I want to be an expert in programming languages what steps should I follow to accomplish this?
In more detail I want to specialize in Java.

Every time I do simple programs I tend to use google for ways to do it, is this normal as I don't understand why my memory does not want to remember the methods and classes as I do for maths. I do not want to depend on google all the time as if I go for an interview I will be clueless without google.

I really need some expert advice, how can I avoid is bad habit.

thank you.

 

I've never studied programming in a formal way. But I'll bet it's like anything else. So my advise would be to understand what needs to be done.......learn how to do it.......at the right time.

 

hi,
I sometimes use this method for study, Tony Buzan has also written some low cost books that explain the technique.
There is a free trial offer for the online version.

http://www.mindmapping.com/

Tip: keep your diagrams simple as possible

E

 

Thanks I will try to do this.

 

then

 

Every time I do simple programs I tend to use google for ways to do it, is this normal as I don't understand why my memory does not want to remember the methods and classes as I do for maths.

Searching for algorithms is okay when you're starting out, but you need to take the time to understand how the solution works. If you don't do that, you're not learning.

 

I want to be an expert in programming languages what steps should I follow to accomplish this?
In more detail I want to specialize in Java.

Every time I do simple programs I tend to use google for ways to do it, is this normal as I don't understand why my memory does not want to remember the methods and classes as I do for maths. I do not want to depend on google all the time as if I go for an interview I will be clueless without google.

I really need some expert advice, how can I avoid is bad habit.

thank you.

If you always use a calculator to multiply single-digit numbers, then you will quickly lose the ability to multiply single-digit numbers without the use of a calculator.

If you always program by using Google to find what you need, then don't be surprised if your programming skills never advanced beyond needed to use Google to do your thinking for you.

Spend a considerable fraction of your programming time, particularly time intended to improve your ability to program, using only what you know without reference to any resources at all. At least limit what you use references for to syntax issues or how to implement specific lower-level things that you are using as part of your solution. If you want to sort a bunch of items, then sit down and figure out how to sort a bunch of items using nothing but your skills and knowledge. Develop your own classes and methods on your own. Don't just Google to find out what magic class you need to import and what magic method you need to call.

 

If you always use a calculator to multiply single-digit numbers, then you will quickly lose the ability to multiply single-digit numbers without the use of a calculator.

If you always program by using Google to find what you need, then don't be surprised if your programming skills never advanced beyond needed to use Google to do your thinking for you.

Spend a considerable fraction of your programming time, particularly time intended to improve your ability to program, using only what you know without reference to any resources at all. At least limit what you use references for to syntax issues or how to implement specific lower-level things that you are using as part of your solution. If you want to sort a bunch of items, then sit down and figure out how to sort a bunch of items using nothing but your skills and knowledge. Develop your own classes and methods on your own. Don't just Google to find out what magic class you need to import and what magic method you need to call.

Very true, I really let things slip for the last 2-3 years I only used google for help in programming even though I created good working programs it was not truly my own ideas :-(
I need to get back to the basics my mind needs to work again!

 

My first year in college I was taking courses that were extremely math intensive involving lots of stuff that was way beyond anything that was reasonable to do in my head (or on paper) and so I got used to using my calculator as a first recourse. One day I was sitting waiting for class to start and needed to, literally, multiply a couple of one digit numbers and realized that I was reaching for my calculator. That hit my like a brick. So I started playing around with simple things on paper like multiplying a couple three digit numbers or dividing a three digit number into a six digit number, and discovered that while I could do it, I was struggling with it. In the 30+ years since I've made a point of doing as much of the math as I can by hand to keep my mental skills sharp -- and it's paid off on a number of occasions.

Today there is a very strong -- and understandable and natural -- tendency to let the tools (calculators, simulators, search engines, oscilloscopes with good auto-set features) do all of our thinking for us from the very beginning of our education.

 

My first year in college I was taking courses that were extremely math intensive involving lots of stuff that was way beyond anything that was reasonable to do in my head (or on paper) and so I got used to using my calculator as a first recourse. One day I was sitting waiting for class to start and needed to, literally, multiply a couple of one digit numbers and realized that I was reaching for my calculator. That hit my like a brick. So I started playing around with simple things on paper like multiplying a couple three digit numbers or dividing a three digit number into a six digit number, and discovered that while I could do it, I was struggling with it. In the 30+ years since I've made a point of doing as much of the math as I can by hand to keep my mental skills sharp -- and it's paid off on a number of occasions.

Today there is a very strong -- and understandable and natural -- tendency to let the tools (calculators, simulators, search engines, oscilloscopes with good auto-set features) do all of our thinking for us from the very beginning of our education.

Wow this is a profound revelation!
I need to use my mind and do things using my head. Ever since I started to work I lost interest in putting things to memory I rely and this "evil" google to always help me
Another thing, Whatever I learnt last few years at University somehow I totally forgot them what does this mean?
I am going to post this as another question here. I like totally forgot nearly everything, it super scary as a friend needed my help with DSP and I totally blanked out. What does this mean???

 

Wow this is a profound revelation!
I need to use my mind and do things using my head. Ever since I started to work I lost interest in putting things to memory I rely and this "evil" google to always help me
Another thing, Whatever I learnt last few years at University somehow I totally forgot them what does this mean?
I am going to post this as another question here. I like totally forgot nearly everything, it super scary as a friend needed my help with DSP and I totally blanked out. What does this mean???

It just means that most knowledge and skills are perishable, to greater and lessor degrees.

What we don't practice goes stale. And the sad truth is that few people can practice everything they've learned enough to stay truly proficient, so we all have lots of knowledge and skills that have been effectively lost (which is not to say that we can't resurrect them in a fraction of the time it took to gain them in the first place -- we almost always can).

 

It just means that most knowledge and skills are perishable, to greater and lessor degrees.

What we don't practice goes stale. And the sad truth is that few people can practice everything they've learned enough to stay truly proficient, so we all have lots of knowledge and skills that have been effectively lost (which is not to say that we can't resurrect them in a fraction of the time it took to gain them in the first place -- we almost always can).

This really is disappointing as I did get good marks in all my maths modules but I can not proof it at this point in time as if someone comes to me right now with a question say: How to solve difference equations with Matrices, I will not be able to help them.
Please can you give some basics secrets or your experiences on how to be able to attain just a fraction of what I studied?
I thus far read something called spaced repetitions.
thank you.

 

This really is disappointing as I did get good marks in all my maths modules but I can not proof it at this point in time as if someone comes to me right now with a question say: How to solve difference equations with Matrices, I will not be able to help them.
Please can you give some basics secrets or your experiences on how to be able to attain just a fraction of what I studied?
I thus far read something called spaced repetitions.
thank you.

Keep using it (probably what that "spaced repetitions" is all about).

From time to time I sit down, usually in bed when I'm not sleepy and have nothing better to do, and re-derive a bunch of derivative formulas, including trig, log, and inverse trig tables. I also re-derive a bunch of the trig identities using complex exponentials. Re-deriving the basic table of Laplace transforms is also a good exercise.

These force you to revisit a bunch of basic concepts as well as re-immerse yourself in how to think about a variety of different problems -- and it's actually quite a bit of fun (at least I think so).

The same holds true for EE and Physics stuff, too. Occasionally start with Coulomb's Law re-derive the notion of an electric field and what a voltage means. Then derive the equation for a parallel place capacitor. Work though the definition of inductance and resistance while you are at it and then derive the equations for the series and parallel combinations of all three.

Then see if you can take a first and a second order circuit and come up with and solve the differential equations for them.

Take any opportunity you can (or can make) to exercise your fundamentals.

Participating and helping out in the Homework Help forum can really help, as well as becoming a grader or tutor at your school.

 

Keep using it (probably what that "spaced repetitions" is all about).

From time to time I sit down, usually in bed when I'm not sleepy and have nothing better to do, and re-derive a bunch of derivative formulas, including trig, log, and inverse trig tables. I also re-derive a bunch of the trig identities using complex exponentials. Re-deriving the basic table of Laplace transforms is also a good exercise.

These force you to revisit a bunch of basic concepts as well as re-immerse yourself in how to think about a variety of different problems -- and it's actually quite a bit of fun (at least I think so).

The same holds true for EE and Physics stuff, too. Occasionally start with Coulomb's Law re-derive the notion of an electric field and what a voltage means. Then derive the equation for a parallel place capacitor. Work though the definition of inductance and resistance while you are at it and then derive the equations for the series and parallel combinations of all three.

Then see if you can take a first and a second order circuit and come up with and solve the differential equations for them.

Take any opportunity you can (or can make) to exercise your fundamentals.

Participating and helping out in the Homework Help forum can really help, as well as becoming a grader or tutor at your school.

Thanks Sir, I will try this and come back here to help others, I just got side tracked with programming stuff. I really want to become to a level like what you all do here, help others and be an expert.
thank you.