Adventures of a programmer

So you want to be a programmer? You
want to write web and desktop
applications. You want to develop software
for the iPhone and the Android market You
want to be a solutions provider to
companies and individuals alike. Let me
share tips that will help in your quest to be
one of us – the geeky do-gooders!
Like any other profession, IT requires
determination, patience and willingness to
persevere. The begining could be very
challenging and intimidating because you
might find it hard to figure out some ugly
looking write-ups called “codes”. You would
wonder why a line – JButton buttonObject =
new JButton(“Click Me”) – should create a
button with “Click Me” written on it in Java.
You might even be thinking about wireless
internet connections as some voodoo from
the west.
Being a PROGRAMMER or a SOFTWARE
DEVELOPER is not rocket science. It’s not as
hard as many make it seem. Those codes
that scare you seem to me as the easiest
part of our profession. Once you
understand the structure, the rules and the
syntax, basically the ‘logic’ of why codes
are written in programming language, the
rest is easy.
Also, note that the more you code, the
more you try out examples in the book you
are reading, the eaiser it will be for you to
master the coding techniques of the
language. I remember my NIIT (an Indian
school in Nigeria) days. I would always
volunteer to do the coding, ever willing to
help a mate identify errors in his/her code.
By the end of the first semester, my coding
skills was actually faultless.
Once you master coding, the rest depends
on how well you can think. Don’t wait for
your instructor to tell you what to do. Go
ahead and give yourself a pet project. It
could be as simple a project as creating a
database of students in your college with
information on their names, grades and
activities. Build it in bits. As your
knowledge grows, let the software you are
building grow in functionality as well. Who
knows, it just might turn out to be a gold
mine for you.
In my case, the pet project I did at NIIT,
Hospital Management System, kick started
my career and put me on the IT radar in
Nigeria. I travelled different states, met
high-profile people, addressed a cross
section of medical practitioners, all at the
age of 22! Since then, it’s been one
challenging project or the other.
You also need to start thinking like a
computer. Start viewing life and events
around you with an IT lens. You walk into a
resturant, order a pie and a drink totalling $
10. If you pay less than the total, the
computer rejects. What do you think is
happening there.? Consider this statement
If amount paid < 10. . . . tell
customer money incomplete else
Print reciept for customer.
If a Java programmer were to right
this, its simple
if(amount < 10)
{
showMessage(“Customer money
incomplete”);
}
else
{
printReceipt();
}
Another example. Imagine you are playing
the FIFA 2011 soccer game (Sorry, I’m a
game freak with a mate and at the end of
the first half, the match analysis is
displayed showing that your team had 3
corner kicks and 2 offsides. What comes to
your mind? It means there is a ‘variable’ to
store value for each of those game
highlights. The variable is set to zero at
kickoff and incremented by 1 anytime you
win a corner kick or caught offside. At the
end of the half, the variables are retrieved
and presented to you. If you did not win a
corner kick, the variable remains zero. Does
it make sense?
Bottom line here is how logically you can
break down or tear apart any situation in
daily life and apply it to programming. This
will determine your pace of learning as
well. Start paying attention to the things
you normally ignore. From your ATM
machine telling you “Insufficient Funds” to
your webmail application returning an
‘Invalid Login’ message. The more you
understand the dynamics behind these
simple things, the faster it will be for you to
come up with solutions to problems related
to IT, technology, finance, pharma,
healthcare, education and even
entertainment and sports industries (think
about cricket match analysis on your TV).
Again, don’t expect that you will master the
syntax or grammar of coding in a day or
learn computer languages immediately. The
more you write them, the easier they are
for you to recall.
Note also, that not everyone will end up
being a coder, however, a good
understanding of the intricacies involved
will help. So, for instance, if you decide to
be an IT Project Manager or an Application
Specification Developer amongst other
fields, you should have the basic
understanding of coding and programming.
Finally, you need a writing pad. As the wind
blows new ideas to your direction, write
them down. What kind of idea it is, who will
it affect or who are the target audience,
what do you need to bring it to life,
revenue generation strategies and so on,
should be penned.
Source: www.javamylove.wordpress.com
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