One way to get experience without a job is by becoming a committer on Open Source projects. You said you use OpenGL - add some stuff to the project and it gets your name out there.
When I was in High School and College I also took low paying programming jobs to have some experience on my resume.
My school (University of Nebraska at Omaha) wasn't big, but I got lots more time on the computers and had better access to my Professors. I had friends who went to big schools with lots more students and resources were more limited. I think a small school can be a boon. I also think there are some classes that help you become a better developer and learn better ways to do things that people who don't go to University miss out on. I'm not saying there aren't brilliant self-taught developers without degrees - there are. But I've run into people who were self-taught and had poorly developed skills because of it and it showed in their code.
One of the comments in this thread was about how you just learn multiple languages (like Pascal, Ada, Lisp, Spitbol, et. al.)in school. They make it sound like a bad thing but it's not. I think that a Programming Languages class gives developers the ability to easily pick up new programming languages. I also think a class in Data Structures is useful in the real world as well as a good intro programming class that talks about low coupling, high cohesion, DRY (Don't Repeat Yourself), and other good programming practices.
I understand - when I reviewed my post again (after it was posted) I saw this and I thought that might be what you meant.
Did you know about Nant? There is a.NET version of Ant on SourceForge. Erik Hatcher's Ant book Java Development with Ant talks about the CC task for compiling C code. Erik is a contributor to Ant and his book is terrific.
You could also have Ant kick-off the make or have a script file kick off the Ant and Make builds.
There are also tools like CruiseControl to automate the builds so you could have continous integration every night.
My point is the same as a lot of people have been saying here. Every language has its' strengths and weaknesses. Pick the right tool for the job. I'm certainly not going to say C is better than Java, VB is better than Python, LISP is better than than C#.
Everything depends on context.
When I do string parsing I used to use Perl, lately I've been using Python. For some things I create Java Apps, for some a J2EE solution works best. My Java User Group had James Duncan Davidson come talk and he said he's looking for the next Ant killer. Java or Ant won't be forever - but they are parts of a decent solution for some problems.
Do you know if some of the things like Aspect Oriented Programming (AspectJ) or tools like Struts, JavaServer Faces, et. al. have an equivalent in C? Is there a way to create a security model in C like the Java Security Model through some sort of existing class library?
Is there a tool that mixes Python and C? The way Jython allows you to put a Java interface on your Python code.
These are not trolls - just questions. I haven't written anything in C for about 8 years so I don't know what's out there.
You have to use ANT which doesn't support any other platform.
OK, I'll bite. Was this just flame bait or what?
Ant was written in Java and runs on any platform Java runs on. Why was this insightful?
I agree that some people can code J2EE projects that are not portable across multiple vendor's - BEA, Websphere, JBoss, et. al. but that doesn't make J2EE bad. It's like saying C is a bad language because inexperience programmers can write bad code.
I don't see why if you want to be cross-platform C would be a better choice. Yes, I agree you can write C to be cross platform, but I think it's harder for inexperienced programmers to do that than to have them write cross-platform code in Java.
Netopia makes a product called Timbuktu that's really nice and it works over TCP/IP.
When I used to work at Qwest I used it to control either PCs or Macintosh computers. It was a great way I could get into the NT Development Server to restart the Web App. Server I was working on where the machine was physically located across town.
I thought it used to work on UNIX flavors as well but I didn't see anything when I checked the site.
Timbuktu was pretty fast on a local connection even with full color.
We were forced to use Symantec's product which didn't work on the Mac and the performance was horrid. I don't know if it was configuration issues or a poor product but the Color performance of Timbuktu was better than the Black and White of PC Anywhere.
Dial-in performance wasn't super for Timbuktu but it did work - and it was worse for PC Anywhere.
Netopia's site says it works for Win2K and XP.
http://www.netopia.com/en-us/software/products/tb2/index.html
Good luck.
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One way to get experience without a job is by becoming a committer on Open Source projects. You said you use OpenGL - add some stuff to the project and it gets your name out there.
When I was in High School and College I also took low paying programming jobs to have some experience on my resume.
My school (University of Nebraska at Omaha) wasn't big, but I got lots more time on the computers and had better access to my Professors. I had friends who went to big schools with lots more students and resources were more limited. I think a small school can be a boon. I also think there are some classes that help you become a better developer and learn better ways to do things that people who don't go to University miss out on. I'm not saying there aren't brilliant self-taught developers without degrees - there are. But I've run into people who were self-taught and had poorly developed skills because of it and it showed in their code.
One of the comments in this thread was about how you just learn multiple languages (like Pascal, Ada, Lisp, Spitbol, et. al.)in school. They make it sound like a bad thing but it's not. I think that a Programming Languages class gives developers the ability to easily pick up new programming languages. I also think a class in Data Structures is useful in the real world as well as a good intro programming class that talks about low coupling, high cohesion, DRY (Don't Repeat Yourself), and other good programming practices.
Hope that helps.I understand - when I reviewed my post again (after it was posted) I saw this and I thought that might be what you meant. .NET version of Ant on SourceForge. Erik Hatcher's Ant book Java Development with Ant talks about the CC task for compiling C code. Erik is a contributor to Ant and his book is terrific.
Did you know about Nant? There is a
You could also have Ant kick-off the make or have a script file kick off the Ant and Make builds.
There are also tools like CruiseControl to automate the builds so you could have continous integration every night.
My point is the same as a lot of people have been saying here. Every language has its' strengths and weaknesses. Pick the right tool for the job. I'm certainly not going to say C is better than Java, VB is better than Python, LISP is better than than C#.
Everything depends on context.
When I do string parsing I used to use Perl, lately I've been using Python. For some things I create Java Apps, for some a J2EE solution works best. My Java User Group had James Duncan Davidson come talk and he said he's looking for the next Ant killer. Java or Ant won't be forever - but they are parts of a decent solution for some problems.
Do you know if some of the things like Aspect Oriented Programming (AspectJ) or tools like Struts, JavaServer Faces, et. al. have an equivalent in C? Is there a way to create a security model in C like the Java Security Model through some sort of existing class library?
Is there a tool that mixes Python and C? The way Jython allows you to put a Java interface on your Python code.
These are not trolls - just questions. I haven't written anything in C for about 8 years so I don't know what's out there.
You have to use ANT which doesn't support any other platform.
OK, I'll bite. Was this just flame bait or what?
Ant was written in Java and runs on any platform Java runs on. Why was this insightful?
I agree that some people can code J2EE projects that are not portable across multiple vendor's - BEA, Websphere, JBoss, et. al. but that doesn't make J2EE bad. It's like saying C is a bad language because inexperience programmers can write bad code.
I don't see why if you want to be cross-platform C would be a better choice. Yes, I agree you can write C to be cross platform, but I think it's harder for inexperienced programmers to do that than to have them write cross-platform code in Java.
Netopia makes a product called Timbuktu that's really nice and it works over TCP/IP. When I used to work at Qwest I used it to control either PCs or Macintosh computers. It was a great way I could get into the NT Development Server to restart the Web App. Server I was working on where the machine was physically located across town. I thought it used to work on UNIX flavors as well but I didn't see anything when I checked the site. Timbuktu was pretty fast on a local connection even with full color. We were forced to use Symantec's product which didn't work on the Mac and the performance was horrid. I don't know if it was configuration issues or a poor product but the Color performance of Timbuktu was better than the Black and White of PC Anywhere. Dial-in performance wasn't super for Timbuktu but it did work - and it was worse for PC Anywhere. Netopia's site says it works for Win2K and XP. http://www.netopia.com/en-us/software/products/tb2 /index.html
Good luck.