At this point you should competent in the programming language that you have chosen (Part III) — you should be able to recognize basic code constructs (such as types, loops, and variable assignment). You should also be able to recognize syntax and semantic errors in your code and be able to debug them.
The next step to mastering a programming language involves “flexing your code muscle.” What I mean by that is to start using the knowledge you have acquired through reading books and tutorials and apply it to solve problems.
Flexing Your Code Muscle
Basic Exercises
I came across a website a while ago that lists 15 Exercises for Learning a new Programming Language by Prashant N Mhatre.
The purpose of these exercises is to learn how to perform basic mathematical and commonly used code procedures in your language of choice.
Topics Covered by 15 Exercises
- Program Interruption
- Mathematical Problem Solving
- Sorting a list
- If Statements
- Loop Mechanisms
- Exception Handling
- Input and Output
- File Operations
- Date Operations
- String Searching and Replacement
- Inserting into List
- Language specific operations
Most of these topics can be applied to mostly any 4th generation programming language.
Problem Solving
I have previously listed several websites with programming puzzles to allow practice your skills: Get Hired By Solving Programming Puzzles.
Out of all the sites with programming puzzles, I would have to recommend Project Euler.
There are over 270 problems (as of 1/15/2009) with new problems being added every month. The problems found on Project Euler are geared towards students and are not meant to be too extensive. The problems can be solved using any programming language.
Setup an account with Project Euler and start solving problems. If you are finding the problems too difficult, Project Euler has the option to sort the problems in ascending difficulty.
If you continue to have difficulty, read about the mathematical concept you are solving for (e.g. Fibonacci, Greatest Common Divisor, etc.) on a site like wikipedia and think about how you would solve the problem without a computer. Then think about how you would apply that technique using a programming language.
Practice, Practice, Practice
“Practice isn’t the thing you do once you’re good. It’s the thing you do that makes you good.” – Malcolm Gladwell
This post is all about practice, which is also the mantra of this blog. If you want to become a master at programming, this is one step that you cannot leave out.
How do you practice using your programming skills?
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