Noob programmer

[BJ Halterman]

I am a hobbiest programmer. Wrather, I would be if I had any ideas to
sharpen my skills on. Don't get me wrong, I have a tonn of ideas, but most
of them are way beyond my current skills. I have looked for OOS groups that
may be able to teach me something or throw me a small function to work on.
Nothing. So now, I am turning to you.

What starter projects can a noob work on? Stuff that isn't boreing.
Eventualy, I would like to write my own game engine for a MMORPG.

Anyways, thanks for your time, and any replies.

BJ

 

[Marcelo De Brito]

I am a hobbiest programmer. Wrather, I would be if I had any ideas to
sharpen my skills on. Don't get me wrong, I have a tonn of ideas, but most
of them are way beyond my current skills. I have looked for OOS groups that
may be able to teach me something or throw me a small function to work on..
Nothing. So now, I am turning to you.

What starter projects can a noob work on? Stuff that isn't boreing.
Eventualy, I would like to write my own game engine for a MMORPG.

Anyways, thanks for your time, and any replies.

BJ

What about a the good old "Hello World!!!.cpp"??

Até!

Marcelo de Brito

 

[Björn]

BJ Halterman skrev:

I am a hobbiest programmer. Wrather, I would be if I had any ideas to
sharpen my skills on. Don't get me wrong, I have a tonn of ideas, but most
of them are way beyond my current skills. I have looked for OOS groups
that
may be able to teach me something or throw me a small function to work on.
Nothing. So now, I am turning to you.

What starter projects can a noob work on? Stuff that isn't boreing.
Eventualy, I would like to write my own game engine for a MMORPG.

Anyways, thanks for your time, and any replies.

BJ

How about some simple word prosessing, like some string handling.
Perhaps a math program, utilizing math functions that you find in
most programming languages.
Which program are you using?

Bjorn

 

[Kram]

I am a hobbiest programmer.  Wrather, I would be if I had any ideas to
sharpen my skills on.  Don't get me wrong, I have a tonn of ideas, but most
of them are way beyond my current skills.  I have looked for OOS groups that
may be able to teach me something or throw me a small function to work on..
Nothing.  So now, I am turning to you.

What starter projects can a noob work on?  Stuff that isn't boreing.
Eventualy, I would like to write my own game engine for a MMORPG.

Anyways, thanks for your time, and any replies.

BJ

How about a simple text based dungeon crawler.
While something like this http://www.dungeoncrawl.org/ or a MUD would
be the goal
I would start out by making a very simple game and then grow upon
that. By creating
multiple races and classes for you character you could learn about
techniques like
having an abstract base class for you player which all races inherit
and a abstract
class factory to produce objects players of each race etc. You could
make a really
great engine by the end of it and learn a lot about programming.

 

[BJ Halterman]

Been there.

#include <iostream>
int main()
{
cout << "Hello, World!" << endl;
// May need to use this depending on IDE and library
// std::cout << "Hello, World!" << std::endl ;
system("pause");
return 0;
}

I need something to expand my skills by issueing a challenge and giving some
type of direction.

I am a hobbiest programmer. Wrather, I would be if I had any ideas to
sharpen my skills on. Don't get me wrong, I have a tonn of ideas, but
most
of them are way beyond my current skills. I have looked for OOS groups
that
may be able to teach me something or throw me a small function to work on.
Nothing. So now, I am turning to you.

What starter projects can a noob work on? Stuff that isn't boreing.
Eventualy, I would like to write my own game engine for a MMORPG.

Anyways, thanks for your time, and any replies.

BJ

What about a the good old "Hello World!!!.cpp"??

Até!

Marcelo de Brito

 

[Ian Collins]

[please don't top-post on Usenet. Your client is also quoting incorrectly]

What about a the good old "Hello World!!!.cpp"??

> Been there.
>
> #include <iostream>
> int main()
> {
> cout << "Hello, World!" << endl;
> // May need to use this depending on IDE and library
> // std::cout << "Hello, World!" << std::endl ;

You must use the above with any conforming compiler, nothing to do with
IDE or library.

> system("pause");
?

> return 0;
> }
>
> I need something to expand my skills by issueing a challenge and giving
> some type of direction.
>

Implementing your own string class is a reasonable exercise.

 

[Alf P. Steinbach]

* BJ Halterman:
[top-posting. please don't do that.]

Been there.

#include <iostream>
int main()
{
cout << "Hello, World!" << endl;
// May need to use this depending on IDE and library
// std::cout << "Hello, World!" << std::endl ;
system("pause");
return 0;
}

I need something to expand my skills by issueing a challenge and giving
some type of direction.

Uhm well. The above program won't compile with a standard-conforming compiler,
so you're not yet quite finished with "Hello, world". But don't let that stop
you: you'll never get on with things if you need everything perfect first.

A natural next step is to deal with variables, decisions and loops.

Try this on: there are two containers A and B, both with some capacity (e.g. 8
litres and 5 litres), with A currently containing some amount of water, and B
currently empty. Create a program that repeatedly lets the user move any amount
of water from a specified container to the other, subject to the conditions that
it should be physically possible and that there should be no overflow.

When you have that working, add user commands to fill a specified container
(from some external water source), and to empty a container (on the ground), and
let the program keep track of the number of "moves".

At that point you're well into a kind of solitaire game, perhaps with the goal
of ending up with a given amount of water in one of the containers in a minimum
number of moves.


Cheers & hth.,

- Alf

 

[thomas.mertes]

I am a hobbiest programmer.  Wrather, I would be if I had any ideas to
sharpen my skills on.  Don't get me wrong, I have a tonn of ideas, but most
of them are way beyond my current skills.  I have looked for OOS groups that
may be able to teach me something or throw me a small function to work on..
Nothing.  So now, I am turning to you.

What starter projects can a noob work on?  Stuff that isn't boreing.
Eventualy, I would like to write my own game engine for a MMORPG.

Especially when you need to sharpen your skills you
should not overestimate your power and start projects
when you have an overview. You cannot presume that
others will continue your project when you are failing
or when you are refusing to continue.

Maybe you can find an existing project where you can
contribute (BTW. My project is always searching for
helping hands ).

Greetings Thomas Mertes

Seed7 Homepage: http://seed7.sourceforge.net
Seed7 - The extensible programming language: User defined statements
and operators, abstract data types, templates without special
syntax, OO with interfaces and multiple dispatch, statically typed,
interpreted or compiled, portable, runs under linux/unix/windows.

 

[thomas.mertes]

Especially when you need to sharpen your skills you
should not overestimate your power. You should only
start projects
when you have an overview. You cannot presume that
others will continue your project when you are failing
or when you are refusing to continue.

Maybe you can find an existing project where you can
contribute (BTW. My project is always searching for
helping hands ).

Greetings Thomas Mertes

Seed7 Homepage:  http://seed7.sourceforge.net
Seed7 - The extensible programming language: User defined statements
and operators, abstract data types, templates without special
syntax, OO with interfaces and multiple dispatch, statically typed,
interpreted or compiled, portable, runs under linux/unix/windows.

 

[Jorgen Grahn]

I am a hobbiest programmer.  Wrather, I would be if I had any ideas to
sharpen my skills on.  Don't get me wrong, I have a tonn of ideas, but most
of them are way beyond my current skills.  I have looked for OOS groups that
may be able to teach me something or throw me a small function to work on.
Nothing.  So now, I am turning to you.

What starter projects can a noob work on?  Stuff that isn't boreing.
Eventualy, I would like to write my own game engine for a MMORPG.

Anyways, thanks for your time, and any replies.

BJ

How about a simple text based dungeon crawler.
While something like this http://www.dungeoncrawl.org/ or a MUD would
be the goal [...]

That's a great idea, because the OP seems to be a Windows- and
game-oriented person, and learning GUI programming is tedious (and
from what I'm seen of MFC, damages your C++ programming skills).

But I guess that was implicit in your answer.

Another project which is fun and doesn't require dealing with complex
GUI frameworks: grab the HTTP 1.1 RFC and write your own static web
server.

By creating
multiple races and classes for you character you could learn about
techniques like
having an abstract base class for you player which all races inherit
and a abstract
class factory to produce objects players of each race etc.

Assuming that's a useful design, yes. You don't *have* to use abstract
factories just because someone invented them. IMHO, run-time
polymorphism is not something a newbie should focus specifically on.

/Jorgen