How did you learn to put all your knowledge together?

[weJ]

Hey guys! So I have been going to CS uni this year and we already learned things such as C, C#, HTML,CSS, JavaScript, MySQL, PHP, ASP.NET and whatnot but to be I Just feel like I can do little things with each and I don't really know what I can do with that knowledge.

I just finished C# for this year and what we were taught was the basics of any programming language and then (Classes, Constructors, Inheritance, Polymorphism, Interfaces) as well as Collections, Delegates, and Garbage Collectors.

The teacher gaves us a whole lot of theory but in the end, me and the majority(some people already had experience) of students don't really know how to put this all together or what we can truly do it it. Yes, I can build classes, constructors etc etc but I don't really know how to put it all together as a whole.

We were meant to do a DAL but he decided to do it 'showing us how it's done' but you probably guess we didn't bare to see a guy type code for hours and hours and don't really get much of it. The university is already aware and decided we will be given the same class in the summer by another teacher but I can't be arsed to wait for the summer to be honest lol.

 

Any idea where I can start? Maybe a little project that actually makes sense? Thanks

[Token]

Create something, anything, even if it takes only 1000 lines of code it's better than reading some book (or going to school)

[Final]

There's nothing to learn.

You think of what you want to make, you create it, you make it better, maybe later you'll rewrite it.

Next project, you think of what you want to make, you reflect on your last project and attempt to implement principles which you've learnt since then, you make it better, maybe later you'll rewrite it.

And so the cycle continues.

[Booleans YAY]

Trial and error, reading snippets and understand functions within an API and demos.

I learn by reading and or visually seeing something first then doing it.

[IDontEB]

Most decent tier universities focus on the theory aspect of computer science. They expect you as a student to be able to read documentation and figure out certain parts of programming yourself. At my university they didnt teach Java until 2nd year and focused primarily on program structure and design, developing logic, and a lot of math courses for god knows what reason since we never used them.

[IHB]

basically whjat u do is post on the forums for help with p much every line and let people spoon feed u the code then publish it when it works and tada scripter 1

[Tylersbored]

Start off by thinking of a problem that you would like to automate. From there, vision your goal and what you want and think about the steps you need to get there. Want to create a bot for OSBot? Google "OSBot scripting guide". Want to create a chrome extension? Google "chrome extension guide". 

There are so many resources out there to help you get started. The more you do, the more you learn and the easier it gets to begin the next project. 

[root_]

Quite honestly I am 100% self taught. I graduated with my associates last year and started really getting into linux where I began making little bash script to make tasks easier. Then I moved onto bigger things and actually making full blown programs because I got tired and bored of the little scripts. You just have to think outside the box on what would make life easier for you or someone else, let that motivate you. Use snippits of other peoples code and modify/tweak from there until you have a more general idea of what you're doing. 

[liverare]

C

This is a pretty low procedural language. Perhaps you could build some hard, statistical algorithms.

 

C#, HTML,CSS, JavaScript, MySQL, PHP, ASP.NET

Go and become a full-stack developer.

 

C# is used in ASP.NET to build dynamic webpages. MySQL is a basic database language to give that dynamic webpage some data to load and play with. HTML, CSS, and JS will help make that dynamic webpage even more aesthetically pleasing.

Try pick up NoSQL, Oracle SQL, and some other querying languages; Handlebars, Angler JS and other templating libraries.

Build yourself a portfolio website.

[nyan]

no one is going to put it all together for you, you have to do that yourself. if you love programming then putting it together shouldn't be a problem for you. if you forced yourself to like programming because you thought it would be a smart career path since everything is becoming automated or computerized then you should probably get used to how you're feeling.

the moment i started learning my first language i immediately started thinking of all kinds of programs i could write. they don't even have to make sense. i made an app for my phone that keeps track of everything that i have in my kitchen cupboards. i later updated that app to include recipes and then after that to tell me what recipes i had all ingredients for and what ingredients i needed to complete recipes. the next update might be geared towards nutritional values but i don't really care much about them so i'm in no rush.

after you write random programs like the example given then you build yourself a portfolio as @liverare suggested.

good luck!

edit: i just noticed the OP was in April lel

Edited August 24, 2017 by superuser

[Juggles]

14 hours ago, liverare said:

C

This is a pretty low procedural language. Perhaps you could build some hard, statistical algorithms.

 

C#, HTML,CSS, JavaScript, MySQL, PHP, ASP.NET

Go and become a full-stack developer.

 

C# is used in ASP.NET to build dynamic webpages. MySQL is a basic database language to give that dynamic webpage some data to load and play with. HTML, CSS, and JS will help make that dynamic webpage even more aesthetically pleasing.

Try pick up NoSQL, Oracle SQL, and some other querying languages; Handlebars, Angler JS and other templating libraries.

Build yourself a portfolio website.

Nice gravedig mate. OP already took his summer course 

[Antonio Kala]

I think it's fine if he comments on the thread even after op has already made his decision, because it helps out other people that might be dealing with the same situation and will thank the extra input once they check out the thread, or any thread on that matter.

[Eliot]

I've learned a lot more practical knowledge through internships than in class. My advice is to seek internships whenever you can.

[sudoinit6]

2 hours ago, Eliot said:

I've learned a lot more practical knowledge through internships than in class. My advice is to seek internships whenever you can.

This. Experience > all.

 

I work in IT. I don't have a college degree, I don't have any active certs (I have gotten some certs along the way but they have long expired), what I do have is a resume with almost 2 decades of IT experience. Now I am an old fart and when I started the degree wasn't as necessary to get your foot in the door as it is now, back then all you had to do was prove that you knew stuff. But the point is you learn more by doing than any class can teach you. I go to technical courses from time to time, employers paid for VMware training when we wanted to viirtualize. The classes were good but I never really "got" it until I built that first cluster.