Considering that I have never been on a programming course and have entirely
tought myself from books and examining code, I would say that I mostly stick
to what I know and only learn new stuff (coding techniques, new languages
etc.) when I have to. In the last 5 years that includes compression (LZW and
RTE/RLE), complements (2, 9 and 10), the .BMP format (urgh, why have it all
upside down and back to front deliberately!), BCD numbers, CSV files and
various other things.
I admit I don't like learning new languages, because it is a lot of hassle
in the beginning. Once I have mastered the basics it does become alot easier
and much more fun. I usually have a programming manual sat beside me to
remind me of syntax and to look-up commands that I know exist but can't
remember the exact name of (AMOS Basic/AMOS Pro for the Amiga has around
1000 official commands, plus around 1000 more commands made by AMOS
enthusiasts).[1] Motorola 68000 ASM was very easy to pick up and understand,
but I am still learning techniques to make my code more efficient :)
I learnt the in's and out's of Windows from the beta version of Windows '95
whilst at work experience in 1995, a bit more whilst doing a DTP course in
1997/8 (which got me my NVQ level 2 in computers) and the rest I have picked
up from various versions of Windows used at work. Though I have learnt about
the workings of Windows (registry and executables) from my own experiences
with my laptop, which I got in Feb 2007.
Regards,
Andrew B
aliensrcooluk at yahoo.co.uk
[1] Don't confuse AMOS (Amiga OS), written by Francios Lionet for Mandarin
Software/Europress, with the other AMOS which I have seen mentioned on this
list.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Keith" <keithvz at verizon.net>
To: <General at olddell.com>; "Discussion at
olddell.com :On-Topic and
Off-Topic
Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Sent: Monday, March 08, 2010 6:36 PM
Subject: semi-OT: do you routinely attempt projects out of your comfort
zone?
Do you routinely attempt projects out of your comfort
zone?
While I think it is the right thing to do intellectually to expand my
knowledge, I often think that I waste a lot of time trying to do fairly
simple tasks in areas where I have limited knowledge or experience.
I think challenges can be rewarding, and I enjoy them. "Anything worth
doing is hard." I think is the phrase.
I try to do the necessary research, background reading, start from the
ground up before attempting to do anything. I still find that getting
your hands in it, ie learning by doing, seems to help the process along.
With all this being said, it sure is frustrating and the rewards come
slowly. While I DO like instant gratification, I don't expect it. I do
expect that the payoff, it terms of reward vs time spent is reasonable.
As my available personal free time has been less and less lately,
making sure that I'm not just wasting my time is important to me.
Do you find that you spend most of your time on projects that are well
within your knowledge and experience, or most of your time learning
about new technology/skills/programming language/hardware/etc to
facilitate accomplishing a new project?
Thanks
Keith