Timeline for Learn programming backwards, or "so I failed the FizzBuzz test. Now what?" [closed]
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
48 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Sep 20, 2015 at 20:43 | history | edited | ChrisF | edited tags | |
| S May 8, 2015 at 13:53 | history | notice added | Thomas Owens♦ | Historical significance | |
| S May 8, 2015 at 13:53 | history | locked | Thomas Owens♦ | ||
| May 8, 2015 at 13:53 | history | closed | Thomas Owens♦ | Not suitable for this site | |
| S May 8, 2015 at 13:53 | history | notice removed | Thomas Owens♦ | ||
| S May 8, 2015 at 13:53 | history | unlocked | Thomas Owens♦ | ||
| S May 8, 2015 at 13:53 | history | notice added | Thomas Owens♦ | Historical significance | |
| S May 8, 2015 at 13:53 | history | locked | Thomas Owens♦ | ||
| Jul 31, 2012 at 16:31 | answer | added | Abhijeet Kashnia | timeline score: -1 | |
| Jul 19, 2012 at 14:59 | comment | added | TarkaDaal | I interview people, and I ask similar questions. I've had people come in who didn't know the modulus operator. The good ones wrote the loops, called a IsDivisibleByThree(int n) method, then tried to write that seperately. Some came up with a working solution without it. I'd then show them mod, see if they can use it. Points being, A) there's more than one way to skin a cat, B) If you're practicing, not knowing the answers teaches you more, so that's okay, C) When it counts, solve the problem be any means neccessary. | |
| Jul 5, 2012 at 19:44 | answer | added | John O | timeline score: 0 | |
| Jun 15, 2012 at 15:18 | history | edited | haylem | CC BY-SA 3.0 | added 149 characters in body; edited tags |
| Jun 15, 2012 at 14:39 | comment | added | vartec | I can do more: "Unfortunately, spending 6 more years in med school is not an option right now, so I'm trying to learn all I can from books and online resources. This method is never going to have CDC employ me but I really don't care right now. My goal is to first pass the bar and to be able to call myself a real M.D." :-P | |
| Jun 15, 2012 at 14:07 | comment | added | moraleida | @vartec I'll take it that your're just being ironic. If I was in this for the money/hype I could just as easily have kept to the executive career which indeed paid much better and with less effort. :) | |
| Jun 15, 2012 at 13:51 | comment | added | vartec | @moraleida: right, plumbing it the correct comparison :-P codinghorror.com/blog/2012/05/please-dont-learn-to-code.html | |
| Jun 15, 2012 at 12:31 | comment | added | moraleida | @vartec I'd say comparing any prfessional field to medicine and surgery is the academic equivalent of Godwin's Law. You won, here's your badge. | |
| Jun 15, 2012 at 12:06 | comment | added | vartec | "I'm 28 today, and I've never had any formal training in medicine, but I do have two higher education degrees equivalent to a B.A in Public Relations and an Executive MBA focused on Project Management. After a month thinking things through I decided to start freelancing prescribing paracetamol for headaches. [...] So, my current situation is this: I'm basically capable of performing surgery (with the help of Google and a few books)... But I was stranded yesterday trying to figure out (not Google) a solution for a case because I didn't have memorized difference between lungs and stomach." | |
| Jun 15, 2012 at 1:21 | answer | added | Nick Spreitzer | timeline score: 0 | |
| Jun 14, 2012 at 6:16 | comment | added | Ubermensch | Also, as Old Pro switch to an other language such as Python or Haskell (or any other, these two are my preferences and are poles apart and getting over them would just expand your knowledge a lot) . PHP is mostly for designing website front-ends | |
| Jun 14, 2012 at 6:11 | comment | added | Ubermensch | @moraleida You can enroll and learn in online courses such as coursera coursera.org or Udacity udacity.com. Since you are a self-learner, these courses would definitely take you to the next level | |
| Jun 14, 2012 at 5:09 | answer | added | tomByrer | timeline score: 4 | |
| Jun 14, 2012 at 5:04 | comment | added | Old Pro | PHP is a horrible programming language and you should not try to learn programming by using PHP. Learn Java, and learn programming by coding in Java, because it was specifically designed to be easy to learn and hard to screw up. It also forces you into many helpful programming patterns that are important to learn even if they can be tedious at times. There is also a ton of example code, tutorials, and other instruction in Java freely available. | |
| Jun 14, 2012 at 3:26 | answer | added | dr jimbob | timeline score: 27 | |
| Jun 14, 2012 at 1:39 | answer | added | Bryan Bojorque | timeline score: -3 | |
| Jun 14, 2012 at 0:48 | answer | added | StasM | timeline score: 11 | |
| Jun 13, 2012 at 21:12 | comment | added | Caleb Jares | I encounter little gotcha's every day. If you're learning a new language, you just have to be able to Google well. There's no short-and-easy way of transposing math perfectly to a language. You have to follow its rules (and with programming languages you have so much less to learn than a regular one like German!). | |
| Jun 13, 2012 at 20:35 | comment | added | Loren Pechtel | Not knowing the modulus operator is not a reason to fail FizzBuzz. When you find something missing you have to be able to work around it. | |
| Jun 13, 2012 at 19:36 | answer | added | Will | timeline score: 3 | |
| Jun 13, 2012 at 19:34 | history | tweeted | twitter.com/#!/StackProgrammer/status/212991418476675073 | ||
| Jun 13, 2012 at 19:00 | comment | added | octern | @grossvogel Exactly! One of the reasons people like Fizzbuzz is that there are so many ways to solve it. It's not just a trick to see if you know the modulus operator. One key programming skill is the ability to translate a problem from the form in which it's stated into the form that's best for your knowledge / tools / resources / etc. | |
| Jun 13, 2012 at 18:50 | vote | accept | moraleida | ||
| Jun 13, 2012 at 18:49 | history | edited | moraleida | CC BY-SA 3.0 | added 155 characters in body |
| Jun 13, 2012 at 18:08 | comment | added | MattDavey | I'd like to throw a slightly different suggestion at you here. Reading programming books isn't necessarily the answer, instead try reading books like this. Any good programmer needs highly developed skills in critical thinking. Think outside the box - programming books don't contain everything you need to learn to be a good programmer :) | |
| Jun 13, 2012 at 18:03 | history | edited | moraleida | CC BY-SA 3.0 | added 559 characters in body; edited tags; edited title |
| Jun 13, 2012 at 18:02 | history | edited | gnat | CC BY-SA 3.0 | spelling cleanup, tags |
| Jun 13, 2012 at 18:01 | comment | added | grossvogel | Relating to the stuck b/c I didn't memorize % issue, it's worth noting that there are other ways to do this: (assuming $n2 != 0) if (is_int ($n1 / $n2)) or if (($n1 / $n2) == (int) ($n1 / $n2)) Knowing keywords is one thing, and knowing how to express the underlying ideas in the absence of a built-in solution is another. | |
| Jun 13, 2012 at 17:44 | answer | added | user11946 | timeline score: 60 | |
| Jun 13, 2012 at 17:35 | answer | added | John MacIntyre | timeline score: 8 | |
| Jun 13, 2012 at 17:30 | comment | added | hanzolo | I'm also a self taught programmer.. been at it over 10 years now, all web, all the time.. back then there were no web development classes... i think there's some benefit to learning on your own. you're really going to want to learn about the fundamental OO principles and design patterns. they'll help you out a lot having them in the back of your head when attacking problems.. I generally find that I dont always have the vocab that others have, but if you enjoy coding, and enjoy writing elegant solutions, then eventually you'll be able to code your way into whatever you want | |
| Jun 13, 2012 at 17:25 | comment | added | Spencer Rathbun | Hmm, you seem pretty up to speed. Just continually improve, realizing this takes time, and learn good problem solving. | |
| Jun 13, 2012 at 16:59 | comment | added | fredoverflow | "Code: The Hidden Language [...]" is one of the best books I have ever read. | |
| Jun 13, 2012 at 16:47 | answer | added | DeadMG | timeline score: 22 | |
| Jun 13, 2012 at 16:43 | comment | added | moraleida | I meant I'm able to work my way around solving any problems however slowly. I knew which structure the answer should have and I had used modulus calculation before, referenced from the php manual on a 30s google search, but not enough times to memorize its syntax. | |
| Jun 13, 2012 at 16:38 | answer | added | Erik Dietrich | timeline score: 9 | |
| Jun 13, 2012 at 16:33 | comment | added | phant0m | When I read this: I'm basically capable of writing any complete system in PHP (with the help of Google and a few books) and combine this with you not knowing if($n1 % $n2 == 0), I wonder about the exposure you've had to things written in PHP. I think most things you do go beyond a simple modulo calculation. Could you give some more insight into what you think you are able to do? | |
| Jun 13, 2012 at 16:29 | answer | added | joshin4colours | timeline score: 5 | |
| Jun 13, 2012 at 16:24 | answer | added | haylem | timeline score: 144 | |
| Jun 13, 2012 at 16:19 | history | asked | moraleida | CC BY-SA 3.0 |