seeking advice

I am a recent college graduate and am looking for some advice on how to be a skilled C++
developer. My educational background is from a quite mediocre campus.
Can anybody please explain what is expected of a fresh graduate in the industry?
I have read starter level books(Stroustrup), and some intermediate books(Herb Sutter's
Exceptional Series, Scott Meyers classic guides,C++ Common Knowledge,
Efficient C++,Advanced C++ Programming Styles and Idioms,C++ Standard Library:
A Tutorial and Reference,C++ FAQ,Secrets of the C++ Masters) but understand I still
have a long way to go.
I understand implementing more concepts is one way to become skilled,another is to look
at open source implementations.
I would appreciate any advice.
Thanks

[mlimber]

so*****@somedomain.com.invalid wrote:

I am a recent college graduate and am looking for some advice on how to be a skilled C++
developer. My educational background is from a quite mediocre campus.
Can anybody please explain what is expected of a fresh graduate in the industry?
I have read starter level books(Stroustrup), and some intermediate books(Herb Sutter's
Exceptional Series, Scott Meyers classic guides,C++ Common Knowledge,
Efficient C++,Advanced C++ Programming Styles and Idioms,C++ Standard Library:
A Tutorial and Reference,C++ FAQ,Secrets of the C++ Masters) but understand I still
have a long way to go.
I understand implementing more concepts is one way to become skilled,another is to look
at open source implementations.
I would appreciate any advice.

I think you have answered your own question. Read good books, and
practice, practice, practice (preferably in the company of others wiser
than yourself). See also these FAQs:

http://www.parashift.com/c++-faq-lit...learn-cpp.html

Cheers! --M

[Gianni Mariani]

so*****@somedomain.com.invalid wrote:
....

I would appreciate any advice.

Everyone has a different way of learning.

While some like good books, I think you can't beat solving problems.

Finding problems to solve is easy...

[Thomas Matthews]

so*****@somedomain.com.invalid wrote:

I am a recent college graduate and am looking for some advice on how to be a skilled C++
developer. My educational background is from a quite mediocre campus.
Can anybody please explain what is expected of a fresh graduate in the industry?
I have read starter level books(Stroustrup), and some intermediate books(Herb Sutter's
Exceptional Series, Scott Meyers classic guides,C++ Common Knowledge,
Efficient C++,Advanced C++ Programming Styles and Idioms,C++ Standard Library:
A Tutorial and Reference,C++ FAQ,Secrets of the C++ Masters) but understand I still
have a long way to go.
I understand implementing more concepts is one way to become skilled,another is to look
at open source implementations.
I would appreciate any advice.
Thanks

One method that has helped me a lot is to answer issues
from this newsgroup and the cousin (comp.lang.c) next
door. If your answer is not correct, somebody will
show you why.

Another method is to pick a personal project to work
on. This will help you with real programs rather
than partials submitted to this newsgroup.

Out in the industry, here is what I recommend:
1. Mastery of the language.
2. Mastery of the pieces you know the best. Try to develop your code
with zero compilation errors on the first pass.
3. Knowledge of the principles behind the STL. These principles
will help you write modules that can interface with other modules.
4. Knowledge of design patterns.
5. Knowledge of how compilers translate the code. This will help
you write code that the compiler can make more efficient.

In the industry, there are more problems to handle that are
outside of the language. You don't want lack of language
skills to impede your productivity.

VERY IMPORTANT: Don't worry about program size or efficiency
in the first pass. Get the program working correctly and
robustly. Let the managers choose between adding more memory,
optimizing for efficiency or optimizing by time. Sometimes,
adding more memory to the product or reducing features, will
be a lot cheaper than paying people to optimize the product.
Saving time by not having bugs to fix: PRICELESS.
--
Thomas Matthews

C++ newsgroup welcome message:
http://www.slack.net/~shiva/welcome.txt
C++ Faq: http://www.parashift.com/c++-faq-lite
C Faq: http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/c-faq/top.html
alt.comp.lang.learn.c-c++ faq:
http://www.comeaucomputing.com/learn/faq/
Other sites:
http://www.josuttis.com -- C++ STL Library book
http://www.sgi.com/tech/stl -- Standard Template Library

[s]

Hello All,

Thanks a lot for the replies.
Thomas,

Thanks for your reply.

One method that has helped me a lot is to answer issues
from this newsgroup and the cousin (comp.lang.c) next
door. If your answer is not correct, somebody will
show you why.

Another method is to pick a personal project to work
on. This will help you with real programs rather
than partials submitted to this newsgroup.

Are there any projects which can be completed in few days but are
enough to put on resume which can show
prospective employers that I am a skilled C++ developer? Can you please
explain? I am looking but projects
in OpenOffice,boost look little difficult for a fresh graduate and I
think are aimed are veteran developers.

Out in the industry, here is what I recommend:
1. Mastery of the language.

To attain Mastery would you suggest some books which can help me? Also
by Mastery you mean complete
knowledge of the language or something else?

2. Mastery of the pieces you know the best. Try to develop your code
with zero compilation errors on the first pass.

By Mastery of the pieces you know the best you mean I should try to
gain good knowledge of
particular areas which are in demand in industry or something else? If
they are specific areas
can you please suggest some which makes a programmer valuable in
industry?

3. Knowledge of the principles behind the STL. These principles
will help you write modules that can interface with other modules.

For knowledge of the principles behind the STL would you suggest some
books like Effective STL : 50 specific ways
to improve your use of the standard template library by Scott Meyers or
small projects which can help?

4. Knowledge of design patterns.

For Knowledge of design patterns I have gone thorugh the Gang of Four
book by Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph
Johnson, and John Vlissides. Any other books should I go through? I
understand there are myriad of books
for each subject and hence am confused which one to choose. Naturally,
I understand to go through all of them is
best.

5. Knowledge of how compilers translate the code. This will help
you write code that the compiler can make more efficient.

Knowledge of how compilers translate the code. For this I just read
Efficient C++,
C++ and C efficiency : how to improve program speed and memory usage by
David Spuler. Any other books
can you please suggest?

In the industry, there are more problems to handle that are
outside of the language. You don't want lack of language
skills to impede your productivity.

What approach does a fresh graduate need for problems in industry and
what is expected of him in the industry? Can you please explain?

Thanks a lot.

--
Thomas Matthews

C++ newsgroup welcome message:
http://www.slack.net/~shiva/welcome.txt
C++ Faq: http://www.parashift.com/c++-faq-lite
C Faq: http://www.eskimo.com/~scs/c-faq/top.html
alt.comp.lang.learn.c-c++ faq:
http://www.comeaucomputing.com/learn/faq/
Other sites:
http://www.josuttis.com -- C++ STL Library book
http://www.sgi.com/tech/stl -- Standard Template Library