71–80 of 112 posts
I'm currently learning Python and I did the Letter Frequency problem and I'm now working on the Bulls & Cow problem. I highly recommend you visit the website and pick a random task(s) and solve it using code.
What does it mean to "solve a problem"? Furthermore, how can computers be used as a solution? Let me illustrate this with a precautionary tale. It doesn't involve software design, but the principles are the same.
An old company I worked at had a crippling problem. Development groups were not communicating with each other. Each team would work on a module, only to find there were separate interfaces. Months of man-hours were wasted, time and time again. An up and coming intern convinced the management he could solve the problem by implementing a forum. Resources were allocated, and he spent the next few weeks setting up phpBB. Hopefully you can see where this is going.
The tedium of checking forum threads soon wore on the jaded developers. Nobody wanted to root through non-threaded, disorganized responses, or update the attached Wiki. Soon, the server turned into a forgotten wasteland.
Computing problems are solved with computers. Human problems are solved by good leaders. Sometimes, computers can help. Although the forum didn't work, a new developer was hired as I was switching jobs, and was doing a marvelous job uniting the development team. Before I left, a Jabber server was setup in place of the forum. The reception was much better--but the real problem solver was a good leader. Not the computer.
Real world projects often come from other people, the spec changes over time, and other devs need to collaborate with you.
Make me a tutorial site that exercises these two goals, with someone else at your level.
Hi bnb, I started programming around 20 years ago - self taught and experiencing the same problems as you in the early beginnings. I made mistakes when I started - jumping around between languages - thinking I couldn't grasp something - jumping from one tutorial to another, and another, and another - I wish I started learning algorithms & data structures earlier - I wish I took time to dive deep instead of rushing to…
This is definitely speaking to me. I started with .NET almost a year ago and I said I'm going to learn everything about the framework inside and out. I said it was my goal to be employed as a C# developer and love what I do. .. I haven't touched C# in almost 3 months. I got interested in Android which led to Java which led to Spring which led to Grails then I said "Hey whats Node JS?" then Ember and Angular .. and on…
I assumed that smart people who code would be able to solve the problem of teaching eager minds how to make stuff with code. I was wrong!
Excellent question for a Friday. Coding is like welding, how do you find two pieces of metal that need to be joined? Generally the answer is visualize something that could exist, but does not exist, and then fill in the parts that need to be there for it to exist. What you need at this point are a series of assignments which are self-contained problems with known solutions. The assignment 'create a web server that di…
One of my favourite comments ever on HN. The welding analogy is apt.
Do you have problems? Maybe you just don't to solve anything at the moment.
Pick a new language, which will be now easier since you know javascript, create a simple project with it. Once you get to creating something, you will realize, the confidence to solve other problems. You keep going until you are very confident. You can't learn it, you have to use it.