This article is courtesy of workhardworksmart.net.

Well, I am not a professional programmer neither have I won an online coding contest for programmers. My name and credentials may not be in Google or any other search engine for that matter but I do excel in programming. You may sort of call it luck but I refute. I am well conversant with what programming entails and the steps one can undertake to become proficient in it whether you are a beginner or a professional seeking to further enhance programming skills. So before you flip the tab, consider this old saying, the Ark was built by amateurs while the distinguished Titanic was built by amateurs and we all understand how their respective stories ended.

While writing this article I assume you are familiar with programming language and passionate about programming, hence there is no need to go into details about the history of java as that has already been covered in Java 101 lectures. Now take a look at the top 7ways on how you can enhance your programming skills.

Books and websites

They say education is a continuous process and any educational material is a great place to start to enhance your programming. The most conventional educational material is books whose authors have vast experience in coding. Typically, one should start by teaching himself or herself by specifically concentrating on the areas which have proven hard or lack experience in. Similarly, for those considering books to be rather old fashioned, you can also get guidance online from websites such as Code.org, Code academy and HTML5 that contain useful information on programming practices.

Practice makes perfect

After going through the books and websites, it’s only natural for you to keep practicing and making as much mistakes as possible. Things may look simple theoretically, but the ice breaker comes when you start practicing. The more you make mistake during your coding practice sessions the more likely you are to grasp all the mistakes involved in error handling, threading and designing. You can begin by creating a schedule from where you can work to ensure you effectively lean the different coding languages and their respective limitations and the ideal design practices. So keep practicing.

Read code

The difference between,a good developer and an outstanding developer is that the former learns how to use a framework while the latter actually studies the source code of well choreographed frameworks. Reading well knitted open source frameworks source codes, one is able to acquire a lot of good practices and fully comprehend how the internal working mechanism of the framework operates.

Core APIs at your fingertips

As mentioned earlier, theoretical knowledge does not really count if you cannot be able to practically distinguish core APIs and language constructs. For instance in Java, you should have very strong background knowledge on core APIs, collections, exceptions, Threads, and JDBC. On the other hand, when it is web development, irrespective of the framework being used having strong foundation on JSPs and Servlets is mandatory.

Networking

Through programming the world is now a global village where you can able to share multitude of ideas in online communities and blogs. Forums such as Java PDF blog are usually written by developers who also have some experience and may have a personal experience or view that can be in the long run be relevant. Similarly, these are perfect place to keep up with the ever changing trends of open software development technology.

Familiarize yourself with the different development methodologies

There are a number of development methodologies and it is only fair as a programmer to grasp as much methodologies as you can. Though the development methodology largely depends on the clients preference having a clue on a number of methodologies would be great.

Place your code for review

Reviews are the best way to know whether something is appealing or functioning well. By doing your own code and placing it for reviews will enable you to assess your code sense thereby helping you to become an outstanding programmer and developer. Reviewing your code and getting feedback will enable you to spot problems and mistakes that you had initially not noted. Furthermore, reviews also give remedies and alternative ways of coding that may in the long run be of significant benefit in your programming career.

With tips in mind, you are certainly going to be proficient in programming without doubt. The trick in programming is to enlighten yourself on the different practices through books and websites and thereafter creating your own code and placing it for reviews.