Giving up on C++

[pugg09]

Well after two semesters and three absolutely 'horrible' teachers I've decided to drop my C, C++ courses and move over to a different line of study at college. This is sad really since I'm almost 40 and had been hacking for the past 15+ years and really needed more professional training. I will still pursue the language - but more in a self-study capacity. If anyone knows of any good C/C++ certificate courses that can be done online, please let me know.

In the meantime, if I could give any advice to those who may consider teaching this language, please consider the following. These are just my own personal observations within my limited scope of experience and as such you may agree or discount whatever you see here:

1) You are brilliant - therefore you just 'get it' - the rest of us don't. Please pretend that you are teaching english to non-english-speaking students. It is a language after all.

2) Keep you code examples small, with plenty of comments. And, unless you absolutely have to, do 'not' combine one example into another without providing examples of them separately first.

3) Introduce each new concept using defined steps (ex. step 1 - do this, step 2 - do that). Be ridiculously exhaustive in your explanation about each new line of code. Remember, you get it - we don't.

4) Use smaller in-class assignments and not one 'huge' one that due at the end of the term. Be there to observe, encourage and help during the assignments.

5) Pace you classes - reserve at least 15-30 minutes for coding help per class. You may discover a missing part of your material that wasn't addressed.

These are only observations from my little experience in this college. I'm sure the community has 100's of stories of how good their professors are. I'm very happy for all of you who have that and I wish you all well.

[Dani]

I'm really sorry about your bad experience. I've had good and I've had bad and I've had horrid ... I think what helped me was a lot of studying on my own outside of class.

[Narue]

>Well after two semesters and three absolutely 'horrible' teachers I've
>decided to drop my C, C++ courses and move over to a different line of study at college.
To be perfectly frank, if that's all it takes for you to quit, you wouldn't have made a good programmer anyway.

>If anyone knows of any good C/C++ certificate courses that can be done online, please let me know.
I know of a couple, but they're worthless and nobody cares about them. Certifications and diplomas don't mean nearly as much as a good portfolio, and most of the best programmers taught themselves. You might consider a bit of self study before jumping ship. Programming is a very rewarding field.

[stymiee]

I'm not a C++ guy but with the languages I do know I am almost exclusively self taught and most of the other programmers I know, while they did attend college for programming in some fashion, learned most of what they know from books and hacking away at their own code. I would say before you give up give teaching yourself a try. It may be just what you need.

[mattyd]

Well after two semesters and three absolutely 'horrible' teachers I've decided to drop my C, C++ courses and move over to a different line of study at college. This is sad really since I'm almost 40 and had been hacking for the past 15+ years and really needed more professional training. I will still pursue the language - but more in a self-study capacity. If anyone knows of any good C/C++ certificate courses that can be done online, please let me know.

In the meantime, if I could give any advice to those who may consider teaching this language, please consider the following. These are just my own personal observations within my limited scope of experience and as such you may agree or discount whatever you see here:

1) You are brilliant - therefore you just 'get it' - the rest of us don't. Please pretend that you are teaching english to non-english-speaking students. It is a language after all.

2) Keep you code examples small, with plenty of comments. And, unless you absolutely have to, do 'not' combine one example into another without providing examples of them separately first.

3) Introduce each new concept using defined steps (ex. step 1 - do this, step 2 - do that). Be ridiculously exhaustive in your explanation about each new line of code. Remember, you get it - we don't.

4) Use smaller in-class assignments and not one 'huge' one that due at the end of the term. Be there to observe, encourage and help during the assignments.

5) Pace you classes - reserve at least 15-30 minutes for coding help per class. You may discover a missing part of your material that wasn't addressed.

These are only observations from my little experience in this college. I'm sure the community has 100's of stories of how good their professors are. I'm very happy for all of you who have that and I wish you all well.

Yes, I understand what you are saying. I found my overall experience at college for Software Enginnering to be insufficient; I taught myself 75% of what I learned\ know, and I still work this way now even though I am employed in the field professionally. I learned on my own on the particular subject I was studying, say, C++, Database, Networking, etc, and then combined that with the little bit learned in class, and did the best I could with it. I must say this method allowed me to remain on the Dean's and President's lists the entire time while in school. So, I guess it worked for me. It may not work for everyone.

If programming is something you enjoy, love, and have a level of passion for, I encourage you to proceed; perhaps another school with better programming\ IT departments. You know what they say about college teachers: "If you can't do it-- teach it." Many teachers are well-trained themselves but have little "people skills" in order to convey this knowledge to you, the student. You cannot allow yourself to depend on their help solely as it will usually be half of the information funneled through an attitude that they are a "Programming teacher". Not impressed (usually). :-| Myself, I would rather be an employed programmer. :cheesy:

Good Luck with all of this.

Regards,
sharkey_machine

[pugg09]

Thank you everyone for your encouragement. I have found an online resource that provides college credit courses (ontariolearn.com) in programming. I'm going to retake my C++ there and hopefully be able to carry on where my college fell short. If any of you are from Ontario, Canada, please check out www.ontariolearn.com