Learning to Program

[Kevin Morris]

You are a self-taught programmer, so how did you get your first programming gig? as I am finding that most jobs require a minimum of 1-2 years experience. Any suggestions!

> Date: Mon, 1 Oct 2007 09:15:00 -0400
> From: linux-5ZoueyuiTZhBDgjK7y7TUQ at public.gmane.org
> To: tlug-lxSQFCZeNF4 at public.gmane.org
> Subject: Re: [TLUG]: Learning to Program
> 
> Henry de Valence wrote:
> > Hi. I'm 15, and I started using Linux last February, and haven't looked back. 
> > I started with Ubuntu, but then I switched to Kubuntu. Right now I'm running 
> > Gutsy Gibbon, because Fiesty doesn't support my video card. Anyways, I know a 
> > bit about Java and C++ (I have the basic stuff about datatypes, control 
> > structures, functions and recursion, etc, and some OOP stuff.) What I know I 
> > learned partly by myself and partly in a summer course I took (the Grade 11 
> > CS course, but according to my teacher we went beyond what we were supposed 
> > to).
> > 
> > Anyways, I'm looking for a good, comprehensive guide to learning about 
> > programming GUI applications for KDE using QT, and I figured this would be a 
> > good place to ask. Ideally, I'd like something that I can do a bit at a time, 
> > because I have homework and other stuff. The other thing is that I'd like to 
> > learn programming for KDE 4 applications, but right now I'm running 7.10, 
> > which uses KDE 3.5. I thought this would be a good place to ask for 
> > suggestions.
> > 
> > Harry de Valence
> 
> I can't make much of suggestion, being a perl-type myself. :)
> 
> I did want to say "Welcome to the industry!" though. I am also entirely 
> self-taught, and owe a *huge* debt to TLUG and other great mailing 
> lists. Check the archives to see how often I ask questions, and the 
> quality (and patience) of the replies!
> 
> I have three general suggestions though;
> 
> a) Whatever language you settle on (Python, etc), find a dedicated 
> mailing list and join it. For example, perl being my drug of choice, 
> Toronto Perl Mongers was the list for me. TLUG rocks, but sometimes you 
> find a wierd quirk that you need to ask a dedicated community about.
> 
> b) Write clean code. Period, full stop. It doesn't really matter what 
> style you adopt, but stick to it and be consistent. It's frightening how 
> quickly a great program can go to hell because of sloppy code 
> formatting. My last job was working on a 9yo program that had never been 
> properly formatted. I would lose upwards of an hour whenever I started 
> for on a new file just cleaning up the code so I could follow the logic.
> 
> c) Don't be a show off and write self-documenting code. As you learn, 
> you will be tempted to use more and more complex code that incorporates 
> new tricks you have learned... Don't fall into this trap! *Always* use 
> the simplest, most obvious steps, tools and commands to accomplish a 
> task. There is a true beauty in simplicity!
> 
> The senior programmer at my last job showed me a short article on the 
> progression of a programmer by showing a simple "Hello, World!" script. 
> I wish I could find it again, but it went something like this:
> 
> - Beginner:
> #!/usr/bin/perl
> print "Hello, World!\n";
> 
> - Intermediate:
> #!/usr/bin/perl
> my @words;
> my $foo="Hello";
> my $bar="World";
> push @words, $foo;
> push @words, $bar;
> my $string;
> for (0.. at words)
> {
> 	if ( $_ == 1 )
> 	{
> 		$string.=", ";
> 		$string.=$words[$_];
> 	}
> 	else
> 	{
> 		$string.=$words[$_];
> 	}
> }
> $string.="!\n";
> print $string;
> 
> - Expert;
> #!/usr/bin/perl
> print "Hello, World!\n"
> 
> 
>    Maybe someone here can find the original (much better written) 
> example of what I am trying to get at, but hopefully you see what I mean. :P
> 
>    My $0.02!
> 
> Madi
> --
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