01-04-2012, 02:55 AM
(This post was last modified: 01-05-2012, 10:02 PM by AceInfinity.)
10 Keys To Becoming A Good Programmer:
1) Learn The Basics And Advance From There
- Progress from where you currently stand as a coder or programmer, and try to advance from that point to a higher new level whenever you can. Don't expect to start off with the harder stuff first, progress until you reach the level that you want to be at, and continue even from there once you feel you're reached that achievement. If you take on something that causes problems that you're having a hard time figuring out, start from the beginning and look your way through the code line by line. Learning to debug your code will help you advance to become a better programmer as well.
2) Don't Copy And Paste
- No matter what you do, even if it's a little snippet that you wrote yourself, and one that you know, try to write it everything out on your own. You'll stick it in your memory a lot easier and retain that knowledge if you are having to write it out manually each time.
3) Practice Good Habits
- Don't slack off when you know you're doing something that isn't the best possible method that you know of. If you're unsure that you're doing something which is a bad habit that's okay. Hopefully you'll come across why it's a bad habit sooner rather than later and you can change and get into the good habits sooner.
4) Learn The Best Methods
- Usually there's more than one way of creating a function. Why i'm mentioning this is because some methods are faster, more efficient, and more reliable than others. Sometimes what defines a better method over another is it's flexability. An example of this would be hash arrays and strict arrays. Both can be used to store a range of data, but sometimes it's better to use one over the other. You need to know why this is, and if you don't, learn about it. Go to some documentation and try reading whatever you can find.
5) Learn Data Types And Limits
- Certain data types have limits, and there might be a better data type to use because of that one fact. An example of this would be the integer types. There's different types of integers, and different types of number values that aren't defined as strict integer types. Integer in some languages is usually a more limited data type because it can only retain a certain amount of digits and it has a limit as a number value itself.
6) Keep Your Code Organized
- Good programmers like their code organized, and even if you don't, if another programmer has to read your code, it's much easier to do so if your code is nicely aligned, spaced and indented where need be. It also makes it easier for you to troubleshoot through your code if it's not debugging as expected.
7) You're Not Stupid If You Ask Questions
- A good learning process involves admitting that you don't know everything. The sooner you can get that aside, and forgetting the fear that you might look stupid for not knowing something, the sooner you can get to learning what you need to know or what you want to know. Every programmer has to start somewhere, and even the most advanced programmers have questions, and ask them. Curiosity and will, make good programers.
8) Learn Something New Whenever You Can
- This doesn't mean moving onto a new thing everyday, but instead, what I mean here is that once you're familiar with something, and you can successfully say that you know, then try to move onto something new that you may have little or no knowledge about, and try to progress your knowing about it. If you keep doing the same things everyday you aren't learning anything, so challenge yourself to learn something new.
9) Push Yourself, Motivate, And Be Persistent
- Don't give up on something if you're frustrated that you can't get it at first. Each brain works differently. It takes some people longer to learn a particular concept than it does others. Get into the habit of being persistent and determined. If you can't figure something out, start from the beginning and work your way through it step by step. It may take you a few run throughs and a little bit of research at times, but I can personally say that I didn't get to where I am today with my knowledge by giving up. I'm a very determined person, and even if I get something wrong, or I mess up somewhere along the line, I work my way back up the chain to give it another go, or change my strategy.
10) Inspire Yourself
- Let the ideas flow, challenge your ideas and start making them into something that can be explained through the vast language of code itself! You have to love to program if you want to get good at it.
Guide Written by AceInfinity - ©2012 - Tech.Reboot.Pro
