|  | How to be a great programmer? (Questions from someone on the | | |
| | | Phlip |  |
|  Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2008 2:06 pm Post subject: Re: How to be a great programmer? (Questions from someone on |  |
bloodagar@gmail.com wrote:
| Quote: | Should I read Java books instead? I want to excel if I'm going to be a
programmer. How do I become a great programmer? What steps should I
take?
|
Get with Ruby on Rails, and learn to use Test Driven Development. I get spam
from headhunters with RoR positions all the time. And part of RoR's success is TDD.
And avoid Java like the plague - it is super-hard to get anything done with the
raw Java language, or with any of the various platforms written with it.
--
Phlip |
| |
| | | Roman Werpachowski | |
| | Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2008 2:06 pm Post subject: Re: How to be a great programmer? (Questions from someone on | |
Phlip wrote:
| Quote: | And avoid Java like the plague - it is super-hard to get anything done
with the raw Java language, or with any of the various platforms written
with it.
|
This is a false statement.
RW |
| |
| | | Phlip | |
| | Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2008 2:06 pm Post subject: Re: How to be a great programmer? (Questions from someone on | |
Roman Werpachowski wrote:
| Quote: | Phlip wrote:
And avoid Java like the plague - it is super-hard to get anything done
with the raw Java language, or with any of the various platforms
written with it.
This is a false statement.
|
Okay, try this one:
I'm too stupid to figure out how to get anything done with Java.
(-:
--
Phlip |
| |
| | | Bruce C. Baker | |
| | Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2008 2:36 pm Post subject: Re: How to be a great programmer? (Questions from someone on | |
| |  | |
<bloodagar@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:4a518853-4636-49fd-9d89-c58a4f90f048@p10g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
[...]
| Quote: | The problem is that I want to be a programmer professionally. The job
market in our country is looking for more Java programmers (it's not
looking good for Python programmers) and I'm wondering, what should I
do? How should I study?
|
Your question contains its own answer: If you want to program
professionally, then you'll have to supply what the job market is demanding.
If that happens to be Java, then study Java.
I'd also study .Net (including C# AND Visual Basic) because .Net programmers
are reportedly in demand. Also plain old C because it gets you closer to the
machine than any of the previously mentioned languages.
Once you're raking in the big bucks programming professionally, you can kick
back on the weekends and have fun with some of the niche programming
languages. |
| |
| | | Bruce C. Baker | |
| | Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2008 2:41 pm Post subject: Re: How to be a great programmer? (Questions from someone on | |
"Bruce C. Baker" <bcb@undisclosedlocation.net> wrote in message
news:ErYpk.19614$3l5.11205@newsfe06.iad...
[...]
Oh yeah, I almost forgot: Practice, practice, practice!  |
| |
| | | Pascal J. Bourguignon | |
| | Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2008 3:32 pm Post subject: Re: How to be a great programmer? (Questions from someone on | |
| | | |
"Bruce C. Baker" <bcb@undisclosedlocation.net> writes:
| Quote: | bloodagar@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:4a518853-4636-49fd-9d89-c58a4f90f048@p10g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
[...]
The problem is that I want to be a programmer professionally. The job
market in our country is looking for more Java programmers (it's not
looking good for Python programmers) and I'm wondering, what should I
do? How should I study?
Your question contains its own answer: If you want to program
professionally, then you'll have to supply what the job market is demanding.
If that happens to be Java, then study Java.
|
No, the answer is more complicated than that.
Of course, there are a lot of Java job offers. But there is also a
lot of Java job programmers competing for those offers.
Another extreme would be Smalltalk job offers. There are few and
sparse (and in some interesting domains such as banking and
insurance). But you don't find a lot of Smalltalk programmers
competing for these. I'd bet they receive 100 times less Resumes for
Smalltalk jobs than Java jobs.
From the point of view of the individual programmer, one should
compete in the domain where one is the most competitive, where one is
the best, relatively to competition. Amongst one million Java
programmer, there are probably at least 300,000 who are much better
than me as Java programmers: then know the language, the libraries,
the tools, the Java culture much better than I do, and there's now way
I could beat them, even with five years of Java learning (they would
also have five more years of experience). So it would be silly on my
part to apply for a Java job (even if I would be overqualified for 90%
of the Java jobs).
For a wanabee, the best choice would be to target the qualifications
that will be required in a few years (when he'll have completed his
formation), and for which there will be the less qualified programmers.
This discards about all the current popular technologies.
| Quote: | I'd also study .Net (including C# AND Visual Basic) because .Net programmers
are reportedly in demand.
|
Aren't there 1 billion Indian programmers learning .Net just right now?
| Quote: | Also plain old C because it gets you closer to the machine than any
of the previously mentioned languages.
|
Yes, there are some languages and knowledge any programmer should
aquire to become a good programmer.
- C (or assembler), to learn about the current hardware available.
- some Lisp (scheme, Common Lisp).
- some functionnal programming language such as Haskell.
- some program proof system (eg. Coq),
LINK
| Quote: | Once you're raking in the big bucks programming professionally, you
can kick back on the weekends and have fun with some of the niche
programming languages.
|
Or you may want to get a life rather.
You could as well be half-time pizza-boy and have fun programming
whatever you like the rest of the time. You don't need much to live:
four walls and a roof, some electricity, some ADSL, a computer, a few
pounds of tomatoes and potatoes a week.
(and even, given the right location, three walls could be enough, and
the tomatoes and potatoes you could grow them in your garden).
--
__Pascal Bourguignon__ LINK
PLEASE NOTE: Some quantum physics theories suggest that when the
consumer is not directly observing this product, it may cease to
exist or will exist only in a vague and undetermined state. |
| |
| | | Roman Werpachowski | |
| | Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2008 3:37 pm Post subject: Re: How to be a great programmer? (Questions from someone on | |
Phlip wrote:
| Quote: | Roman Werpachowski wrote:
Phlip wrote:
And avoid Java like the plague - it is super-hard to get anything
done with the raw Java language, or with any of the various platforms
written with it.
This is a false statement.
Okay, try this one:
I'm too stupid to figure out how to get anything done with Java.
|
As Lenin said, "Learn, learn, learn".
RW |
| |
| | | santosh | |
| | Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2008 5:00 pm Post subject: Re: How to be a great programmer? (Questions from someone on | |
Pascal J. Bourguignon wrote:
| Quote: | "Bruce C. Baker" <bcb@undisclosedlocation.net> writes:
|
<snip>
| Quote: | I'd also study .Net (including C# AND Visual Basic) because .Net
programmers are reportedly in demand.
Aren't there 1 billion Indian programmers learning .Net just right
now?
|
Closer to 1.2 billion actually and don't forget the Chinese too --
another 1.5 billion there.
<snip> |
| |
| | | Pascal J. Bourguignon | |
| | Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2008 7:40 pm Post subject: Re: How to be a great programmer? (Questions from someone on | |
santosh <santosh.k83@gmail.com> writes:
| Quote: | Pascal J. Bourguignon wrote:
"Bruce C. Baker" <bcb@undisclosedlocation.net> writes:
snip
I'd also study .Net (including C# AND Visual Basic) because .Net
programmers are reportedly in demand.
Aren't there 1 billion Indian programmers learning .Net just right
now?
Closer to 1.2 billion actually and don't forget the Chinese too --
another 1.5 billion there.
|
I assume they're not all of them .Net programmers ;-)
--
__Pascal Bourguignon__ LINK
There is no worse tyranny than to force a man to pay for what he does not
want merely because you think it would be good for him. -- Robert Heinlein |
| |
| | | gremnebulin | |
| | Posted: Mon Aug 18, 2008 1:00 pm Post subject: Re: How to be a great programmer? (Questions from someone on | |
On 17 Aug, 18:32, p...@informatimago.com (Pascal J. Bourguignon)
wrote:
| Quote: | Another extreme would be Smalltalk job offers. There are few and
sparse (and in some interesting domains such as banking and
insurance). But you don't find a lot of Smalltalk programmers
competing for these. I'd bet they receive 100 times less Resumes for
Smalltalk jobs than Java jobs.
|
But note that languages inhabiting small evolutionary niches can
disappear entirely. |
| |
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