Find solution
Should I major in Computer Science or Writing?

I'm a Computer Science Grad student and haven't had much experience writing code. How do I become a Pro at Programming?

  • I have my Undergrad degree from a 3rd - tier Engineering college in India ( Not any of the NITs or IITs). The sad thing though was, I never really involved myself into writing code apart from what was need to Pass my Lab Exams. The way we studied subjects, we never got any exposure to write code. I'm not blaming anything. I could've done it on my own. I didn't. Now, after studying 5 years (4 years under graduation + 1 year Masters) I can try writing code to some well known Problem sets in C. That's it. We were just exposed to 'learn' Programs given by our Curriculum and never had any exposure to Solving different problems. I really want to be good at writing code. Where do I start? Please help.

  • Answer:

    The best way to learn how to code is to write more code. Create a Github account and check out some code in the language which you are interested in. You can also search Google for "Programming assignments" and try solving some assignments of well known universities like Stanford etc. After that you can check sites like http://www.topcoder.com/, where you can participate in a contest and improve your skills. You can check the final solution and learn from it. This way you can get better at programming every day..

Sharath B.S. at Quora Visit the source

Was this solution helpful to you?

Other answers

Take advantage of online free courses from places such as MIT. For instance this course on PYTHON http://curiousreef.com/class/mit-opencourseware-600-introduction/lesson/1/ However, to become proficient you just need to start and practice often enough until you are a master.

Steve Kinzey

@http://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/2013/05/10/learn-anything-in-less-time/ This blog's writer is scott h young. This guy completed the 4 year curriculum of CS in MIT in 1 year. Most of it was done by the lectures from the opencourseware where actually a lot of good teachers' lectures are present. He also put a week by week video update on his youtube channel. Hope it benefits you :)

Arpit Badhe

I suggest the following plan https://www.edx.org/course/harvardx/harvardx-cs50x-introduction-computer-1022. Watch all the lectures and most importantly, complete all the assignments. Do an Algorithms course, https://www.udacity.com/course/cs215 or the one offered by Princeton on Coursera. Head over to http://oj.leetcode.com/problems/ and solve problems. Personal projects. Think of what excites you and do it.

Anonymous

You become a pro at something, anything, but doing a lot of it. Want to be a pro in music, then play a lot of music. Want to be a pro marathon runner, then run a lot towards that goal.Same with programming. Want to be a pro at programming? Then program a lot. Program for fun, program as an exercise. Do coding exercises. Just code. Write mobile apps. Write web apps. Just code and study, and when you begin to work as a programmer, then code some more, and study.Never stop programming and never stop studying about software and programming. I don’t know if I have a right to call myself a pro, but this formula has worked well for me for the last 21 years working as a programmer/software guy.

Luis Espinal

Related Q & A:

Just Added Q & A:

Find solution

For every problem there is a solution! Proved by Solucija.

  • Got an issue and looking for advice?

  • Ask Solucija to search every corner of the Web for help.

  • Get workable solutions and helpful tips in a moment.

Just ask Solucija about an issue you face and immediately get a list of ready solutions, answers and tips from other Internet users. We always provide the most suitable and complete answer to your question at the top, along with a few good alternatives below.