[devonrevenge]

and if you were self taught what made you keep going until you were any use

[DarenR]

Well unless your a prodigy I don't think it ever just clicks....No matter how many years you program you are always learning something new. New items come out everyday which means new things for you to learn.

[midknight51]

I first originally got into programming about 5 - 6 years ago. I took a few C++ classes at my college and honestly, I just didn't get it. I think it was because the professors at my school practically spoon-fed us the code and we didnt really have to learn anything ourselves other than what we read in our textbook. When I started taking OO C++ my mind just fell apart. I didn't get it.

I stopped programming for a while and dedicated myself more towards the hardware aspect of computers. (Since I already had my A+ and N+ by college) It's only been recently that I decided to get back into programming at my own pace. I looked at different languages, saw Python, and fell in love. Im still learning, but right now, Python just clicks with me.

[Sergio Tapia]

2 years of solid work, doing university courses and some personal projects (oh wow that takes me back!) before things actually clicked and I was, "Yeah - this is my shit - I am king of the castle, lord of the manor, count of the steed, etc, etc". After that I no longer had to follow guidelines given by my course instructors, I could just break things and make things.

To be good at software development you just need to grind that axe, then one day, things just click.

It happened when I started using HTML.
It happened when I started using CSS.
It happened when I start using threads in .Net.

It happened - and it'll continue to happen, because the thing about this field is that you never ever stop learning (if you want to stay relevant).

[devonrevenge]

thats great, i think something you can always expand on at a good rate could be a valuable thing

[Bort]

My programming skills are like an arthritic wrist... Constantly trying to click. As has been said, learning programming is more of an ongoing thing. From personal experience the learning seems to directly follow the completely screwing your project up. Every time you get one thing down, another comes and bites you on the ass.

Of course, this probably has something to do with how I learned to program. When I took this job, my boss sponsored me through half of a basic VB course which taught me the utter basics. Then my boss threw me in the deep end, expecting me to produce everything from demo applications to complete solutions using highly advanced and complicated SDKs (some of which weren't even in English) with my partial 'Beginner's Visual Basic .NET' course.

As a result, I barely understand things like threading and multithreading, or even the differences between subs and functions, yet have tutorials published on here for things like encryption and automation. Left to my own devices, I can barely put together a basic web browser, but with some of the SDKs I have here, I am creating things their own developers didn't think were possible.

It's a strange world I live in.

This post has been edited by Bort: 09 October 2012 - 08:00 AM

[Irohuro]

i wouldn't say i've really 'clicked' with a particular language per se, but i've clicked on the theory somewhat, I started and tried java and other mainly OOP languages and i just wasn't comfortable with them, i've always had issues with being told to use something while not understanding the base mechanics, or at least why you use something.

so i started taking classes in C++, and got through procedural programming to understand the core concepts of the components of OOP, and then (this semester) when i moved on to OOP, i had really helpful and thorough books that did a good job of explaining to me the principles of OOP, why classes do this and how constructors do that, How to protect your fields and implementing good encapsulation, etc.

It's a lot more enjoyable and easier to get through now that i have understanding of the reason behind it, and why things are done the way they are.

[raghav.naganathan]

Well,its probably is not about the 'click' but the effort put into learning a language.The more the effort that is put in learning a language, the more proficient a person becomes.

Here is a simple code for learning programming.

while(knowledge!= 100 percent)
{
cout<<"keep Learning";
}

regards,
Raghav

This post has been edited by raghav.naganathan: 11 October 2012 - 02:55 AM

[AVReidy]

I first learned about programming in September of 2010, as a sophomore in high school. Looking back, I wasted that entire year playing video games and not programming. Over the course of that year I was totally incompetent as a programmer, but I thought it was cool that I knew something about it, and I began to get the idea that I might want to do something like that for a living. About a year later (September 2011), at the beginning of my junior year in high school, programming became my main hobby. I didn't become anywhere near competent until Christmas, when I received a PHP book and picked it up quickly. At that point, I had enough of a grasp on the basics that I created a PHP chat application the day I learned PHP syntax. After that, March was a big month for me. I made a content management system for a personal website I had at the time, and later in the month I created (admittedly with some help from a book with an working server example) a chat application in Java. I still think it's sort of cool. At that point, I had a pretty firm grasp of basic object-oriented design, and looking back on my chat app code I began to see the difference between passing by value and passing by reference, as I figured out that I could pass a reference to the running GUI to the constructor of another class. At this time I was using Linux. Kubuntu, I think. At that point, and until July of this past summer, Linux was more of a novelty to me that I used mostly because it was sort of an adventure compared to Windows. Anyway, in April 2012 I decided to try out C++ (I consider it one of "my languages," but it's still pretty foreign to me). And, as my junior year came to an end, I contributed my first patch to WordPress and created my first Java LWJGL game. As summer began, I went online and got paid to create an automated chat application in PHP. It was kind of cool to realize that I could actually make money online, but doing it online was a hassle and I haven't done any freelancing since. I created Javinstall, my first Qt/C++ application, soon after I finished my paid project. And after that, I got to work on a big solo website called Wikitests (You can see it at wikitests.org for the next few days -- I'm taking it down on the 14th), which is probably the largest programming project I've ever worked on.

I think I became competent at programming back in March. Since then, or maybe since July, I have noticed that my learning curve has flattened out. That is to say, I still think the stuff I made 7 months ago is cool. I will always treasure the amount I learned over my junior year. I think I might have another renaissance year ahead of me, maybe after high school, but junior year was amazing.

Thanks for making me a nostalgic programmer XD

[Irohuro]

raghav.naganathan, on 11 October 2012 - 04:52 AM, said:

Well,its probably is not about the 'click' but the effort put into learning a language.The more the effort that is put in learning a language, the more proficient a person becomes.

Here is a simple code for learning programming.

while(knowledge!= 100 percent)
{
cout<<"keep Learning";
}

regards,
Raghav

nice infinite loop

[NeoTifa]

Like instantly. I got into it when my little toy laptop somehow had a BASIC compiler on it.

[WolfCoder]

How did I get int? I put two shorts together.

[Lemur]

3rd grade (10yr) I was writing "applications" in excel

7th grade (13yr) I started HTML, loved that I could make things, and kept running with it. I had dreams of being a designer though, so I had no interest in programming. I wanted to make awesome web pages (with tables at this point... *shudders*) I bought a huge book on Ruby because it looked cool. Never read anything past the first few pages, confused me to death.

9th grade (15yr) I figured out that I could use BASIC on my TI-83 and make whatever I wanted to solve my algebra problems. I hated math with a passion, and anything that would mean less time bothering was right up my level of interest. I also figured out I could sell said programs.

10th grade (16yr) I was wrangled into SkillsUSA for Web Design because I knew some HTML and could design stuff. Partner was royally incompetent and couldn't do anything outside of frontpage to save his life. I made my own site at competition that got us 2nd at state. I was forced to learn some VB which I didn't ever care for.

11th grade (17yr) Python was introduced to me. I cared mildly, more of just creating trivial math programs and the like. I was making a pretty nice sum on selling BASIC programs still to Algebra and Trig students. I still hated math. I wanted to be a professional artist, that would be fun. Developed a pretty good level of skills with Photoshop and Illustrator.

12th grade (18yr) Javascript became a requirement, and I hated that more than I hated math. I decided I was no good at programming and wanted to become a SysAdmin instead (we all know they never touch code.) So I got heavily into Unix and Bash. College Algebra was up, and I made even more on those programs thanks to dual credit.

Freshman/Sophomore College (19yr) C# was a requirement, I wasn't a fan of the contrived boilerplate code and annoyances with strict syntax and limits. I put up with it and shuffled through. I would play with bash scripting on occasion. Perl looked akin to a monster under my bed.

Junior College(20-21yr) I found that Ruby book I had bought forever ago (The Ruby Way) and read it cover to cover. I was hired as a Net Tech and needed something more powerful than Bash considering I was stuck on Windows for my work. I made everything in Ruby, I evangelized it, I lived it, and I loved it. Of all the languages in existence, this was the one for me. I would happily make things in Ruby. Gears started turning and I began to understand a bit.

Senior College (21-22yr now) I realized a great irony. I wanted to punch myself in the face for not learning math. I personally visited my math teacher from High School, shook his hand, and apologized. I got obsessed and got a hold of everything I could, teaching myself Calculus, Discrete, Set, and Algorithm theory. I managed to find functional languages and taught myself Haskell, Scheme, Racket, CL, and started on Erlang. I loved the freedom, and math finally made sense to me.

It took me until now to finally say that programming clicks with me. About 20-22 was when I really took off, potentially because of my job and my new found love for math. It's not a one stop shop. It's a long journey that takes years, and I've just now managed to get the door open.

All of these teach yourself in 21 days and other such nonsense are just that. If you want a skill worthwhile, you need to invest in it.

I'm a firm believer that passion and a genuine love for the field is a requirement to become anything. Apathy and settling make for a bad programmer with absolutely no growth. I love what I do, and I believe that makes all the difference in what I can become.

Well that was rather long winded....

[raghav.naganathan]

Irohuro, on 12 October 2012 - 02:39 AM, said:

raghav.naganathan, on 11 October 2012 - 04:52 AM, said:

Well,its probably is not about the 'click' but the effort put into learning a language.The more the effort that is put in learning a language, the more proficient a person becomes.

Here is a simple code for learning programming.

while(knowledge!= 100 percent)
{
cout<<"keep Learning";
}

regards,
Raghav

nice infinite loop

Thanks

regards,
Raghav

[trevster344]

Lemur I had a similar experience with math at the beginning of this year. Been going through tons of books trying to solidify all concepts, and really learn lol.

Programming didn't really make sense for a while and it still hasn't completely clicked outside the fundamentals haha. At the beginning I just dove into coding without knowing anything really. Took a class later on, and learned the fundamentals of object oriented programming to which I said "What a waste of time.. who needs to know this shit". Despite my blatant dislike I still loved bringing my creations to life. Even if someone else had already created it, I would challenge myself, and bring it to life my own way. Eventually though I found myself thinking "Well I don't know how else this would be brought to life" and then it clicked! Objects! Inheritance! What the hell was I doing before lol. Now and days I can't stop babbling about the fundamentals of object oriented programming, nor can I settle on a single design for a project, it takes a lot of planning. It makes the experience a lot more comprehensible though, at least in my mind, and I can concentrate a lot better on my projects. If you want an amount of time I've spent consistently learning and challenging myself, I would say 2 years but I've been tinkering with software for a long time even before I really learned anything. You never stop learning though, and no program is ever "finished" because there is always something that can be added.

This post has been edited by trevster344: 13 October 2012 - 03:02 PM