How do you practice programming?

[Ray]

OK, maybe I shoot a more general question to the group since there are
so many great programmers here: how do you practice your craft?

I do it in the following way:

1. Set aside 30 minutes to 1 hour a day to read up on the latest
development, be it about the tool I'm using, the language, or the
platform, or the framework, etc.

2. Once every 1-2 months, go to Amazon, and look for the book with the
best reviews in a particular technology (e.g.: SQL Cookbook, etc.)

3. Practice something that I may not be using currently at work, but
always good to know, e.g.: I try to be reasonably competent in at least
2 major current languages--right now it's Java and C#, and 1 dynamic
language, which has been Python for quite some time. SQL is always
useful, so I try to practice that, especially the more complex queries
involving group bys and window function, etc.

How do you do your practice?

 

[bruno at modulix]

OK, maybe I shoot a more general question to the group since there are
so many great programmers here: how do you practice your craft?

I'm certainly not one of them, but...

(snip)

How do you do your practice?

1/ programming
2/ programming
3/ lurking here, reading posts and sometimes trying to answer, reading
source code of the oss apps/frameworks I'm working with, searching
practical solutions in the cookbook etc
4/ programming

 

[Ray]

1/ programming
2/ programming
3/ lurking here, reading posts and sometimes trying to answer, reading
source code of the oss apps/frameworks I'm working with, searching
practical solutions in the cookbook etc
4/ programming

Yeah, but that's what most of us are doing too, we are programmers
after all. But you know, it's like a boxer cannot get better just by
going into a lot of fights, he needs good instruction from a good
coach.

So what would you do? (I guess it's your number #3 above).

 

[bruno at modulix]

Yeah, but that's what most of us are doing too, we are programmers
after all. But you know, it's like a boxer cannot get better just by
going into a lot of fights, he needs good instruction from a good
coach.

I learned the guitar mostly by watching other guitarists (good and bad
ones), trying to teach whoever asked me what I already knew, and
practicing many hours a day (until my fingers hurt too much in fact). In
programming, like in any other form of art - and like in spirituality
for that matters - *everyone* can be your master - sometimes without
even being aware of it - if you let him teach you.

So what would you do? (I guess it's your number #3 above).

The #3 only would not be of any use without at least the #1, the #2 and
the #4. But I admit that #1, #2 and #4 would be equally useless without
the #3 !-)

How, and yes, also : using one's head - not only to wear a hat - may be
of some help too.