Does this sound helpful or stupid?

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2 comments, last by BiGF00T 16 years, 1 month ago
Since I am new to programming / game programming and I know others are as well I was thinking of creating a blog that every time I learn something new I "teach" it to whoever (if thats anyone) reads the blog so that they can learn from it and if anyone reads it they could follow me along and learn the same stuff I do. For example, if I learn cin and cout, I blog on how to do it, if I learn classes, I put those up there as well etc. Does this sound like it would be helpful or does it sound dumb. Be honest I can take it :P.
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Do it, but with a condition: quote the appropriate paragraphs from the language standard explaining why what you do is correct. If you can't find those paragraphs, then there is a high probability that you didn't understand correctly what you wrote. Never attempt to teach something you think is correct without first checking it against the standard, and possibly also asking experienced users about it.

Why? For the first few years of learning C++, you will regularly misunderstand language concepts, either because your learning source might be oversimplifying things, or because you don't have enough knowledge to understand the full depth of what your source is explaining. The typical consequence is that beginners will read your blog and get incorrect ideas about how the language works as if they were fact. This is why so many people believe pointers are addresses, that C++ programmers use new/delete regularly, that virtual tables are a part of C++, and so on.
I think that, for yourself, it can be helpfull. If you've written down your experiences, you can look back at it from time to time and see how you improved, and possibly how you can improve even more. Maybe you'll even get some comments from more experienced people, correcting you or otherwise hinting you in the right direction.

I wouldn't recommend teaching others at this stage however, since you're not too experienced yet. What may seem like a revelation now may turn out to be a dead end later, once you discover better approaches. It's easy to mislead others, especially with a language as tricky as C++.

EDIT: Fast, fast ToohrVyk... ;)
Create-ivity - a game development blog Mouseover for more information.
Sounds like something a lot of people do. When searching the net, I find more and more people who do this kind of thing. Sometimes I am lucky and find someone who has already spent more time with an annoying problem than me. Personally I don't follow anyone's blog but I'm happy to find information on them when I have a problem.

I think it is a good idea. It has the positive side-effect that if you can explain something, then it means that you really understood it most of the times. Sometimes I can fix a problem but if someone asks me how or why it was fixed, then I can't explain it to him or her. So go ahead and create a blog. If you describe problems and their solutions there, then people who have the same problems will find it and be thankful (most of the times without letting you know).

EDIT: uuh, 2 people faster than me... I need to type faster and think less ;P
Now get down on your hands and knees and start repeating "Open Source Good, M$ Evil", smacking your head against the pavement after each repetition. Once you have completed your training you may change your first name to GNU/, to show that you are free from the slavery of the closed source world. -Michalson

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