[H-GEN] Future Programing Advice

[Ben Carlyle]

[ Humbug *General* list - semi-serious discussions about Humbug and ]
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> Simon Robertson wrote:

> From all of your advive I am planning on trying to self-teach myself C
> languange till the end of the year. Then next year I will travel daily
> from the Sunshine Coast (Noosa) to Brisbane to do a Cert.IV in IT
> (Programming) with the company Software Engineering Australia (S.E.A.)
> for 6 months, and possibly go on to a Diploma for an extra 6 months.
> This happens to cost a bit but gets a better understanding of
> programming than at Uni. in alot shorter time.

Simon,

Just be aware of the difference between uni and TAFE-like courses.
TAFE-like courses teach the fundamentals of how to put while loops
together, how to write a program using the standard libries, how
the syntax of your language of choice works, what kinds of problems
you can expect to run into.  It's a practical view of programming.
University teaches something completely different, design. University
attempts to instill an idea of how programs should fit together,
what really makes them tick, what kinds of language features will
make the program easier or harder to develop, how to go about
systematically constructing and testing a large software project for
delievery according to schedule.

Both come from completely different ends of the field, and although
each will give you some inkling of the other neither will give you
the whole view.  They both have considerable merit.  The best
software engineers I know, however, have gone through university
(often up to honours or masters degree level) but had already taught
themselves programming from the TAFE-like side before they started
to formally learn about the big picture.  Be very cautious about
getting out of a TAFE-like course thinking you know how to develop
programs, just as you should be cautious if you were leaving
University.  Neither will teach you enough for you to work on your
own.  TAFE focuses on teaching you what you need to know to be a
code-monkey who writes what he's told.  University teaches you
what you need to know how to organise the code monkeys, but can
be completely useless unless you know what it means to be a code
monkey yourself.

Anyways, good hunting... don't expect to learn everything at once :)


Benjamin.

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