[thelist] programming info

[Andrew Kamm]

> The issue may lie in a single word; necessity. Are there any problems
> that you need to solve through coding? I and my colleagues/friends
> learned this stuff because we had to in order to deliver some real-world
> function or feature that a client was prepared to pay for.


I completely agree -- I've always learned the most when I've *had* to
accomplish a goal that was outside my comfort zone. Tutorials and classes
are great for preparing to do something, but doing it for a project you care
about and solving the problems that come your way in the process will really
solidify your knowledge.

The other things that helped me were repetition (of course), and when
learning something new, intentionally trying to remember proper syntax
rather than constantly relying on a reference. If you're not sure about
something, try to code it, then go back to see if you did it right.
Obviously do that on a small scale -- don't code an entire application then
go back to see if did it right. The process of trying to remember and then
realizing what you did wrong helps quite a bit when you try to do it again
next time.

-- 
Andrew Kamm