How long did it take you to become "proficient" at C/C++

For those who feel that they are very good at programming in C and/or C++, how long did it take you to be "very good" at using either or both of the languages?

2 Years of formal C/C++ education 5 hours/week
2 Years of work 40h/week.
1 Year of helping members here ( teaching teaches you a lot more then just using something )

I wouldn't say I wasn't proficient with C/C++ when I started working, but there is a bunch of stuff that only experience can show you.

Everything I did before or in those 5 years I'd only touch with a long pole or a chemical protection suit because it will surely break at one point or another, be horribly formatted or a coding mess :D

I used C for about 4 of the 5 years I was in college... I was pretty good with it when I left, but here I am, 2 years later, having used C maybe 5 times since then and I really don't remember much of it. Could I pick it up and use it again in a short period? Sure. And maybe my next job will make me... we'll see.

If you're just asking how long it'll take you to get good at a language, well, that depends on you. Do you understand programming concepts in general? Have you programmed in anything else? How fast do you learn? How much time do you have to practice?

It's a sily question, when you really think about it.

>It's a sily question, when you really think about it.

Yes I guess it is. lol. But i was just wondering how long it takes most people to learn such "large" languages like C and C++.

>How fast do you learn?
Not sure....I've always been a part of accelerated courses that force-feed new information down our throats so I guess I can learn fast enough. lol.

I really enjoy learning C++ and programming in general and I probably won't stop trying to find something new to learn about so this question is really not of personal concern or anything, just out of curiosity.

I've been using it on and off for about eight years but I am nowhere near proficient.

>> But i was just wondering how long it takes most people to learn such "large" languages like C and C++.

Define "large". There are other languages that are just as complex.... and if you plan to wrap your head around the entire language, you're attacking it wrong. Even the smartest programmers here probably don't know every detail of the language. I've been programming for close to 7 years. I've tackled and can use close to 10 different programming/scripting languages, all quite well. That doesn't mean I know everything or even close to everything about any of them. That's what resources are for... to retain the knowledge you don't know by heart yet.

ober's right - even in C++, the language I know best, I'm constantly revisiting references just to make sure I have the right idea in mind - and that's after three semesters of formal learning, along with my own learning for 3+ years now.

most languages I know I couldn't do much with without refereces... Including C++, I've used about 7 languages ATM.

IMO, there are other languages out there that are much more complex than C++... Java, for instance... but that may be just because I'm currently trying to learn more about it for my next school...

In my case, giving a figure would be misleading. I had been programming in Fortran for many years before we received our first C compiler. The migration from Fortran to C is not great.

2 years of self teaching C++ and still no where near "proficient"

1-2 years to become proficient. 13 more and still learning loads.

I've been programming with C++ coming up three years this year...wow, I can't believe it's been that long already O.o

But yah, I consider myself more-or-less proficient, but there's always more to learn.

becoming proficient with a language? languages are generally easy to learn, becomming proficient as a programmer... takes a long time...

being proficient is easy for me... not being lazy is the hard part.

>> But i was just wondering how long it takes most people to learn such "large" languages like C and C++.

C is a small simple language, easy to learn. C++ is a LOT bigger and has a LOT more concepts and things to learn...

And then there are the times when you think you are getting not too bad at the language, and somehow get using a function the wrong way - or forget _exactly_ how a given function works - so you have it in mind the one way, and it is not quite the way you remember - try and figure one of those 'bugs' out - ;) Better to not know at all, as at least you can look it up in a reference - but to incorrectly remember how it is used - that's a sow.

::edit

Not to say that sort of thing has happened to me....