How does one become a GURU?

[James Stanich]

with APIs, contols, functions, classes, dll, ocx, ADO, RDO, Sql Server, and the rest, how does one learn all the functionality of VB?

[Cybrg641]

Lots of experimenting and reading.

Books. Of course, there's also just downloading code, looking at it, and eventually you start learning on your own. Vb's help is also good too. And than you have this very useful site, planet-source-code, vbcode, freevbcode, vbapi.com, allapi.net, etc., etc.

If you stick with those sites, you will learn a lot.

[James Stanich]

Matthew: How long have you been using VB?

I took an AppDev class which I can say, 2 grand later, that I learned the basic ideas but in the 6 months that I've been using VB, I have found that a majority of the tasks I am trying to do are not covered in most most things I have read. I subscribe to VB Programmer Journal (which most of is well over my head) and also purchased TEACH yourself in 21 days. Can anyone recommend a good learning tool, with real-life examples?

The great way to learn is to first start with VBA, program it for fun, and add VB. Later on, you will learn (like me).

Also, try talking to Gurus. I'm not quite a guru, but feel free to icq or email me, and I'll try to train you for $0.00.

Also, major gurus like Megatron and Matthew Gates are mainly helpful and you can ask them. Most gurus enjoy beginners because they have a way to excercise their skills.

ICQ 91697293

Well, I became interested in VB when I was 12. I had VB3.0, but I did not learn till I was 13.

I did buy a book, but I just couldn't understand it.
So I taught myself by experimenting, reading, looking at source code, etc.
16 (soon to be) - 13 = 3 years.
And then I found this site, which has helped me a lot. And it is a lot of fun to help everyone out. Especially when you satisfy the person with the correct answer. Feels good to know that your right.

Basically, I went to bed one night, and I dreamed of some things on VB. Than I woke up, and turned the computer on...opened VB and I knew a few things. Weird, aye?

I guess if you want something really badly (I wanted to learn how to program), than you go for it. And sometimes, the answers come to you in your dreams .

[James Stanich]

I can say I have learned more on the forum than in any book. But I was wondering, the gurus, why do they do it? In this world where knowledge is power, why do these guys still remain to be so helpful?

The reason i help people, is because it makes me feel good,
and I am always soo bored...

the reason I have stopped helping people is I have become more interested in learning new languages such as PHP, and Perl,
and well, if you're learning 2 languages(actually 3, because I am learning more of C++ too) it takes a while to get the hang of it..
but luckily PHP is pretty much a combo of mostly C++ and a little Perl, so, they are all pretty similar to each other....


Ummmm.. going off topic here....
Cya

[mlewis]

James: just hang in there. My story's a lot like Matthew's: I started at 7 years old on a sharp programmable calculator and worked up to vb3,vb5,and now vb6. I am 14 now but going strong. The best way to be a guru is to get some projects under your belt.

I'm working on starting a programming group for proggers of all skill levels, if interested contact me at [email protected]

[PaulLewis]

Almost every question involving code that I attempt to answer, is on a topic I have limited knowledge on. But to answer the question well, means taking some time to investigate and in this process you learn quite quickly.

When I say teach, I loosely include the help dished out on the forum. Often the question asked and the answers given (the good ones and the bad ones) help quide your learning process.

My advice is to answer as many questions as you can as long as you have
a) researched it so you understand it yourself
b) provide a useful solution

Although it is always nice to help someone out, I mostly answer questions because I know it will help me out far more with respect to my own learning.

It must be late...I'm waffling

Cheers

I started at VB3, VB4, and eventually VB6.
I have a couple of books that didn't help me at all, I learned everything by experimenting.
Another thing that helped me is my background in QuickBASIC.
I'm not the first one to say that half of my programming knowledge came from this forum.
Stick to this forum and you'll learn A LOT.

[Edited by Sc0rp on 09-23-2000 at 09:26 AM]

Originally posted by James Stanich
I can say I have learned more on the forum than in any book. But I was wondering, the gurus, why do they do it? In this world where knowledge is power, why do these guys still remain to be so helpful?

Helping others also helps me learn too. Try it for yourself. Pick a topic and try to answer it to the best of your ability. Now that you've done it, that knowledge stays with you hence the more times you re-write the code, the more it stays with you.

[HarryW]

I answer questions (or try to) just for kicks - it makes me feel like I'm making progress with my own programming skills to know that I am in a position where I might be able to help someone. Plus it's nice to see a big smiley when I answer it well

[HeSaidJoe]

I'm not a Guru..heck I'm not even a programmer...I took a few courses and then decided I could make a little app or two and then I found out how little I knew.

The courses and the books were fine but until you write programs you don't realize how little you know. As I don't program for a living and had no programmers I could get advice from, I started searching the net.

I found this site among others and I keep coming back. I follow questions I'm interested in and if I have experience with the question being asked I will give a reply.

As Megatron says, the more you answer the more you learn...sometimes the hard way..like when you post a 1 page answer and someone like Aaron or Megatron comes in and answers it with a 2 liner...but that's the price of learning. It's no big deal to be humbled...it is a big deal if you ignore code that is better than yours for no other reason than it's not yours.

Keep your aspirations on self knowledge...guru is a title and you can't eat it or sleep with it and with that in mind, remember to keep it in perspective. Focus on your desire to learn and the rest will follow.

All the best,
Wayne

I help people because I really can improve or practice my skills knowing that I've made a difference (or not, either way). Really, in a lot of ways I like to follow megatron's posts, but I'm getting used to it. I really like programming, and that is why I help beginners (or IMs).

Even the gurus can forget, so (I'm not a guru yet, don't get me wrong) I really like to practice by helping.

And I don't just butt in on Megatron's posts.

What I mean is that I learn from his ways of posting and pass it along with me. I also learned a lot from him.

Personally, I think that practice is the only way you improve. Looking on the web is helpful, but cutting and pasting someone else code into your app is only worthwhile if you understand what the code does.

Push yourself - try to solve the problem on your own before getting help, otherwise you become too reliant on others. You need to understand both programming in general (ie. all the basic comcepts that are language non-specific) and you need to also learn the ins and out of the major language you use. Learning how to put a button on a form is all really nice, and so is writing arrays etc. but you still need to know how arrays work, not just how to use them.

The only way you improve is writing apps. Start small, and get bigger. Make sure you're bringin in the concepts you learnt previously into the current project, and not reinventing the wheel. Look to improve old apps. And once you've been going for a few years, have a look at some of the old apps you wrote and see how far you've propgrssed (and how bad they were).

- gaffa

[theman32x]

anyone know how old megatron is?

I believe I saw it in a post somewhere , he said he's 20.

Originally posted by Escaflowne
What I mean is that I learn from his ways of posting and pass it along with me. I also learned a lot from him.

Thanks.



Matthew: Correct!

[Glacius Cool]

The best thing you can do for yourself is to start young. I also started when I was 7 tearing apart code with a hex editor, just to change the words. Then came basic, Qbasic, C, C+, ASM, Now VB & VC++ & HTML & DHTML & XML & JScript & Java, etc. Start small is the definite advantage and since the internet is so big now use it alot. If you come across a message board, make yourself known and use it. Don't try to learn too many languages at once, you'll find that the knowledge collides and you find yourself coding some awesome program just to find out it won't compile in VB cause you're writing it in Java.
And definitely don't think you're stupid when you find out some 8 year old just fixed a problem you've been having for months! It happens all the time.

Well, that's my two cents!

And yes, I know I have to change my Signature