What makes a good programmer?

[Mackie]

I wanted everyones thoughts on what things you think make a good programmer. So what do you think?

[Nick]

one who is knowledgable, but not just that, they need to be able to apply their knowledge, have an intrest in programming (espacally whatever program they are maxing), and if they're working with others, they need teamwork skills, good communication (not only verbally, but comments, proper naming conventions, and so on).

obviously I can't tell you everything since I'm still in gr 11 but this much is clear

[Tony]

writing code that's easy to understand.

[wtd]

Humility, a sense of humor, a good grasp of interpersonal communications...

[btiffin]

A willingness to learn, and then, once learned, a willingness to diss and scoff at all other technology.

Or, a little more seriously; competence, confidence, diligence, deference and then intelligence; all mixed with a little science

Cheers

[jernst]

Someone who has a good grasp of all the fundamental concepts in computing: data structures, memory management etc. Someone who keeps up with the latest trends in the field: new languages, techniques etc. Someone who isn't arrogant / Someone who is open minded to criticism, new ideas.

[Dan]

I think the most important aspect in a good programmer is the willingness and ability to learn.

You might not know everything about programming now but if you are open to learning new things and able to do so there realy is no limit on your ablity other then time.

Also logic skills help alot but can be hard to learn.

[Nick]

how bout what makes a bad programmer? I think it's important to know what to advoid

[michaelp]

The opposite of everything just posted? Bad, messy, un-commented code. No communication, bad with others.

[wtd]

What makes a bad programmer? PHP.

[syntax_error]

wtd wrote:

What makes a bad programmer? PHP. P

hahaha.

and my personal pet peeve a copy chuck make it fit somehow person.
there are a ton of those for our gr.10 final.

[haskell]

Errors.

It's a short and simple answer. The more errors you make, the better you will become. You don't learn as much from never diving in and making a lot of mistakes as you do from just diving in.

[wtd]

How do we learn to fix things?

By breaking things we really need. That's why organized education works. Needing to pass a class gives the aspiring programmer, in absence of some other driving motivation, a reason to fix errors in programs that are trivial enough to be practically unnecessary.

[haskell]

So true... You learn so much from busting your rump making that custom blogging software you wanted to make in Django or RoR or using mod_perl, mod_wsgi, etc... than you ever would from "Fix _____ in ______."

Being good comes from learning from real mistakes, not simulated ones. Learning from the ones that keep you awake at night, wondering what you did wrong.