View Poll Results: Why are you learning programming?

Voters
67. You may not vote on this poll

  • I want to be a professional programmer!!!

    25 37.31%

  • I want to make games, either professionally or otherwise.

    10 14.93%

  • I am not sure why, it gives me something to do.

    13 19.40%

  • Other (post reason)...

    19 28.36%

Thread: Why are you learning programming?

  1. 10-22-2001 #1
    Betazep
    Betazep is offline
    _B-L-U-E_ Betazep's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2001
    Posts
    1,412

    Why are you learning programming?

    I have learned quite a bit of C++ console programming in college (got my associates degree in it for CS). I am learning Windowz Visual programming now on my own. I have been playing around with a book written by Herbert Schildt called Windows 98 Programming from the Ground Up. I am using it to get my feet wet and will move on to better books later. (It was 7.99 at Borders with ~800 pages... can't beat that.)

    Still, even with all of this work, I seriously doubt I am going to be a full time programmer. So why am I doing all of this? I am not really sure, but I like to know how things work, and in my quest for programming knowlege (Assembly, C++, VB) and webpage creation (HTML, Js), I have learned more about computers than I ever thought that I would.

    So, maybe that is it. Maybe I learn programming to learn other things. Maybe part of knowing how things work is knowing why they work...

    What about you...?
    Blue
  2. 10-22-2001 #2
    Fordy
    Fordy is offline
    &TH of undefined behavior Fordy's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2001
    Posts
    5,793
    I just love the challenge......I'ts just a hobby as I work in business finance and thats what I'm trained in. Though I plan to deviate from my profession at some point and coding could be handy.

    >>Herbert Schildt called Windows 98 Programming from the Ground Up

    Yeah...cool book
  3. 10-22-2001 #3
    Betazep
    Betazep is offline
    _B-L-U-E_ Betazep's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2001
    Posts
    1,412
    >>Though I plan to deviate from my profession at some point and coding could be handy.

    Yeah... I think it may. But the thing is, how much do you need to know to get a job in it? Is dabbling in it enough? Because some people spend all of their waking hours doing it and are extremely passionate. Competing with that would be tough I would think...
    Blue
  4. 10-22-2001 #4
    Troll_King
    Troll_King is offline
    Banned Troll_King's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2001
    Posts
    1,784
    Why didn't you take up Petzold, fifth edition?
  5. 10-22-2001 #5
    Betazep
    Betazep is offline
    _B-L-U-E_ Betazep's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2001
    Posts
    1,412
    It wasn't $7.99
    Blue
  6. 10-22-2001 #6
    Troll_King
    Troll_King is offline
    Banned Troll_King's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2001
    Posts
    1,784
    Are you poor? It's worth the money!
  7. 10-22-2001 #7
    Fordy
    Fordy is offline
    &TH of undefined behavior Fordy's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2001
    Posts
    5,793
    >>Yeah... I think it may. But the thing is, how much do you need to know to get a job in it? Is dabbling in it enough? Because some people spend all of their waking hours doing it and are extremely passionate. Competing with that would be tough I would think...

    First off...I would not be working for anyone except myself. This is my plan regardless of programming. I am already building up a small client base doing accounts and basic IT. When I have had a few more years, this will have grown, I will have got my full professional qualifications, and my coding skills (focusing on databases and web programming) will be a lot stronger. I am not so naive that I expect to walk into a company and start as a programmer…right now it wouldn’t interest me that much.
  8. 10-22-2001 #8
    Fordy
    Fordy is offline
    &TH of undefined behavior Fordy's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2001
    Posts
    5,793
    Schildt is a good book. Petzold is also a good book. I use both.
  9. 10-22-2001 #9
    Betazep
    Betazep is offline
    _B-L-U-E_ Betazep's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2001
    Posts
    1,412
    Yeah I am broke. That is why I live in Hawaii and have traveled the world. j/k I am just a sucker for a deal, and have too many $50 books I haven't read yet.
    Blue
  10. 10-22-2001 #10
    Betazep
    Betazep is offline
    _B-L-U-E_ Betazep's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2001
    Posts
    1,412
    >>First off...I would not be working for anyone except myself. This is my plan regardless of programming.

    that sounds like a pretty good idea. I would love to work for myself, but don't have the business background yet to know where to start.
    Blue
  11. 10-22-2001 #11
    The V.
    The V. is offline
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Sep 2001
    Posts
    412
    I program... I dunno, it's sort of a hobby.

    I originally began programming to make games (and I did make a few simple ones back in the win3.1 days). I put programming on the back shelf for a little while, and came back to it when I began programming game editors for other people's games. Now I'm doing neural networks, fuzzy logic, pattern recognition, and I am again working on a game, much larger in scope this time as I'm a much better programmer now.

    I just enjoy it, I guess. I like the fact that people use my editors (I especially *love* the fact that a game designer for a major game company used MY editor to make his own custom mod to a game he originally helped make, because my tool worked better in the context of creating a mod that the company's tools).
  12. 10-22-2001 #12
    Troll_King
    Troll_King is offline
    Banned Troll_King's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2001
    Posts
    1,784
    It's my sworn duty to make fun of non Pretzold users....
  13. 10-22-2001 #13
    Aran
    Aran is offline
    Registered User Aran's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2001
    Posts
    1,301
    I got into programming because i wanted to make an RPG idea of mine becmoe a reality, and because programming IS life.
  14. 10-22-2001 #14
    Troll_King
    Troll_King is offline
    Banned Troll_King's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2001
    Posts
    1,784
    ...a reality, and because programming IS life.
    It's a disease....
  15. 10-22-2001 #15
    Aran
    Aran is offline
    Registered User Aran's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2001
    Posts
    1,301
    Life is a disease, programming is life.
« Previous Thread | Next Thread »
Popular pages Recent additions subscribe to a feed

Similar Threads

  1. Machine Learning with Lego Mindstorms
    By DavidP in forum A Brief History of Cprogramming.com
    Replies: 14
    Last Post: 01-30-2009, 02:34 PM
  2. Best Approach for Learning
    By UCnLA in forum C Programming
    Replies: 5
    Last Post: 03-21-2008, 02:35 AM
  3. Need Help On a Simple Bank Program
    By oobootsy1 in forum C# Programming
    Replies: 9
    Last Post: 08-08-2005, 10:51 AM
  4. Fun Learning a New Language
    By UnregdRegd in forum A Brief History of Cprogramming.com
    Replies: 16
    Last Post: 09-30-2003, 10:03 PM
  5. Learning Rate Of C++
    By Krak in forum C++ Programming
    Replies: 27
    Last Post: 01-29-2003, 01:53 PM