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• Diving into a computer science career [closed]

  - by Willis

  Well first I would like to say thank you for taking the time to read my question. I'll give you some background. I graduated two years ago from a local UC in my state with a degree in cognitive psychology and worked in a neuroscience lab. During this time I was exposed to some light Matlab programming and other programming tidbits, but before this I had some basic understanding of programming. My father worked IT for a company when I was younger so I picked up his books and took learned things along the way growing up. Naturally I'm an inquisitive person, constantly learning, love challenges, and have had exposure to some languages. Yet at this point I was fully pursue it as a career and always had this in the back of my head. Where do I start? I'm 25 and feel like I still have time to make a switch. I've immersed myself in the terminal/command prompt to start, but which language do I focus on? I've read the A+ book and planning to take on the exam, then the networking exam, but I want to deal with more programming, development, and troubleshooting. I understand to get involved in open source, but where? I took the next step and got a small IT assistant job, but doesn't really deal with programming, development, just troubling shooting and small network issues. Thank you!

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• Shoring up deficiencies in a "home grown" programmer?

  - by JohnP

  I started out by teaching myself BASIC on a Vic 20, and in college (mid 80's) I had Fortran, Pascal, limited C, machine and assembler (With a smattering of COBOL). I didn't touch programming from approx 1989 to 1999. At that point, I was lucky enough to get hired as a Clipper programmer. Took me about 6 months to learn most of it, and by now (13 yrs) I'm pretty expert in it. I have also picked up Cold Fusion, some C#, some ASP, SQL, etc. I know programming structures, but in most languages I'm missing the esoterics, and I know my code could be much tighter. The problem is that I've learned what I needed to, to get the job done. This results in a lot of gaps in practical knowledge. I am also missing out on a TON of theory. Things like SRP, Refactoring, etc are alien terms. (Although I grok the intent after a short read). In addition, I am in the position now of teaching junior programmers the company and our software, and I don't want to pass on the knowledge gaps. I know this is somewhat of a subjective question and may be closed, but how do you go back and pick up what you've missed?

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• Is constantly looking for code examples a sign of a bad developer?

  - by Newly Insecure

  I am a CS student with several years of experience in C and C++, and for the last few years I've been constantly working with Java/Objective C doing app development and now I have switched to web development and am mainly focused on ruby on rails and I came to the realization that (as with app development , really) I reference other code way too much. I constantly Google functionality for lots of things I imagine I should be able to do from scratch and it's really cracked my confidence a bit. Basic fundamentals are not an issue, I hate to use this as an example but I can run through javabat in both java/python at a sprint - obviously not an accomplishment and but what I mean to say is I have a strong base for the fundamentals I think? I know what I need to use typically but reference syntax constantly. Would love some advice and input on this, as it has been holding me back pretty solidly in terms of looking for work in this field even though I'm finishing my degree. My main reason for asking is not really about employment, but more that I don't want to be the only guy at a hackathon not hammering out nonstop code and sitting there with 20 Google/github tabs open, and I have refrained from attending any due to a slight lack of confidence... Is a person a bad developer by constantly looking to code examples for moderate to complex tasks?

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• Determine Better Coding Practice

  - by footprint.

  As a new programmer, it has always been hard to create applications, because I am still at the learning stage. I understand that to achieve a particular affect or function in an application, there will be numerous ways to achieve the same result. However, should I just purely create a function to it's working state, which means that as long as it works, just as the way I want it to, then it should be fine. Can any fellow programmers of a higher level kindly let me know the right way of doing things?

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• Wide gap in my resume as a Java developer. What are must-have skills required to get hired those days? [closed]

  - by OnlineAlien

  For some legal reasons I haven't worked for anybody for the last 12 years. I am a java web developer or at least I am thinking so. For this period I have been working on my project- some sort of business network - and I did few small jobs, so right now I feel I am far behind in terms of my skills and the skills needed today. I lingered too long on Struts and Hibernate and thought that could the job for my project. I need to get a job, right now, so I am spending most of my time brushing my skills. My question is: What are the current necessary skills that could convince employers to hire me regardless of my past employment or the lack of it. Right now I am on AspectJ, IoC and Spring Thanks

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• How do you stay motivated for hobby projects?

  - by aubreyrhodes

  I started seriously programming as a hobbiest, student and then intern about 4 years ago and I've always done small projects on the side as a learning exercise. Schools over now though, and I spend my days at work as a software developer. I would still love to do projects on the side to learn about areas in computer science that I'm not exposed to at work, but I've noticed that after 8 hours of starring at an IDE it's far to tempting to veg out. Any time I do get up the gumption to work on something for a few hours lately it's gotten left by the wayside. Anyone have any advice for sticking with side projects when you spend most of your day coding?

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• How do I make the correct career decision in regards to product manager/QA vs programmer?

  - by Adel

  I'm curious about how to approach the issue of whether I should focus on programming or on QA/testing/product management. I know that the latter seems like a broad category( if so, think of it as "general IT support" for now). At the moment I'm stronger in QA/prod. mgt ; however I'd like to switch more to programming, and I see I may have this opportunity. Wouldn't it be easier to switch to QA/prod. mgt in the future, if I go into programming now; rather than trying the reverse-order(i.e. if I decided later to go into coding.. say around mid-30s then it'd likely be harder). Just looking for any advice or tips about how to see more clearly. Part of me is scared I can't handle the programming side, but part of me says since there's demand and I'm interested that it's still worth a shot.

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• Should I expect my peers to read or practice on a regular basis? [closed]

  - by Joshua Smith

  I've been debating asking this question for some time. Based several of the comments I read in this question I decided I had to ask. This feels like I'm stating the obvious, but I believe that regular reading (of books, blogs, StackOverflow, whatever) and/or practice are required just to stay current (let alone excel) in whichever stack you use to pay the bills, not to mention playing with things outside your comfort zone to learn new ways of doing things. Yet, I virtually never see this from many of my peers. Even when I go out of my way to point out useful (and almost always free) learning material, I quite often get a sense of total apathy from those I'm speaking to. I'd even go so far as to say that if someone doesn't try to improve (or at least stay current), they'll atrophy as technology advances and actually become less useful to the company. I don't expect people to spend hours a day studying or practicing. I have two young kids and hours of practice simply aren't feasible. Still, I find some time; perhaps on the train, at lunch, in bed for a few minutes, whatever. I'm willing to believe this is arrogance or naivete on my part, but I'd like to hear what the community has to say. So here's my question: Should I expect (and encourage) the same from my peers, or just keep my mouth shut and do my own thing?

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• Finding the balance between working on the things that you have to work on and the things that you want to work on [closed]

  - by Emanuil

  Sometimes I go for what I find interesting instead of what is considered right. Having this attitude has been educational and it has let me produce work that I'm exceptionally proud of but it has also made me miss deadlines and disappoint people. Sometimes I think I'm this way because I don't want to "break" my curiosity. I'm afraid that if I ignore it I may gradually lose it. Do you have any advice for me? Meta: How can I make this a community wiki?

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• WINAPI beginner guidance question

  - by gekod

  I'm learning to develop windows applications using WINAPI and plain C. Now I got a bit confused with all those handles and would like to ask if you guys could teach me some good practices to structure and handle controls and windows. Here's where I get confused: Using the IDs declared in the resources for each object, we can get their handles using GetDlgItem(). Now what if we don't know their parent, which is needed by this function. One example: We have the main window created at launch. Then we register two new window classes and create a window for each new class and we create a message function for each too. Now if inside one of the children windows I create a button and inside the other child window I create a text label. Now when we click the button inside of child window A the label in child window B shall be modified to whatever. The WM_COMMAND for the button is interpreted inside the message loop for child window A. Now what would be the best and more elegant way to access the text label inside the child window B? I am in the process of learning the WINAPI and just want to learn it right from the start instead of producing Hacked code that someday becomes unreadable and to later have to adapt to a new way of programing.

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• How to learn to deliver quality software designs when working on a tight deadline?

  - by chester89

  I read many books about how to design great software, but I kind of struggle to come up with a good design decisions when it comes to business apps, especially when the timeframe is tough. In the company I currently work for, the following situation happen all the time: my teamlead tells me that there's a task to do, I call some guy or a girl from business who tells me exactly what is it they want, and then I start coding. The task always fits in some existing application (we do only web apps or web services), usually it's purpose is to pull data from one datasource and put into the other one, with some business logic attached in the process. I start coding and then, after spending some time on a problem, my code didn't work as expected - either because of technical mistake or my lack of knowledge of the domain. The business is ringing me 2-3 times a day to hurry me up. I ask my team lead to help, he comes up, sees my code and goes like 'What's this?'. Then he throws away about half of my code, including all the design decisions I made, writes 2-3 methods that does the job (each of them usually 200-300 lines long or more, by the way), and task is complete, code works as it should have. The guy is smarter than me, obviously, and I'm aware of that. My goal is to be better software developer, that means write better code, not finish the job quicker with some crappy code. And the thing is, when I have enough time to tackle a problem, I can come up with a design that is good (in my opinion, of course), but I fall short to do so when I'm on a tight deadline. What should I do? I am fully aware that it's rather vague explanation, but please bear with me

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• How to avoid "DO YOU HAZ TEH CODEZ" situations?

  - by volothamp

  I have a strange situation at work, where a colleague of mine often asks me and other co-workers for working code. I would like to help him, but this constant request of trivial snippets interrupts my thoughts and sometimes makes it hard to concentrate. Plus, I have the impression (...) that this requests are generated by lack of competence, more than by laziness. In fact, he often asks things pretending to know the answer, since when I solve the problem he usually says things like "Sure", "Yes, that's what I thought", giving me the impression that my answer isn't worth it. How can I solve this embarrassing situation? Should I show more explicitly in front of other colleagues his lack of knowledge (by saying things like: "do it yourself if you can, please") or continue giving him what he wants? I think that he should aggregate all his answers in one, so that I can give him a portion of my time and he can work all by himself on his things. There is no hierarchy in the team, I must say we both have a similar seniority of five years, more or less. For the same reason I believe I cannot report to management, since trivial questions are often ignored. I discussed with other two members and they agree with me: in fact he often ask things cycling through colleagues.

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• Is there benifit to maintain a large project with bad code?

  - by upton

  I'm currently maintain a large project with more than 100000 LOC. The code use the MFC as its framework, in genral, it only has interface part which heavily use the mfc api and a business logic part which full of bad code, confusing logic. The company has some small features delivered to the customer each year(most features are adding code to exisiting project, finding some reference of some api or variable and it' s no different with fixing 3-4 bugs ), most of the tasks are to resove issue and optimize performance . Like other company with maintaining position, it value people who knows much logic about its product. There are people who can quickly finish the job on such project, is it worth to train myself like such a programmer? Is there benifits to work on such project for a long time?

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• Is there a 'design pattern' type listing of common algorithms?

  - by KevinM1

  Is there a 'design pattern' styled listing of common/popular algorithms anywhere? Specifically, something that has a similar format along the lines of: Algorithm Name: e.g., Quick Sort, Bubble Sort, etc. Problem: A description of the stereotypical problem the algorithm is supposed to address Description: Description of the solution Implementation: Code examples of the solution Big O Rating: Self-explanatory Similar Algorithms: Algorithms that address the same problem in different ways, or similar problems I really like the GoF design pattern listing style, and I think it would help me learn various algorithms better/easier if I could find a resource that was similar in terms of organization.

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• How often do you look for code examples?

  - by Newly Insecure

  I am a comp sci student with several years of experience in C and C++, and for the last few years I've been constantly working with Java/Objective C doing app dev and now I have switched to web dev and am mainly focused on ruby on rails and I came to the realization that (as with app dev, really) I reference other code wayyyy too much. I constantly google functionality for lots of things I imagine I should be able to do from scratch and it's really cracked my confidence a bit. Basic fundamentals are not an issue, I hate to use this as an example but I can run through javabat in both java/python at a sprint - obviously not an accomplishment and but what I mean to say is I have a strong base for the fundamentals I think? I was wondering how often you guys reference other code and does it just boil down to a lack of memorization of intricate tasks on my part? I know what I need to use typically but reference syntax constantly. Would love some advice and input on this, as it has been holding me back pretty solidly in terms of looking for work in this field even though I'm finishing my degree. My main reason for asking is not really about employment, but more that I don't want to be the only guy at a hackathon not hammering out nonstop code and sitting there with 20 google/github tabs open, and I have refrained from attending any due to a slight lack of confidence... tl;dr: I google for code examples for basically ALL semi advanced/advanced functionality, how to fix this and do you do as well?

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• Inspiring People

  - by barrem23

  So I work with a few people that I feel are intelligent but don't seem to be working out well. After working with them for a while I have seen the flashes of brilliance but mostly I see a reliance on others. What I mean by this is that most times it seems like at the first moment of trouble they go ask for help. Now personally I am all for helping and spend a significant portion of time helping others with whatever they need, but after helping others for so long I have noticed a disturbing trend. These people seem terrified that they might make a mistake and because of this they don't try. So my question is how can I motivate someone who is afraid of making a mistake? In my career I have always learned the most by making mistakes and learning from them. Personally I feel that if I hadn't learned so much I would never have made it as far as I have. So how can I get them to discover that they have the ability to figure it out themselves and that if they make a mistake and learn from it they will be better off. I feel that if I can discover some way to properly motivate them that we all will be better off.

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• How to morph from a programmer noob to a guru?

  - by didxga

  I have been a programmer for two years, and i am getting hard to level up my skill especially working at legacy code maintenance right now. I think working hard is not enough to elevate my skill, because there are ton of opensource around us, the preoject i have been involved are all mixture of opensources --- from front end to back end from presentation tier to business logic tier. My work is just gluing all these together or something fewer complex which is to collect data from UI to logic module then retrieve the data processed and put it to UI. Sometime there is a need to add some simple logic(like assembling the data to a form that fit business logic interface) while transport data. Could you please give me any suggestion what should i do on the side to improve my skill? Thanks!

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• How much a programmer should read in order to keep himself updated? [closed]

  - by anything

  There are lots of technical books available. Below are few links which lists some good books If you could only have one programming related book on your bookshelf what would it be and why? What non-programming books should a programmer read to help develop programming/thinking skills? Best books on the theory and practice of software architecture? http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1711/what-is-the-single-most-influential-book-every-programmer-should-read ... and the list can go on and on and on. It will be really difficult to read all of the above mentioned books. I am not sure if its even possible for anyone to do that. Even if you filter it based on one's area of interest or work, list is still very large. .. and the technology keeps on changing (even more books :-( ) So, my question is how much a programmer should read lets say per year? How much hours one should put in such activities to keep oneself up to date? How do we find out the time required? PS: Average programmer reads less than one book per year (Code complete). What about the good programmers?

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• Need Directions to become a programmer [closed]

  - by Omin

  Before youguys go on about how there are many types of programmers, please read through the post. Long term goal: Develop my own software (company) Short term goal: Get a job that involves coding/programming Current status: Support Analyst (at a software company but does not involve any programming) with 40k salary, 3rd year computer engineering student I had everything figured out. I'm going to develop a 2D scrolling game for iphone or android, publish the app, sell a bunch, and then apply at a studios as a software developer. And then something hit me. I think I need to get a job that involes programming to learn as much as I can in the shortest time possible. So I got a phone interview at a fast growing start up software company, passed that no problem, but then had to take an online technical assessment. That failed miserably. I thought that if I could just present myself, show that I am hard working, positive attitude, eager to make self improvements, type of a guy, I could get the job. I was wrong. And now, I am lost. Im thinking of staying with my job until I find a new one as a programmer. I will be working, self studying, and trying to make this happen without finishing university. I forgot to mention that the online technical assessment was based on data structures/algorithms, OO design, runtime complexity. I was hoping that I could get some guidence. Should I be focusing on app development or study computer science fundamentals? I have a list of books I can be going through: Learning C# O'Reilly (I got interested in C# because of Unity3D and Mono), C# 5.0 in a Nutshell, Head First Design Patterns, Code Complete, Introduction to Algorithms, Programming Interviews Exposed, Cracking the Coding Interview, The Google Resume.

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• Is there benefit to maintain a large project with bad code?

  - by upton

  I'm currently maintain a large project with more than 100000 LOC. The code use the MFC as its framework, in genral, it only has interface part which heavily use the mfc api and a business logic part which full of bad code, confusing logic. The company has some small features delivered to the customer each year(most features are adding code to exisiting project, finding some reference of some api or variable and it' s no different with fixing 3-4 bugs ), most of the tasks are to resove issue and optimize performance . Like other company with maintaining position, it value people who knows much logic about its product. There are people who can quickly finish the job on such project, is it worth to train myself like such a programmer? Is there benifits to work on such project for a long time?

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• Steps to manage a large project [closed]

  - by l46kok

  Software development is an area where parallel development to its fullest form is very difficult to achieve, although you could get reasonably close with the right design. This is especially true for game development. That being said, if you are designing a game from scratch from engine to front end, what steps should be taken in order? How would you efficiently manage your project and your team? I'm asking because several people and I are interested in working on a relatively large project for learning purposes. Initially, we were going to use a proprietary engine like Unity, but since we wanted to learn how the engine works, we're going to start from bottom. I'd appreciate any suggestions that you guys can provide me.

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• At what point does programming become a useful skill?

  - by Elip

  This is probably a very difficult question to answer, because of its subjectivity, but even a vague guess would help me out: Now that Khan Academy is beginning to offer Computer Science lectures I'm getting an itch to learn programming again. I maybe am a bit more technical than your average computer user, using Ubuntu as my OS, LaTeX for writing and I know some small tricks like regular expressions or boolean search for google. However from my previous attempts to learn programming, I realized I do not have a natural aptitude for it and I also don't seem to enjoy the process. But I am fairly certain that a basic proficiency in programming could prove to be very beneficial for me career wise; I also often get ideas for little scripts that I cannot implement. My question is: Let's say you study programming 1 hour / day on average. At what point will you become good enough so that programming can be used for automating tasks and actually saving time? Do you think programming is worth picking up if you never have the ambition to make it your career or even your hobby, but use it strictly for utility purposes?

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• Is it OK to live without knowing how the program you created works?

  - by Kabumbus

  I mean, there are really useful libs that can solve problems when you are stuck and do not know how to solve this or that with your knowledge of programing language you use... For example, Boost for C++ or JQuery for JavaScript or Spring for Java... They solve problems in seconds and you do not really care how they did it (despite that they are written in the very same language you are programming in)... So I wonder am I alone use libs not being capable to write solutions for my problems from scratch or its standard practice?

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• Getting weather information (from a thermometer and a hygrometer)

  - by EKS

  I have decided, as a arrogant geek, to build my own home ventilation and heating system, and will try to do this as my little project. I have always been annoyed with the lack of good ventilation systems at work, so I accept building my own is arrogant. Does anyone know about a device I can interact with that allows me to get temperature and humidity that I can interact with using C#? I cannot get it from the Internet because I need to get the humidity from my server "room", so I can control the dehumidifier there. Similar with temperature, outside is not that important. It would be a huge plus if the sensors had some sort of wireless access.

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• What should a programmer's yearly routine be to maximize their technical skills?

  - by sguptaet

  2 years ago I made a big career change into programming. I learned various technologies on my own without any prior experience. I really love it and feel lucky with all the resources around us to help us learn. Books, courses, open-source, etc. There are so many avenues. I'm wondering what a good routine would be to follow to maximize my software development skills. I don't believe just building software is the way, because that leaves no time for learning new concepts or technologies. I'm looking for an answer like this: Take a new concept sabbatical/workshop 2 weeks per year. Read 1 theoretical and 1 practical programming book per year. Learn 1 additional language every 2 years. Take a 1 week vacation every 6 months. Etc. I realize that the above might sound naive and unrealistic as there are so many factors. But I'd like to know the "recipe" that you think is best that will serve as a guide for people.

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