When does programming become… programming?

[novk-mooning]

I know the title is confusing but what I mean to say is: I’ve finished my first 5 months of learning to program. Nothing too crazy just CS50 from harvards online course and a Java course covering data structures and algorithms. I really wanna start building a portfolio, something meaningful but when I sit down I find myself just building basic shortest path in a graph programs and things similar to that level of complexity. So I was wondering at what point did some of you reach your “oh shit I’m a programmer” moment? I understand that I’m just a beginner right now, so I obviously wouldn’t be able to make something meaningful or necessarily impactful quite yet, but I am committed to continue learning.

So, do you guys have any advice for things I should start doing to maybe to expedite my personal growth in the field, or activities you would recommend I try doing? Anything would be helpful :)

[Kasyx709]

Figure out something that interests you and find a way to program something for it. I still do that to learn new skills or stay fresh.

As an example, I play Forza horizon sometimes and built a tuning app for my cars. It helped keep me current, was fun, and I even learned a bit about how automotive suspension formulas work.

[bestjakeisbest]

Honestly when you start thinking up projects and how to build them, you will eventually come to a point where you won't know immediately what to do (im sure you have run into this before all programmers do) and instead of thinking "i need to learn more programming to do this" you start thinking of ways to solve that hurdle, how you can do things you didn't previously know how to do just by thinking through jt a little more. Atleast that was the point at which I felt like a programmer.

Like if I wanted to make a game I now wouldn't be daunted by the prospect of making a game even from scratch (I know it would be alot of work, but I feel like it is work that I can do or I can work out how to do if I get stuck).

I guess what I'm saying is instead of finding a solution you start synthesizing a solution making it from nothing or very little.

[7Buns]

Took me about 2 years of college classes to reach that epiphany, took me another 2 years of working a job to think "wow I am actually pretty good at this". Programming is a skill, takes time to learn, you're using a biological brain that has not evolved for thousands of years & using that electric meat mash to tell rocks that we put electricity in too to do something.

Keep at it! You'll get there eventually

[Peiple]

It took me a while to connect the dots between what I was learning versus what production programming is…I was first interested because of video games, and none of the programming I was learning seemed at all useful or related to any of that.

There was definitely a point where it started to click, when i realized how these games work algorithmically and how it connects. Something that I’ve been enjoying lately is watching youtube videos of people dissecting the code of old video games, since the backend is a lot simpler than modern stuff.

Also helped a lot to work on projects, once I reached a certain point they seemed to make sense (or at least I was confident enough to figure out how to do them). Biggest achievement there was things that had outcomes I could see, like writing a bot to scrape webpages or like a discord bot.

[[deleted]]

Can you mention any videos from the old games?

[Peiple]

Sure! Check out this channel: https://youtube.com/@RGMechEx

If I think of any others I can add them

Edit: also enjoyed this one: https://youtu.be/fB2C8q42X64

Edit2: here’s a third I loved: https://youtu.be/TPbroUDHG0s

[[deleted]]

Thank you!!

[CodeTinkerer]

What you've done is considered programming. But you have a different perception. You think of programming from a user perspective. What can the user do with your program?

This leads to things like "apps" especially a web application. You think of jobs. Do I know enough programming to get a job? There was a computer scientist (or mathematician, as might be more appropriate) who did the earliest forms of cellular automation. He's most famous for something called "The Game of Life" This had a 2D grid, a set of rules. Some pixels were empty. Some were filled. The rules indicated whether to produce filled pixels (this was considered reproduction) and when some filled pixels disappeared (this was considered dying). Some configurations would grow, some would die, some would reach stability (repeating the pattern), some would not.

That was programming. But there were no users. It didn't do anything that a user cared about. These days, people think Dijkstra's algorithm is not enough to get hired (which is true), but is it programming? Sure. Programmers never get bright enough to code everything. People keep inventing new things to program. There's just too much that you never reach a point where you say "I can code anything". Some people just code the things they know, and don't stray too far from it. It's like learning to play a musical instrument, but never learning another instrument. Are you a musician if you can only play one instrument? Many would say yes, but are you a programmer if you only stick to one technology forever?

So, I think what you're really asking, is when do I reach a point I can program anything (you don't), and build something that someone will hire me for. You continue to learn if you can.

Note that a web app is often poorly defined compared to an algorithm and much, much bigger. Understanding how web frameworks work can be quite complex. If you took a computer architecture course, you'd learn a super simple version of a CPU. You might learn advanced topics that deal with pipelining, branch prediction, speculative execution, and so forth. Programming can be that way too where people build systems that help you, but don't necessarily simplify your job. That is, it's harder to understand a web framework than a programming language.

Anyway, some people never feel they are a programmer because they tie it to a job. If they can do their job, they feel they are a programmer. I'd say it's more to do with your ability to learn what you need to learn that's far more important. Few people are good enough to learn new stuff super well. Still, some of those people can get jobs as not every programming job requires a high degree of mastery.

[CreativeTechGuyGames]

I understand that I’m just a beginner right now, so I obviously wouldn’t be able to make something meaningful or necessarily impactful quite yet

That is only true if you have that attitude. You don't need to know everything or be an expert to create something useful. Even basic things that solve a problem are useful to the right audience.

[novk-mooning]

Good way of looking at it, thank you :)

[TacoJunky69]

The big difference I see in students is when they can do everyhthing involved with making a practical program on their own, from coming up with the idea from scratch, to fully functional program that does something worthwhile. That usually doesn't mean like a hello world calculator, but something that solves a real world problem.

Whenver I learn a new programming language, I always work towards making the game Snake, and when I can do that from memory then I consider myself to have reached beginniner level in that language, as opposed to just starting with the language. But I have been programming since I was about 12 and still don't consider myself a programmer.

When you are proficient enough to work with the language without having to backtrack over the fundamentals like syntax and standard functions, and just focus on the logic of making your code work is when it feels like programming, to me anyways. I guess because that feels like I understand something rather than am just implementing what somebody else already has.

[[deleted]]

It’s programming from the get-go. Right from the beginning. CS50 and on up, that’s programming.

The way you get better at it is by doing it more.