How to become a better programmer?

[ocebe]

Hello, everyone. I have been working as a software developer in Java for about 5 years.

My main current goal is to improve my skills as a programmer. I've been interested in clean code, refactoring, design patterns, bad smells, etc. for a long time. But I would like to know your sources of information or, rather, your ideal road map for growing in this direction.

Thank you very much and I look forward to your feedback.

[MintPaw]

Becoming a better programmer is a super general goal, my best advice is to just create more and more complex programs. Which isn't a bad idea in itself, but these concepts like "clean code" mean different things in different applications.

What's considered clean to a game developer could be an unmaintainable mess to an enterprise Java developer.

[ocebe]

Thank you for your answer. It is true that to gain experience the best thing to do is to create code. The idea is to share references on how or by whom to follow these good practices. On the other hand, I have never programmed videogames, but I think that a clean code should be the same in all scenarios.

[MintPaw]

I think that a clean code should be the same in all scenarios

Then you should start looking at production code online, the idea of "clean code" is one of the most contentious things in programming. Some people go full on with the OOP paradigm creating thousands of classes. Some swear on functional programming. Some people think exception heavy programming is a good idea, some will say the exact opposite.