I'm curious about the progression you guys went through to improve your programming skills.  I went through an Electrical Engineering degree as my first introduction to the world of programming and just finished it.  We have a joint computer and electrical engineering major, but I've yet to meet anyone at the programming level that I see here.  The big thing that got me curious about this is looking at iago's resume and how he's only a few years older than me, but is a wealth of knowledge.  Once I took an OS class, I started to think about getting a CS degree, so I picked up Code Compete, Design Patterns, Knuth books, etc.  But for you guys, is it real world development for fun to hone your skills?

A sad way to put it, but now that I've graduated I actually have time to learn and pursue my interests. 

One thing I've noticed from posts here is that there is a strong slant towards MS Languages.  Is this simply because Windows apps have a far larger amount of adoption than Linux apps and you guys do a lot of application level development?  At school, it was all Linux and open source and staying away from Visual C++ and VB is virtually unheard of.  I'm guessing it's more of you have a job to get done (i.e. apps for Blizzard games which run in Windows), and VB was the perfect language to learn? 

[quote author=thebigred link=topic=17955.msg182754#msg182754 date=1242429301]
I'm curious about the progression you guys went through to improve your programming skills.  I went through an Electrical Engineering degree as my first introduction to the world of programming and just finished it.  We have a joint computer and electrical engineering major, but I've yet to meet anyone at the programming level that I see here.  The big thing that got me curious about this is looking at iago's resume and how he's only a few years older than me, but is a wealth of knowledge.  Once I took an OS class, I started to think about getting a CS degree, so I picked up Code Compete, Design Patterns, Knuth books, etc.  But for you guys, is it real world development for fun to hone your skills?

A sad way to put it, but now that I've graduated I actually have time to learn and pursue my interests. 

One thing I've noticed from posts here is that there is a strong slant towards MS Languages.  Is this simply because Windows apps have a far larger amount of adoption than Linux apps and you guys do a lot of application level development?  At school, it was all Linux and open source and staying away from Visual C++ and VB is virtually unheard of.  I'm guessing it's more of you have a job to get done (i.e. apps for Blizzard games which run in Windows), and VB was the perfect language to learn? 
[/quote]
I think most of us here treat it as a hobby, not everyone is here just for Blizzard related projects, but im sure the most of us here are running Windows. I primarily use VB, and Delphi but I wouldent call them perfect they just take less time to build and deploy a project.

I'm more into the *nix world (my primary OS is OS X Leopard) but I do have Windows programming experience as well (Win32 API and .NET). IMO, it's better to have experience on all the major systems no matter what you plan on doing for a career in programming. Why not have the extra knowledge?

I think you'll find that the smartest programmers typically state that the gist of their knowledge came from learning on their own free time, not from the CS degree or similar that they earned.

Lately, I've been trying to figure out what the hell I want to do (I'm not in college). Programming has been a hobby of mine since around early 2004. I'm not too into working on actual software, I'm just more into learning different languages, concepts, API's, and messing around with stuff in general.

I started programming with client-side JavaScript, then translated that to ASP, then when .NET was released I jumped on board (hoping that I could use my JavaScript experience with JScript.net).  That landed me an internship that had me learn C#, then I picked up Java.

I've had 4 uni classes, but otherwise I'm mostly self-taught.  I always emphasized in learning the "right way" to do things, and tried hard not to cut corners when I was learning.  It seemed to work out well. :)  I'm 25, and have been working as a development manager now for ~6 months after ~2 years in the field.

wow everyone is so young.  It seems like people who self learn are likely to work with Microsoft languages.  I'm more into Linux and OSX because I just can't live without all the Unix commands and having to go through a gui to find anything.  Going from emacs to trying to use Visual Studio was a hassle to me, but a lot of people that use VS first seem to prefer nicer text editors and IDEs.

My progression was MATLAB -> Java -> C -> C++ .  But now I find myself using scripting Perl, tcl, python, or whatever I need for the task.  All these years of working in the computer architecture side gave me an interest in programming again. 

[quote author=thebigred link=topic=17955.msg182791#msg182791 date=1242797166]
I just can't live without all the Unix commands and having to go through a gui to find anything.[/quote]
Ironic.  I live at the command line. :)

Mostly for fun during high school, but I take courses at college now. Mostly to boost my GPA, but I learn occasionally. :)