Creating Software and Graphic Interfaces Question

[CygnetGames]

Originally Posted by hoser2001

In response to Cygnets post, I am curious to if anyone has any good resources for someone to learn more about "programming" . Possibly some good tutorials on using advanced datastructures or concepts.

A good question - I really hope someone can answer it

I learned at university - doing a maths and computer science degree. The maths is an important part. I would advise anyone at school/college/uni to think about taking a maths course if they are interested in programming. The skills that it takes to formulate proofs in mathematics are exactly the same skills that it takes to write a program. That's not to say that people who haven't done maths can't program - just that it helps.

One of the lecturers at uni recommended Edsger Wybe Dijkstra as a good author of material about programming. He was one of the early pioneers of computer science, so he probably won't mention things that are popular at the moment, like as OO and Ajax, but he really knew what he was doing and he realised the need to structure and organise computer code when most people around him did not.

For what it's worth, the concepts that I think most important are abstraction and problem representation. These are the things I think about when programming: "What is the best way to represent this problem in a machine-readable way?" and "How can I structure my code with clear and useful levels of abstraction?". Understanding these two concepts seems to be a worthy thing to attempt.

Hope that's of some use.

idontknow87: All the best for your programming. You seem to have a clear plan, which is very good.

[WingedPanther]

Here are two resources:
Programming Logic and Design
Problem Solving and Programming Concepts

[hoser2001]

I learned at university - doing a maths and computer science degree. The maths is an important part. I would advise anyone at school/college/uni to think about taking a maths course if they are interested in programming. The skills that it takes to formulate proofs in mathematics are exactly the same skills that it takes to write a program. That's not to say that people who haven't done maths can't program - just that it helps.

I'm pretty sure just about every computer science student has to take some high level math courses(correct me if I'm incorrect). Now while I have not taken something like differential equations, I have had two semesteres of calculus, and have had classes on discrete math related to computer science (language/grammar theory, automata, set theory, etc, etc)

The kind of resources I am looking for our specific examples(preferably free on-line) of using thinkgs like linked lists, structs,classes, enums, etc, etc... Some of the perhaps less used data structures in the programming world of a windows application developer. Don't get me wrong, I can find plenty of resources myself, I am just curious if anyone had anything that perhaps stood out among the rest.

[John]

Originally Posted by hoser2001

In response to Cygnets post, I am curious to if anyone has any good resources for someone to learn more about "programming" . Possibly some good tutorials on using advanced datastructures or concepts.

Probably the best book I've ever read regarding "programming practices" is Extreme Programming by Kent Beck, although it's probably not what you are looking for. XP is aimed more toward "practices" not "design."

The book I have where I learned about design and structures is "Data structures and Abstractions in Java." It's a text book, and it is very boring, but there is nothing that goes untouched.

[CygnetGames]

Originally Posted by hoser2001

I'm pretty sure just about every computer science student has to take some high level math courses

Yeah, you are right - they do.
A lot of people on my course don't pay much attention to the maths though. They just learn it to pass the maths exams, then forget about it and don't realise that what they have been doing for the maths exams applies to programming as well.
What I maybe should have said was: "Pay attention to the maths, and see how it relates to programming, like how the structure of a mathematiccal argument can mirror the structure of a computer program."