Become a Great Programmer Through Deliberate Practice: Goal-based Practice

In a past article I discussed how just plain practice is not enough for student programmers to become expert programmers or for expert programmers to continue to perform at an expert level. Gaining and maintaining expertise in programming, as in many other areas of life and work, requires deliberate practice that meets several criteria. My …

Computer Programming Textbooks Suck: At Least Many of Them Do

I have been teaching computer programming to college students for over twenty years. The one thing I have found consistent over these years is that most computer programming textbooks suck. They don’t help students learn, and in my opinion, are mostly harmful to their readers. Why Programming Textbooks Suck The programming languages that suck suck …

Become a Great Programmer Through Deliberate Practice

Become a Great Programmer Through Deliberate Practice: Just writing code is not enough By now, most of you have heard of the 10,000 hour rule. To become an expert at something, anything, it takes 10,000 hours of work or practice. This rule was popularized by Malcolm Gladwell in his book Outliers. However, it’s not just …