Software Engineering Stack Exchange
Software Engineering Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [learning]

OFF TOPIC QUESTIONS ARE NOT SUPPORTED! This tag is going away and is part of the STCI burnination effort.

OFF TOPIC QUESTIONS ARE NOT SUPPORTED!

Structured Tag Cleanup Initiative

356 questions
73
votes
26 answers

How do people read big technical books?

I see that most of the good programmers have the habit of reading big books for learning about technology. What does it really take to read technical books, apart from the real interest on the technology? How can I improve my ability to read these…
NLV
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40
votes
16 answers

How to convince a teammate, who sees oneself as senior, to learn SVN conceptual basics?

To start with some background, I took up a new developer position this summer and ended up being the newest member on the team, yet with most experience under the belt. So far I have managed to push sanity initiatives through easily enough because…
Courageous Anonymous Coward
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23
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7 answers

Why is CS taught to be memorized?

I have been taking Advanced Placement Computer Science for this past year in high school. It seems as though we are taught simply to memorize code and functions and not how to be resourceful and efficient in using documentation and the…
esqew
  • 805
22
votes
15 answers

What are the barriers to adopting best practice? How can they be overcome?

We've all seen (and most of us have written) plenty of poorly written code. Why? What makes us adopt poor practices rather than good ones? The most obvious answer (to me) is "ignorance", but I'm sure that isn't the only reason. What others are…
Kramii
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22
votes
16 answers

How can I figure out if programming is right for me?

I have an IT background and was pretty confident until an opportunity came up at work to go into programming(C#). I have never programmed before this, and the software I am programming for is a program I have never used before (a 3D modeling…
user66414
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19
votes
11 answers

What's the best Open Source code you've ever seen?

Part of the value of Open Source is to provide great example code to people getting started with a new platform or language. What's the best Open Source code you've encountered, and why do you like your choice? Any language will do, but I'm…
Andrew Theken
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17
votes
8 answers

Combating the Einstellung Effect

The Einstellung Effect refers to "a person's predisposition to solve a given problem in a specific manner even though there are "better" or more appropriate methods of solving the problem." As a programmer with a decent amount of experience, how…
David in Dakota
  • 839
15
votes
19 answers

Do programmers need a good memory?

It seems that it's necessary to remember all sorts of syntax to be able to program. If a person doesn't have a good memory for remembering names, will it be more difficult to learn to program?
Mem
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12
votes
7 answers

As a teen, how can I find "friends" for programming

I'm a teen who has been programming for about 3 years, I can do some basic Software and so, but I feel I can't do all by myself. What can I do to find people interested in Programming ? None of my friends does, I only have a Cousin which is studying…
dsocolobsky
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10
votes
13 answers

Is it bad that you don't program on your spare time while at uni?

There has been some questions about not programming on your spare time, but they all concern when you're at work. What about when you're studying? Do you also need to learn on your spare time when you're already learning during the daytime (at uni)?
gablin
  • 17,407
10
votes
7 answers

Do-It-Yourself project suggestions to sharpen programming skills or learn a new language

Since the best way to learn is to work on projects, what are some good software to try making yourself with a purpose of sharpening certain programming skills or learning a new language?
zhenka
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10
votes
7 answers

What are the set of skills that every programmer graduating from college should have?

We had a guest lecturer at our school he went on a tangent regarding those graduating and not being upto the skill level he expects ie. knowledge of one big-time compiled languague like Java, C++ or C#, one scripting language like Python or Ruby,…
Wallz
10
votes
5 answers

Learning to program on punchcards

I'd like to try programming with punch cards once in my life. How can I do this? I'm in my 30s, and grew up entirely in the PC era, programming on computers with screens and keyboards. I want to experience the way my father and grandfather used to…
Plutor
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6
votes
9 answers

Advanced learning topics for junior developers

I'm a junior developer at a company that has asked me to establish academic goals for the near future. I didn't realize how hard of a question this was until I could only come up with one answer, off the top of my head: Learn more Design…
CrazyPenguin
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6
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6 answers

Learning on the Fly

I would like to know what other developers do when a situation arises to implement a couple of features in language unknown to you. You are familiar with Javascript, and you do not know jquery, how do you go by implementing some features in jquery…
funlearning
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