how to become a hardcore programmer

[Rammohan Vadlamani]

Hi all,
         I have been practising java programming for the past one year and have learnt pretty much of it. But I want to program really big stuff. Can any one tell me how should I proceed. I have also heard that algorithms and mathematics play a big role in programming. Can any one let me know the significance of algorithms and maths in the field of computer programming.

Rammohan

[Andre Brown]

Programming is all about practice and experience.  So my advice to you would be to work on some projects.  Start a personal programming project - perhaps a small desktop application to begin with.  Make it something you want to use, something that matters to you.  You may also try participating in some open source projects.

On the math part, the good programmers I know are also good at math.  I think being good at math makes you a better programmer, but you don't have to be good at math to be a good programmer.  If you are a logical thinker, then you should be fine.

That's my two cents worth.

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[Nuno Garcia]

Hi, I'm picking the last part of the question to answer you.

Everyone knows how important the prime numbers are in Computer
Science. And also everyone should know that there is no algorithm to
compute / identify if a number is prime or not: you just have to
divide the number consecutively by others until you conclude that
there are no divisors and thus the number is prime.

The difference between knowing your math and do this in a brute force
approach is the difference between being able to calculate if a number
is prime or not (specially for very large numbers).

For instance, is a number is not divisible by 2, it will not be
divisible by 4, or by 6 or by any other pair. So if you conclude that
the number is not divisible by 3, you can skip the pairs in the
division check. And the same thing applies to multiples of 3, 5, and
so on.

This is just using concrete maths. You can find examples in almost any
area of maths, for example, in graph theory. The shortest path
algorithm that routes our data packets in the Internet is a purely
mathematical algorithm which happens to be usable in computer networks
(thanks, E. Dijkstra!).

Best regards,

Nuno

2009/12/10 Rammohan Vadlamani <rmm...@gmail.com>:

[André Perroni Luchesi]

Hi Rammohan,

 

One first good step is reading this great article: http://norvig.com/21-days.html

 

Math and algorithms really plays a big role in computing. Both sciences will help you to develop better codes without bugs (or at least as few as possible) and your application will be less expensive to the hardware.

 

But there isn’t an easy way to learn, you have to practice, a lot!!!

 

Andre.

 

 

----- Original Message -----

--

[Jesse Lesperance]

A correction to your statement, there ARE algorithims to calculate the
prime of any given number. In fact, those algorithims are used for
many things like SSL encryption

Sent from my iPhone

On Dec 10, 2009, at 7:22 PM, "Nuno Garcia" <nuno.m...@gmail.com>
wrote:

[Warain, Jessie]

Riehmann's hypothesis?


------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------
Jessie Warain, AE
"I do not fear computers. I fear the lack of them. "
------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------

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[mcalex]

a clarification to the correction
There ARE algorithms to calculate whether a given number is prime or
not. Here is one:
<quote="Nuno Garcia">You just have to divide the number consecutively

by others until you conclude that

there are no divisors and thus the number is prime</quote>
There ISN'T an algorithm that provides a list of prime numbers or for
instance, the first prime number bigger than 1,000,000.

On Dec 11, 11:27 am, "Jesse Lesperance" <Jesse.Lespera...@cbs.com>
wrote:

> A correction to your statement, there ARE algorithims to calculate the  
> prime of any given number.  In fact, those algorithims are used for  
> many things like SSL encryption
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>

> On Dec 10, 2009, at 7:22 PM, "Nuno Garcia" <nuno.mgar...@gmail.com>  

> wrote:
>
>
>
> > Hi, I'm picking the last part of the question to answer you.
>
> > Everyone knows how important the prime numbers are in Computer
> > Science. And also everyone should know that there is no algorithm to
> > compute / identify if a number is prime or not: you just have to
> > divide the number consecutively by others until you conclude that
> > there are no divisors and thus the number is prime.
>
> > The difference between knowing your math and do this in a brute force
> > approach is the difference between being able to calculate if a number
> > is prime or not (specially for very large numbers).
>
> > For instance, is a number is not divisible by 2, it will not be
> > divisible by 4, or by 6 or by any other pair. So if you conclude that
> > the number is not divisible by 3, you can skip the pairs in the
> > division check. And the same thing applies to multiples of 3, 5, and
> > so on.
>
> > This is just using concrete maths. You can find examples in almost any
> > area of maths, for example, in graph theory. The shortest path
> > algorithm that routes our data packets in the Internet is a purely
> > mathematical algorithm which happens to be usable in computer networks
> > (thanks, E. Dijkstra!).
>
> > Best regards,
>
> > Nuno
>

> > 2009/12/10 Rammohan Vadlamani <rmmo...@gmail.com>:

> >> Hi all,
> >>          I have been practising java programming for the past one  
> >> year and
> >> have learnt pretty much of it. But I want to program really big  
> >> stuff. Can
> >> any one tell me how should I proceed. I have also heard that  
> >> algorithms and
> >> mathematics play a big role in programming. Can any one let me know  
> >> the
> >> significance of algorithms and maths in the field of computer  
> >> programming.
>
> >> Rammohan
>
> >> --
> >> To post to this group, send email to
> >> javaprogrammi...@googlegroups.com
> >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
> >> javaprogrammingwith...@googlegroups.com
> >> For more options, visit this group at
> >>http://groups.google.com/group/javaprogrammingwithpassion?hl=en
>
> > --
> > To post to this group, send email to javaprogrammi...@googlegroups.com
> > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to javaprogrammingwith...@googlegroups.com

> > For more options, visit this group athttp://groups.google.com/group/javaprogrammingwithpassion?hl=en- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[Nic Fox]

Hi

The best thing to do to work on large applications is to either get a developer job in an organisation or to contribute to an open source project. Most jobs in Java development these days seem to require J2EE/Java EE, and usually that also means familiarity with SQL/database technologies, and HTML/CSS is also required. It is also common to see Struts, Spring, JBoss or ZK frameworks being employed which extend Java EE capabilities. Hibernate is another popular framework used for implementing persistence/database features. There are quite a few other frameworks—I've just listed the ones that I see most often in job adverts for Java developers—so you might like to look at others such as Google Web Toolkit and Tapestry for example.

The use of algorithms or maths really depends on the type of programming you intend to do. You would find them used more in fields like games, simulation, scientific applications, artificial intelligence and statistical analysis. Proof of correct operation and application efficiency are also areas where maths and knowledge of algorithms count. Boolean logic is pretty important to computer programming in general, so it's always good to have an understanding of that no matter what you do in programming. Another useful thing to practice is coding existing algorithms or mathematical formulas in Java, because you will often be applying existing algorithms or theory anyway.

If you're looking for more general skills to gain as a developer I suggest finding out more about the following:

- Design principles:

- don't repeat yourself (DRY)

- "keep it simple, stupid" (KISS) and "you aren't gonna need it" (YAGNI)

- tight cohesion

- loose coupling

- favour composition over inheritance

- encapsulate what varies

- UML: good for building models of class/object relationships and interactions, as well as the flow of program logic.

- Design patterns: I can't offer much advice as these can be hard to understand and I've only scratched the surface in learning these myself. They are ways of implementing common programming tasks. You will find knowing about abstract classes, interfaces and UML to be handy in learning about design patterns.

Cheers

Nic

[Nuno Garcia]

True, I should have written: "And also everyone should know that there
is no _formula_ to

compute / identify if a number is prime or not: "

:-)

2009/12/11 mcalex <mcmc...@gmail.com>:

[George Dickson]

I'm also just starting out in Java programming - and its a bit daunting. I was sketching a diagram in my head the other day with all the connections - I'll try to describe it

1. Start of with knowledge of HTML the basis of any web page

2. Then you can put Javascript into the HTML

3. You can wrap the HTML up as a JSP

4. Then you can throw in some Java

5. Wrap it all up in a Model View Controller Design pattern....

6. which you could implement with something like Struts

7. Which is glued together with XML

8. Spring also seems to be important

9. then you need to learn the development tools like Eclipse IDE

10. and build tools like Ant/Maven and CVS

11. finally know about deploying it on webservers like Tomcat or JBoss.

so as I said ... all a bit daunting

[Nic Fox]

All good to know. Just take it one thing at a time—divide and conquer.

IMHO you don't really need to become an expert at all of the things in George's list, but it will be valuable to get the basics of them all down so you can learn the in-depth stuff once you have a need to use them on a project. For developers XML is pretty handy to know because it's used for XHTML, Flex and Ant as well.

Also I forgot to mention JUnit for unit testing, and Javadoc for documentation. Knowledge of either/both of these will help with your coding knowledge and also producing better code in Java.

[ceduardo]

Hi Rammohan I want to will be a power full programmer too, I like see the source code that find on Internet.

See this link can help you http://www.falstad.com/mathphysics.html

Bye.

PD: I am sorry but mi English is very bad.

2009/12/10 Rammohan Vadlamani <rmm...@gmail.com>

Hi all,
         I have been practising java programming for the past one year and have learnt pretty much of it. But I want to program really big stuff. Can any one tell me how should I proceed. I have also heard that algorithms and mathematics play a big role in programming. Can any one let me know the significance of algorithms and maths in the field of computer programming.

Rammohan

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ceduardo
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[* ^ *]

That is a mouthful. Seems like a high barrier to entry.

Any advise for a mid-career adult worker who one day may consider
going into this field.. or is it at all possible. Thank you.

> > javaprogrammingwith...@googlegroups.com<javaprogrammingwith passion%2Bunsu...@googlegroups.com>

[Genene Geda]

Nic good info. Do you know open source projects that a new java developer can contribute, I would like to do the same? Thanks,

 

From: javaprogrammi...@googlegroups.com [mailto:javaprogrammi...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Nic Fox
Sent: Thursday, December 10, 2009 11:28 PM
To: rmm...@gmail.com
Cc: javaprogrammi...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [java programming] how to become a hardcore programmer

 

Hi

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[Ashok A V]

Hi Genene Geda,

http://java-source.net/ is your entry point to all famous java
opensource projects to which you can contribute

Thanks,
Ashok A V

--
Victory belongs to the most persevering.
- Napoleon

[Ruby Hartono]

Hi, Rammohan Vadlamani

I agree with Andre Brown that you should start with small application first.
Like for me, I try to imitate a certain calculator program. At first I though it looks easy, however it is not as easy as I expected.
In my opinion, before you really proceed into a big program try to do the small program first and I believe you will gain something different from the exercise program that you ever created.