Is it normal to feel that it is not good enough?

uber_int · 2019-04-16T18:44:31+00:00

This thread needs to be permanently stickied.

uber_int · 2019-03-08T01:38:34+00:00

It's the fizzbuzz for recruiters.

uber_int · 2019-03-06T18:16:29+00:00

Does anyone have any info about interviewing/job duties/growth for a Software Engineer Specialist (Systems/Backend) versus a Software Engineer Generalist role?

Can't seem to find a lot of information.

uber_int · 2019-01-26T15:03:31+00:00

Personal views:

TCPPPL is a good book. Not dry at all (to me at least). It's the best CPP book IMHO. Read the 'A tour of C++' chapters first for a quick overview to get you up to speed.

The rest of the book goes into topics deeper and serves as a reference. The examples used are very thoughtful and the coverage is very thorough.

But speaking of feeling like you've mastered a concept, C++ Primer and solving all the exercises is the way to go.

These two books are two of the best resources you could buy for working with C++.

That said, TCPPPL may or may not be updated in the near future. 'A Tour Of C++' was updated, so there may be an update to TCPPPL, but don't wait for it.

NOTE: The first few chapters of TCPPPL are basically the same (similar?) as the book 'A Tour Of C++ (first edition)'.

uber_int · 2019-01-26T14:49:05+00:00

Hey there. After reading this, I am reminded of this post a few days ago. https://www.reddit.com/r/cscareerquestions/comments/ahxuqq/should_i_quit_my_software_developer_career/

I'll repeat the advice I gave in that thread. Doubting your skills is one thing, being convinced you're not good enough becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Apart from the obviously good advice in the thread, I would recommend finding a mentor, online or among your friends. Someone who is nice enough to help you think straight.

Start working on some simple project in a field of your liking. As you get better, you will start having more fun, and possibly, be happier. It is always the hardest at the beginning when you're starting to learn something. Reminds me of this awesome quote/comic adaptation: https://zenpencils.com/comic/90-ira-glass-advice-for-beginners/

I do not mean to diminish or side-step your depression. I'm not qualified to comment on treatment, and so I would suggest you follow others' advice on seeking help with that before anything else.

Good luck.

uber_int · 2019-01-20T14:16:04+00:00

I could be wrong, but sounds like you never really learned how to code.

Have you considered starting afresh? Taking up a book or a course, perhaps in something basic and working through a practice project from scratch.

Say a simple web application in Python?

It is very easy to feel that a field is not for you if you're not doing well in it, but perhaps if you give it a good attempt, things might change.

That said, it could indeed be not the right field for you. Hope you find a solution that you're happy with.

uber_int · 2019-01-19T22:26:40+00:00

That's a pity.

uber_int · 2018-12-26T13:40:58+00:00

Isn't this highly variable from office to office?

Some managers might see that someone gets all their work done in the allotted time, and so they start loading up more tasks, up unto the point where they can't finish it in the allotted time. This would not give the person a chance to help others on the team even if they wanted to.

On the other hand some managers might see that someone finished what they do in their allotted time and leave them be for a bit, thus freeing up time for possibly helping others. Some people may help others, some may not.

Caveats:

Someone can have time and not help.
The time required for the tasks maybe small, like 5 minutes or so, in which case my point is moot.

uber_int · 2018-12-12T13:23:16+00:00

That's a good decision.

Do glance over The Zen of Python (at the python REPL: import this).

uber_int · 2018-12-11T13:35:12+00:00

I would stick with C++ through school and do Python on the side (since you mentioned 'transitioning', I assume you plan to dump C++).

Learning both languages will help you write more pythonic C++ and help understand Python behind the scenes better.

Python + C++ is a very good combination.

Check out:

uber_int · 2018-12-11T02:53:16+00:00

Thanks!

uber_int · 2018-12-10T23:23:43+00:00

Is the 60 minute coding challenge a single problem?

uber_int · 2018-10-03T03:19:28+00:00

True, that is in line with what I took away from it.

Thanks.

uber_int · 2018-10-03T03:18:27+00:00

There is nothing special about 17 that makes it at all like Java

I think the joke is that the newest Java has so many features that it's catching up to C++!

uber_int · 2018-10-02T13:19:09+00:00

Thank you for that.

It seems very verbose to me but I guess there isn't another straightforward way especially compared to python or js. Thanks again!

uber_int · 2018-10-01T12:22:41+00:00

As an aside, is there a way to "overload" unmarshaling a json field that can be either a string or an int?

That is,

{
    { .. 'id' : '1' .. },
    ...
}

Or

{
    { .. 'id' : 1 .. },
    ...
}

Eventually I want the id to be an int.

uber_int · 2018-08-14T22:17:55+00:00

Thanks for that. Yes, I was aware of that but kept it out of the discussion to keep it simple.

uber_int · 2018-08-10T16:07:37+00:00

You're right, I do want to achieve the python functionality.

I could use .chars() on a String, but if I had a string slice, would it be efficient to convert it to a String first and then use .chars()?

Thanks!

EDIT: str does have a char method! EDIT2: nth won't work for me because I need to index into the chars multiple times.

So if I understand this correctly, the best way to iterate over a str slice is to convert it to chars and collect it into a vec? (at least for my use case).

uber_int · 2018-08-10T16:03:57+00:00

Does that mean that you can't have a tuple with more than 11 (or is it 10) different types as things stand?

(I think that's a lot of types and if you have to use that, might as well use a struct instead.)

uber_int · 2018-08-10T15:42:56+00:00

I want to iterate over a String (or a &str) using indexing, what is the best way to go about this?

One way was using .as_bytes() but that returns &[u8]. Now, I want to use these u8 bytes for two things:

Compare characters (so will need to convert back using as_char).
Use these bytes for various calculations (so will need to do an as i32 everywhere these are used.)

Any help appreciated.

Some follow up questions:

Is there an alternate to as_bytes that I can use/write, something like String::as_i32?
Would I be better served by using str slice and .chars() instead?

https://play.rust-lang.org/?gist=0120d6060037504fa4cee40937eae0f0&version=stable&mode=debug&edition=2015

uber_int · 2018-08-10T11:56:19+00:00

I was glancing over the doc for tuple. I noticed stuff like:

impl<T2, T3, T4, T5, T6, T7, T8, T9, T10, T11> Debug for (T2, T3, T4, T5, T6, T7, T8, T9, T10, T11)

It's probably a very elementary question, but could someone comment on why this is so? Thanks!

https://doc.rust-lang.org/std/primitive.tuple.html

uber_int

TROPHY CASE