What to do to become a pro programmer?

[Faff]

Hello

So far if read a whole C++ beginners book ( from Herbert Schildt)
experimented with Visual C++ Forms, Visual Basic Forms, started HTML stuffs, currentely going over Win32 API.

Learning a lot but I still feel like I've learned nothing usefull.
I want to be able to make every program that I have in mind, but
don't know what to read for that, everything I find which goes slightly advanced stops half way.

So was wondering , what do I have to read/watch to become a good programmer
(prefere free)

Thanks on advance :)

[levijgraham]

try Xoax.net video tutorials on everything you could possibly need

[Athar]

Make sure that you know C++ well and have read some somewhat advanced books like Effective C++.
After that it's just learning how to use various libraries, such as the Qt framework, which offers a wide range of functionality (GUI, network, database access and various other things). When you exclusively program for Windows, you could also work with the WinAPI directly, which allows you to do pretty much everything - it's just knowing about the right functions for a particular task (which you can find using Google and MSDN). However, in this day and age it might be a better idea to use the .NET framework instead of the low-level WinAPI. You can't do this with C++, however there are alternative languages such as C# and C++/CLI.

[m4ster r0shi]

If you want to become a pro programmer, know that you are a pro programmer.

[sohguanh]

If you want to become a pro programmer, know that you are a pro programmer.

Hmmm... is the above a proverb or some wise sage saying? :P

Someone told me another saying.

Instead of learning how to program in programming language X, learn the art of learning how to program programming languages.

I think in layman terms, it means as long as you learn the art of learning, then as years go by, the next new programming language prop up, you will have no problem learning and keep yourself up-to-date with the new batch of developers.

Let me see, I started off with Lotus Notes, VB, bash shell, Perl, C, C++, Java etc etc and I believe for future there will be more to come.

So I do not proclaim myself to be a good programmer after all these years. I am always eager to learn and this simple traits will take me to my grave hopefully :P

[thecodewall]

You can't be a good programmer just to read and watch only, do some project, make a useful application for this you will learn a lot. Maybe you can be freelance programmer or find some job that will enhance your skill

http://codewall.blogspot.com

[blackcoder41]

http://stackoverflow.com/about/hiring

stackoverflow wrote:

Really great is hereby defined as: Your friends and coworkers describe you as a "coding animal” and your programming ability is way above average, as demonstrated by a continuous string of successful projects. We also expect you to have a track record of contributing to the community (whether on Stack Overflow or through blogging, open source projects, or other online communities).

http://qt.nokia.com/about/careers
http://qt.nokia.com/about/careers/code-specifications

NokiaQT wrote:

The code portfolio should contain code that you are proud of and that would make us want to hire you

So I guess you just have to write and write and write awesome software then show them off.

[Faff]

Thanks for the many replies :)

But well , so far I'm kind of working for a game private server, been modeller in that class for a few years. Since I feel like I reached my goal of being able to model everything I have in mind, I decided to move to something new, and since programmers are widely asked in the game world, I wanted to give it a try.
My starter application goal was : prog reading a text file with npc info's in it ; list the names of npc's ; When name is clicked, personal information is editable

 ;Part of NPC list

 ;Weapon Merchant, Goo-Deuk
(gennpc (index 1) (country 2) (kind 0) (shape 3) (html 1) (map 0) (xy 257491 258584 16120) (dir 254491 257584))

; Knight's Armor Merchant, Pa-Deukchun
(gennpc (index 2) (country 2) (kind 0) (shape 3) (html 3) (map 0) (xy 257016 258556 16140) (dir 260016 250556))

; Merchant, Gae-Yoo
(gennpc (index 3) (country 2) (kind 0) (shape 3) (html 7) (map 0) (xy 257556 258207 16140) (dir 256556 258207))

And wanted to build furder on that (like including datas from a rar file, etc)
But so far, I can only read the whole text file and display it.

Currentely going over all the links you gave me , there are quite some interesting ones between them :)

Thanks once more ^^