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How hard is it to change from OOP thinking to pure functional-oriented programming thinking in .NET? [closed]

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Closed 9 years ago.
I have been working with C# for many years, since beta. I am having a bit of a time of it, moving from OOP to functional-oriented programming (FOP). I started out with the concepts of procedural programming and functional composition in the late 1980s and have been doing OO since around 1995 when UML was in its infancy where I was programming in Delphi with the multi-paradigm approach of procedural and OO. Are there any good books suggestions, to helping the transition over to functional programming from a deep rooted OO programmer?
I tried a Haskell book, but it seemed to require some background in the subject and was very unapproachable.
I have a couple of O'Reilly, Apress books on F#, but it all seems a bit woolly and half way house, of just getting the job done. It also mixed objects up with functions to suit the needs.
F# seems to forgive me in my OOP thinking a lot more than Haskell, but I think to get the true benefits I need to get into the mindset of FOP to get the best out of the code. I have read around functional programming for about two years in between my day-to-day C# stuff. But I feel I am not getting into the thinking.
I am pretty sure that there are many people out there like myself. Any answers would be, I think, a great help to a lot of C# guys wishing to move over to F#. Especially with many big hitters in the market place asking for F#. I am a contractor who needs to get up to speed as soon as possible.

This is definitely subjective, but I think that many people are asking similar questions. I certainly did when I started learning F# (as someone with C# experience). Here are some assorted ideas:
Pick the right learning problems - The best way to learn functional programming is to start working on some non-trivial projects. If you pick a project that is easy to solve in the OO way, then you'll probably lean towards OO solution. However, if you choose some project that naturally fits FP solutions, then you'll learn something. In my case, I worked on translator from F# quotations to JavaScript, which involves a lot of recursive processing and discriminated unions.
Don't try to be perfect - If you try to write something in the functional way, it may not be perfect at the first attempt. Don't worry about that (and don't say to yourself that you could do better in OO way). You can do better in the FP way as well - it just takes some time to find out how to do that.
Try to be purist - If you start learning Haskell then you'll have to write pure functional code. F# doesn't enforce that, but I don't think that makes F# less suitable for learning functional programming. If you know C# and .NET, you can reuse a lot of your experience. Just try to be more strict to yourself and avoid using non-functional constructs like mutable state and inheritance - they are sometimes useful, but you can use them after you learn to think in the FP way.
And a little shameless plug - answering a question like this was one of the key motivations for my Real World Functional Programming book, so maybe that could help...

Are there any good books suggestions, to helping the transition over to functional Programming from a deep rooted OO programmer
The Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (SICP):
Book: http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-text/book/book.html
Video lectures: http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/classes/6.001/abelson-sussman-lectures/
His course seems to focus mostly on functional composition. It is in LISP, but it is less about the language, and more about the abstract concepts.
I don't think he says much (or anything) about pure FP, but I haven't really read all of it, either :) The concepts and way of thinking should still be highly applicable, though.

I believe that to really understand functional programming you must first reorganize all your knowledge about the ways to implement different things (e.g. you have to understand that objects may be represented as hash maps or even associative lists, not just as records). Also you will need to start thinking in terms of immutable data and pure functions (procedures of no side effect). Then you'll have to compare functional and procedural ways to implement and treat objects.
All of this you can find in SICP - classical book for learning not only FP, but programming in general. To understand functional way you won't have to read all book, but at least first 3 chapters.
After you understand main FP concepts and are able to implement anything in it's style, read any book on statically typed languages. E.g. Apress books on F# will be much easier to read.

Learn You a Haskell is a decent read, though it's probably a bit too basic given you probably already know the syntax of Haskell from one of those books that you picked up...
Moving up a notch, there's Programming in Haskell, which if you scroll down on that page, has a bunch of links to video lectures based on the book given by MS Research's Erik Meijer.
The Equational Reasoning stuff is particularly interesting, if only academically.
In terms of application, that Real-World Functional Programming book given in the other answer looks really nice -- though I haven't read it, so I can't make any judgments.

How to start programming from scratch? [closed]

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Closed 10 years ago.
I've never really had any experience with programming at all, my uncle told me to come to this site for help from total strangers if I wanted to start programming. I know the names of a couple of languages but I don't really know anything at all. I'm fourteen and I can type fast if that counts for anything. One of my uncles wanted me to learn c#. So my question is, is c# a good place to begin, and if not, where is a good place to begin and how do I learn it?

You may want to look at getting the latest edition of Head First C#. It's particularly suited to newcomers - and it concentrates on "fun" examples rather than business-oriented ones. I'm not personally a fan of that style of learning, but it clearly suits a lot of other people.
Make sure you buy either the latest edition (covering .NET 4) or the most recent printing of the previous edition though: earlier versions had quite a few errors, but those have been rectified over time.

C# is a fine language to begin with.
Here is a good free ebook to get you started. It not only discusses the programming language but also what it means to be a programmer and how to approach it professionally.
As Jon says in his answer - Head First C# is also a great first book (as are all their other books such as Head First HTML).
You can get the Visual Studio Express programming environment (editor with syntax highlighting and intellisense, compiler, debugger and more) for free here - just be sure to select the C# version.

C# is an okay place to begin, but you might find it more fun to write websites instead. It's easy, everyone can see the cool things you do, and you already have the tools to start doing it -- just a text editor and a web browser. HTML and Javascript are also much simpler and more straightforward than C# without being less powerful.
http://www.w3schools.com/ is a good starting point.

In my opinion, there is one critical tool when learning to program or when learning a new programming language. That tool is "a problem that you are sincerely interested in solving."
It may be a game you are interested in writing or a desktop or web-based tool that will actually help you with something in school or in your life.
If you have a real problem that you really want to solve, there will always be free tools, tutorials, and online geeks to help you learn how to solve it.
Learning programming without solving real problems is like learning to build a house with just a hammer and a nail and a short piece of wood. You can learn the basic mechanics of the hammer, but you'll never be a carpenter until you have to confront the problems you'll encounter while trying to build something useful.
After that, I think C# is a great general purpose language to learn programming. And there are some really great free tools available.
I agree with the poster who said experiment with several languages. Solving the same problem with different tools can be a real eye-opener into the different paradigms of those tools.

If one of your uncles wants you to learn C#, he probably sees you as his employee a couple of years from now. So ask him directly if that's his plan and persuade him to help you.
If your uncle has no idea about programming and just dropped this C# suggestion because he heard the term somewhere, he might be doing a very bad favor to you.
If I would be you and I would have free hands to choose what I want, I certainly wouldn't choose C#, because it ties you to a proprietary operating system (Mono is a joke, admit it).
My choice would probably be Python, because it runs on almost any platform. And you have two very valuable tutorials for beginners that approach teaching programming from very different points, so you can pick the one that suits you best: the official Python tutorial and Zed Shaw's Learn Python The Hard Way (don't be afraid of the scary title, the book is very valuable for a beginner).
edit:
After reading the comments, I would like to add a couple more points.
How many of those C# programmers code for fun? Most programmers that use Microsoft technologies, do it professionally - it's their job, they do it for money, most of them don't have guts to admit their job is boring sometimes (even if it is), because such a claim is against the corporate policy that slips into the culture around the infrastructure provided by their (cough!) free programming tools.
Just in a couple of years, the community of users who do programming more or less seriously has literally exploded. Back in the days there was sourceforge - the single monster that was totally programmer related. Today there is launchpad, bitbucket, github (which recently surpassed 1000000 repositories, most of which are small personal pet projects governed by free licenses). How many of those projects are using C#?
Today programming is about reusing or "stealing" (in the good sense) code more than ever. Where are the herds of C# projects, small general-purpose libraries? While some programmers who write proprietary software are not very helpful to newbies (because they see it as consulting, which they can do for money), and while some programmers who write free software are not very helpful as well (because they lack social skills), the code is more important. You don't learn programming only by reading books, you learn it by studying working code. And the free software ecosystem provides much more code to study.
Generally, people who get into programming have two choices:
avoid proprietary stuff, get access to a lot of free software at the risk of being called "anonymous internet elitist"
ignore the proprietary vs free holy war at the risk of feeling what proprietary software means indeed and how it can spoil a good intention, like this guy

There's a lot to programming but it can probably be broken down into a few key elements:
theory
craft
dialects
Theory just takes lots of learning. Books, classes, trial and error, research, etc.
Craft comes with experience.
And that leaves dialects...or rather the particular language(s) you want to become fluent in.
To answer that would require a long list of what kind of stuff you are aiming to do. If you don't really have any particular direction to go in, your 'uncle wanting you to learn it' is maybe as good of a reason as any.

I would say dibble a bit in a few hot languages like C#, Python, Ruby. The reason I say this is, I think liking a language is a bit like developing tastebuds. I know many people who disgusted coding only because of braces and syntatic sugar. All I wanted to save you was from getting intimidated by syntax and throwing it away

I believe C# is a really good starting point. That's pretty spiffy that you're really interested about programming at 14.
I suggest picking up a C# book and reading it. Follow the examples as you come by them.
One of my favorite C# books is by Andrew Troelsen: Pro C# with .NET 4.0 is his latest book. :)
http://apress.com/book/view/1430225491

C# is definitely a good place to start and here is one reason why:
C# is a proper language that will pretty much force you to know what you're doing as a programmer.
I began my programming career with PHP and that language is so loose you almost can't screw up. You can make cool sites and such but never know how terrible they are until you are hired to do something that requires a stronger language. At that time, certain terms and data types that are never used in PHP will broadside you.
As I look back, now that I know many programming languages, starting with PHP was a pretty bad way to begin programming, at least in my opinion. I can't believe I have a job in this field knowing where I began.
Java is also a good place to begin. Any strict compiling language, really. When you know the foundations from a strict compiling language, the loose ones like PHP are a breeze to add to your knowledge base.
Of course, you may want to consider what you're looking to program for. If you want to do web work, C# is a good base, but doubtful that you will use it much for web work unless you're working on something seriously deep. Objective C is used for iphone and ipad development, so you can't go wrong learning that.
Java is good for web and is now a mobile platform, so it is definitely a good investment. The principles of Java will help you write better web code, as well as form a good foundation if you want to branch to C later. Vice versa, I guess.
PHP is very easy to learn and will serve you quite well if you want to get into web development. You should know html, css and get familiar with at least mysql for databases if you go this route. Just FYI, php developers are a dime a dozen in the programming field, so don't count on getting rich doing this unless you want to run your own web company and do the site yourself.
In any case, MVC (model view controller) will be an important thing to read up on. When your code is well structured, it is immeasurably easier to maintain for yourself and anyone else that may have to pick up where you left off.
Have fun.

There's no best approach, but one place to start is here:
Express Editions
They're free and you get lots of choices.

to copy a post i posted here: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3430705/3432079#3432079 there are two things to get a handle upon:
Academic Knowledge:
Know the Theory - get a great handle on the theory of programming, the theory of language design, the theory behind the architectures you are coding on
Know the Math - all programming eventually boils down to math - know predicate logic, trig, vectors, geometry, (basic) set theory, graphs, basic matrix theory, a little numerical analysis doesnt hurt either - as well as complexity theory
Know your Language - get a book, read it, make notes for reference. Apress titles work well for C# http://www.amazon.com/Pro-2010-NET-Platform-Fifth/dp/1430225491/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1281215548&sr=8-1 is good. Then read blogs and videos, learn to use the Redgate Reflector and MSDN help
Know your Tools - for C# this means Visual Studio 2010 - http://blogs.msdn.com/b/saraford/archive/2010/06/17/video-101-visual-studio-tips-in-55-minutes.aspx is a great way to learn. Also get a decent refactorer - ReSharper is my favorite but there are others.
Know your Ecosysyem - know what libraries are out there, learn how to use one or two of the best
Skills:
Know how to define a projct - no matter how good a programmer you are if you build the wrong thing you will have failed epically.
Know how to design - learn the theory on object orientated design - the Gang Of Four software patterns are classics and every coder should be aware of them.
Know how to document code - this is critical for long lasting code and for working well in a team. Write it, Document it, Test it => Resuse it
Know how to work in a team - work hard, play nice, communicate well.
Know which tool to use - get a feel for as many types of languages, actual languages, technologyies, libraries and so on as you can so that you know which to use in which situations
Know how to learn - from those around you, from the web, from documentation and most importantly from your own mistakes.
I'm sure others can add to these lists ;)

I personally got a great headstart on programming when I started on C++ about half a year ago. I'm about thirteen myself as well. C# is a lot like C++ (there are differences, though), so speaking from experience, I'd say yeah, that's a good language to start out with.
As for references, just grab some books at your local bookstore and start working your way through them. That's what I did. If you want to start with C++, I know for sure that there's an excellent reference called 'C++ for Dummies'. That's where I started.

Whichever language you decide to pick (nothing wrong with C#). Pickup a good book or resource, a few are mentioned here. Once you've done that, make sure to work the examples by hand and then at the computer to concrete them into your melon.
It may be totally obvious, but the more examples you can work, modify and make your own and see how they work, the quicker you'll pick up the language. IMHO this is how you really start to learn and have fun because you can start seeing things happen and begin to solve problems and gain context to issues you wouldn't have just reading...

It is an asset You have made a commitment to prgramming. It is usually advantageous to start from a keen understaning of Your working environment. Ask basic questions like what tools are already available to do Your daily assignments? Have as much fun as You can with them; and when they behave unusual, ask the why? Try finding solution to them on the net. Later on, perhaps You may want to enjoy basic html for sometime; and move all the way around c-sharp or anyother programming language; because at the end You- Yourself will figure out the link between a programmer and programming languages.
Hope it helps

I wouldn't pick C# purely as it isn't completely free and the full visual studio is very expensive.
Have a look at python, it forces you program properly in many ways whilst omitting some of the more annoying aspects of programming ({'s and ;'s).
If you do choose to learn python there is a free site with tutorials on how to make simple text based games. I used it to familiarize myself with the language before starting my current project.
link:
http://pythonbook.coffeeghost.net/book1/index.html

The most used languages are C and Java, according to Tiobe, so I'd almost say you should start there but esr has some good reasons for recommending Python as a first language.

C# is an excellent place to start. One thing I would suggest is think of something cool, but not too complex, that you would like to build the using some of the reference books other people have suggested in this thread go build it. Calculators are fun starting programs to build (Disclaimer: I am a math geek).

Having an ability to type fast using ten fingers is useful as you can do more and more exercises without causing your muscle tired quickly.
The first time I used computer, I just typed using my right index finger only and got tired fast ---typing become a nightmare !
If you have much time, you can start learning the following topics in order:
Computer architecture from hardware and software perspective.
C# (Deitel's C# book may be a good choice since it has much more details).

Any widely used language is a good place to start. Once you have done some useful projects in one language, it will be easier to pick up others because the logic is similar.
I suggest choosing based on what you want to do with it now. For example, let's say you are interested in making a few simple games while you learn (think frogger or maybe 1943 and keep the scope small). You can make 2D games pretty rapidly using an interpreted language like Python or Ruby (both have free game libraries available). With perhaps a little more work you can make them in Java or C, and have room to grow into heftier game features. Or you could make them in Objective-C and Cocoa, which would limit you to developing on a Mac, but open the possibility of distributing your games on the iPhone.
If you want to do business or finance applications, you can find a lot of support based on languages like C#, Visual Basic, Java, C, and the .NET framework (not a language, but applicable to enterprise software generally). It would also be a good idea to practice with SQL for interacting with databases (where business data like sales, customer names, or employee records are likely to be stored).
The most important thing to learning quickly is that you enjoy the projects you are working on, and are extremely interested. It will seem impossible to learn a language if you don't really want to do anything with it. On the other hand, you can be an amazingly good programmer in 6 months if you quickly start working on projects of interest, and are fanatical about solving the problems you set for yourself. Besides, you're 14 so you have the option of pushing your life and career in a direction that will give you both income and enjoyment in the work you do.

OK, is it just me or no one asked him the main question.
What do you exactly want to do ?
Do you want to play with hardware (ie have some board connected to a serial / parallel / USB port and have some LEDs flashing, have some sound coming out a speaker etc) or do you want to develop applications that have a nice user interface connecting to a database or even a game ?
Well, for number one, that will be assembly (ie for ARM SOCs) and C and that would require you to get familiar with hardware programming.
For number 2, I'd say C++/JAVA. I wouldn't recommand a language that is only supported by one OS (like C#) ...

Should I learn Java or should I learn C++? [closed]

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Closed 12 years ago.
I have a pretty good non-OOP background. I've done lots of Visual Basic coding, and a little SQL.
I want to widen my skillset and be more marketable. Most of my experience has been working with scientific companies, and I've been supporting scientists a lot.
I want to take some online classes from my local community college. Should I take Java or C++ programming? My goal is to be more marketable. Some more background information: I've had a little bit of experience with .NET, and I am assuming that since I know C# a bit, it may be worthwhile for me to get into C++?
Should I learn Java or C++?
I beg you please don't close this question. Give me 10 minutes to see everyone's input.

C# is a lot more similar to Java than to C++.

I am a recent Computer Science graduate and from my job search I have to say that there are many more people wanting Java programmers than C++. I also saw a great deal of people looking for C# programmers. C++ is not being used as much outside of the academic and scientific field right now.
Java and C# are also similar languages so once you understand one you should be able to go to the other.
If you do want to do C++ that is fine. If you can learn C++ and then master C then you will be in a good position for those few places that need incredibly skilled C programmers. C++ and C are able to reach to a lower level (closer to the hardware) more easily than Java and C# can. That is why they are used mostly in the areas that are dealing with specific and custom hardware.

I want to widen my skillset and be more marketable
That's a reasonable goal, but the information you've provided doesn't help us guide you.
What do you want to do with your career?
Where do you want to market your skills?
What kinds of programming interests you?
What companies interest you?
Do you just want to learn something similar, or try a different paradigm altogether?
For example, Java would be a poor choice if you want to hack on the Linux kernel. C would be better. If you're interested in programming languages, maybe you should look into learning a functional language. OTOH, C++ would be a poor choice if you don't want to learn about memory management, and Java might be easier to get a head start writing webservers (not that both aren't well equipped for that).
You can learn any language, just for the hell of it. But it's more important to use a language that helps you accomplish your real goals. The language is only a tool.

I would also say if you want to support scientific computing invest some time into learning F#. There's even a book with all the right words in the title =).

What are the dangers of a language that is "owned"? [closed]

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Closed 13 years ago.
C# is owned by Microsoft and Java is owned by Sun/Oracle. What dangers does that really expose to the users of these languages? Has anyone felt their code was "owned"? Do projects like Mono help keep the "owners" honest?
Please do not make this a holy war of languages. I just want to know if it's rational to avoid such languages or if that's just paranoia. An interview with the inventor of C++ got me thinking, but I also want to balance his thoughts with the thoughts of the community as a whole.

As compared to what? Since you put it in these terms, the original C and C++ languages are "owned" by Bell Labs.

Java is not "Owned", it is open source. If you find a bug in it that you absolutely cannot deal with, you CAN fix it. (There are both open source and closed source implementations, however)
I don't know if you can get the source code to C#, but since Mono copied it there IS an open source for that as well.
I don't know if there is a second source for the .net libraries.
As for the actual "Dangers" (Which was your real question, after all), it would be that the company decides not to release updates any longer--if they do, will the language wither and die or will it take off on it's own? Java is in the process of transition from one of these states to another. Sorry, don't know about C#.
There is also the (Perceived) danger I mentioned earlier about--can you fix it if you hundred-million dollar company absolutely needs it fixed in order to continue.
This was a more significant problem twenty years ago, these days the fact is that if it's a good stable language, this isn't something you ever need to worry about.

No such danger for C# language. It is an ISO standard. Formally it is owned by a committee. But Java is a trademark

Getting up in the morning is risky, but that doesn't keep the world under the covers.
I feel like this is one of those acceptable risks. In Java's case, companies have used it for the last 15 years or so to their benefit.
What's the alternative? Developing and maintaining your own language so you own it? That's what SAP did. It seems to have worked out for them, but it'd be interesting to calculate the cost they've incurred.
Bjarne Stroustrup is a brilliant man, but let's not forget that he has biases. He isn't happy that Java eclipsed C++ as the primary object-oriented language when it came out. He's attributed it to Sun's marketing, not conceding that it might have improved on C++.
It's a good practice to try and spot biases on the part of any speaker to make sure you're not swallowing someone's view whole. This is one of those cases.

If there are not two independent implementations, language is "Owned" and you are at the mercy of the vendor should he raise prices or can the product.
I don't like that.
EDIT: As often as not, you can count legally forkable codebases as two (the second is yourself).

Aren't all languages owned by a person/company/standards body. The only way I can think of where it isn't really owned by anybody is if the person who made it is anonymous and also public domain

hmm, well Xbox only supports C# for indie games, and no other platform supports it.
obviously the danger is that if you want to do multi platform code, you want the language supported by the most platforms, the more "owned" language is probably going to be supported by less platforms.
the only issue I have is support for the language, and how hard it is to convert from one to the other, for instance I would say c++ to c# is easier than the other way because of memory management.

Improve proficiency in programming [closed]

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Closed 10 years ago.
How can I increase my proficiency in programming? I have a grasp of the basics of C#, but don't feel too confident about my ability.

Code something in C#
Read C# Code and try to understand it.
Read a C# Book (and please none of the C# in 21 Days books)
The confidence comes with the experience.

Read Stack Overflow every day :)
Seriously. Try to solve interesting problems. Even if you don't post your solution, come back later and see if other people came up with something similar, why their solution might be different, etc.

Project Euler.

http://www.asp.net/LEARN/videos/
Voile, you are programing ASP.net.
Keep in mind that you may need a little more grasp on C# as your codes evolve. For that use a good book, most Microsoft's learn C# are pretty neat(The learn ASP.net is quite lame).
Of course, thats what I did back then(about 2 years ago), nowadays you should be able to find some awesome tutorials online.
Good luck ;)

Think of a fun project of some complexity (more that "Hello, world") and code it.
Practice, practice, practice!
Also read forums, blogs, participate in discussions. You will learn many things that aren't even mentioned in books.

read lots of code, write lots of code and keep a copy of C# 3.0 in a nutshell handy.

Learn new programming languages. Learn data structures and algorithms and design patterns. Learn regular expressions. Learn databases. Learn HTML/XHTML/DOM. Learn learn learn learn learn.
In programming, knowledge === power.

Work on something, even if it's reinventing the wheel. You can read books, watch videos and listen to podcasts all day, but the real experience comes from actually building an application. Don't build an application that you know you can build - instead, create an application that is slightly out of your reach, then rinse and repeat.
The experience when you realize that you created a mess of spaghetti code that is unmaintainable cannot really be substituted, as this then really allows you to look into techniques to improve your code. Sure, feel free to read on MSDN about Events, Delegates and Lambdas, but reading about them in the moment you need them means that the knowledge really burns into your memory.
I try to have a rough knowledge about as many topics as possible, but that's usually rather shallow: I know that a technique exists and roughly what problem it solves, so that when I need it I can learn about it.
In my opinion, the only alternative to first-hand real world experience is even more first-hand real world experience.

http://www.appdev.com/csharp.asp
:)

You say you are learning ASP.NET and C#. Have you ever done any programming or web development? Because, if you have not, then you need to take a step back and learn the basics of HTML, CSS and get a grasp of how data is passed via HTTP between client and server. I would also strongly advise getting a grounding in basic SQL, because most serious web development will utilise databases at some point.
After that, some basic OOP (Object-orientated programming) theory would do you good. That way you have a good grounding in the subject-matter before diving into the coding.
For learning C# the I'd suggest a couple of good tutorials:
The C# Station Tutorial and Softsteel Solutions C# tutorial.
I also found the ASP.NET Quickstarts useful when I was learning ASP.NET - I prefer to learn by example than by theory.
As for confidence, I'm afraid that only comes via experience. Perhaps try answering a few questions here? Getting a few up-votes might just give you that boost. Good luck.

This fits in to catagory of answers you've received thus far, but review open source projects.
Understand how they work and maybe even why they were put together in a given way. Not only will it improve your ability to write C# but it will also improve your understanding of Software Engineering which is ultimately how you put a programming language -- C# or otherwise -- to good use.

Creating a Project that makes use of a lot of different technologies is a good way to grasp a 'big picture' view.
As an example, think of an n-tier application where you input a value into a very simple web page, this value being sent into a web service, and behind that WS a simple business layer that switches between readings into a table of a data base, then you return the value finishing the output in a postback of the initial web page. In my Personal opinion, every element of the layer is a simple one, but, making the whole system work without errors is good beginner's challenge, that way you could build a confidence in your skills, enabling you to undertake any other idea.
Well, that were my two cents. Good Luck!

There may be so many projects that u can make.choose the project that makes u.it's true take a project that you consider difficult for your level.
1) analyse your project
2) define the objective
find things that are necessary to achieve the objective
3)then derive an algorithm which clearly explains the workflow
4)then start woking
In my experience "Learn By Working" is a good idea.first grab the basics then start the work soon you'll learn step by step.never give up ,be a ceaseless crusader.
practise practise it's a only way of surviving as a programmer.
Being a best programmer requires a lot of patience,thinking skills,Attention,a thrist for knowledge.
Wise people always replace the fear of unkonwn with curiosity

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