How to gain programming experience

fluffy123

I've been trying to look around for projects to do in C++ to gain programming experience but I can't really find any. Can anyone here suggest any programming projects a non-expert in C++ can do?

Or would working through this class be a good way to start?
http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrica...ing-fall-2008/

Punkyc7

try a blackjack game

berkeman

That course looks to be using Python, rather than C++.

As Punky says, games are a good way to practice some parts of programming. What GUI builder will you be using?

In addition to games, you could write a simple calendar and contacts type of program. That will give you practice in data structures and even database stuff if you want to take it farther...

Pyrrhus

I think a good way is to embark on an ambitious project. That's how I taught myself Visual Basic back when I was a high school student. I wanted to replicate the code of a non-playable character in an abandonware game that was originally written in object pascal. The end result was a basic knowledge of object pascal and an intermediate knowledge of Visual Basic.

fluffy123

Thanks for the awesome suggestions!



Yeah, I know. I was asking (or meant to ask) if learning python from that course would be a good idea to do in my break.

DavidSnider

....

chiro

Pick a domain and then from that a project that you like and work on it.

On top of this listen to other coders, read books, get open source projects, and just devour as much you can.

Schr0d1ng3r

I've been teaching myself Python recently. I've been using a site called Project Euler. It's good if you want to do more math-oriented programming, as opposed to writing applications, etc. Problems range from easy to complex, and tend to run a wide range of commands required. Give it a look.

http://projecteuler.net/

twofish-quant

If you want to do professional/semi-professional experience with computer programming, then you'll need to go into 6.001. In my life, I've only taken one formal course in computer programming, and that was it.

The story of 6.00 is interesting. There is a generation of people in the late-1970's and early-1980's who started programming at age 6 with TRS-80's and Commodore 64's.

That generation disappeared from universities around 2000, and 6.00 is intended to give people experience that an earlier generation of people would have gotten playing with BASIC.

One other thing that you can do is to learn to program Android apps and flash games.

fluffy123

Really, 6.001? I kinda got discouraged when I learned it was in scheme...

And what languages should I learn to program Android or iphone apps?

JohnT89

Android apps are written in java, iOs apps are written in Objective-C.

Wiki them for more info

jtbell

You'll never use Scheme for real-world programming, but you'll learn a lot about programming from that course. About twenty years ago I worked through part of Abelson and Sussman's book Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs using a Scheme interpreter on a Mac, and had a blast.

Robert1986

Get A Book On C. It is book that teaches C. It has many exercises. C is the only Lang you need to know, anyway (kidding, kidding)