Question

[Drakx]

Hi guys

For some time now ive been troubled by a question "What makes a developer ?"

is it some one who can make apps/games of there own
is it some one who helps contibute code to projects
is it some one who knows a language but dont remember/dont use it
or
is it some one who is learning for the first time

reason why i ask my self:

I taught myself (much like most people here) python by a book i bought while i have learned a lot of how apps are made/work i cannot turly say i have got to grips with it as it was, what i mean is i know python but still cannot write a app with it (apart from hello world) that seems to be the only part of python i remember :(. I also know VB.NET (yea ok is M$ but still its a language) now that i got to grips with and still ive not wirten a app using vb i would not say im compatent but for the most part i can get things displayed in a message box or even calculate weight by distance :( thats why on 20th of this month i goto collage for VB, i also know little and mean little C (but i really need help in getting my head around the rest as i cannot ask a book questions like Why ?) Now i've been using Linux on and off for the past 2/3 yrs and for the last 3 months full time :D and i would love nothing more than to give some thing back (an app that noobs or Pros can use i have an idea and using gambas ive seen the GUI side to it so i know what it looks like but just dont know the code for it :S that may sound strange i know) then last night i started looking at this part of the forums read though every page of the stickys :S and saw a few good ideas as a noob programming language and saw gambas (which looks pritty cool :)). Im still trubled by all this as when i run into a problem or dont know the answer i fell really P*ssed off :( (failuer), i have decied that i will start over again as vb (which i like) is not going to be much use in Linux (turst ms to give me some thing i love and cannot use in an os i turly love) how ever after a few hours of searching (maybe not that well) i still could not find any good tutorials for gambas (still not sure if its basic or a linux clone of vb :S), so i just wanted to know what you guys thought about this "What make a developer" to me its the guy(s) who build apps like KDE/Gnome or even the Linux kernel.

At the moment i dont know if i could call myself a developer or just some guy who wishes they new :(

Im deeply sadened about this question and has been playing on my mind for about a year now, like i said i have the knowlage but dont use it though i would love to i just have not found a project that i would find sutable for me (i look on sourceforge nerly every day under the help wanted section) :( VB is no good now (though if i find a tutorial for gambas great :D) python.... well python is great but have not found any project i would like to start/help with python (not too menchen i hardly remeber it).

So guys what do you think ?

Thanks

Drakx

Ps

this question has really got to me in a way no other question ive ever asked

[KingBahamut]

A developer in my opinion is any person that writes cohesive, or sometimes like me non cohesive , code that either is or contributes to a larger piece of functional software.

If we divert to wikiworld --

A software developer is a programmer who concerns him/herself with one or more facets of the software development process, a somewhat broader scope of computer programming. This person may contribute to the overview of the project on the application level rather than component level or individual programming tasks. Software developers are often still guided by lead programmers but also encompasses the class of freelance software developers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_developer

[thumper]

I wouldn't get too worried about the meaning of a word.

I understand how you feel with the frustration of not knowing the answer to something, but don't think of that as a failure, think of it as a challenge to find the answer. Make it a driving force to get you to research it and find the answer, or at least lead you to the next question.

No one knows the answers to everything.

If you are really wanting to continue with developing with the intent of use on linux, then I would say stick with python. Start off with some small shell scripts to automate some process that you want to do. It is really hard when starting thinking "right, I'm going to write a program to do something. Hmm what?".

Keep learning, and don't give up.

[Drakx]

I wouldn't get too worried about the meaning of a word.

I understand how you feel with the frustration of not knowing the answer to something, but don't think of that as a failure, think of it as a challenge to find the answer. Make it a driving force to get you to research it and find the answer, or at least lead you to the next question.

No one knows the answers to everything.

If you are really wanting to continue with developing with the intent of use on linux, then I would say stick with python. Start off with some small shell scripts to automate some process that you want to do. It is really hard when starting thinking "right, I'm going to write a program to do something. Hmm what?".

Keep learning, and don't give up.

Thank you :D

[DancingSun]

Titles are fairly meaningless in the software development world. The scope of software development is just too large to be limited by titles such as "software developer". Just because you can develop a "hello world" program doesn't mean you can develop artificial intelligence. So don't worry about the titles.

What's important is whether you want to become a programmer and what kind of software you would like to program. Never do it just because you want to obtain that title. Do it because you like it. In software programming, knowing is not enough. You need to have the experience. You'll never truely know a programming language unless you've actually use it on your own; and you'll never truely understand a programming language until you can dream in it.

Programming is sort of like being a natural language translator. Just because you learned Spanish in school doesn't mean you can fluently use it to converse with people. And you don't really understand how to use the language until you can dream in it. That is the case with me when I was learning English.

Programming is about translating concepts and algorithms from thought to a computer language, and it takes practice to get use to it. If you like Linux, and want to stay with Linux as your programming platform, in addition to trying out Python, take a look at Ruby and Smalltalk.

Ruby is a language that I highly recommend as the language itself is fairly consistent, which makes it easy to learn.

Smalltalk is the mother of all Object-Oriented languages, and is still one of the most advanced high level languages out there. Smalltalk is even more consistent and compact across the language features than Ruby, and its concepts can be easily learned. As a learning language to get familair with what a real object-oriented language is like, nothing beats Smalltalk. However, there are very few mainstream projects using Smalltalk. So for practical uses, Smalltalk is more limited compared to Python and Ruby. You should look at the free open source implementation of Smalltalk, called Squeak, if you want to try it out.

[KingBahamut]

To date, the finest programmer Ive ever met was a man that had no degree in any Computer related or math related field.

Simple reason - Doctorate in Linguistics and English.

Computer languages are like any other language, there is a syntax and a structure. Once you understand both.

Youll understand how to be a developer.

[Drakx]

I downloaded an old python project that i use to use while i was learning python and after a bit of reading and cross refrence i do remember more than i thought i did :D, like i said this is an old project the orginal devel no longer has time to finish what could be a great app ive had a look at the todo list and understand whats the goal, now im thinking of modifying the project mainly the gui side and some of the core componentes as some parts of it dont work with a key dependancey i had a look at a few gui's last night and have decided that the gui would be best in qt (as it was first built for kde) my only problem is if i use qt to build the gui how do i get python to import that new interface ? the rest i will work out

thanks

[Drakx]

I downloaded an old python project that i use to use while i was learning python and after a bit of reading and cross refrence i do remember more than i thought i did :D, like i said this is an old project the orginal devel no longer has time to finish what could be a great app ive had a look at the todo list and understand whats the goal, now im thinking of modifying the project mainly the gui side and some of the core componentes as some parts of it dont work with a key dependancey i had a look at a few gui's last night and have decided that the gui would be best in qt (as it was first built for kde) my only problem is if i use qt to build the gui how do i get python to import that new interface ? the rest i will work out

thanks
Its ok i worked it thanks