I recently went on hackforums.net and started writing tutorials. Immediately, a user called Gamma started calling me a terrible programmer, pointing out many things in my tutorials (all in the first actually. Most of them were because he hated system("pause"); and visual studio's pre-compiled headers). Do you think I'm a bad programmer? Do you know of any ways I can improve my programming.

I'm sure, that there are lot of things you can improve on, I think every programmer should improve all the time. But all programmers have their own preferences and tastes when it comes down to programming styles, workflow etc. As long as you don't write tutorials about things commonly seen as bad programming behavior and only a single person points out, that you have some issues, all is ok. Best to pick up the issues, the other programmer has pointed out, do some research and/or discuss the issues on a forum and try to learn from it, either your coding style is ok or it could be improved, both are valid results.

A bad programmer is someone whom can never get anything to work or work correctly.

It comes down to style and the flow of the code. Do you comment on your code for routines that maynot be obvious to others, especially to those who are trying to learn from your code. I know from personal experience that a lot of variables can be a lot of confussion. Many coders are consistant with their code from their point of view with their variables.

This may mean something totally different to another coder.

If it works, you are a good programmer. If no one understands why it works, you are just a bad coder.

It was a tutorial specifically for Visual Studio. Thus the system("pause"); and pre-compiled headers.

I own memoryhacking.com and am a moderator at gamehacking.com.

The common theme is that when someone posts a tutorial, someone out there feels threatened and can’t accept growing young minds.

Those people need to hold their place of respect amongst the forum-goers (which is likely the only respect they have gotten yet) and need to bash in any way they can any new tutorials etc. that suddenly appear.

(I have been accused of needing to brush up on my psychology here. Seriously? How else do you think I got where I am?)

You need to ignore that crap and move on. Frankly their reputations can be daunting, but with time you can surpass them, especially as your own knowledge grows.

That also does not mean your content is perfect.

A real-world example is when someone posted an auto-aim tutorial on gamehacking.com using Euler angles to calculate which direction to aim, to which I strongly wanted to reply with some advice on making that calculation easier to handle (use vectors).

But it’s okay for a tutorial to have a few flaws. I have made flawed tutorials myself. I let it go because beginners can probably relate to it better anyway.

Only people with inferiority issues complain about the little details, and it is nothing but a chance for them to show to everyone else on the forum how much more than you they know.

Don’t let it get to you. You need to mainly realize when criticism is real and when it is just a power-play. Some criticism can teach you. Those people tend to seem more calm and try to shed their critiques in more positive light by trying to overshadow their negatives with positives, trying to give more compliments than criticism.

Ultimately you don’t need to worry about your own level regardless of what others say.

Firstly, I have made crap-tastic and utterly wrong tutorials or explanations myself, but I kept learning and later realized that for myself.

Everyone, including the highest-ranking members here, learns from ground zero.

You do too.

Don’t get too shaken up when someone says you are horrible.

The people who actually matter show more tact.

L. Spiro

I recently went on hackforums.net and started writing tutorials. Immediately, a user called Gamma started calling me a terrible programmer, pointing out many things in my tutorials (all in the first actually. Most of them were because he hated system("pause"); and visual studio's pre-compiled headers). Do you think I'm a bad programmer? Do you know of any ways I can improve my programming.

Well I can't speak for hackforums.net, but I know from what I've seen at GDN is this. If you are putting out a tutorial, there will be vigorious debate. Normally not with you, but with the other people posting in the thread. Your job however is not to get sensitive and act like the sky is falling. Your job is to take notes. Ask questions. Follow up. And demonstrate that you are bettering your code but more importantly your skills. There'll be an asshat from time to time. The community does a good job of checking those types of people. So don't worry about it. In general, tell your credentials (n00b, beginner, intermediate, "think I understand this", or advanced) and we'll give the appropriate level of feedback and guidance.

In short, NO you're NOT a bad programmer. The way you improve is to write code and post code and let others help you help yourself. :)