Re: Becoming a Real-life Programmer
- From: "cr88192" <cr88192@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2008 08:07:34 +1000
"arnuld" <nanga@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:pan.2008.02.27.06.51.04.565004@xxxxxxxxxxxx
I am ata point where I no longer need the basic books on programming.
ATM, I am into C++ and after 1.5 years with it I don't feel the need of
intro books. I am going ok with Reference Mauals like Stroustup. I want to
venture into Real-life coding and I have also started to work ona
project named GNU 3DLDF, a 3D-Drawing software.
From what I have seen is that I am mostly reading about Manuals that need
domain knowledge. I also tried another project named eLynx - an
astronomical image processing software, for which I had to read all about
Astronimical systems and all phases of Digital Image processing.
I am pretty much confused because I am readin all about domain-knowledge
and nothign else,I have not done any C++ coding from since FEB 1st
because the project requires me to understand these issues 1st as they
code around all these issues. I don't understand the "path" of real-life
programmer and how to go about it. any help ?
programmer X is not the same as programmer Y.
both can know the same programming language, and be relative experts in specific domains, but would fall flat if writing software too far outside of their domain.
for example, a person could be an expert at signal processing and accoustics, but not know much of anything about compilers and code generation, and thus have a very hard time with such a project.
one may find, that one does not just need to learn a programming language, but also algorithms, and not just algorithms, but also masses of domain specific knowlege.
this is partly why, for many of us, programming becomes a life-long interest, because there is always far more that one doesn't know vs what they do know.
so, the thought then, is to find specific things you are interested in, and learning about those.
for example, maybe one really likes physics and calculus?... there is a lot a programmer can do with these. imagery and art? gaming? english wording and grammar? ... same here.
for example, when I was very young, I liked computers and learned programming.
later, at one point, these were not really available options (was stuck for a while in a computer-free situations), my interests shifted over to calculus and physics. later on, in highschool, I ended up at one point obsessing a bunch on linguistics (more in the general sense, not all that motivated to actually learn any specific languages...).
in time, many of these have turned out being useful in various ways (and one finds that a non-trivial project involves bits and pieces from a very large number of domains, and though people may not realize it, many of these domains have much in common as well...).
but, it does not make things so easy for a beginner, as there are a lot of things to have to learn about...
so, how does one sort through it all?...
well, a general rule of thumb I think is this:
how useful is it at this point in time?...
if something does not seem so useful or applicable, it may be something to be left for later.
luckily, one does not have to learn everything about everything, but can focus mostly on what they can get use from.
for example? does a programmer need to know about all the details of quantum mechanics or m-theory?... no. very likely, a basic understanding of newtonian mechanics, and maybe relativity (for example, for said astronomy or similar) are sufficient...
or something...
--
http://lispmachine.wordpress.com/
.
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- Becoming a Real-life Programmer
- From: arnuld
- Becoming a Real-life Programmer
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