24 replies to this topic

[Andrew.G]

Posted via CodeCall Mobile As the title says, I would like to hear your opinions on when you have officialy learned a programming language.

[zeroradius]

Well languages keep geting "updated" and are verry extensive so you will probably never know everything about a language. I would say you have learned it when you know enouph about it to sit down and begin to code withought having to lookup everything you want to do.

[smith]

When you are able to make a full, working program in that language.

[Andrew.G]

Posted via CodeCall Mobile thats a good point but i wouldnt say that i have learned a language when i make a full hello world program

[WingedPanther]

Tell you what, when I think I've reached that point, I'll let you know how you know. To be honest, I tend to focus more on learning various programming concepts and seeing how to apply them in various languages. I frequently find that getting exposure to a new library or toolkit can set me back several levels as I discover new depths to a language I hadn't been aware of.

A few months ago, I would have said I was getting close to "officially" knowing C++. Reading about Boost made me aware of how much I still didn't know. A couple of paragraphs in chapter 1 of Design Patterns, and I'm starting to rethink how I've thought about several languages.

[BlaineSch]

I suppose I will agree. Most languages even if you learn everything will keep updating faster than you keep keep reading.

Your best bet is to just keep an eye open and be able to apply things to various different languages and you should be set!

[smith]

Andrew.G said:

Posted via CodeCall Mobile thats a good point but i wouldnt say that i have learned a language when i make a full hello world program

True, but I wouldn't call "Hello World" a program either. I mean something more, like a calculator or database application.

[Andrew.G]

Posted via CodeCall Mobile i agree

[marwex89]

I agree with Jordan.

Posted via CodeCall Mobile

[Ronin]

zeroradius said:

I would say you have learned it when you know enouph about it to sit down and begin to code withought having to lookup everything you want to do.

I agree with this. when you do not need the book or google to look up the answers for simple problems. you will always need to lookup solutions or learn more but you do this about 99% of the time when beginning and about 30% after learning the language well.

[relapse]

I'd say what is "Official"? There are different states of learning and with programming it constantly changes. Someone just cracking open a n00b book on chapter 4 could say they know "C++" because they can do loops and conditions. Compared to their non-geek friends, they do "officially" know programming. Hell, I've seem some pretty ****ty programmers out there that claim to know a language.