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What Knowledge Gaps Do Self-Taught Programmers Generally Have?

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the mind-the-gap dept.

BeardedChimp writes "I, like many others here, have learned to program by myself. Starting at a young age and learning through fiddling I have taught myself C++, Java, python, PHP, etc., but what I want to know is what I haven't learned that is important when taught in a traditional computer science curriculum. I have a degree in physics, so I'm not averse to math. What books, websites, or resources would you recommend to fill in the gaps?"

3 of 396 comments (clear)

  1. Algorithms by dionyziz · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Although in practice most of the time advanced data structures and algorithms are not used, it is useful to study them and implement them yourself at least once. Dijkstra's algorithm, Prim's, Kruskal's, maximum flow, and other basic graph-operating algorithms are a good example.

  2. Some suggestions by nicc777 · · Score: 5, Insightful
    I was learning and coding on my own steam for about 15+ years. Then I joined the ACM (two years now) and my eyes opened. I am now about 1/3 though a B.Sc in CS (part time) and I'm also following a CPD program at another University. I have also joined the IEEE as I required access to more material for my studies. What I realized was that I should have done it from the start. So my advice is simply this: start to follow some part time programs and get the theory as well. I have learned in the last two odd years a lot on subjects like modelling, quality assurance, frameworks and architectures which I otherwise would not have known. I also found that the quality of my code has greatly improved since I now work in a much more structured way.

    Experience helps, but the real killer deal is experience backed by a CS/Eng. degree.

    --
    Need an ISP in South Africa?
  3. Re:O(n^2) by frosty_tsm · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'd say you need to learn enough mathematics to get an appreciation for what goes into the discovery of an O(nlog[n]) algorithm -vs- its [naive] O(n^2) counterpart.

    This is a gap I've seen with self-taught programmers: they didn't take algorithms classes where you analyze algorithms for efficiency and write complicated algorithms for (mostly) academic problems. Even amongst university-taught programmers, most people see this class as a waste of time. I've taken it twice (undergrad and graduate level) and find it helps me in my job.