Description: Computer Science and Coding tutor Tyler shares his thoughts on how to become a better programmer by following these essential tips.
Anyone who wishes to learn to program can write some incredible things. Most will start out writing simple code and solving simple problems. Such as finding prime numbers or finding words in a text file. As we write more complex programs, things become tricky, A lot of self-taught programmers will start to fail here. They have not learnt some simple disciplines of how to solve problems more easily.
Staying motivated and using the right techniques will change how you might feel about this. After exploring many ways of improving one’s ability to code and reflecting on what makes a good programmer, I’d like to share some extremely useful tips. It will change how easy it will be for you to become the best software developer.
1. Practice as Often as Possible
To practise something often sounds frustrating, especially if you don’t enjoy doing it. But the more you can integrate yourself into a subject and the more you can explore it, the better you will become. While I was in my first year of university studying the basics of Java I felt under tremendous pressure. Learning all of the technical jargon, such as ‘public’ and ‘void’, things like that. So I chose to practise something Java-related every day. Whether it was if-statements, functions, classes, different libraries. There was always something new to learn each day, and pretty soon my colleagues were always coming to me for help with their programs.
2. Use a Whiteboard While Practising.
It may seem strange since 99% of code is typed, but you will find that physically writing your code down on a notebook or on a whiteboard can massively help commit it to memory. This is particularly useful for libraries or modules you need to remember. After you’ve learnt a new programming concept such as a for-statement or switch-statement, try writing it on a whiteboard. Can you remember the exact syntax?
3. Focus on Solving the Problem
While recognising the syntax of a language is useful, most programmers spend too much time on it and forget the most important concept of programming; solving the problem first. Ultimately most companies won’t care about what language you use; it’s about how well you can solve problems for them, and then translate that into code, seeing as all solutions can be translated into code.
Search for algorithm problems such as the Fibonacci sequence or Euclid’s algorithm, and before trying to solve it in code, learn what the problem is asking you to do, and write it down. Solve it by hand, then turn it into a program. This outlines the most valuable skill of every developer.
4. Discover New Fields of Computer Science
One thing in my uni years that stopped me from staying motivated was that I kept seeing programming as a purely mathematical thing, which I found to be very dull, and was blind as to how vast the field of computer science really is. In reality, there’s a lot.
Websites, phone apps, robots, electronics, drones, hacking, machine learning, artificial intelligence, video games – once you discover what you can do, you will find programming so much more enjoyable and interesting to get involved in.
And finally, number five: Sleep well, and exercise well. Even I hate how trivial it sounds. But it’s true. If you stay in your room programming all day, your physical and mental will deteriorate quickly. You’ll develop poor eyesight and dry eyes, bad posture, poor skin, an increase in social ineptness,
By tutor Tyler