HN Explorer

How should one learn real world C and C++?

2 points by kermitthehermit ↗ HN
I recently got my bachelor's degree and I'm feeling like I really need to get to do something useful in the real world.

Reading books doesn't help. Sure, you learn the syntax, how the language works and that's about it. There might be some useful tips in the book, but that's not how I seem to learn. This is why I consider myself an absolute beginner.

I need something which actually helps me learn how to write useful code. I really want to start with C as I will need both C and C++ in the future.

What methods should one use to move from writing "toy projects" to real world coding? Which projects would be recommended to start with?

Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!

4 comments

[ 4.0 ms ] story [ 16.9 ms ] thread
scrame
You just graduated, and you want to write something you feel is worthwhile, understandable.

You want to write it in a language that has "staying power", understandable.

You will not learn to code C (or any other language) by writing a library out of whole cloth.

Write a small program (in any language) that fixes a problem that you have with computers.

Then, find out what you did wrong with that program. Fix it. Then, profile it. Figure out what your program is spending time on, and make that time more efficient,

Refactor that code, and profile it again. Realize that you are not constrained by hardware, and your JIT interpreter is missing some obvious optimizations.

If you can call that, then you shouldn't worry about getting a job.

( ps. C and C++ are different things. C++ is not the next step after C. Be wary of positions that say they are the same. )

kermitthehermit
Thank you for the advice.

I am aware that the two aren't the same thing. I just want to use them for various tasks (C for unix system programming and C++ for cross platform apps).

queensnake
The most 'whole' answer you'll find, by the director of Google's R+D, Peter Norvig, if you aren't already familiar with him:

http://norvig.com/21-days.html

kermitthehermit
I had forgotten about that programming in 10 years thing completely. However, he's right, thank you for reminding me.

I am still looking for various little projects to code.