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Hmm, I was a little disappointed with the list for a few reasons - Mostly just stuff that you learn along the way if you remotely like coding and go to an engi

Hmm, I was a little disappointed with the list for a few reasons - Mostly just stuff that you learn along the way if you remotely like coding and go to an engineering school - Doesn't talk about what to NOT spend/waste too much time on in favour of the listed things - Doesn't list getting familiar with any version control systems. Obtuse as they may be, it's a must-learn skill for a software developer before being able to contribute to production code.

robmcm 11y ago
I would agree with VCS, preferably distributed and centralised. It does mention GitHub and Kiln (Mercurial) "Work on a small piece of a large system (codebase), read and understand existing code, track down documentation, and debug things. Notes: Github is a great way to read other people’s code or contribute to a project. Online Resources: Github, Kiln"
edpichler 11y ago
Sorry for disagreeing a little bit, but being familiar with a tool like a version control system is the least of the problems. It's important, but not that much to be a item on this list.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
gabipurcaru 11y ago
You seem to be contradicting yourself -- "just stuff that you learn along the way" vs "Doesn't list getting familiar with any version control systems". Aren't version control systems "stuff that you learn along the way" in your opinion? IMO, any resource like the one in the OP is going to get bashed ("not the way I would learn stuff"). Might as well learn something from it.
- exelius 11y ago
  No, you pretty much don't need to bother with version control systems unless you're writing code on a team with others. And even then, students will likely never deal with any of the complexities that arise in the real world like branch merges, continuous integration, etc. In general, school teaches you the content without the tradecraft. You'll need both to be a "rockstar" developer, and I don't see how you could ever get the tradecraft without working in the industry.
  - iovar 11y ago
    >> No, you pretty much don't need to bother with version control systems unless you're writing code on a team with others. If you are writing hello-world, maybe you don't need a VCS. Anything bigger than that can benefit from using one.
    - crpatino 11y ago
      I have a pretty clear recollection of having heard about VCS in an undergraduate class, but presented in the most boring possible way, so I learned whatever I needed to regurgitate for the exam and moving one. A few years later, I found myself working in the industry and using a real VCS (Microsoft's dont' recall the name), and realizing this was the same thing I have being doing lamely for the last two years with daily zip files and lots of notes on the README.txt for each project.
  - ska 11y ago
    > No, you pretty much don't need to bother with version control systems unless you're writing code on a team with others. You may not "need" to, but almost any individual project will benefit from it, also.
    - exelius 11y ago
      Right, but if you've never used one, you don't know what you're missing. The default of coding without one works just fine for most school projects.
- squeaky-clean 11y ago
  > Aren't version control systems "stuff that you learn along the way" in your opinion? I don't think so. The reasons for using version control when programming solo aren't obvious. Especially with the intimidating learning curve something like git has for newcomers. Most CS students I've tutored would either dropbox their code, or store it by emailing it to themselves. And then there's the difference between using version control just for yourself, or a small group project, vs using version control on a large application, such as OSS with hundreds of contributors. Workflows, best practices, etc. I had never used any version control until my first internship. I didn't really put any effort into a good git workflow until I was at a company that actually cared about establishing one.
- rifung 11y ago
  I dont think version control is necessarily something you learn along the way if you are just learning on your own. It is a good idea for any nontrivial project to have, but I also dont feel like its such a necessity someone who is learning would go out of their way to use it. I'm not even sure everyone would necessarily be exposed to it and know it exists when just learning, unless they decided to contribute to OSS which seems pretty far down.
allworknoplay 11y ago
I don't agree at all. First, although it doesn't state it, it feels to me (and was confirmed by a googler in a separate thread) like this is meant for university students, for whom there is no "along the way" -- just academic CS courses. Second, they did bring up version control: "Work on a small piece of a large system (codebase), read and understand existing code, track down documentation, and debug things. Notes: Github is a great way to read other people’s code or contribute to a project. Online Resources: Github, Kiln"

robmcm 11y ago

I would agree with VCS, preferably distributed and centralised. It does mention GitHub and Kiln (Mercurial) "Work on a small piece of a large system (codebase), read and understand existing code, track down documentation, and debug things. Notes: Github is a great way to read other people’s code or contribute to a project. Online Resources: Github, Kiln"

edpichler 11y ago

Sorry for disagreeing a little bit, but being familiar with a tool like a version control system is the least of the problems. It's important, but not that much to be a item on this list.

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]

gabipurcaru 11y ago

You seem to be contradicting yourself -- "just stuff that you learn along the way" vs "Doesn't list getting familiar with any version control systems". Aren't version control systems "stuff that you learn along the way" in your opinion? IMO, any resource like the one in the OP is going to get bashed ("not the way I would learn stuff"). Might as well learn something from it.

exelius 11y ago
No, you pretty much don't need to bother with version control systems unless you're writing code on a team with others. And even then, students will likely never deal with any of the complexities that arise in the real world like branch merges, continuous integration, etc. In general, school teaches you the content without the tradecraft. You'll need both to be a "rockstar" developer, and I don't see how you could ever get the tradecraft without working in the industry.
- iovar 11y ago
  >> No, you pretty much don't need to bother with version control systems unless you're writing code on a team with others. If you are writing hello-world, maybe you don't need a VCS. Anything bigger than that can benefit from using one.
  - crpatino 11y ago
    I have a pretty clear recollection of having heard about VCS in an undergraduate class, but presented in the most boring possible way, so I learned whatever I needed to regurgitate for the exam and moving one. A few years later, I found myself working in the industry and using a real VCS (Microsoft's dont' recall the name), and realizing this was the same thing I have being doing lamely for the last two years with daily zip files and lots of notes on the README.txt for each project.
- ska 11y ago
  > No, you pretty much don't need to bother with version control systems unless you're writing code on a team with others. You may not "need" to, but almost any individual project will benefit from it, also.
  - exelius 11y ago
    Right, but if you've never used one, you don't know what you're missing. The default of coding without one works just fine for most school projects.
squeaky-clean 11y ago
> Aren't version control systems "stuff that you learn along the way" in your opinion? I don't think so. The reasons for using version control when programming solo aren't obvious. Especially with the intimidating learning curve something like git has for newcomers. Most CS students I've tutored would either dropbox their code, or store it by emailing it to themselves. And then there's the difference between using version control just for yourself, or a small group project, vs using version control on a large application, such as OSS with hundreds of contributors. Workflows, best practices, etc. I had never used any version control until my first internship. I didn't really put any effort into a good git workflow until I was at a company that actually cared about establishing one.
rifung 11y ago
I dont think version control is necessarily something you learn along the way if you are just learning on your own. It is a good idea for any nontrivial project to have, but I also dont feel like its such a necessity someone who is learning would go out of their way to use it. I'm not even sure everyone would necessarily be exposed to it and know it exists when just learning, unless they decided to contribute to OSS which seems pretty far down.

allworknoplay 11y ago

I don't agree at all. First, although it doesn't state it, it feels to me (and was confirmed by a googler in a separate thread) like this is meant for university students, for whom there is no "along the way" -- just academic CS courses. Second, they did bring up version control: "Work on a small piece of a large system (codebase), read and understand existing code, track down documentation, and debug things. Notes: Github is a great way to read other people’s code or contribute to a project. Online Resources: Github, Kiln"