Learning how to program real things.
- by Sean
How would you guys recommend I actually learn to program real things? I mean, I know how to do basic academic things. I can implement a templated stack/queue/map/etc. data structure in C++ or Java or whatever. I can make a text-based hangman game or whatever. Etc etc. But how can I learn to program something real, something useful? I've done project Euler up to question 100 or so, and I feel like that's given me more mathematical maturity but not programming maturity. Should I buy a book and follow exercises, struggle through interesting projects, etc, ? In short, how did you guys transition from academic exercises to real, fun and/or useful programs?