I would have given up a long time ago.
P.S. Where can I find a VB6 "team project" group?
Here is what I would like to do.
Submit a large well developed project to a team of people.
Have them add their two cents worth and re-release it to the world.
Each person would write or re-write portions that they wanted and fully comment. Educational experience for all.
Does such a forum exist?
Projects such as:
a Paint Program -- you have to see this one.
a Backup Program -- is is amazing how many things Windows puts in your way of copying files.
a Multimedia Player -- images, music and movies.
a Scientific Calculator / Programming Tool and Grapher.
Any ideas?
Lorin
|
|
|
|
|
In my 7 years of college (several degrees) I was never taught coding at all in any of my computer science or engineering courses. In most cases the professor left this up to the TA who really did not teach us anything but to comment the obvious like: "myint is an integer that recieves the value from the following call to convertToCelcius"
John
|
|
|
|
|
I agree with you 100%. I did 2 semesters of C++ in college, and we just did the same things over and over...We didn't even get into OOP or other topics that any entry-level programer would be expected to know. Thank god for Wrox books!
|
|
|
|
|
I suppose school/college is not meant to teach you things, but to show you what there is. It is up to you to learn them.
...Plug & Pray... 
|
|
|
|
|
How can books and selftaught be seperate options? if you read books, you teach yourself, unless someone else reads it out for u.
-prakash
|
|
|
|
|
Because not all "self-teachings" come from books. Experience is one example of how one can teache oneself.
-=- James
Tip for inexperienced drivers: "Professional Driver on Closed Course" does not mean "your Dumb Ass on a Public Road"!
Articles -- Products: Delete FXP Files & Check Favorites
|
|
|
|
|
Whats something is i voted so fast for self-taught that i didn't see the vote for books and online things which is how i tought myself lol
|
|
|
|
|
when i started my first job i thought i knew what i was doing 
i was self taught from some basic books and various small programs that i had written just for fun.
i knew what functions were, and i even used them, so of course i assumed that everything was wonderful
over the last year or two i have really learned a LOT from codeproject, online forums, and mainly from books. ironically most of the books i found via online forum's, so i ended up voting for books.
Meyer's Effective C++ was a major eye opener!
however i needed a few years in the trenches, having to re-write and totally re-structure my own and other peoples code before i had the experience to really understand what concepts like refactoring and all of these other ideas were about.
now i am embodying the old saying "the more you learn the less you know"
next up i need to read the gang of four, and learn to apply this as well.
|
|
|
|
|
Never forget: "Stay kul and happy" (I.A.)
|
|
|
|
|
It is a magical control!
--
I got nasty habits. I take tea at three.
-- Mick Jagger
I blog too now[^]
|
|
|
|
|
Ahh yes, the mighty Zen of CListCtrl.
~Nitron.
ññòòïðïðB A
start
|
|
|
|
|
Never forget: "Stay kul and happy" (I.A.)
|
|
|
|
General 
News 
Suggestion 
Question 
Bug 
Answer 
Joke 
Praise 
Rant 
Admin 
Submit an article or tip
