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I begun to program with AS3, then JavaScript, then ASM. I never used C/C++, but sometimes I can read it well enough to understand it. Since years I wanted to learn to use visual studio, but never had the mood.
So, in this situation, i'm feeling myself incomplete. I very doubt somebody would hire me for any coding. And even if this happens, i'm pretty sure I wouldn't fit well in a team, I think I could not code for a software company.
How could I escape from this incertitude? hmmm.....

my coding is never complete for me, all my work as programmer is no more than a bunch of code routines. I'm now trying to make a complete and useful tool, something like application that one could use without copying pasting code, editing the source, compiling it etc. but this is much more complex task for me than simply programing separated routines. Maybe if I achieve this goal, I will gain the needed confidence in myself. hmmm....

Star with simple games.
Why? Because you already know what they're supposed to do.
That's how I got into programming. Make Snake, and then maybe Tetris, then you could do a strategy game (Shameless plug )
You can keep increasing the difficulty until you are ready for a big project.

Also, this is not a programming forum.

Nessphoro wrote:Star with simple games.
Why? Because you already know what they're supposed to do.
That's how I got into programming. Make Snake, and then maybe Tetris, then you could do a strategy game (Shameless plug )
You can keep increasing the difficulty until you are ready for a big project.

Also, this is not a programming forum.

And use HTML5/JavaScript to start with. Nowadays you can use asm.js and compile C or C++ code into it with Emscripten/etc., even full, complex applications, so you can gradually learn to use all of those technologies in meaningful ways.

And it is so entertaining learning complex algorithms of all sorts and applying them in HTL5/JavaScript in truly useful and interesting ways.

~ wrote:And use HTML5/JavaScript to start with. Nowadays you can use asm.js and compile C or C++ code into it with Emscripten/etc., even full, complex applications, so you can gradually learn to use all of those technologies in meaningful ways.

And it is so entertaining learning complex algorithms of all sorts and applying them in HTL5/JavaScript in truly useful and interesting ways.

Well, that might not be such a good idea - he should probably use the language that would be closest to the one he will use (For osdev - Ceqsue languages like C#, C++, and even...Java)

Hi,

I'm sure the game advice from Nessphoro is a really good starting point.

A couple of other things to ask, are what you are interested in and what part of the industry you're interested in (I should point out I'm not in professional programming)? Perhaps pick one of your hobbies and write a relevant app that you could release in one of the multitude of app stores. Nothing complex. You'll quickly start getting feedback about your projects that way.

Cheers,
Adam

Thanks to all!
I'm now working in a project, but most probably I will never finish it. I work only and exclusively in ASM language. It's not a question about wars between programing languages. It's just I am very used to ASM. Anyway, the question is I would never finish that project. I'm slow and the project is big.

My interests are about 3D, and games too. It is not inspiring for me to work with numbers. I like to see some vertex on screen, some box drawn when testing the code instead of seeing numbers, comparing them with some test vectors and yes they are correct, program is working, but it's not as cool for me like 3D could be. When Papervision3D was published for first time, I was there to test it with models and interaction. But when you are all alone in your project, anything results boring to the death. It is hard to find the correct people to work with.

I could think about publishing a project online and put a donate button. Normally I am scared always of people stealing my code. So I never shared anything of my coding. But sometimes, I am asking myself if it will not be better to share my work, and even if stolen, the technologies changes constantly and maybe somebody could think that way:"The boy published a good work using AVX. I see they stolen his work. But If he is good at AVX, he would be good at the upcoming AVX512 too, so I could hire him"

I know in forums one could get called a troll for anything, that's why i'm posting in autodelete forum, but what I am talking about is just so simple and human like one to say:"I want to earn money with my hobby and working doing what I like to do"

Scared of someone stealing your code? I bet with 99% certainty that no-one will care, unless you managed to make something really good.

Don't underestimate the value of finishing a project. You are much more likely to be employed if you are able to set realistic goals and actually follow through and complete them. Start by setting very low goals and complete that. Then keep setting higher goals, but not too high, and complete that. You need to be able to spend years on a particular project and actually finish it.

newanabe wrote:I work only and exclusively in ASM language. It's not a question about wars between programing languages. It's just I am very used to ASM.

This is a bad sign. Not necessarily because ASM is inappropriate for your projects (it probably is, but that's not the point), but because you've locked yourself into one specific programming language - and one with a very limited scope and therefore utility for paid work, too.

I would recommend that you try using a different programming language for the next thing you play with, just to expand your scope. And maybe the one after that in yet another language. It will not only allow you to get a job as a programmer in these languages, but it will make you a better programmer in any language.

I could think about publishing a project online and put a donate button. Normally I am scared always of people stealing my code.

Is the code that you are writing really interesting enough for anyone to steal? And if someone does copy it, does it really hurt you? Or might you rather take advantage from someone looking at your code and suggesting improvements?

Hi,

I moved it to General Progamming anyway, because I do feel like this post is relevant to people on the forums. Also, if you get easily bored of a large project, start out with a small project

Again, I don't know the workings of the coding industry, but I probably wouldn't be too concerned with code theft. You could just publish binaries, or just consider that anything you publish online is dated, so you could probably prove that your code came first if you needed to (IANAL!). I would consider it questionable whether you would need to protect much unless you are doing something with major commercial potential or that is going to revolutionise the world of programming, which is unlikely at this early stage.

Those on this forum who are professionals may disagree...

Cheers,
Adam

Kevin wrote:I would recommend that you try using a different programming language for the next thing you play with, just to expand your scope. And maybe the one after that in yet another language. It will not only allow you to get a job as a programmer in these languages, but it will make you a better programmer in any language.

That would be good, I know it very deep inside me. Maybe it would be good to begin with visual studio. This is I think the most likely platform to help me find a job.

AJ wrote:I would consider it questionable whether you would need to protect much unless you are doing something with major commercial potential or that is going to revolutionise the world of programming, which is unlikely at this early stage.

There is not only a fear about stealing my code. I am a stand alone programmer, imagine I publish some good idea in the world of design, Adobe would never download my binaries, they would just query the registered patents and if my idea is not there yet, they would patent it and make me pay to use my own project. Before I publish the next revision of my project, Adobe will have already programed it inside their applications, cuz they have hundreds of programmers and money, and I am alone. just as example I used Adobe, it could be Microsoft or any else. I was reading a bit about patents and it's discouraging. You need money to realize an idea the proper way. It's disappointing, it's like the case of the banks, they are giving you credit only if you already have the 80% of the money(more or less). I need money finally, nothing else matters.

And yes, there is almost no new ideas nowadays. for dozens of my cool ideas, I searched for coincidences, and Microsoft already was investigating in the field. Microsoft is a titan.....

newanabe wrote:imagine I publish some good idea in the world of design, Adobe would never download my binaries, they would just query the registered patents and if my idea is not there yet, they would patent it and make me pay to use my own project.

Theoretically, this would not be possible (prior art) - although, as you say, it would be very difficult to take this on in court without stackloads of money. I suppose that you could gain some protection by releasing your work to be used in conjunction with some of the big FSF projects, but that's hardly any consolation if you want to make any money either.

But then, what's the alternative - never publishing is not an option if you want to make a career out of programming. You also have the problem that if you start working for a big software house that they will own any of the big ideas that you have while working on "their time".

I can understand that this would be really frustrating for someone starting out in professional programming, but this is the situation you have to work with. Not quite the right context, but "publish and be damned" seems a suitable expression...

Cheers,
Adam

Yes, the patent system is broken, and in theory, something like this could happen. In practice, it probably won't happen, but let's assume for a moment that it does. What they can do with such a patent is demanding that you not sell (Or publish? Not sure, IANAL.) a product implementing something that is included in the claims of the patent.

So what you're doing is avoiding to publish code because that could mean that someone could try to patent the ideas, which in turn would mean that you can't publish the code any more. Wait... you've just turned an unlikely event into a certainty, with the same result.

Nessphoro wrote:

~ wrote:And use HTML5/JavaScript to start with. Nowadays you can use asm.js and compile C or C++ code into it with Emscripten/etc., even full, complex applications, so you can gradually learn to use all of those technologies in meaningful ways.

And it is so entertaining learning complex algorithms of all sorts and applying them in HTL5/JavaScript in truly useful and interesting ways.

Well, that might not be such a good idea - he should probably use the language that would be closest to the one he will use (For osdev - Ceqsue languages like C#, C++, and even...Java)

Well, at least for me, it has been a great idea, but it is a personal situation, of course.

Knowing relevant programming languages across the high and low-level spectrum, I have been able to reuse the capabilities learned for OS development in well-established environments, such as the web browser. Now HTML5 and JavaScript are powerful enough to build any fundamental tool, so I can program different things there, such as compilers, assemblers, PC emulators, image parsers (like GIF), and any other fundamental thing you can think of, and slowly move to languages like C and C++ thanks to asm.js/Emscripten/etc..

It is good for me, but I come from a place where those languages (HTML5/JavaScript) are almost exclusively used and C/C++ aren't used. So I had to start somewhere.

newanabe wrote:

AJ wrote:I would consider it questionable whether you would need to protect much unless you are doing something with major commercial potential or that is going to revolutionise the world of programming, which is unlikely at this early stage.

There is not only a fear about stealing my code. I am a stand alone programmer, imagine I publish some good idea in the world of design, Adobe would never download my binaries, they would just query the registered patents and if my idea is not there yet, they would patent it and make me pay to use my own project. Before I publish the next revision of my project, Adobe will have already programed it inside their applications, cuz they have hundreds of programmers and money, and I am alone. just as example I used Adobe, it could be Microsoft or any else. I was reading a bit about patents and it's discouraging. You need money to realize an idea the proper way. It's disappointing, it's like the case of the banks, they are giving you credit only if you already have the 80% of the money(more or less). I need money finally, nothing else matters.

And yes, there is almost no new ideas nowadays. for dozens of my cool ideas, I searched for coincidences, and Microsoft already was investigating in the field. Microsoft is a titan.....

That's exactly why I always publish my own code in the Public Domain, or Creative Commons 0 (CC0). If someone is to actually use my ideas and code, I want those ideas to benefit everyone or just me. I choose that they benefit everyone with no limitations.

At this point, the field is better for making all of those strange algorithms much easier to understand and popular. We might not invent too much, but at least we can yield great benefits by clarifying the existing algorithms and knowledge to a very satisfying level that defeats that situation where everyone would need months and years of mostly fruitless trial and error.

~ wrote:That's exactly why I always publish my own code in the Public Domain, or Creative Commons 0 (CC0). If someone is to actually use my ideas and code, I want those ideas to benefit everyone or just me. I choose that they benefit everyone with no limitations.

At this point, the field is better for making all of those strange algorithms much easier to understand and popular. We might not invent too much, but at least we can yield great benefits by clarifying the existing algorithms and knowledge to a very satisfying level that defeats that situation where everyone would need months and years of mostly fruitless trial and error.

Exactly the rareness of the good ideas makes them so valuable. One person could have only one original idea in his live because everything seems to be invented already. If I had such idea, I would never publish it before patenting it, because in the end I will be working for that guy that has its software company and his team of programmers ready to make my idea reality and sell it, and all that in less than a month. And that would be infinitely unfair because he could has a cute daughter and I could fall in love with her, and I could open my heart to her and she, from her Mercedes would spite on me because I will be poor. But actually that Mercedes would be bought with my work. Seem pretty unfair, right? only an example of infinite ones possible.

I very like the open source movement. I'm thankful for NASM and other free programs I can use now. But I am very poor right now and I cant work for free, even if I wish to. I once shared an audio visual project that I made for 3 months and I was so glad it was downloaded 5 times. That means 5 people liked it enough to have yet another video in their HDs. Maybe when I find my place in the world, when I have a stable job, a half paid house and a bit of saved money, I will help then to community with my work.

The primary mistake is that you assume you have some idea that is unique and first of the world.
In reality, such idea might have well studied, already working in progress by other, or waiting for chances and resources to do it just like you.

If you could otherwise invent such extraordinary idea, you are such a great genius that you should have opportunity everywhere.