Tips for Independent Learning?

Austin asks: "As an undergraduate seeking a degree in Computer Science, I am very interested in expanding my programming skills and tools. Much of the platform specific knowledge, such as the usage of unique languages and APIs such as .NET and Cocoa, are rarely taught on an academic level, and independent projects are looking very appealing as a way to broaden my abilities. I find it difficult to maintain motivation developing software that there are already excellent alternatives to, and contributing to mainstream open source projects is an intimidating endeavor due to their size and complexity. What have many Slashdot readers done to gain experience with tools not taught inside the classroom?"

Comments

Port an existing project you wrote

[PylonHead]

When I want to learn a new programming environment, I pick out a simple project that I have already written in a known environment and port it to the new system.

This lets you focus completely on the new environment and not get bogged down in (high level) design decisions. It also gives you an apples to apples comparison in possible strengths and weaknesses of the two systems. (although any first project is likely to miss out on some possible advantages.)

One thing I've done.

[techno-vampire]

Come up with a small project. If nothing else, a program that does something you want or need done, even if nobody else wants it. Write it, debug it, get it working and add as many or few features as you need. Don't worry if anybody else will ever use it because that's not what it's for. You'd be surprised how much you can learn, just trying to get it right.

Next, put the code aside; use the program, but don't look at the code for about six months or so, while doing other things. Then, come back, look it over and see if you can improve it. You'll have forgotten how you did things, so this will be similar to maintaining sobody else's code. By the time you're done, it will be better written, easier to understand and probably working better, and you'll have learned quite a bit more.

Practical Experience

[MyLongNickName]

I find the best way to learn is to have a real life project you are working on. Their are too many people in the world with "paper certifications". That is, they can pass a test, but could not do anything with that knowledge in a practical way.

I am in the process of studying for certifications. Three tests I was ale to pass with mostly work experience. One, I really needed to study... I found excuses to introduce some of the topics into my work. It helped a lot.

You, likely, are not working in the industry yet. Find a way to work on a real project. It might be one you dream up. It might be working cheap at a local company. I don't really know enough specifics to advise. I'll just say that dreaming up your own project requires a lot of motivation to continue to work on.

But bottom line, you need to be applying, or it is just book knowledge.

me too

[bblazer]

I too am an independent learner. Although I have taken several language courses at my local college, I have found them to be limited at best. One thing you might consider is starting a project on sourceforge for something simple. Do you find yourself doing an repetitive tasks that you could write something to automate? Do you have anyone that needs some web development that you could use Ruby on Rails for? There is also TopCoder. They have a lot of coding competitions that you can participate in - many have cash prizes. Although I don't have the links handy, there are also some sites that have student programming project suggestions that you could look at.

Re:Don't "Ask Slashdot"

[afaik_ianal]

"Independent learning" does not exclude asking others for advice. In fact I would say that Austin has already taken the first important step towards gaining the knowledge they seek.

Step 2, Austin: Ignore the naysayers.

Motivation

[Mieckowski]

I've made lots of small Cocoa applications on my own, and the two things that have helped me stay motivated on individual projects are:

1) Keeping them short (1-2 weeks to finish)
2) Having people to show them to

So if there is a group on your campus related to Cocoa or .NET programming I would join it. Also, it can be easy to sign up for 1-2 units of individual study credit with a professor if you have a project idea (this is a great excuse to come talk to them during office hours).

Find.. Scratch.. Itch.. Something like that..

[EMIce]

Yada yada yada.. And I'm not talking about your balls. You will need creativity.

And for that...

http://www.gapingvoid.com/Moveable_Type/archives/0 00932.html

Easier said than done though.

Just do it.

[linguae]

I am a freshman computer science student. Here is my advice.

Remember that a computer science curriculum teaches the theoretical foundations of computer science. You start with basic programming (C, Java, or [if you're really lucky] a functional programming language like Scheme), and then learn about data structures, algorithms, software engineering, architecture, systems programming, OSes, compilers, and theoretical computer science, as well as some CS topics of your choosing (numerical analysis, graphics, more software engineering, AI, etc.). Discrete mathematics is also very important; you can't do much in computer science without it. And don't forget your EE courses like digital design (designing circuits using Boolean logic) and assembly programming; you'll get to know about computers from an electrical engineering standpoint (different, but cool, IMO). As much as I like mathematics and theoretical CS, sometimes you need to get close to and examine the metal. I personally liken computer science, mathematics, and electrical engineering to be the holy trinity of computing, but I might be out there....

Computer science departments typically do not teach the ins and outs of APIs and industry programming languages unless it ties into learning about the fundamental concepts explained above (Java's usage in CS courses, for example). However, this doesn't stop you from learning these APIs independently. My suggestion are the following:

1. Research APIs. What platforms are they used for? What are the strengths-weaknesses of the APIs? What languages do they support?
2. Start with some basic tutorials to get a grasp for the language and/or API.
3. Start writing programs. You'll have to start small at first, such as older projects. For example, if you wrote a payroll application in C back in CS 101, why don't you reimplement it using Objective-C and Cocoa, along with a slick, shiny, plastic Mac interface? (Any other implementation would do; that is an example)
4. As your skills get better (and as you start taking more specialized computer science courses), try working on a bigger project. Writing a C compiler for a 16-bit microprocessor that you'll learn in an EE course will surely keep you busy (I haven't written a compiler yet, so I don't know how difficult this is, although this sounds very intersting). Perhaps coding a web browser in C# and .NET is more interesting.
5. Helpful hint: You might want to focus the skills you want to learn on a project that you would like to build someday. For example, if your dream is to build a small operating system, you will need to learn some assembly language, C (or some other "close to the metal" language), and the architecture that you plan on coding the OS for. Good OS books (like Tanenbaum's book) are also nice to own. Once you figure out learning the basic tools, theories, and practices, then you can start coding a small OS. Once your program is finished and running, then you can add all of the complex features that you like.

Enjoy your life as a computer science major. It is truly rewarding and interesting. Now I have to return to my own programming assignment....

Save water, shower with a friend

[An Onerous Coward]

If you find it hard to keep yourself motivated on a project, one solution is to pair up with someone who shares your interest in the project. Admittedly, it's not always easy to find someone with similar interests and complementary skills. But if you do, having another person to bat around ideas with can be a wonderful experience.

When you have a hammer...

[MBCook]

... everything looks like a nail.

I'm sure you've heard that one before, and you need to be careful of it. That said, you found yourself a hammer (your new knowledge of whatever) so start looking for nails.

I've run into the same problem many times. I understand not wanting to re-implement things (I thought about making an accounting program for a little bit before deciding to just use Quicken, for example). But you need to be creative.

When I first learned Python I made a simple little game based on one of my favorite games that I used to play on my TI-85. This also let me learn OpenGL. The game was Blocks.

Trying to do more, I made a simulation (I'd call it a game but it wasn't interactive) called Itty Bitty City which also included more OpenGL. It wasn't too complex but was fun to watch (even if I did have Pie-In-The-Sky ideas about what it would do as usual).

I never updated my website because it was a hassle. I didn't want to do it in DreamWeaver or something like that. I wanted to automate things. Python was my favorite language at the time, so I wrote a little program I called SiteMaker to do it for me (ironically, that page is quite out of date). Python was rather well suited to that (it was command line, and needed good text processing) so I used it and gained a good knowledge of Python in the process (including the build-in modules you can use to open and send data across FTP connections).

After that I wanted a program to make it easier to make blog style entries on my website (which would call SiteMaker). I had been wanting to learn Objective-C for use on my Mac so I used that for the project and it was fun, and I learned quite a bit (even if I don't use the program because I didn't add enough features to make it useful). This was SiteBlogger.

When I wanted to learn Java 5 to get back into it (since it had features that fixed my biggest gripes) I made another simple game (which I took rather far) called Pond Game. I got to use all sorts of stuff in Java and got a good working knowledge (after quite a bit of time off).

I was still weak in GUIs in Java (have done no Java GUI programming ever) so I used Java to scratch a major itch I had and made Scheduler which I am now updating for a Senior Project. I learned how GUIs were done in Java and got an even deeper understanding of Java from this project. It also fixed my problem of hating to figure out a school schedule.

I had been wanting to learn PHP, so when a project came up at school to build a system for them (not an assignment, I work there part-time) and they asked me if I wanted to do it, I jumped at the chance to make such a system (which I hadn't done and included a large amount of DB programming) and used PHP (which they were perfectly happy with, and were actually going to suggest).

There are other little ones here and there. The main point of all this is that most of these didn't bug me enough to make them (Scheduler was the only real problem) but I saw them as opportunities to try out a new language or some such. I've learned to do this because of a problem that I would suffer from which I assume you suffered from: I'm curious and would read about a language or some such but not do anything and thus forget it all. I needed the practice, so I found places to do it. Whether these were things I needed for myself (Scheduler, SiteMaker) or just little games that I wanted to make or to use to try something (Blocks which was an OpenGL test, Itty Bitty Citty which was going to be an AI test).

My last suggestion would be to enter a programming contest. I've been enterin