Feeling down.

[Hasassin]

Hey everyone.

I registered on this forums a couple of days back, and lately, i've been feeling down and it is all because of school. Been having a difficult time with programming especially, I mean, i love it, and i want to actually get into electrical/computer engineering, however, so far, the difficulties i'm experiencing are crazy.

I really want to do well in programming, I want to learn about turing, C,C++ and all that, however, it's just not working out for me at the moment.

I signed up for computer programming, for next year, and hope that i will do better than this crap year.

You guys got any advice on how to do well in programming?

I don't mean to sound like a fool or whatever, but i just had to clear this off my mind.

[DemonWasp]

Don't worry about it so much. Computer programming requires a very different thought process to most other studies. Programming demands that you be able to think logically and algorithmically, which is quite alien to most people. It takes time to develop your brain so that you can think in a different way. Doing this will be painful, but is well worth it.

After a while, your brain will get the hang of this weird new way of thinking, and stuff will start to make a lot of sense. It will feel like the fog is clearing.

When you're still learning the basics of programming, stay the devil away from C and C++. You can argue up-and-down about reasons for experienced programmers to write in C or C++, but there is no way that either should be used as a language for beginners. That's like demanding that learning drivers fly a fighter jet - it's not particularly enlightening, and in general just results in some unplanned explosions.

If you have a good teacher, computer science courses can be very enlightening. You'll get that wonderful moment where you say to yourself, "oh, so THAT'S why!". If you have a poor teacher, at least the exercises will give you a nice learning curve to attack.

[ecookman]

programming especally in C, and C++ becomes hevly math based.
If you think of it programming is a puzzle, you have to use logic and put the pieces of it together correctally (thats why i love programming)

tips:
when making a program approach it in steps,
1)what needs to be done
2) what is the most efficent way of doing it
3) what functions will i need to use
4) is there anything i overlooked.

then when you start you have a good idea of what you are doing and how you are going to do it. Also when first starting out...actually everytime you come to a complex part of code add comments...they are your friend. Use the comments to say what the code is supposto be doing there, and when you get into more complex codes, where you are calling that part from and are there other parts of the program using that code aswel...this helps in debugging.


Lastly...i bet you have guessed it, but the only way to get better is to challenge yourself and try to make your programs or sign up for lessons like i have! (with the lessons i am fininshing up adv. functions of VB and in the summer i will be doing java/C# then the C/C++)

p.s look in the tutorial section of compsci...it really breaks stuff down..sometimes better than the For Dummies books

[saltpro15]

just be patient, you have to learn an entire new way of thinking, and it will take some time. Stay away from C/C++ until you can use Turing comfortably, and if you're stuck

this is always, always, always useful

[ecookman]

yea as saltpro said....C/C++ isn't friendly first you need a good like extremely good foundation on math and programming to enter that beast