For C Piscine
Don’t Use AI
I am not saying to never use AI.
But it is a detrimental tool when it comes to learning.
Being a good coder is about problem solving, which is about critical thinking.
When you use Chat GPT to help you solve programming problems,
you are depriving your brain from learning how to think critically.
Don’t Study for Exams
The best way to prepare for exams is just to progress through the projects,
and understand what you’re doing.
You prepare for exams by internalizing programming concepts.
Get Comfortable with the git(1) Command
It’s the de-facto version control system in the industry.
Get a basic understanding of how it works
and what it’s doing behind the scenes.
Understand the difference between git(1), GitHub and Vogsphere.
Don’t use git add ., be precise with the files you want to add.
Commit often, anything pushed to the vogsphere is safe from your own follies,
or even a malevolent bocal member.
Get Comfortable with the man(1) Command
man(1) is very idiosyncratic, and not readily intuitive.
But once you master it, its very easy to search for what you want.
A lot of them man-pages a very useful EXAMPLES section.
Get Comfortable with the terminal
Specifically, don’t use the GUI file explorer.
Understand the difference between the terminal, the shell and Bash.
The shell is a powerful tool and bash is a powerful language.
You can do really cool stuff with them
and as programmer they are your main interface for solving problems.
Learn How Computers Work
Learn the difference between storage and memory.
Learn the relationship between the memory and the CPU.
Set the Keyboard Layout to ‘English (US)’
ASCII stands for ‘American Standard Code for Information Interchange’.
English is the lingua franca of programming,
and a keyboard with the ANSI English US layout
(guess what that ‘A’ stands for)
is where most modern coding languages were written.
Run the vimtutor(1) Command
If you use vim (which IMO you should)
learn the differences between normal, insert and command modes.
Don’t move around with the arrow keys.vimtutor(1) only takes about half an hour
and will greatly improve your productivity.
For Common Core
Don’t Use AI
Seriously. At least not for helping you solve coding problems.
For the same reasons as above.
Don’t Use Third Party Testers
For the same reasons as the ‘Don’t use AI’ section.
You are depriving yourself from training the bits of the brain
that critically think about coding.
Learn to be thorough and imaginative with all possible inputs and outputs.
Testing is a key part of coding, learn to get good at it.
Learn How Computers Work
Understand how your code is laid out in RAM.
Understand the difference between the stack and the heap.
Understand CPU registers.
Learn about CPU caches.
Learn to Touch Type
As a coder your main input tool is a keyboard.
Don’t let finding a key take any of the little brain capacity we have.
It really just takes 10 to 30 minutes a day
and you’ll be touch typing in a month.
(It’s the same reason I use vim)
Always Be Examin’
As soon as you can take an exam, take it.
Even if you don’t think you are going to pass it.
The best way to practice for exams is to take exams.
The best way to prepare for them is to internalize programming concepts.
Aim for the Advanced/Outer Core
That’s where the really fun stuff is.
Don’t spend too much time on Common Core bonuses.
Make it thorough, make it good, do the bonuses if you want
but don’t get too distracted.
It’s really fun to make an amazing so_long
but in the outer core you can do a Minecraft clone.
For Both
Don’t Use AI
Or do, I’m not the boss of you.
Don’t Use Tutorials aimed at 42 projects
For the same reasons as the ‘Don’t use AI’ section.
Following a step by step guide on how to solve a project
will deprive you exercising the problem solving skills
that the 42 methodology is trying to teach you.
Always be Norminettin’
Norminette is not just about readability,
it’s also an opinionated way to structure code.
Making sure your code is always Norminetted
will force you to internalize this structure.
It will also save you many hours of frustration.
Think critically
Don’t take any advice as gospel.
Whether it be from a really confident peer, stack overflow entry
or even a bocal member.
With experience comes the wisdom to distinguish good coding advice
from bad coding advice.
This tip should be applied to this article.
(See Russell’s Paradox)
Don’t Type Something You Don’t Understand
You should know the purpose of every line, keyword, symbol and thing you write.
It doesn’t need to be super-in-depth understanding.
Most stuff will be forgotten.
But slowly you will retain the stuff you use often.
Don’t Use Ctrl-C Ctrl-V for Code
If you do copy code, type it out.
Change the names of the things you can (e.g. variables).
Whenever you see a keyword you don’t understand, research it.
Have Fun
It’s very cool and rare to spend this much time with people
that also love to nerd out on coding.
Take advantage of it.
Socialize, play games, create clubs, etc.