5 Hacks to boost your programming skills
We are surrounded with a lot of smart devices. Our watches, Laptops, televisions and our beloved mobile phones are becoming smart day by day. And programming is the back bone of the smartness of these dumb devices.
Programming is the most demanding profession. But at the same time programming is a very critical skill. It test our understanding of concepts, problem solving ability and our mindset all at the same time. Here’s some life saver hacks, which will up allay your programming game.
1. Debugging
One thing that saved my life and a lot of time while working on projects is debugging. It is the process of identification of problem and isolating the source of that problem.
For example you write a code with 10000 lines, debugging will help you reach that particular line(or lines) of code which are problematic. And the more you practice debugging the efficiently you are able to apply it.
Debugging will help you understand the flow of data inside a program and what value is assigned to each variable after each step. No matter what language or platform you use for coding, you should know to debug.
Almost all the major IDE’s enabled debugging as a feature. If you are not using it, you are losing it big. Add it immediately to your bucket list.
If you want me to write a detailed blog on how to debug. Than ping me, I will do that.
2. Go back to basics from time to time
Technology is evolving everyday and we have to keep ourselves updated with the growing technologies. But in passion to learn new things, never forget your basics.
Periodically spare time to revise the basic of programming, including Data Structures, Algorithms, Databases and Logic Building. Telling you from experience that most complex problems in programming can be solved by innovatively applying these basic concepts.
Every time you revise back your basic concepts of programming, you will realize find something new, which you have missed earlier. The main reason behind this is experience.
For example, one time i was working on this project in which I need to arrange events in to order of occurrence. So, I kept thinking some of the very complex approaches for the solution. But the problem is all events are in N-N relation, or simply Event A can be parent to both Event B and Event C, and Event A and Event B can be parent to Event C. There can be n number of events.
Luckily, my revision of Data Structures are due at that time, I came across an Approach of Breath First Search. I knew this earlier but didn’t strike my mind, simply because we don’t usually understand the real life application of these concepts while learning.
3. Take Notes
We coders tend to forget the importance of hand written notes. I always prefer keep the notes of all the basic concepts, along with the things, I learn while work on projects.
I know everything is present on the internet, a lots of digital notes, lectures accessible at one click. But handwritten notes can never be replaced.
Make it a habit of writing pseudo codon paper before typing it code into the compiler. Write down what you have learned, note down your mistakes. Read them, revise them and improvise yourself.
4. Practice! Practice! Practice!
Coding is a fairly practical skill, no matter how many concepts or theories you learn or read. If you don’t get your hands dirty with coding, you are not going to learn it.
Practice with each and every concepts you learn in IDE. Use my rule of 5, for each concept you write 5 programs and make sure at least 2 out of those 5 programs are of high complexity. There are some platforms you can use to practice.
- Hacker Rank
- Hacker Earth
- Leet Code (My Personal favourite)
5. Work on Real World Projects
Practicing Competitive programming is very good for understanding of concepts. Once you practice enough, begin to work on some real world projects. Try to take up projects from your day today life.
For example, you need a to do list than code out one for yourself. Automate some boring, repetitive tasks from your day today life using your skills. Take up your skill to the next level by working on some real world project.
These are the five most crucial hacks you should adopt as habits. These will help you to grow as a programmer and improve the quality of your code.
