Software Development and Programming Careers (Official Discussion Thread)

[MaccabeanRebel]

Have you tried any stuff with Scheme or other languages like that?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Functional_programming#Coding_styles

^^ not very useful right now but more sexy in some respects than C type programming

Scheme/lisp is one of my favorite languages..functional programming is becoming more and more relevant these days due to the highly concurrent nature of the world we live in. I suggest you try to learn a functional languages like clojure/scheme/lisp/ocaml along with C. The imperative languages are JUST as important as the functional ones. I would suggest everyone here to read a book called Structured Interpretations of Computer Programs (SICP)..one of the best programming books ever and its free. It will literally change your programming style in every other language you program in...Got me programming in python like this presentation here http://ua.pycon.org/static/talks/kachayev/

 

[Richard Wright]

I just enrolled in classes to get a degree in Media design and game programming. I'm about to take C++ I believe.

Anybody know what math is most dominant? I already took (and aced) Calculus I to Differential Equations as well as Physics I-III (my even stronger subjects). Problem is I haven't been to school in roughly a year.

Discrete Structures

 

[Type Username Here]

I just enrolled in classes to get a degree in Media design and game programming. I'm about to take C++ I believe.

Anybody know what math is most dominant? I already took (and aced) Calculus I to Differential Equations as well as Physics I-III (my even stronger subjects). Problem is I haven't been to school in roughly a year.

Linear Algebra, Discrete Math and Advanced Computer Science classes like Analyzing Algorithms are great to learn. Linear Algebra is especially important for programming graphics.

Best thing to read up on outside of traditional math is material covering Logic Design or Logic Implementation.

 

[Type Username Here]

 

[Crakface]

Go to thenewboston's youtube channel. Great tutorials there on programming.

 

[Blackking]

I never really did anything without a college or instructor or someone showing me but.....

Groupon has some great deals on self learning stuff:

84% Off a Learn-to-Code Course Bundle from Udemy
A coding bundle includes 10 lecture series on programming languages, such as Ruby, MySQL5, PHP, and JavaScript



Career Academy - Online Deal
$69 for CompTIA A+, Network+ and Security+ IT Certification Training Bundle from Career Academy ($1,485 Value)

 

[Lex218]

What are some good skills/traits to be a programmer/developer?
What are good languages for someone starting from scratch? I'm looking towards either mobile development or web development

 

[Renkz]

How important is flow charts and psueocode, my professor is very strict and has spent 2 weeks on this even though it's simple. He wants it to be very detail is that necessary?

 

[yseJ]

Scheme/lisp is one of my favorite languages..functional programming is becoming more and more relevant these days due to the highly concurrent nature of the world we live in. I suggest you try to learn a functional languages like clojure/scheme/lisp/ocaml along with C. The imperative languages are JUST as important as the functional ones. I would suggest everyone here to read a book called Structured Interpretations of Computer Programs (SICP)..one of the best programming books ever and its free. It will literally change your programming style in every other language you program in...Got me programming in python like this presentation here http://ua.pycon.org/static/talks/kachayev/

did you go to uc berkeley by any chance ? that book is the cornerstone of the first real programming course for freshmen, lol everyone knows that book.
scheme is really good for theory purpose

python is really great for scripting, but terrible for optimization (well no shyt, its interpreted lol)

 

[Data-Hawk]

I just enrolled in classes to get a degree in Media design and game programming. I'm about to take C++ I believe.

Anybody know what math is most dominant? I already took (and aced) Calculus I to Differential Equations as well as Physics I-III (my even stronger subjects). Problem is I haven't been to school in roughly a year.

Geometry
Trig
Linear algebra(matrices)
Physics ( lighting, fluids. Collision detection )

But Today's engines handle a lot of the math for you. But you still need to understand it

You'll spend a lot of time with rotations, finding the distance between objects,angles,vectors.etc

I'm on my iPad right now so I won't bother with posting the link, but look up the book 3D math primer for graphics and game programmers and mathematics for Game programmers and computer graphics.


Here's a good talk if you are interested

 

[Type Username Here]

How important is flow charts and psueocode, my professor is very strict and has spent 2 weeks on this even though it's simple. He wants it to be very detail is that necessary?

VERY IMPORTANT. What class is this? What is your major? These flow charts and pseudocode get much more difficult as you progress in your degree. A lot of logic goes into dealing with automata and proofs.

I've been to three interviews (one for employement, one for internships and one for research) while at uni, and every single one asked for pseudocode, graph theory and software design (flow chart, state machine, automata related) questions. I've applied to most of the big companies and all of them will ask for the aforementioned things. You literally have to study to get through several tests for these companies. That's what I'm doing right now. Some of the questions are easy but some you have to brush up on (at least in my case).

Anyone can learn how to code. You have kids and teens who teach themselves. A lot of jobs coding alone might suffice. But the really good jobs and to climb you have to know math, algorithm analysis, graph theory, software design (i.e., set up for coding) along with a lot of other things. Writing pseudocode and designing your project properly is artwork.

 

[Type Username Here]

Geometry
Trig
Linear algebra(matrices)
Physics ( lighting, fluids. Collision detection )

But Today's engines handle a lot of the math for you. But you still need to understand it

You'll spend a lot of time with rotations, finding the distance between objects,angles,vectors.etc

I'm on my iPad right now so I won't bother with posting the link, but look up the book 3D math primer for graphics and game programmers and mathematics for Game programmers and computer graphics.


Here's a good talk if you are interested

Not to mention understanding algorithm efficiency and proofs. Time is money and algorithm analysis is time as my prof says.

 

[Bomberman]

Geometry
Trig
Linear algebra(matrices)
Physics ( lighting, fluids. Collision detection )

But Today's engines handle a lot of the math for you. But you still need to understand it

You'll spend a lot of time with rotations, finding the distance between objects,angles,vectors.etc

I'm on my iPad right now so I won't bother with posting the link, but look up the book 3D math primer for graphics and game programmers and mathematics for Game programmers and computer graphics.


Here's a good talk if you are interested

Thanks for the advice breh, appreciate it. I'm comfortable with all of the above, except when you say Linear Algebra are you just talking matrix algebra or the fundamental concepts (vector spaces eigen values, etc.) aka the real bulk? It's been awhile since I've messed with those matrices...

Appreciate the help from everyone else also. About to start this programming jump when my first course in C++ begins in a few weeks.

Only thing I'm thrown off about is the math tree required at my school only goes up to Calculus II, and from there it goes to Discrete Math and that's where it stops. I'm assuming they'll introduce the rest of the math inside the graphics classes themselves.

 

[Type Username Here]

Thanks for the advice breh, appreciate it. I'm comfortable with all of the above, except when you say Linear Algebra are you just talking matrix algebra or the fundamental concepts (vector spaces eigen values, etc.) aka the real bulk? It's been awhile since I've messed with those matrices...

Appreciate the help from everyone else also. About to start this programming jump when my first course in C++ begins in a few weeks.

Only thing I'm thrown off about is the math tree required only goes up to Calculus II, and from there it goes to Discrete Math and that's where it stops. I'm assuming they'll introduce the rest of the math inside the graphics classes themselves?

Calc II is enough. I'd take a Differential Equations class if possible but the bulk of it will come from Discrete Math and Linear Algebra (along with algorithm/computational theory classes later on, assuming those are on the curriculum). As @Data-Hawk said, a lot of the time the software/APIs will do the hard work for you.

 

[Richard Wright]

Thanks for the advice breh, appreciate it. I'm comfortable with all of the above, except when you say Linear Algebra are you just talking matrix algebra or the fundamental concepts (vector spaces eigen values, etc.) aka the real bulk? It's been awhile since I've messed with those matrices...

Appreciate the help from everyone else also. About to start this programming jump when my first course in C++ begins in a few weeks.

Only thing I'm thrown off about is the math tree required at my school only goes up to Calculus II, and from there it goes to Discrete Math and that's where it stops. I'm assuming they'll introduce the rest of the math inside the graphics classes themselves.

Discrete Math is a very broad subject, the standard textbook is far too large to cover in a single semester and even with that said it does not go too deep into any topic. Discrete math will cover what you need to know, and it will be up to you to go deeper into the topics of the course when necessary.