The Big Programming Thread - Page 575

On February 01 2015 08:54 LaNague wrote:
yeah its CCNA, the entry one.


IF i do communication of hardware, its with a custom protocol over custom, serial or USB ports.

I was asking because i wasnt sure if they have some kind of special value for HR people.
Ill decline then, i guess they just want to have some certifications flying around, ill hint at better ones that suit my career

On January 29 2012 17:54 Abductedonut wrote:
I can say that this is a direct result of learning java first. I know lots of students who come from java without any prior programming experience and C/Assembly is horrible to them and they don't feel like know "anything."

Here's the basic truth.... Computer Science isn't all programming. Programming is how you APPLY the concepts you learn in computer science. To use an analogy, you're learning how to build a car from inside before actually building it ( programming ). Algorithms and data structures and classes like that teach you when to use a V8 engine rather than a V12 engine... etc etc.

So if I were to basically list out languages from lowest level to highest, it would sorta go like this:
- Machine Language
- Assembly
- C
- C++/Java/C#...

Machine Language is pretty useless to learn from what I've seen. Assembly is SUPER important because C/C++ code eventually gets translated to assembly. It's important to learn what happens on the lower levels when you create a function in C. You want to know how C sets up the stack and all that, and that's how knowing Assembly Language helps.

Anyway, I digress. As you learn C, you will realize that you'll slowly become "pro" at programming. No bullshit things like objects and code written for you in C. C really is a no-bullshit language, and you have to know exactly what you're doing or else you'll spend majority of your time fighting the code.

C will introduce you to wildly advanced topics like returning ANY type of data from a function (void pointers), passing entire functions as arguments, or returning entire functions ( function pointers )... hell you'll even learn neat tricks like optimizing switch statements by using function pointers. You'll learn EXACTLY when to pass things by reference and EXACTLY what happens inside your code. No more "let's change this and hope it works!" C is THE nerd's computer language. Most people in this thread will come in here and argue that java, python, whatever language they use is better and it might be true, but you don't "truly" learn to program unless you do so in C.

Once you're completely comfortable with the basics on C, I suggest you work on mastering these topics:

- OS APIs... ( WIN32 API, int 0x80 system calls.. ( basically linux system calls )... dunno what trashSX uses... )
- Network Programming ( Sockets, TCP/UDP ports, sending GET/POST through C for port 80 )
- Multi-threaded Programming
- GUI Programming using OS APIs... Avoid using things like QT's drag and drop GUI builder because you won't learn anything
- * This list in incomplete, but that's all that comes to my mind atm. I could mention things like global keyboard hooks, directX hooks, etc, but you'll discover those as you want to do certain projects. Will add stuff if I can remember it for the future! *

Once you've got all that down, you'll pretty much be able to program "anything." Your CS classes will come back remind you what search algorithms, data structures, and boolean logic to use to make your programs better.

At this point, when you move onto other languages it will be more about syntax. Your questions will shift from "Well how do I connect to a server?" to "Where can i find the socket API to this language?" You'll know what you need, and it will just be a matter of how to find it. I've gotten to a point where I can learn languages in about 2 hours. I learned how to program in matlab to help my friend out in under 20 minutes. I learned javascript programming for Adobe After Effects in about an hour and I was able to help visual effects artists modify various features of their shots by writing scripts for them.

That's my suggestion to you. Learn C, then go back and touch over assembly and you'll be able to program in anything.

Now... if you want to be a TRUE nerd and pwn EVERYONE at programming... start learning how to hack/crack/reverse engineer software. Hacking requires you know everything about everything, and it will open up your eyes to programming like you've never seen before. You'll learn how accidentally using a pointer after freeing it can cause a skilled programmer/hacker to compromise the entire system. Hacking is the CRUX of computers, and the most skilled programmers and computer scientists result from hacking. You can start off with a book called "The Shellcoder's Handbook" if you're interested in touching on the topic. That book is very technical and will really get you thinking about how things inside the computer work...

Ah, and just for some light reading... Here's a post by Linus Torvalds... the creator of the Linux operating system. I think this is hilariously interesting!
+ Show Spoiler +

On February 01 2015 20:15 sabas123 wrote:
So im starting to learn C, working with pointers is really fun but confusing as hell.

The simpelst things I used to do in stuff like php is getting so much more diffucult in C, anybody experianced this aswell?

$my_var = new Object();

if (is_object($my_var)) {
    $my_var = "I'm a string now!";
}

if (is_string($my_var)) {
    $my_var = array($my_var, $my_var);
}

if (is_array($my_var)) {
    $my_var = intval($my_var); // 1
}

return $my_var - 1;

On February 02 2015 03:53 sabas123 wrote:

who would even come up with the idea to start using ++i T_T

this stuff makes me wondor how many people exactly know whats going on behind a langauge.

On February 02 2015 04:49 sabas123 wrote:

Im going to try that somtime.

On February 02 2015 03:27 Blisse wrote:
agh the same guys in OCN gave up their dumb "if (++i > 10) { ... }" argument (because who knows, maybe it was dumb) and revised it to "you should avoid all verbosity because more code is more error prone". god i hate that i have to reply to them. STOP USING ABSOLUTES GAH. there's still one guy who stays on his high horse with like "if you make a mistake reading ++i then you shouldn't be in this field and i dont want to work with you". this is why i stay on tl.

On February 02 2015 00:32 sabas123 wrote:
that stuff from abductedonut is really good, It motivates me alot to stick to learning C.

@Manit0u
aaaahhh, yes that true. Luckly I never encoutered any need to start doing that .

Also in "Lean C The Hard Way" they say its a good thing to stay away from pointers, should I listen to this?

On February 02 2015 04:52 Manit0u wrote:


Naah, was just kidding. Bitwise operators should be the same for every language, but they're pretty hardcore nonetheless and I have literally 0 idea how could they interact with some objects. Would you be able to use it on Java's Integers for example?