6 replies to this topic

[fread]

On the down side:
The more I learn about C - The more I realize I don't know about C
The more I learn about C - The more I realize I don't know about programming

On the up side:
The more I learn about C - The more I understand my Computer

It seems the title "Skilled Programmer" is more elusive than I originally taught.:crying:

[RhetoricalRuvim]

fread said:

The more I learn about C - The more I realize I don't know about C

Same for a lot of other things. As an example, I have a school project where I chose to make a video about recycling; and no, I am not an environmentalist, in case you associate recycling with that. I realized that the more I know about the subject, the more I don't know about the subject.

Another example is with math; we learned, in class, about hyperbolas, etc., but over the summer, I learned - from the book Functions Modeling Change, A preparation for calculus - that there's a lot more to hyperbolas than I originally thought. I also found out that there is a lot more to math than what I know.

* * *

I learned a lot about a computer - well, mostly about the processor - from working with assembly language, and trying to build an operating system.

[fread]

Indeed. But I think it is natural for one to assume that at some point in there lifetime of programming, in particular programming in C, the amount you know would be more than the amount you don't know.

[Alexander]

You likely already know most of what there is to know. If you know the English alphabet, there are 4.03291461 x 10^26 ways to combine each letter. There are hundreds of thousands of words in English, many that are less used - you cannot master all of that. Programming is even worse, new methods are born, reborn and unborn all of the time instantaneously throughout the world.

It is about compromising between what is required for your contracts/jobs/hobbies/careers and everything else that allows you to master it.

Edited by Alexander, 04 December 2011 - 04:31 PM.
Removed HTML entity for

[RhetoricalRuvim]

fread said:

Indeed. But I think it is natural for one to assume that at some point in there lifetime of programming, in particular programming in C, the amount you know would be more than the amount you don't know.

C is a language made by people, so I wouldn't be surprised about that; computers, too, are made by people. As Alexander said, it's mostly about the algorithms, etc., that keep changing; still, there is probably at least something, about the language, that a programmer doesn't know.

As for things like math and science, those are still not absolutely-discovered things, and I'm sure no one would ever get to everything there is about them. I guess computer science also fits into the category.

Anyway, it's kind of hard to talk right now; I'll get back later.

[WingedPanther]

If you want some discouragement, C++ is even worse with that than C :)

[fread]

I started learning C++, enough to read the code, then I stopped. I wanted a more profound understanding of C before moving to C++. I learned C using a Lecturers text. Along time after I got a copy of K&R. I have a fairly good understanding of OOP b/c I wrote a lot of programs in java using OOP principles, so when I make up my mind to dive back into C++, it shouldn't be to difficult. At the moment I am engrossed in C, continuing to learn.