The only thing I don't like about programming

[y99q]

I'm not a very verbal person (I'm more into numbers and actually writing out code) so I find that the most challenging part about programming is memorizing definitions and explaining concepts.

For example, polymorphism. The definition I have committed to memory is "it's a feature that allows multiple classes to have members with the same name but different functionality."

I don't know how good of a definition is. My guess is that it's very poor and a lot of programmers will object.

The thing is, I have known for many many years that if you have, say, a class named Father, a class named Son, and a class named Daughter, and both Son and Daughter inherit from Father, then Son and Daughter are considered Father types. Then you can declare two variables of type Father, initialize one by creating a new instance of the Son class, and initialize the other one by creating a new instance of the Daughter class. Now you have two variables of type Father, whose classes can have members with the same name but different functionality. So when you call an instance method using the name of one of those Father type variables, you may get different functionality depending on whether that Father type is also a Son type or a Daughter type.

That's a very long explanation that relies on too many examples and frankly, even ignoring the fact that I'd probably lose my train of thought several times during the explanation, I don't think I would impress anyone during an interview if I were to give that answer, not to mention that the interviewer would probably have a field day poking holes through my explanation.

So it boils down to ignoring the fact that I think I can write clean, syntactically correct code, and just concentrate on memorizing verbal information.

That's the thing I don't like about programming.

(You might say that reciting definitions is not programming, but you need to be able to do it if you want to get hired work as a programmer.)

Does anyone else feel the same way?

[AndrewHunter]

Sounds to me like you need to read some programming theory books........

[Fordy]

Being able to recite verbal descriptions of things like polymorphism isn't too important outside of education. More important is to understand these things in a way that you will be able and willing to use them. Once you can do that as second nature when looking at how you will tackle a problem, you wont be scouring your mind for a verbal description but will be trying to convey what you are already confident about in words. This is easier to do.

There are lots of good books on C++ theory and implementation. Two books that helped me were Scott Meyers Effective C++ and More Effective C++. The first book as some good chapters on inheritance, polymorphism, interfaces, etc. Investing a little time and money this way might make a real difference for you.

[CommonTater]

So it boils down to ignoring the fact that I think I can write clean, syntactically correct code, and just concentrate on memorizing verbal information.

What you appear to be missing is that these "verbal definitions" are part and parcel of programming... If your boss walks in and says "I need you to help Joe with his polymophic class structure"... you had better know what that means and what to do about it.

Typing crap into a glorified text editor is only a small part of programming...

Just wait till you see a detailed task description... then you'll wish you had bothered to understand instead of just memorizing.