How long did it take you . . . ?

[Audie]

Whether you base the confidence in your answer on the kind of job you have or had attained, or on what you've accomplished in general with C++ . . .

1. How long did it take you to become an "intermediate"-level C++ programmer?
2. How long to become an "advanced"-level C++ programmer?

There might be great variance in the answers depending also on programming experience prior to C++, or on the particular fields of emphasis, or if it's part of a wide multidisciplinary condition, so explanations with the answers would be very welcomed.

[jeffsg605]

C++ is my first language and I've been learning it for a little less than a year. I am feeling pretty comfortable with classes and I've started getting into pointers. I've written a few command line programs that I actually use and I started getting into the Allegro game programming library. I feel I'm doing fairly well however I wouldn't say I'm at the intermediate level yet. This is just a hobby though, I don't plan on making a career out of it.

[Audie]

Thanks for sharing, Jeff. I wish you continued fun. :)

I spent around a month learning some Python about a year and a half ago and then didn't do any programming-related learning until almost four months ago when I spent around another month learning some ActionScript 3.0. Then I determined that if I wanted nearly to maximize my potential with ActionScript, or any other OOP, it would be best first to try to learn a lot of C++ (short of getting too deep into computer science at this point).

So for almost three months I've concentrated on C++, and I'm glad that I have. Now I want to spend maybe a year total on C++ before I put it aside for a while, first finishing my 1026-page current text with its many complicated project-problems, then learning DirectX 11 and getting somewhat deep into real-time rendering principles, and then finishing off with trying to make a good (if relatively amateurish) interactive 3D environment that's inspired by an Autodesk Building Design Suite, Second Life, and EVE Online.

Considering whatever specialty that represents, I hope I can feel like I'm an intermediate- approaching advanced-level programmer in that year.

[zb0S216C]

I've been programming for 2-3 years now. My first language was Lua, then Python, then C, now C++ and C. There's a truth you need to understand: Becoming advanced at C++ depends on your ability to quickly develop programming skills. There's no set time to become advanced, or even any level at that.

It helps to have in-depth knowledge of a computer. For example, memory addresses (pointers), units of memory measurement (memory allocation), your operating system (will your OS release allocated memory that you forgot the delete?), the CPU (clock cycles (CPU usage), and registers), etc.

I've only just left the beginner level :) Still, I personally don't any professional programmers to tell me otherwise, so I have to guess what level I'm at.

_Wazzak