I’m going to attempt learning C++ on linux. I’ve been a lazy computer user that abused computers for their entertainment value a couple of years ago but now that my whole career revolves around computers, I’m really keen to expand my programming skills beyond the VisualBasic or PHP realm into something a bit more serious.
HOWEVER, I’ve got books and I sorta understand the logic and everything, but I need a project so I can practice practical application. Any projects that I think up with my wild imagination tend to be hundreds of times more complex than my current knowledge/skill will allow me to achieve.
I was hoping somebody with a bit more experience on the subject could offer an idea for a project that would suit the abilities of a novice such as myself, but still be complex enough to help expand my skill.
Perhaps your expectations are a little high then. Start with the basics, such as a text based “guess the number” game to learn about loops, input/output, conditions, maths (random numbers)etc. Then learn about GUI toolkits and events, and try a pattern recognition game like memory or mastermind.
I’ve been learning, teaching and generally making my share of successes and messes for over 30 years now. There simply is no way to answer this question because it depends entirely upon you. If the task is too easy, you’ll get bored and won’t learn much from the study and occasional fighting with it. If it’s too hard, you’ll be too frustrated and give up.
Try to find something that you will use and possibly improve upon for years to come.
a basic contact management program - start simple, add a database back end, then maybe network it and work with some export/import ideas.
anything that eases your life at work - a small utility to automate some of your more mundane tasks (backups, OS tweaks and fixes, etc.) will usually provide you with more motivation to finish it and use it.
and like the above poster stated, something entertaining and VERY simple is an excellent start. These simple little programs are the stepping stones that, once mastered, will find themselves in nearly every single large program that you write.
Thanks GransRemedy and MKrawczyk. This is the sort of encouragement and ideas I’m looking for. I’ll keep you posted for sure :).
At this point in time, ideas being too easy or too difficult won’t throw me off too much. I still need to gauge my own abilities and what better what to do that than to write a guessing game and think “****, that was too easy”. Plus, it gives me a false sense of confidence which can’t hurt anyone (too much).