12 Tips to Become a Better Programmer

Becoming a good programmer is something that every computer science student wants. Students try to learn coding from the start of their college in order for becoming good programmers. You just have to start from the basics and then learn slowly, as codes are the building blocks for any program therefore it is necessary that you learn it step by step. Also, nowadays, technology has become the base of almost every company, hence, it is important that you have the proper knowledge. This also helps when you get good career opportunities and get placed in the company that you want. 

Talking about the advantages of becoming a good programmer, we’ll talk about the 12 tips you need to have in order to become a better programmer. These tips will definitely help you to grow in your career and make you a better programmer. 

12 Tips to Become a Better Programmer

Here are some tips that you should follow while in college in order to become a good programmer in college:

1. Learn a programming language, preferably C++ or Java. The advantage of C++ is, you get a lot of help in college (from seniors, teachers, etc). The advantage of Java is, it is still the most used language in the industry. Also, Java reports many issues in the compilation. For example, an issue like missing one = “if (x = y)” might waste your time in C++, but the Java compiler is going to report the issue in the compilation.
2. If you are programming in C++, learn C++ STL. If you are programming in Java, learn the main Java Collection. The idea should be to solve problems using readily available containers, like unordered_set in C++ STL and HashSet in Java if we are solving hashing set questions.
3. Keep practicing and keep learning. Pick a problem, and try to solve it yourself. don’t give up. Discuss with your friends/seniors. Good coders among your seniors are the best people to guide you. If you feel like your whole day is being wasted on a single problem, don’t give up, learn a standard algorithm from GeeksforGeeks or Wikipedia.
4. It is not recommended to see the code written by someone else initially. We can take a look at the algorithm if we are getting no clue. Implement yourself (any solution, even brute force), once you implement, then see the solution written by some experts.
5. If you are regularly getting stuck, solve lower-level problems for some time and spend more time learning standard data structures and algorithms.
6. If you are among the best coders in your college, teach your juniors through coding clubs, live classes, WhatsApp groups, etc. A teacher learns the most out of a session.
7. Try to work with other coders or developers too in order to gain knowledge. You can also clear your doubts too and make it an interactive session. Apart from that, you can also contribute to an open-source project or join a programming user group and interact with other people.
8. Focus on learning techniques rather than just focusing on tools and methodologies as they come and go. But the techniques are something that will remain for a long time and can be used while learning more programming languages and frameworks. Also, focus on the fundamentals of programming because the basic always remains the same.
9. For becoming a good programmer it is important that you read a lot of codes and solve them equally. So that while you pass out your college you have practiced an ample amount of codes and can solve almost every coding question.
10. Focus on the quality and performance of the code and do not stick to the mentality that if the code is running properly then it is fine but also focus on the functionality of the code.
11. Always test your code like a user as it will help you to discover flaws. You must try to give the finest code to the user out there as it is the best approach for becoming a good programmer. 
12. Last but not least you can also register yourself with some programming courses in order to enhance your technical as well as coding skills.

Conclusion

Please remember there is no shortcut and there is a lot to learn. It is a long journey. The earlier you begin, the better for you. Last but not least, let us make the best use of this lockdown. We are free from all academic work.