Anybody need a programmer?
- Thread starter RedIvy
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I'd imagine people who need a bit of coding would know about coding in the first place so they would either be able to do it themselves or wouldn't really need your help. No offence but you are a newbie - if somebody does need code written but can't do it themselves, then chances are high you wouldn't be able to help much. Especially with the "No promises, no commitments" clause.
That's not to say you should be discouraged - just that your plea would probably be unsuccessful.
With the negativity out of the way, if you want to do stuff, then there is plenty you can pick up.
1) Learn a new programming language. Python is popular and quite good to know, also easy to learn especially since there are free resources all over the place, like this one [http://www.diveintopython.net/]. But PHP is nice, as well. Especially if you do it in a proper OO way. JavaScript is a horrible, terrible thing but if you really need to use it (and it's all over the place) it's actually good to know what's going on. JS is even used in game development, for example, as Unity scripting language. Java or C/C++ - you might have been introduced to one of them, so picking up the other would help. Of if you know both, it's always good to deepen your knowledge - probably one of them you know better, so focus on the other. C# is quite popular, too and if you know Java it's going to be really easy to pick up, also .NET I find to be a good framework. Ruby (almost goes hand in hand with On Rails) is going to be different but worth giving a shot. It's more tailored towards web development but still. Prolog or Lisp are going to be a big paradigm shift compared to Java and the like but are used for writing AI and thus would be of use to you. Heck, even Perl, Bash, Visual Basic and others that don't seem immediately helpful are still good to at least be familiar with.
2) Try out frameworks. An alternative (or addition) to picking up a new language - jQuery, Knockout, Angular are good JavaScript libraries to know (and really make the language much better to use). For PHP CodeIgniter is one MVC framework that comes to mind (there'd be many, this one I can recall right now) and it's good to see how it does MVC, Zend also has a lot of MVC and I do mean a lot - it's quite overwhelming in the beginning but a structured and logical when you get the hang of it. Spring is a really valuable addition to Java, even though it deals with enterprise-y applications. These are from the top of my head - there are going to be many related to visual stuff - Qt comes to mind, though it's more about GUIs as far as I know.
3) Start using a version control system. This is going to be invaluable and also it is not taught in university often. Which is a shame as it's really useful and there is not a lot to it. Subversion (SVN) and Git are probably the most popular along with Mercurial and CVS. You can pick one and start using it right now. Play around with it for a few days until you feel comfortable with branches and merging and the like and just...keep using it. You can keep everything locally or get an online repo (GitHub being a prominent provider of free Git repos. With a student account you'll get a free private one) but the important thing is to just get in the habit of using one - really useful for any job after Uni and also quite, quite useful during it, too. Especially for group assignments.
4) Pick up Linux. If you haven't. It's better to know it than not. It's free, after all, and there really isn't that much to it to start up - install it and use it, so you get the hang of what's going on. You can dual boot or have it in a virtual machine. Lots of development gets done on Linux or Linux is often related to development anyway (hosting servces, repos, backups, used for network stuff, and so on).
(also we have a group [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/groups/view/Escapist-Linux-Users])
5) Read up on design patterns if you haven't covered them already. Actually, even if you have, just keep doing it - look at design patterns and anti-patterns.
6) Other stuff. Seriously, this isn't going to be an exhaustive list as it can't be. There is SO MUCH other stuff that you can do related to computers, I don't think I'll be able to cover it all. There is something that could help, though list of (completely) free books related to programming [https://github.com/vhf/free-programming-books/blob/master/free-programming-books.md]. Feel free to use and abuse it.
That's not to say you should be discouraged - just that your plea would probably be unsuccessful.
With the negativity out of the way, if you want to do stuff, then there is plenty you can pick up.
1) Learn a new programming language. Python is popular and quite good to know, also easy to learn especially since there are free resources all over the place, like this one [http://www.diveintopython.net/]. But PHP is nice, as well. Especially if you do it in a proper OO way. JavaScript is a horrible, terrible thing but if you really need to use it (and it's all over the place) it's actually good to know what's going on. JS is even used in game development, for example, as Unity scripting language. Java or C/C++ - you might have been introduced to one of them, so picking up the other would help. Of if you know both, it's always good to deepen your knowledge - probably one of them you know better, so focus on the other. C# is quite popular, too and if you know Java it's going to be really easy to pick up, also .NET I find to be a good framework. Ruby (almost goes hand in hand with On Rails) is going to be different but worth giving a shot. It's more tailored towards web development but still. Prolog or Lisp are going to be a big paradigm shift compared to Java and the like but are used for writing AI and thus would be of use to you. Heck, even Perl, Bash, Visual Basic and others that don't seem immediately helpful are still good to at least be familiar with.
2) Try out frameworks. An alternative (or addition) to picking up a new language - jQuery, Knockout, Angular are good JavaScript libraries to know (and really make the language much better to use). For PHP CodeIgniter is one MVC framework that comes to mind (there'd be many, this one I can recall right now) and it's good to see how it does MVC, Zend also has a lot of MVC and I do mean a lot - it's quite overwhelming in the beginning but a structured and logical when you get the hang of it. Spring is a really valuable addition to Java, even though it deals with enterprise-y applications. These are from the top of my head - there are going to be many related to visual stuff - Qt comes to mind, though it's more about GUIs as far as I know.
3) Start using a version control system. This is going to be invaluable and also it is not taught in university often. Which is a shame as it's really useful and there is not a lot to it. Subversion (SVN) and Git are probably the most popular along with Mercurial and CVS. You can pick one and start using it right now. Play around with it for a few days until you feel comfortable with branches and merging and the like and just...keep using it. You can keep everything locally or get an online repo (GitHub being a prominent provider of free Git repos. With a student account you'll get a free private one) but the important thing is to just get in the habit of using one - really useful for any job after Uni and also quite, quite useful during it, too. Especially for group assignments.
4) Pick up Linux. If you haven't. It's better to know it than not. It's free, after all, and there really isn't that much to it to start up - install it and use it, so you get the hang of what's going on. You can dual boot or have it in a virtual machine. Lots of development gets done on Linux or Linux is often related to development anyway (hosting servces, repos, backups, used for network stuff, and so on).
(also we have a group [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/groups/view/Escapist-Linux-Users])
5) Read up on design patterns if you haven't covered them already. Actually, even if you have, just keep doing it - look at design patterns and anti-patterns.
6) Other stuff. Seriously, this isn't going to be an exhaustive list as it can't be. There is SO MUCH other stuff that you can do related to computers, I don't think I'll be able to cover it all. There is something that could help, though list of (completely) free books related to programming [https://github.com/vhf/free-programming-books/blob/master/free-programming-books.md]. Feel free to use and abuse it.