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  3. How do I become a super programmer?

How do I become a super programmer?

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  • P peterchen

    Read, understand and apply Code Complete, 2nd edition.


    Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers, Velopers, Develprs, Developers!
    We are a big screwed up dysfunctional psychotic happy family - some more screwed up, others more happy, but everybody's psychotic joint venture definition of CP
    Linkify!|Fold With Us!

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    Lost User
    wrote on last edited by
    #11

    peterchen wrote:

    Code Complete, 2nd edition.

    I was going to get that book! It looks fun and easy to read. I need to finish reading my current book CLR via C# 2nd Edition. That book is hard to understand completely. I got through most of it but I will read it again because I need to.

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    • L Lost User

      How do I become a super programmer that can whip up any algorithm in a short amount of time and design and write the most complex systems imaginable?

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      Rama Krishna Vavilala
      wrote on last edited by
      #12

      The Question is: Is it really worth it?


      Debugging is twice as hard as writing the code in the first place. Therefore, if you write the code as cleverly as possible, you are, by definition, not smart enough to debug it. -Brian Kernighan

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      • P peterchen

        Read, understand and apply Code Complete, 2nd edition.


        Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers, Velopers, Develprs, Developers!
        We are a big screwed up dysfunctional psychotic happy family - some more screwed up, others more happy, but everybody's psychotic joint venture definition of CP
        Linkify!|Fold With Us!

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        D Offline
        DavidNohejl
        wrote on last edited by
        #13

        peterchen wrote:

        Code Complete, 2nd edition

        Hey that's xmas present I gave to myself. :cool:


        "Throughout human history, we have been dependent on machines to survive. Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony. " - Morpheus

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        • R Rama Krishna Vavilala

          The Question is: Is it really worth it?


          Debugging is twice as hard as writing the code in the first place. Therefore, if you write the code as cleverly as possible, you are, by definition, not smart enough to debug it. -Brian Kernighan

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          Lost User
          wrote on last edited by
          #14

          Rama Krishna Vavilala wrote:

          Is it really worth it?

          Yeah, when I type code it just feels so good, its hard to describe.

          █▒▒▒▒▒██▒█▒██ █▒█████▒▒▒▒▒█ █▒██████▒█▒██ █▒█████▒▒▒▒▒█ █▒▒▒▒▒██▒█▒██

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          • N Nnamdi Onyeyiri

            Dunno, but some of the pills you get emails about might help. ;P -- modified at 19:44 Monday 25th December, 2006


            website //profile Another Post by NnamdiOnyeyiri

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            David Wulff
            wrote on last edited by
            #15

            Hello Nnamdi, you've been quite a stranger recently. How are things?


            Ðavid Wulff What kind of music should programmers listen to?
            Join the Code Project Last.fm group | dwulff
            I'm so gangsta I eat cereal without the milk

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            • L Lost User

              peterchen wrote:

              Code Complete, 2nd edition.

              I was going to get that book! It looks fun and easy to read. I need to finish reading my current book CLR via C# 2nd Edition. That book is hard to understand completely. I got through most of it but I will read it again because I need to.

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              peterchen
              wrote on last edited by
              #16

              Captain See SharpIt looks fun and easy to read.

              It looks like, but that attitude will certainly not make you an excellent programmer :) It takes years and is hard work. Code Complete is a good guidebook, but you still need to find your way through the jungle yourself. But this isn't to discourage you - just so you take your plan serious enough to make it.


              Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers, Velopers, Develprs, Developers!
              We are a big screwed up dysfunctional psychotic happy family - some more screwed up, others more happy, but everybody's psychotic joint venture definition of CP
              Linkify!|Fold With Us!

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              0
              • D DavidNohejl

                peterchen wrote:

                Code Complete, 2nd edition

                Hey that's xmas present I gave to myself. :cool:


                "Throughout human history, we have been dependent on machines to survive. Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony. " - Morpheus

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                peterchen
                wrote on last edited by
                #17

                excellent choice ;) I'm reading it with a pencil because I sometimes disagree strngly, but it's "cstructive disagreement".


                Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers, Velopers, Develprs, Developers!
                We are a big screwed up dysfunctional psychotic happy family - some more screwed up, others more happy, but everybody's psychotic joint venture definition of CP
                Linkify!|Fold With Us!

                1 Reply Last reply
                0
                • L Lost User

                  Rama Krishna Vavilala wrote:

                  Is it really worth it?

                  Yeah, when I type code it just feels so good, its hard to describe.

                  █▒▒▒▒▒██▒█▒██ █▒█████▒▒▒▒▒█ █▒██████▒█▒██ █▒█████▒▒▒▒▒█ █▒▒▒▒▒██▒█▒██

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                  David Wulff
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #18

                  In that case you really need to supplement typing code with other hobbies. I'm not being rude, but you really don't want it to develop as an addiction. Experience is the only thing that will help you, and the only way you can get that is through varied exposure to programming. Do you have a job as a developer? If not then finding one where you can work on varied tasks with huge amounts of pressure should give you the rewards you seek without becoming too overbearing, and the opportunities for advancement should fall at your feet. That said, at some point you will need to specialise. No one wants a jack of all trades and no one offering the sort of rewards you want will offer it to one. Specialising within your own area will be considerably more rewarding and open a lot more doors for you.


                  Ðavid Wulff What kind of music should programmers listen to?
                  Join the Code Project Last.fm group | dwulff
                  I'm so gangsta I eat cereal without the milk

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                  • P peterchen

                    Captain See SharpIt looks fun and easy to read.

                    It looks like, but that attitude will certainly not make you an excellent programmer :) It takes years and is hard work. Code Complete is a good guidebook, but you still need to find your way through the jungle yourself. But this isn't to discourage you - just so you take your plan serious enough to make it.


                    Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers, Velopers, Develprs, Developers!
                    We are a big screwed up dysfunctional psychotic happy family - some more screwed up, others more happy, but everybody's psychotic joint venture definition of CP
                    Linkify!|Fold With Us!

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                    L Offline
                    Lost User
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #19

                    peterchen wrote:

                    It looks like, but that attitude will certainly not make you an excellent programmer

                    But it is, its a more relaxing and enlightening that the super nittygritty hard core books.

                    peterchen wrote:

                    It takes years and is hard work. Code Complete is a good guidebook, but you still need to find your way through the jungle yourself. But this isn't to discourage you - just so you take your plan serious enough to make it.

                    I've been programming for about 7 years now. I have never been really serious about it until a couple years ago, no one can discourage me from programming. I have even tried to learn x86 assembler but that was much to much for me.

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                    • L Lost User

                      How do I become a super programmer that can whip up any algorithm in a short amount of time and design and write the most complex systems imaginable?

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                      Ray Kinsella
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #20

                      :troll:

                      Regards Ray "Je Suis Mort De Rire" Blogging @ Keratoconus Watch

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                      • D David Wulff

                        In that case you really need to supplement typing code with other hobbies. I'm not being rude, but you really don't want it to develop as an addiction. Experience is the only thing that will help you, and the only way you can get that is through varied exposure to programming. Do you have a job as a developer? If not then finding one where you can work on varied tasks with huge amounts of pressure should give you the rewards you seek without becoming too overbearing, and the opportunities for advancement should fall at your feet. That said, at some point you will need to specialise. No one wants a jack of all trades and no one offering the sort of rewards you want will offer it to one. Specialising within your own area will be considerably more rewarding and open a lot more doors for you.


                        Ðavid Wulff What kind of music should programmers listen to?
                        Join the Code Project Last.fm group | dwulff
                        I'm so gangsta I eat cereal without the milk

                        L Offline
                        L Offline
                        Lost User
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #21

                        David Wulff wrote:

                        In that case you really need to supplement typing code with other hobbies. I'm not being rude, but you really don't want it to develop as an addiction.

                        Why? :|

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                        • R Ray Kinsella

                          :troll:

                          Regards Ray "Je Suis Mort De Rire" Blogging @ Keratoconus Watch

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                          Lost User
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #22

                          Ray Kinsella wrote:

                          :troll:

                          There is no such smiley.

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                          • D David Wulff

                            Hello Nnamdi, you've been quite a stranger recently. How are things?


                            Ðavid Wulff What kind of music should programmers listen to?
                            Join the Code Project Last.fm group | dwulff
                            I'm so gangsta I eat cereal without the milk

                            N Offline
                            N Offline
                            Nnamdi Onyeyiri
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #23

                            Things are good, just been doing the whole uni thing, tended to be doing less stuff with computers (other than courseworks) recently, busy with other things. What have I missed here? dropped by the other day to find somebody leaving and posting guidelines about, although they seem to have been removed :suss: Its coming up to exam time now, so obviously im finding any and all means of not doing work, and am here.


                            website //profile Another Post by NnamdiOnyeyiri

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                            • L Lost User

                              How do I become a super programmer that can whip up any algorithm in a short amount of time and design and write the most complex systems imaginable?

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                              alex barylski
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #24

                              Hmmm...KISS??? Usually I find the simplest designs as the most excellent example of a super programmer... If I can go in and begin understanding code immediately (better yet the architecture) I consider that something super!!! Cheers :)

                              It's frustrating being a genius and living the life of a moron!!!

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                              • A alex barylski

                                Hmmm...KISS??? Usually I find the simplest designs as the most excellent example of a super programmer... If I can go in and begin understanding code immediately (better yet the architecture) I consider that something super!!! Cheers :)

                                It's frustrating being a genius and living the life of a moron!!!

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                                Lost User
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #25

                                Hockey wrote:

                                KISS???

                                What? How about a high five instead?

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                                • L Lost User

                                  How do I become a super programmer that can whip up any algorithm in a short amount of time and design and write the most complex systems imaginable?

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                                  Christian Graus
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #26

                                  If you want super powers, buy comic books. If you want to improve yourself, focus on what you can do better today, instead of some far off and mystical goal that you can't possibly achieve at this point. The trick, IMO, is to always try to do things as well as you can, and to look for ways to do things better. Code Complete is a great suggestion, whoever made it. But, it's a book. It's not going to make you better, YOU will make you better by both reading and applying it. And, that's just one book, although it's a good one. Look for any opportunity to be the best you can, if it's through books, through things you read in forums, or whatever. The end result won't be what you described, but it will mean that you will be improving yourself, and if you know you're doing the best that you could, because you worked at it, then you should be happy with that.

                                  Christian Graus - Microsoft MVP - C++ Metal Musings - Rex and my new metal blog

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                                  • A alex barylski

                                    Hmmm...KISS??? Usually I find the simplest designs as the most excellent example of a super programmer... If I can go in and begin understanding code immediately (better yet the architecture) I consider that something super!!! Cheers :)

                                    It's frustrating being a genius and living the life of a moron!!!

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                                    C Offline
                                    Christian Graus
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #27

                                    Hockey wrote:

                                    KISS

                                    I listen to KISS sometimes, I don't find it improves my code :P

                                    Christian Graus - Microsoft MVP - C++ Metal Musings - Rex and my new metal blog

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                                    • L Lost User

                                      Hockey wrote:

                                      KISS???

                                      What? How about a high five instead?

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                                      Christian Graus
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #28

                                      Stands for Keep It Simple, Stupid.

                                      Christian Graus - Microsoft MVP - C++ Metal Musings - Rex and my new metal blog

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                                      • L Lost User

                                        How do I become a super programmer that can whip up any algorithm in a short amount of time and design and write the most complex systems imaginable?

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                                        Matt Gullett
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #29

                                        Some of the responses you have received seem a little harsh in my mind. Shooting for the stars and having dreams is rarely a bad thing. It sounds like you have a passion for programming and truly desire to be "great" at it. Some more established programmers may feel that your dream is unreasonable and unattainable (a fantasy) partly due to their personal experiences. I for one don't think that at all. There are a few truly super programmers out there, but most of us are merely good at what we do, and some are just abysmal. There are many reasons for this, but few of them are technical. The reason people become "super" at anything has to do with something inside them, not necessarily inherent in what they do. Jim Collins has written several excellent books on what causes some companies to succeed (Good to Great, Built to Last, Level 5 Leaders, etc). The things that make companies succeed has allot to do with what makes succesful people. A personal drive for excellence, an unwaivering belief in ones goals (not necessarily the path to those goals), and many more things affect this. My advice to you is to first reallize that a super programmer is more than a coder. (This is an assumption about you based on my experience with many other programmers. It may not be true, but your enthusiasm reminds me of this.) A super programmer is someone who not only understand how to read (yes read) and write code, but someone who knows what code to read and what code to write. This is the truly tricky part. Also, communicating your ideas to others is critical to becoming "super". There are litteraly tens of thousands of algorithms, tens of thousands of techniques, etc. None of them matter until you understand what it is you are supposed to be doing in the first place. After you make the leap from coder to full time "listener, problem solver, communicator, constant student, strategizer", and part-time "coder", your journey will be on the right path. From there, it takes years of experience, preferably the help of a mentor, lots of mistakes and mis-steps and no doubt many other major setbacks. Over time, you will inperceptibly improve until one day you will wake up and remember your desire long ago to become "a super programmer", and will realize that your desire was not a destination, but a direction and you are moving in the right one. That's my 2 cents. Good luck with your dream.

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                                        • L Lost User

                                          How do I become a super programmer that can whip up any algorithm in a short amount of time and design and write the most complex systems imaginable?

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                                          Chris Losinger
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #30

                                          1-800-the-devl

                                          image processing toolkits | batch image processing | blogging

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