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1337 c0mpu7ing 5k1llz
Aug. 20th, 2007 02:42 pmA while ago I decided to teach myself C properly rather than the mess I'd picked up on the streets. I got the O'Reilly book and went through that, coding up all the assignments and such. I'm pretty sure my technique's still sloppy and inefficient, but I at least know what's going on now. For example I actually understand how pointers work and why you want to use them, rather than just figuring out how. I now understand a lot of the design decisions that went into Citcom/CitcomS. Even if I don't agree with them, I can at least see a reason behind it and that helps. It's largely thanks to this, that I was able to write my tidal dissipation code as easily as I did, although that would still benefit from a revision to make the grid-spacing and layers easier to work with. The way for me to improve from now on is probably just more practice which I'll be getting anyway.
I've also gotten a lot better about documentation and backups. I'm not using Subversion or anything, since I'm the only one messing with my code, but I've been preserving old versions a lot better now and that's come in useful. And unlike most code I inherit from others, roughly half of what I write is comments, so when I come back to it months later, I can figure out what I did. I prefer long-winded and easy-to-follow than clever one-liners.
Now I need a new project to improve my computing skills. I finished the whole learning C thing some time ago, but I've been so busy with actual research and writing lately that I haven't started anything else. I'd like to have a computing skill to learn in downtimes when I'm waiting for a calculation to run, and don't have a lot else to deal with, or when I want to procrastinate while still doing something useful. Now is a great time for me to start, as there's a bit of a lull at the moment. I just got back from a meeting. I submitted one paper a couple weeks ago. I have a second mostly written; I'm just waiting on some calculations to get the last of the results. I'm thinking of learning one of the following next, but I welcome other suggestions.
1. Python
2. Perl
3. Java
4. HTML / CSS in a way that sucks less than my current stuff
5. Something else?
I've also gotten a lot better about documentation and backups. I'm not using Subversion or anything, since I'm the only one messing with my code, but I've been preserving old versions a lot better now and that's come in useful. And unlike most code I inherit from others, roughly half of what I write is comments, so when I come back to it months later, I can figure out what I did. I prefer long-winded and easy-to-follow than clever one-liners.
Now I need a new project to improve my computing skills. I finished the whole learning C thing some time ago, but I've been so busy with actual research and writing lately that I haven't started anything else. I'd like to have a computing skill to learn in downtimes when I'm waiting for a calculation to run, and don't have a lot else to deal with, or when I want to procrastinate while still doing something useful. Now is a great time for me to start, as there's a bit of a lull at the moment. I just got back from a meeting. I submitted one paper a couple weeks ago. I have a second mostly written; I'm just waiting on some calculations to get the last of the results. I'm thinking of learning one of the following next, but I welcome other suggestions.
1. Python
2. Perl
3. Java
4. HTML / CSS in a way that sucks less than my current stuff
5. Something else?
