Search Results

Search found 9835 results on 394 pages for 'self'.

Page 22/394 | < Previous Page | 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29  | Next Page >

• is it better to spend my free time mastering a language I work with or learning a new one?

  - by edthethird

  I work full time on an android project and am very comfortable with both java and the android framework. On a good day, I would rate my abilities at an 8, and maybe a 7 on a bad day. I've recently found myself with more free time then I'm used too, so I have been working on a lot of personal projects. I am beginning to wonder what others think about this; is it worth my time to continue experimenting and pushing Android, or would I be better off learning another language? What do you all think about this? What would you do with more free time and energy than you know what to do with?

  Read the article

• How to prepare for a programming competition? Graphs, Stacks, Trees, oh my! [closed]

  - by Simucal

  Last semester I attended ACM's (Association for Computing Machinery) bi-annual programming competition at a local University. My University sent 2 teams of 3 people and we competed amongst other schools in the mid-west. We got our butts kicked. You are given a packet with about 11 problems (1 problem per page) and you have 4 hours to solve as many as you can. They'll run your program you submit against a set of data and your output must match theirs exactly. In fact, the judging is automated for the most part. In any case.. I went there fairly confident in my programming skills and I left there feeling drained and weak. It was a terribly humbling experience. In 4 hours my team of 3 people completed only one of the problems. The top team completed 4 of them and took 1st place. The problems they asked were like no problems I have ever had to answer before. I later learned that in order to solve them some of them effectively you have to use graphs/graph algorithms, trees, stacks. Some of them were simply "greedy" algo's. My question is, how can I better prepare for this semesters programming competition so I don't leave there feeling like a complete moron? What tips do you have for me to be able to answer these problems that involve graphs, trees, various "well known" algorithms? How can I easily identify the algorithm we should implement for a given problem? I have yet to take Algorithm Design in school so I just feel a little out of my element. Here are some examples of the questions asked at the competitions: ACM Problem Sets Update: Just wanted to update this since the latest competition is over. My team placed 1st for our small region (about 6-7 universities with between 1-5 teams each school) and ~15th for the midwest! So, it is a marked improvement over last years performance for sure. We also had no graduate students on our team and after reviewing the rules we found out that many teams had several! So, that would be a pretty big advantage in my own opinion. Problems this semester ranged from about 1-2 "easy" problems (ie bit manipulation, string manipulation) to hard (graph problems involving fairly complex math and network flow problems). We were able to solve 4 problems in our 5 hours. Just wanted to thank everyone for the resources they provided here, we used them for our weekly team practices and it definitely helped! Some quick tips that I have that aren't suggested below: When you are seated at your computer before the competition starts, quickly type out various data structures that you might need that you won't have access to in your languages libraries. I typed out a Graph data-structure complete with floyd-warshall and dijkstra's algorithm before the competition began. We ended up using it in our 2nd problem that we solved and this is the main reason why we solved this problem before anyone else in the midwest. We had it ready to go from the beginning. Similarly, type out the code to read in a file since this will be required for every problem. Save this answer "template" someplace so you can quickly copy/paste it to your IDE at the beginning of each problem. There are no rules on programming anything before the competition starts so get any boilerplate code out the way. We found it useful to have one person who is on permanent whiteboard duty. This is usually the person who is best at math and at working out solutions to get a head start on future problems you will be doing. One person is on permanent programming duty. Your fastest/most skilled "programmer" (most familiar with the language). This will save debugging time also. The last person has several roles between assessing the packet of problems for the next "easiest" problem, helping the person on the whiteboard work out solutions and helping the person programming work out bugs/issues. This person needs to be flexible and be able to switch between roles easily.

  Read the article

• Could spending time on Programmers.SE or Stack Overflow be substitute of good programming books for a non-beginner?

  - by Atul Goyal

  Could spending time (and actively participating) on Programmers.SE and Stack Overflow help me improve my programming skills any close to what spending time on reading a book like Code Complete 2 (which would otherwise be next in my reading list) will help. Ok, may be the answer to this question for someone who is beginning with programming might be a straight no, but I'd like to add that this question I'm asking in context when the person is familiar with programming languages but wants to improve his programming skills. I was reading this question on SO and also this book has been recommended by many others (including Jeff and Joel). To be more specific, I'd also add that even though I do programming in C, Java, Python,etc but still I'm not happy with my coding skills and reading the review of CC2 I realized I still need to improve a lot. So, basically I want to know what's the best way for me to improve programming skills - spend more time on here/SO or continue with CC2 and may be come here as and when time permits.

  Read the article

• Random number generation algorithm for human brains?

  - by Magnus Wolffelt

  Are you aware of, or have you devised, any practical, simple-to-learn "in-head" algorithms that let humans generate (somewhat "true") random numbers? By "in-head" I mean.. preferrably without any external tools or devices. Also, a high output (many random numbers per minute) is desirable. Asked this on SO but it didn't get much interest. Maybe this is better suited for programmers.. :) I'm genuinely curious about anything that people might have come up with on this problem.

  Read the article

• My Big Break - this is my story and I am sticking to it ;)

  - by dbasnett

  The value of undertaking new and difficult tasks can have many wonderful consequences, don't you agree? Here is the story of my big break. Remember yours? During the mid 70's I was in the Navy and worked as a computer operator at the CNO's Command and Control computer system (WWMCCS) in the Washington Navy Yard. I was a tape ape, but knew that I wanted to be a systems programmer. One day the Lieutenant in charge of the OS group was running a test that required the development system to be re-booted, and I was politely hinting that I wanted out of computer operations. As he watched the accounting tape rewind to BOT and then search for where it had just been (severalminutes) he told me if I would fix "that" he would have me transferred. I couldn't say "Deal" fast enough. Up until then my programming experience had been on Edsger Dijkstra's favorite computer (sic), an IBM 1620. It took almost 6 months of learning the assembler for the Honeywell 6000 and finding the code responsible for rewinding the tape and then forwarding it. After much trial and error at o’dark thirty I succeeded. The tape barely moved and my “patch” was later adopted by many other sites. Lieutenant Jack Cowan kept his promise and I have gone on to have a varied and enjoyable career. To Jack, and the rest of the crew (Ken, Stu, Neil, Tom, Silent W, Mr. Jacobs, Roy, Rocco, etc.) I’d like to thank you all.

  Read the article

• How would you rank these programming skills in order of learning them? [closed]

  - by mumtaz

  As a general purpose programmer, what should you learn first and what should you learn later on? Here are some skills I wonder about... SQL Regular Expressions Multi-threading / Concurrency Functional Programming Graphics The mastery of your mother programming language's syntax/semantics/featureset The mastery of your base class framework libraries Version Control System Unit Testing XML Do you know other important ones? Please specify them... On which skills should I focus first?

  Read the article

• How do you keep from running into the same problems over and over?

  - by Stephen Furlani

  I keep running into the same problems. The problem is irrelevant, but the fact that I keep running into is completely frustrating. The problem only happens once every, 3-6 months or so as I stub out a new iteration of the project. I keep a journal every time, but I spend at least a day or two each iteration trying to get the issue resolved. How do you guys keep from making the same mistakes over and over? I've tried a journal but it apparently doesn't work for me. [Edit] A few more details about the issue: Each time I make a new project to hold the files, I import a particular library. The library is a C++ library which imports glew.h and glx.h GLX redefines BOOL and that's not kosher since BOOL is a keyword for ObjC. I had a fix the last time I went through this. I #ifndef the header in the library to exclude GLEW and GLX and everything worked hunky-dory. This time, however, I do the same thing, use the same #ifndef block but now it throws a bunch of errors. I go back to the old project, and it works. New project no-worky. It seems like it does this every time, and my solution to it is new each time for some reason. I know #defines and #includes are one of the trickiest areas of C++ (and cross-language with Objective-C), but I had this working and now it's not.

  Read the article

• Advice for a getting a job in algorithmic trading - writing faster code

  - by Alex

  I am currently an intermediate Java developer working in the financial industry. I am considering trying to get into an algorithmic trading developer position. I am looking for any advice/resources that may help me obtain such a job. My naive initial thoughts are to concentrate on learning how to write faster, more memory efficient code whilst maintaining readability. Can anyone point me in the right direction of some useful resources for what I am aiming to achieve?

  Read the article

• How do you get aware of new tools?

  - by Konstantin Petrukhnov

  How do you get aware of new tools (libraries, applications, etc)? This question is only about "getting aware" that some tool exist and could be used. Learning and trying is different issue. Right now I get most awareness from stackexchange and freshmeat sites. But I wonder if there are more efficient way. E.g. 80% of freshmeat projects are no-use for me, but it reasonable overhead, because tools that I find trough it save me days or even weeks. Here are some related, but a bit different questions: How much time do you invest in exploring new technology? How to become aware of new languages, techniques and methodologies? What website are you using most to keep you updated on software development?

  Read the article

• Dangers of two Jobs? Violating Company Policy?

  - by Stephen Furlani

  Hey, I'm working for a company full-time and myself part-time. I started learning the Mac OS/Cocoa/Objective-C at work, and then I got the "Brilliant Idea" that I'd like to program for the iPhone. The iPhone stuff is going well, but I'm earning money there because I'm applying skills I learned on the job. What is commonly considered violating company policy on things like this? Is there any danger of the company claiming 'ownership' of my side-job? If I leave the company, could they ask me to stop working at my side business? The company and my iphone stuff are in completely different "areas" but I'm still concerned. What can I do to make sure? What else should I be wary of? Has anyone run into bad stuff like this before? Thanks,

  Read the article

• What are the best ways to professionally increase your online presence?

  - by Rob S.

  I've been hunting around the job market for a little bit now and I've been shocked by some of the things I am seeing. Software developers who make themselves more "known" online are getting far more and far better positions than people competing against them who are not as well "known" online. After doing some reading on the subject I realized that I actually shouldn't be so shocked by this. We are living in the most fast paced era of mankind and employers want to be able to learn as much as they can about a potential employee before they hire them. The easier we as software developers make it for us to be found it seems the better are chances of landing that dream job become. In some cases, employers are even finding us instead of us applying to them. So what are some of the best ways for me as a software developer to increase my online presence? I already hang around stack exchange sites such as programmers and stack overflow increasing my rep whenever I can. I maintain many open source projects as both a committer and project owner on Google Code and Github. I have a Twitter account, a website, and a blog. What else can I do to give myself a bigger online presence? Additionally, are there any good do's and don'ts for handling your web presence? Bashing your employer is an obvious don't but I'm interested in everything from the most basic to most subtle suggestions to give yourself a more appealing online presence. Thank you very much in advance for your time.

  Read the article

• Techniques for getting off the ground in any language

  - by AndyBursh

  When I start learning a new language, I have a couple of simple implementations that I like to complete to familiarise myself with the language. Currently, I write: Fibonacci and/or factorial to get the hang of writing and calling methods, and basic recursion Djikstras shortest path (with a node type) to get to grips with making classes (or whatever the language equivalent is) with methods and properties, and also using them in slightly more complex code. I was wondering: does anybody else have any techniques or tools they like to use when getting off the ground in a new language? I'm always looking for new things to add to my "start-up routine".

  Read the article

• How can a student programmer improve his teamwork skill?

  - by xiao

  I am a student right now. Recently, I am working in a project as a leader with three other students. Due to the lack of experience, our project is progressing slowly and our members are frustrated. They do not feel sense of accomplishment in the project. I am pressured and frustrated, too. But as a team leader, I think I need to push them. But I do not know how to do. Do I help them solve coding problem or just encouragement? But if I pay too much attention on it, it would slow down my own progress. It is a not technical question, but it is very common in software development. I hope veteran programmers would give me some suggestions. Thanks!

  Read the article

• If you had three months to learn one relatively new technology, which one would you choose?

  - by Ivo van der Wijk

  This question was taken from CodingHorror. On my list would be (and some actually are): Android Development (and possibly iPhone development) Go language and its concurrency NoSQL, specifically CouchDB RCTK, which happens to be my own idea / project (but all ideas have been thought or already, what matters is my implementation) But I don't think I'm being cutting-edge/thinking-outside-the-box here. What's on your list? Please don't restrict yourself to the list above - that's my list. I'm interested in hearing what others find interesting new technology.

  Read the article

• How important is Discrete Mathematics for a Computer Scientist?

  - by mort

  As the title says, How important is Discrete Mathematics for a Computer Scientist? Background: I'm pursuing a Master's degree with a focus on fundamentals such as Algorithms, Complexity and Computability Theory and Programming Languages to get a good foundation for working in the field of Parallel Computing. Some more background: My university grants a lot of freedom in the choices of courses for my Master's degree. It's officially called "Software Engineering", but due to a the broad range of electives, a different focus is possible. Interestingly, none of the electives is a lecture in Math! I'm thinking about doing a course about Discrete Mathematics that would take half a semester to complete successfully, even if I can't use it for my degree. So with this question I'm trying to find out if the effort is justifiable.

  Read the article

• Preventing possible burnout in a junior dev, or perhaps I'm not doing enough?

  - by m.edmondson

  I'm a software developer with 5 years experience over 3 companies. Within the last year a junior (brand new to the industry) has started at my current employer. I believe he is an excellent developer, who always delivers and is skilled as solving complex problems. However I'm slightly concerned that he is possibly applying himself too much for the following reasons: He begins work approximately 2 hours before most (and is expected) In his free time he has developed an application that was clearly months worth of work that is specific to our employer I and the team are completely greatful for all he is doing, and is clearly an asset to our team. However I'm worried that this is not sustainable. I can almost see that he has the same enthusiasm that I had when I began coding for work, however over the years I've realised that extra curricular work not only doesn't progress your career, but eats into your all important free time. The question I'm asking is: Should I advise him to take things a bit more slowly? Or perhaps I need to learn from him and do more for my employer out of hours?

  Read the article

• How do I grok NHibernate's QueryOver API?

  - by Brant Bobby

  I've run into the limits of what NHibernate 3.0's LINQ provider is capable of and decided it's time to learn about one of the more powerful (or at least feature-complete) options: the QueryOver API. The problem is, I have zero experience with ICriteria, and all of the tutorials I've been able to find online either: Assume I'm an ICriteria expert and simply show me how to convert ICriteria code to the new fluent interface, or Are trivial "here's how you do an inner join" examples that don't really help me understand more complex concepts like projections, subqueries, requirements, or whatever other magic the API is capable of. What should I read to really learn about QueryOver, and how to make full use of it?

  Read the article

• coding after a couple beers

  - by Patrick

  Sometimes after work I'll come home and have a beer or two and I've found that once I have a beer in me, my desire to code drops precipitously. I'm not talking about getting hammered or anything, but I can't seem to get up the gumption to do any coding. I'm still fine to do other things, i.e.- paying bills, playing games, reading, etc, it's just coding. I know that some people prefer to code with some beer in them. Is this normal, or do I need to practice coding under the influence so if the need ever arises, I'm ready for it. (I will only be coding on pet projects, nothing serious while CUI)

  Read the article

• Is it good to review programs with seniors and boss even if it is working fine?

  - by Himanshu

  In my company, before delivery of any project, my boss asks my seniors to review programs written by me or other team members or sometimes boss also sits with us for review. I think it is a good way of getting knowledge, but sometimes when programs are working fine, they don't work same after review and I need to look again into my program. They says that review helps to optimize program and query execution, but can we prefer optimization over actual functioning of program?

  Read the article

• How to improve testing your own code

  - by Peter

  Hi guys, Today I checked in a change on some code which turned out to be not working at all due to something rather stupid yet very crucial. I feel really bad about it and I hope I finally learn something from it. The stupid thing is, I've done these things before and I always tell myself, next time I won't be so stupid... Then it happens again and I feel even worse about it. I know you should keep your chin up and learn from your mistakes but here's the thing: I try to improve myself, I just don't see how I can prevent these things from happening. So, now I'm asking you guys: Do you have certain groundrules when testing your code?

  Read the article

• Are there non-programming related activities akin to solving programming problems ?

  - by julien

  I'm talking about particular activities, for which you can draw parallels with the specific kind of reasonning needed when solving programming problems. Counter examples are activities that would help in almost any situation, like : take a shower or any other, somewhat passive activities, which are only helpful in triggering this sort of asynchronous problem solving our brain does exercise, because you brain simply works better when you're fit EDIT : It seems this question was quite misunderstood. I wasn't asking about what you can do when stuck on a problem but rather, what kind of activities you have in you spare time that you think help you, more or less directly, solving programing problems.

  Read the article

• I studied electrical engineering. Can I work as a developer? [closed]

  - by FailedDev

  A while ago I finished my Msc in Electrical Engineering and started working as an engineering consultant where I mostly do development work. I am good at picking up languages/technologies tools. I have fiddled with C/C++/C#/perl/ant/bash/html/css etc. Although I have never had a complain for my work, rather the contrary, I just feel that some day, someone will ask me a real hard task which would maybe seem rather trivial for a computer scientist but hard for me. Should I read/do something to become a better developer. Should I pick up a book about design patterns or algorithms for example? Is this normal that I have this kind of "fear"? Sorry if this is the wrong place to post this question. Please notify me so I can close it if this is the case.

  Read the article

• How to improve testing your own code

  - by Peter

  Today I checked in a change on some code which turned out to be not working at all due to something rather stupid yet very crucial. I feel really bad about it and I hope I finally learn something from it. The stupid thing is, I've done these things before and I always tell myself, next time I won't be so stupid... Then it happens again and I feel even worse about it. I know you should keep your chin up and learn from your mistakes but here's the thing: I try to improve myself, I just don't see how I can prevent these things from happening. So, now I'm asking you guys: Do you have certain groundrules when testing your code?

  Read the article

• Being a good mentee - a protégé.

  - by marked

  The complement of the Being a good mentor question. I work with many very senior people that have vast amounts of knowledge and wisdom in Software, Engineering and our business domain. What are some tips for gaining as much knowledge from them? I don't want to take up too much of their time, but also want to take full advantage of this since it really could help develop my skills. What are some good questions to get the conversation rolling in a sit down mentor/mentee session? Some of the people providing mentorship have little experience in this area, so it would help to be able to lead some of these discussions.

  Read the article

• How is programming affected by spatial aptitude?

  - by natli

  The longer I work on a project, the less clear it becomes. It's like I cannot seperate various classes/objects anymore in my head. Everything starts mixing up, and it's extremely hard to take it all apart again. I start putting functions in classes where they really don't belong, and make silly mistakes such as writing code that I later find was 100% obsolete; things are no longer clearly mappable in my head. It isn't until I take a step back for several hours (or days somtimes!) that I can actually see what's going on again, and be productive. I usually try to fight through this, I am so passionate about coding that I wouldn't for the life of me know what else I could be doing. This is when stuff can get really weird, I get so up in my head that I sort of lose touch with reality (to some extent) in that various actions, such as pouring a glass of water, no longer happen on a concious level. It happens on auto pilot, during which pretty much all of my concious concentration (is that even a thing?) is devoted to borderline pointless problem solving (trying to seperate elements of code). It feels like a losing battle. So I took an IQ test a while ago (Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale I believe it was) and it turned out my Spatial Aptitude was quite low. I still got a decent score, just above average, so I won't have to poke things with a stick for a living, but I am a little worried that this is such a handicap when writing/engineering computer programs that I won't ever be able to do it seriously or professionally. I am very much interested in what other people think of this.. could a low spatial aptitude be the cause of the above described problems? Maybe I should be looking more along the lines of ADD or something similar, because I did get diagnosed with ADD at the age of 17 (5 years ago) but the medicine I received didn't seem to affect me that much so I never took it all that serious. Sorry if I got a little off topic there, I know this is not a mental help board, the question should be clear; How is programming affected by spatial aptitude? As far as I know people are born with low/med/high spatial aptitude, so I think it's interesting to find out if the more fortunate are better programmers by birth right.

  Read the article

< Previous Page | 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29  | Next Page >