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Topic: How can I become a better programmer? (Read 908 times) |
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lunetta
 
 
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How can I become a better programmer?
« on: May 10th, 2004, 4:25pm » |
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Hello all fellow Processers
Being a designer, who's studying the intersection of visual design and computation, I've been struggling into one thing:
the habits of good programming.
My non-computer-scientist brain design pieces of code that end up implementing routines that a real programmer would never use; for example, the necessity of using labeled breaks, as Fry commented that himself never needed them; or the need to retrieve dynamically an object variables - everyone in the forum is telling me "don't go there".
Computer books, and software documentation give me the reference, the syntax of a language, and examples using the syntax. This is ok. But when I'm coding an idea, I'm not following an example: I'm starting from the scratch, to do something that I haven't seen somewhere else. Developing the code, I trap myself - pitfalls everywhere.
How can I study good structuring of code? How can I learn good coding habits, without having to cry for help every 5 minutes to the experienced forum people?
I know that this mostly comes from pure experience on coding; can It be helped somehow?
Trying to answer my own question, I found the
http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Electrical-Engineering-and-Computer-Science/6- 001Structure-and-Interpretation-of-Computer-ProgramsFall2002/CourseHome/index.htm
that was pointed on the "filling the gap" forum topic;
Is studying this course contents a good starting point? From where should I start, and to where should I go?
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mflux
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Re: How can I become a better programmer?
« Reply #1 on: May 11th, 2004, 9:19pm » |
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Hello Lunetta
I come from a similar background as you, and I can't say I have great programming habits either. However, I took a few introductory courses to C++ which helped me a lot in terms of thinking in the manner a real programmer would tackle problems.
IMO asking for help is perfectly fine, and I'm shameless when it comes to doing that in regards to programming or art. Years ago I hung around an art forum and asked questions about everything until I learned what I wanted to know. Programming is no different, in fact, one would have even -more- questions to ask due to the technical nature of the practice.
In my own experience, I started programming with C. I had to stop every five to ten minutes because I'd run into a roadblock, I was trying to accomplish something I had never done before. These roadblocks would last hours, if not days. Eventually I would break down and ask someone, or sit there and attack the problem on my own for several more days.
Starting a new project was even more daunting, because sometimes I would just have no idea where to start. But, eventually I started to see patterns in this practice, and it all rolls down to problem solving.
As long as I knew the rules in the back of my head, and I knew the tools that were available to me, I was able to imagine multiple ways of doing any particular task with code.
Before I rant any longer, I'd just like to say that "good programming habits" were taught by my teachers. They would give me a problem to tackle, a problem that could be accomplished in several ways. After finishing the assignment, they would point out to me why one way is worse than another, usually due to "bad habits" or "bad programming practice". Eventually I saw a pattern, and would try those methods less often.
Hope that helps..
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