Programming Achievements: How to Level Up as a Developer

about.md

Programming Achievements: How to Level Up as a Developer

This gist is part of a blog post. Check it out at:

http://jasonrudolph.com/blog/2011/08/09/programming-achievements-how-to-level-up-as-a-developer

programming-achievements.md

Current in bold. Completed in strikethrough.

Learn a variety of commonly-used programming languages:

• Write a program in Ruby
• Write a program in Python
• Write a program in C
• Write a program in C++
• Write a program in Java
• Write a program in Objective-C
• Write a program in C#
• Write a program in Clojure
• Write a program in Perl
• Write a stand-alone program in Javascript

Learn a variety of not commonly-used programming languages:

• Write a non-trivial program in Brainfuck
• Write a program in Lua

Learn a variety of frameworks:

• Write a web application with Rails
• Write a web application with Django
• Write a program with .Net
• Write a program with OpenGL
• Write a program with DirectX
• Write a program with Cocoa

Learn a variety of editors/IDEs:

• Use vim exclusively for a month
• Use TextMate exclusively for a month
• Use emacs exclusively for a month
• Use Visual Studio exclusively for a month
• Use Eclipse exclusively for a month
• Use XCode exclusively for a month

Learn a variety of programming paradigms:

• Write a program in assembly language
• Write an application in a functional language
• Write an application in an object-oriented language
• Write an application in a prototype-based language
• Write an application in a logic programming language
• Write an application using the Actor model
• Write an application in Forth

Experience the ins and outs of programming for different platforms:

• Write a nontrivial web app
• Write a nontrivial desktop app
• Write a nontrivial mobile app
• Write an embedded app
• Write a realtime system

Enhance your understanding of the building blocks that we use as developers:

• Write a networking client (e.g., HTTP, FTP)
• Write a device driver
• Write a B-tree database
• Wrap an existing library to provide a better (more pleasant) user experience
• Write an application or framework that provides a plugin model
• Write a testing framework
• Write a programming language

Enlighten yourself with koans, katas, and the wisdom of ages:

• Complete five code katas
• Complete the programming koans for a language that you want to learn (Clojure)
• Read SICP and complete all the exercises

Program in the open:

• Contribute to an open source project - Mozilla Firefox my tickets on bugzilla
• Have a patch accepted
• Earn commit rights on a significant open source project
• Publish an open source project
• Perform a Refactotum of an open source project