Thread: programmers : tell us more about you

0) Where are you from? :

Conneaut, Ohio US

1) How old are you? :

18

2) How old were you when you started learning a programming language? :

16

3) What was it ? :

C++

4) What were your motivations? :

Making video games...I've always had a big imagination, and wanted others to enjoy the fruits of it. Oddly enough, Sonic the hedgehog was a huge motivation too. Silly, huh?

5) Do you program as a hobby ? :

Yeah.

6) Whats the most effective way to learn programming in your opinion :

a- Take a class on it
b- Books
c- Experimenting/Experience

7) When you were in the "learning" level (or if you are currently), how much time do you spend on learning programming daily?

Very little...

8) How old were you when you made your first program that people loved or your first that people enjoy? :

Never really made a good PROGRAM...but I have made 4 platform games in Flash...and also wrote a book on the subject.

9) Do you program\learn depending on your mood , or its something you enjoy doing every day and all the time?

I usually lack the motivation to even do it...

10) If you learn from book(s) , how many pages do you read a day?

I'd say about....15-20 pages?

11) Do you "get sick" of programming and leave it for a while? how long and how often?

But of course...Not sure how long I don't do it though.

12) When you think that you can help someone in the programming boards , what would you do? :

Jump at the chance to seem smart.

13) Are you good at network and\or game programming? if not , do you think you will be in the next year?

I'm good at game programming. I wrote a book on the subject (although using Flash as its medium)....it teaches a lot of concepts important for game programming that are mostly universal throughout programming languages. The book's only 70 pages and isn't actually copyrighted or anything...I just wrote it for poops and giggles.

14) Are you planning to get a programming job?

Yep.

15) Do you make money out of programming currently? (not talking about jobs)

No.

0) where are you from ? :
Pennsylvania, USA

1) How old are you? :
29

2) How old were you when you started learning a programming language? :
12

3) What was it ? :
Basic on a Timex Sinclair with the optional 16K memory expansion pack!

4) What were your motivations? :
Figuring out how a game called SuperMaze worked on that Timex Sinclair

5) Do you program as a hobby ? :
Yes.

6) Whats the most effective way to learn programming in your opinion :
There is no "one way" to learn anything, everyone is different. I find it easier to learn when I read the theory and then put it into practice, even if only with toy example programs to prove the concept. Having someone to bounce ideas off of or to ask for help when I don't quite "get it" is helpful too.

7) When you were in the "learning" level (or if you are currently), how much time do you spend on learning programming daily?
In college before the money ran out was about 6-8 hours (including class time and sitting up until the wee hours of the morning). After the money ran out, I got a full time job so that was reduced to a few hours on weekends mostly with the occasional all-nighter during the week. I still feel as though I am learning and will forever be, but I know enough of the basics to write a program without referring to references for most things.

8) How old were you when you made your first program that people loved or your first game that people enjoy? :
14. One of my dad's friends used to hold Oscar parties every year and they bet on who would win. I wrote a program in Pascal to keep track of the guesses, picks and who won and it turned out to be a hit with my dad and his friends.

9) Do you program\learn depending on your mood , or its something you enjoy doing every day and all the time?
Mood. Full time job and family (including a 2 year old son) makes it difficult to have time or energy to do much of anything nowadays.

10) If you learn from book(s) , how many pages do you read a day?
If I pick up a book and start reading it, I'll read a chapter at a time at least. Otherwise it is like listening to someone speak who keeps stopping in the middle of their sentences.

11) Do you "get sick" of programming and leave it for a while? how long and how often?
Not really. There are times when I want to do other things more, but it's not because I'm burned out.

12) When you think that you can help someone in the programming boards , what would you do? :
a- Help them with stuff i know\remember.
b- Try to be %100 sure of your answer before posting either by google , compiling codes or any other way.
c- say whatever i know even if im not so sure.
Usually b. I like to make sure of what I am saying since I don't want to teach a bad or incorrect habit to someone new to programming. It's harder to unlearn a bad habit than to learn a new one.

13) Are you good at network and\or game programming? if not , do you think you will be in the next year?
I've learned the basics of network programming and written a few telnet style chat programs. Two of my current projects are an online poker game and a mud. I wouldn't say I'm good yet, but I'm working toward it.

14) Are you planning to get a programming job?
Sadly, no. It was always my goal throughout school to do so, but I wasn't able to finish a degree and I've been dissappointed on interviews too often because I don't have that degree.

15) Do you make money out of programming currently? (not talking about jobs)
No.

16) Segmentation fault (core dumped)
I like that this survey started at 0

0) where are you from ?
Vienna, Austria

1) How old are you?
20

2) How old were you when you started learning a programming language?
12. (This is from back-calculation - I don't know for sure when I started, but I know that it was in the transition time between Win16 and Win32. When I started C++, Windows 98 was quite new.)

3) What was it ?
Lingo, Macromedia Director's Basic-based scripting language.

4) What were your motivations?
It was way cool to make these little image do weird things on the screen.
(My first experience in actually making the computer do what I wanted it to was with Adobe Acrobat. I used hyperlinks and Paint drawings to make an interactive house.)

5) Do you program as a hobby ?
Yep. Mozilla and Gentoo hacking.

6) Whats the most effective way to learn programming in your opinion?
c- books.
Plus lots of trial and error.

7) When you were in the "learning" level (or if you are currently), how much time do you spend on learning programming daily?
About 2 or 3 hours, perhaps. I really can't remember.

8) How old were you when you made your first program that people loved or your first game that people enjoy?
That would be about 25
Seriously, though, that must have been some of my JavaScript stuff, so I was 17.

9) Do you program\learn depending on your mood , or its something you enjoy doing every day and all the time?
Depending on mood, but I'm usually in the mood.

10) If you learn from book(s) , how many pages do you read a day?
Depends on whether I actively follow along (then it's perhaps 30 or 40) or if I want to read the book (then it's 200-300).

11) Do you "get sick" of programming and leave it for a while? how long and how often?
I often find myself devoid of ideas what to do. I don't get sick of programming itself.

[”]12) When you think that you can help someone in the programming boards , what would you do?[/b]
All of the options. If I know, then I know. If I'm not sure, then I might look it up, but if I'm also in a lazy mood I just post with a disclaimer.

13) Are you good at network and\or game programming? if not , do you think you will be in the next year?
No and no.

14) Are you planning to get a programming job?
Yep. Or something similar.

15) Do you make money out of programming currently? (not talking about jobs)
Yes. Little by-demand jobs like JavaScripts or PHP stuff.

Originally Posted by stovellp

On #15, apart from say teaching or writing software to hack into banks, what else can one do to earn money from programming that doesn't include jobs?

Side project that you get payed for?

0) where are you from ? :

Hannover, Germany. ( And mark that second 'n' in there. It's Hannover. Don't dare to leave it out. I don't spell New York as New Ork either. )

1) How old are you? :

Too close to 30 for comfort

2) How old were you when you started learning a programming language? :

Around 15 I guess.

3) What was it ? :

Omicron BASIC using an Atari ST

4) What were your motivations? :

I'm a control freak. I want my computer to be my slave on command, not my chaotic typewriter that might do what I want occasionally.

5) Do you program as a hobby ? :

I did. But I have a job and program 8 hours a day. So it's not like I come home and do some additional recreational programming. Sometimes I do on weekends.

6) Whats the most effective way to learn programming in your opinion :
a- Experiencing (without reading books or tutorials).
b- online tutorials.
c- books.
d- courses\lectures

All together. Don't miss out on one. Online tutorials are cheap. Books are better. But you cannot ask a question without a real teacher in a course/lecture. Which in turn isn't available all the time like a good book. Use all.

Another aspect is teaching. You learn a lot by teaching others. I don't think you can rightfully call yourself a master of anything if you haven't taught it successfully.

7) When you were in the "learning" level (or if you are currently), how much time do you spend on learning programming daily?

With BASIC at school, as much time as the rest of my busy youth would allow... maybe two or three hours per week. With lectures in school, 3 hours per week plus homework. Later 40h weeks with lectures. You don't stop learning after that. Even if you have a job in programming, you are constantly learning ( or better be ).

8) How old were you when you made your first program that people loved or your first game that people enjoy? :

I made a dungeon master clone at maybe 16, but that wasn't such a huge success given the facts that it had just one level, one kind of enemy and the original Dungeon Master game was available for free on the school yard. However, looking back I like it a lot, because I had no clue about the theory of graphics, but some art & math courses at school were enough to put it together. Looked horrible, had 4 colors and was slow as hell... but it worked.
Built a character builder for AD&D 2nd, which we were religiously playing at that time. This was simpler, but a bigger success. At least with the 3 guys in our group that had an Atari ST

9) Do you program\learn depending on your mood , or its something you enjoy doing every day and all the time?

Every day, or I'd feel pretty miserable in my job. Obviously there are days when you wake up and ask yourself why you didn't become a pornstar, but I guess everyone has those days no matter what you do. ( Maybe except porn stars, a penny for their thoughts *g* ).

10) If you learn from book(s) , how many pages do you read a day?

Depends on the book. If it's easy, I blow through 100 pages an hour, if it's tough stuff, I can ponder over a single page for a week.

11) Do you "get sick" of programming and leave it for a while? how long and how often?

No. If I have the freedom of choice ( i.e. not job related ) I sometimes don't program for weeks. But not because I'm sick of it, but because of priorities. If my day had 48 hours, I would probably squeeze some programming in there as well.

12) When you think that you can help someone in the programming boards , what would you do? :
a- Help them with stuff i know\remember.
b- Try to be %100 sure of your answer before posting either by google , compiling codes or any other way.
c- say whatever i know even if im not so sure.

I try to be sure of what I say before I open my ( virtual ) mouth. That way I gather less feet. But it's just my way of thinking and speaking. I hate people who do it the other way round. But they aren't in programming anyway, compilers aren't fooled by talking much or fast. Compilers only accept short, correct statements. Thats the way I like communication.

13) Are you good at network and\or game programming? if not , do you think you will be in the next year?

I wrote our servers' network code, so I guess I qualify. But even then, I used other peoples classes and frameworks. CSocket or WINSOCK2, at some point you will call other peoples code and pray.
I know a lot of theory concerning graphics and game programming, but without putting them to the test, I wouldn't say I'm good at it. I'm good at programming and pretty confident that I can learn anything I do not know yet.

14) Are you planning to get a programming job?

No, one is enough, thanks

15) Do you make money out of programming currently? (not talking about jobs)

Apart from my job and sometimes working at home for my company ? No

0) where are you from ? : Tucson, Arizona

1) How old are you? : 19

2) How old were you when you started learning a programming language? : 16 or 17

3) What was it ? : BASIC

4) What were your motivations? : To make games

5) Do you program as a hobby ? : Yes

6) Whats the most effective way to learn programming in your opinion :
a- Experiencing (without reading books or tutorials).
b- online tutorials.
c- books.
d- courses\lectures

All of the above

7) When you were in the "learning" level (or if you are currently), how much time do you spend on learning programming daily?
4-5 hours

8) How old were you when you made your first program that people loved or your first game that people enjoy? :
18

9) Do you program\learn depending on your mood , or its something you enjoy doing every day and all the time?
All of the time man I am such a loser

10) If you learn from book(s) , how many pages do you read a day?
When I score a book which is rare I will knock down 30-40 pages depending of how good I fell

11) Do you "get sick" of programming and leave it for a while? how long and how often?
Sometimes I get angry and leave for a couple of days

12) When you think that you can help someone in the programming boards , what would you do? :
a- Help them with stuff i know\remember.
b- Try to be %100 sure of your answer before posting either by google , compiling codes or any other way.
c- say whatever i know even if im not so sure.

All of the above

13) Are you good at network and\or game programming? if not , do you think you will be in the next year?
Decent, yes

14) Are you planning to get a programming job?
Yes

15) Do you make money out of programming currently? (not talking about jobs)
I wish

Hannover, Germany. ( And mark that second 'n' in there. It's Hannover. Don't dare to leave it out. I don't spell New York as New Ork either. )

New Ork is definitely bad, though you might be able to get away with Nyork.