How to become a good programmer in C language?

I want to become a missile programmer. What are the skills I should develop? In what programming language should I master the skills?

• Answer:

  By "missile programmer" did you mean a programmer that works in development of missiles for the army/NASA/etc. or a very fast programmer (one that types lots of code in a small time)? If if you mean the first, I have nothing to help you. But if you mean the second, then here is a probably not complete list, but still a reasonable one: Learn the basics. It's difficult to code fast if you stumble in a mathematical calculation or needs to go after Google Translator each time you have to write a new string. Learn the basics 2: A programmer may not be a soccer player, but his body is still his main working tool. Having a healthy body at the time you're coding will, therefore, make a big difference. This includes sleeping the right amount of time (no sleeping programmer works fast), training your mind to have good memory and attention, work your social life so it will not cause stress in your psyche, train your fingers so they can type quickly (100 words per minute is a good average, but humans are known for being capable of at least 130 per minute), etc. Know your environment. This includes not only learning how your IDE works, but even the operating system in which you do coding. Learning key shortcuts in both the OS and your IDE, for instance, really improves your speed - but wasting 10 minutes to find where the "start debugging" button is located will also slow you down. Improve your environment. For instance, use two monitors instead of one and with proper configuration (to avoid eye stress, etc.), a mouse and keyboard that works correctly, a comfortable chair in the right ergonomic position, etc.. Know your tools. Here I mean the language you will be using and any framework together with it (are you using Qt? Than learn at least the basics of it before start coding). Know your tools 2: try not only to learn your tools generally, but specifically things on it that may have actually being created for faster programming. Can't remember of any example right know that would be useful, but this exists. Have everything clear in your mind - WHAT you want and HOW you will get there. This means good planning and avoiding recoding as well as stop in front of your monitors asking yourself "what the hell am I doing here?".