Not Everyone Can Be A Programmer

To be a programmer isn't very easy. You have to be patient. Yes, I mean very patient. You have to be resourceful. Before, I used to go to a library in a university. I just realized that the library doesn't have too much resources in it. Top of my resource list is the internet. It helps a lot, really. There forums, blogs, search engines like Google. Books are helpful but I spend a lot on forums and blogs. Books doesn't have user comments and advices. It has a one-way approach to the author and the reader. I have searched the internet for advices/traits that a programmer has.



Read A Lot

If you are not a wide reader, then quit programming. It takes patience to get you there and reading, not just 1 book/resource, helps a lot. Sometimes, it took me 4-5 hours to read a lot of resources just to get a line of code working. It is really a pain in the a$$ but in return, I learned from it.

Choose A Language

Before you decide to become a programmer, you should choose a language. Just 1 programming language is good enough for starters. Once you mastered it, it is easy for you to shift to another language. Shifting to another language isn't a pain as long as you have mastered a language. The techniques/styles/patterns won't change but syntax will.

When Starting A Program, Spend Some Time What You Really Want To Do

You got the correct algorithm, you got all the right codes but the program isn't doing as you might have been expecting. This is a failure. You just wasted too much of your time coding a useless algorithm. Just sit and take some time on what you really want your program to do.

Flowchart

This is a good programming practice. It helps a lot when building an application. Complex programs have complex flowcharts and it takes a lot more time than coding (I guess ;-) ). Just imagine that you already have directions on which way to go.

Backup

I remember when I was in college, our instructor wants everyone in the IT Project class to present an overview of our projects. I had these classmates (a group) couldn't present because they tried to do some tests but they didn't have a backup. So they end up creating their project again lol. In a nutshell, it's good to make backups once in a while.

Comment Your Code

I am not doing this really. I do not know that commenting the codes are really helpful. In college, no instructors advised us to comment our codes. I just learned this technique from the hardcore programmers that commenting the codes can give an overview of what your code snippet would do.

Ask Help

Don't be afraid to ask help. Go to Google, experienced programmers, forums, blogs, user comments, and other resources. These are resources that you cannot find on books alone. You should ask but don't forget to research it first then try to understand it not just asking directly without any idea.

Get A Book

I mean a lot of books and that include e-books on the internet. A lot of e-books are uploaded everyday. E-books are now dominating over the published books (I guess). So grab one of them now.

Let Other People Evaluate Your Program

What you get on this is the user feedbacks. This is very important to you. User feedbacks gives you an idea on the user's perspective. This may also lead your program into a user friendly application.

What about you? Do you have any advices for us? What's your take?

What Advice Do You Give To Young Programmers [YouTube]