• There has been a recent cluster of spammers accessing BARFer accounts and posting spam. To safeguard your account, please consider changing your password. It would be even better to take the additional step of enabling 2 Factor Authentication (2FA) on your BARF account. Read more here.

Paging all BARF nerds (Programming)

Bumping this thread :twofinger

I'm wrapping up my second semester at a JC within the next few weeks, but I'm enjoying learning Java (getting into arrays this week I believe) and am heading to calc 2 next semester. Possibly summer. Also finished my English pre-reqs along with some others. Ill be taking Object Oriented Programming in the fall.

Learned a little bit of Python on my own thanks to slowblood and his books (reallly basic stuff, defining functions and some simple command line calculations).

I may take a Python class over the summer, it's CSU transferrable and shouldn't be too hard to do while working.

If teh BARF's has any suggestions as to how to things I can do now to make myself a bit more marketable in the future it would be greatly appreciated. I think once I finish the OOP class and maybe a data structures class I can start applying for internships? Even if that does only entail getting everyone coffee :laughing


Thanks again BARF, y'all really did help me make a decision 8 months ago!
:twofinger:twofinger:twofinger:twofinger
 
:thumbup Python is a lot of fun.

I write a lot of Python code professionally these days. Our team officially switched from Perl to Python 2 years ago, but I had been dabbling with Python for a couple of years prior. I actually now prefer Python to Perl... (yes, blasphemy to hardcore Perl programmers).

OO is fun. OO with Python is quite easy. Way easier than OO with Perl.
 
n10sive said:
I would think if you were to go the Arduino route (which isn't "programming" for the beginner, more a firmware/embedded system thing)
Click to expand...

Depends on the project; the battle bot I built and programmed was definitely real programming. We're not talking hundreds of lines of code, but any beginner programming task will be similarly small.
The code I wrote monitored 4 sensors and drove two wheels, while trying to find the opponent bot and shove it out of the ring. Took some doing.

For anyone starting in on C++ (might as well), I recommend Dev C++ for windows or Xcode for mac.

http://www.bloodshed.net/devcpp.html

https://developer.apple.com/xcode/downloads/
 
greener said:
Depends on the project; the battle bot I built and programmed was definitely real programming. We're not talking hundreds of lines of code, but any beginner programming task will be similarly small.
The code I wrote monitored 4 sensors and drove two wheels, while trying to find the opponent bot and shove it out of the ring. Took some doing.

For anyone starting in on C++ (might as well), I recommend Dev C++ for windows or Xcode for mac.

http://www.bloodshed.net/devcpp.html

https://developer.apple.com/xcode/downloads/
Click to expand...

I use Intellij IDE for all my Java/Python stuff. It has a cool theme and hasn't hindered me yet. I started with NetBeans but the newest version was really buggy on my mac.

I have Xcode but have yet to open it. And I probably lack the cajones to be able to tackle something like that :laughing. I believe my most recent assignment (using switch statements) was about 40 lines, but if I were to streamline it it would probably be half that haha
 
OP, there are many different types of programmers using a huge variety of technology to tackle a similarly huge set of very different problems.

There are people who write firmware, people who write GIS, people who write SQL/stored procedures, people who write actual databases, people who write native mobile apps, people who write web/mobile apps, people who write enterprise SAAS, people who write direct-to-consumer websites, the list goes on and on and on, and the appropriate skills for each vary. Some of these jobs require a PHD, others require no degree at all.

The first question to ask yourself, what's your passion? What kind of problems would you like to solve?
 
Chris_BR said:
Bumping this thread :twofinger

I'm wrapping up my second semester at a JC within the next few weeks, but I'm enjoying learning Java (getting into arrays this week I believe) and am heading to calc 2 next semester. Possibly summer. Also finished my English pre-reqs along with some others. Ill be taking Object Oriented Programming in the fall.

Learned a little bit of Python on my own thanks to slowblood and his books (reallly basic stuff, defining functions and some simple command line calculations).

I may take a Python class over the summer, it's CSU transferrable and shouldn't be too hard to do while working.

If teh BARF's has any suggestions as to how to things I can do now to make myself a bit more marketable in the future it would be greatly appreciated. I think once I finish the OOP class and maybe a data structures class I can start applying for internships? Even if that does only entail getting everyone coffee :laughing


Thanks again BARF, y'all really did help me make a decision 8 months ago!
:twofinger:twofinger:twofinger:twofinger
Click to expand...


Finish data structure class, and algorithms class.
 
GiorgioFurioso said:
OP, there are many different types of programmers using a huge variety of technology to tackle a similarly huge set of very different problems.
The first question to ask yourself, what's your passion? What kind of problems would you like to solve?
Click to expand...

This is what I hope to find out sooner rather than later :laughing. So far I'm just enjoying working through my assignments. The most recent one, a factorial calculator, made me really happy when it executed as planned.

I think I would be interested in mobile apps, and a plus is that they're written in Java for Android. Maybe I'll task myself with making a simple calculator over the summer? I tried taking an android dev class on coursera but I was so far behind due to not knowing the basic Java syntax that I dropped it a few weeks in.
 
join an open source project and contribute.

very few student ever do this and it shows. they come in for interviews and have no idea what it's like working on any kind of software project. assignments are no substitute for actual experience.
 
Last edited:
UDRider said:
Finish data structure class, and algorithms class.
Click to expand...

I believe I'll encounter algorithms once I transfer, as far as I know it's an upper division class. Data Structures is offered in the Spring here, so OOP in the Fall and Data Structures in Spring 2015
 
mike23w said:
join an open source project and contribute.

very few student ever do this and it shows. they come in for interviews and have no idea what it's like working on any kind of software project.
Click to expand...

Dude. This.

I have a GitHub account and I'll look for something this weekend. Do you think I can find something where I can contribute with my beginner-reading-level of Java?
 
Chris_BR said:
Do you think I can find something where I can contribute with my beginner-reading-level of Java?
Click to expand...

yes. new guys usually start with documentation, testing or bugs, then minor features, then major features. don't try to re-architect the system on your first week:laughing
 
Chris_BR said:
I think I would be interested in mobile apps, and a plus is that they're written in Java for Android. Maybe I'll task myself with making a simple calculator over the summer? I tried taking an android dev class on coursera but I was so far behind due to not knowing the basic Java syntax that I dropped it a few weeks in.
Click to expand...

The good news is, there's huge demand for Android devs, no degree required. Take a basic Java class online, then go back to the Android class. In the meantime, get a GitHub account and learn how to use it.

Once you've done those few things, you should be able to get an internship pretty easily. I can even connect you with some people...after you've got something to show.

And if you have the time, go through an algorithms book and check out how Java implements them. Java is a pretty deep language, and half the battle is just knowing what's available to you.
 
Chris_BR said:
I have a GitHub account and I'll look for something this weekend. Do you think I can find something where I can contribute with my beginner-reading-level of Java?
Click to expand...

Find a Java project that has bugs listed. Fix one of the bugs, and submit it to the projects authors. Voila! You're a contributor.

Keep looking until you find a bug you can fix, or you improve to where you can fix the bugs you've already found...
 
GiorgioFurioso said:
The good news is, there's huge demand for Android devs, no degree required. Take a basic Java class online, then go back to the Android class. In the meantime, get a GitHub account and learn how to use it.

Once you've done those few things, you should be able to get an internship pretty easily. I can even connect you with some people...after you've got something to show.

And if you have the time, go through an algorithms book and check out how Java implements them. Java is a pretty deep language, and half the battle is just knowing what's available to you.
Click to expand...

That last statement is so true :laughing.

I'm going to tackle the class again :thumbup
 
Learn C and get familiar with allocating/deallocating of memory. All of that application side stuff (Java, C++, Android etc) is nice but does not really make you stand out...more of a pre req. Learn C and other "server side" stuff, join an open source project and you are more marketable IMO. I'm knee deep on the server side, so I'm biased :).
 
gnahc79 said:
Learn C and get familiar with allocating/deallocating of memory. All of that application side stuff (Java, C++, Android etc) is nice but does not really make you stand out...more of a pre req. Learn C and other "server side" stuff, join an open source project and you are more marketable IMO. I'm knee deep on the server side, so I'm biased :).
Click to expand...

I don't think schools teach C/C++ anymore. Out of 10 interns I interviews 3 had a little experience in it. :|

Also at senior level and knowing how call stack functions and advantages/disadvantages of recursive vs iterative? :thumbdown </endrant>
 
Last edited:
UDRider said:
I don't think schools teach C/C++ anymore. Out of 10 interns I interviews 3 had a little experience in it. :|

Also at senior level and knowing how call stack functions and advantages/disadvantages of recursive vs iterative? :thumbdown </endrant>
Click to expand...

did not know that. At least I didn't mention COBOL, I still have to mess with that once in a while :afm199.

recursive vs iterative....with older/more low level languages you get to see the storage allocated for recursive calls blow up in the debugger after umpteen bajillion recursive calls...happened to me a few years ago when I was working on some stuff, wohoo! :laughing
 
Hello, my name is java programmer number 11ty billion. What's memory allocation?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top