   Next Level
  I have currently been learning C++ for a few years and I feel like I'm stuck at a plateuo. For game development I know people suggest making a breakout clone, tetris, pong game etc... But how about the people who are not interested in game development. Right now Im stuck on console programming, I want to gain knowledge that in two years I can work part time doing something in computer programming. But now I have no idea on which projects I should start trying to make. How I can get to the level I need so I can have enough experience doing programs for other companies. So does anyone have any suggestions? Or examples of what they did to learn and was able to work as a computer programmer. I have TONS of C++ books but they all tend just to teach the core of C++ which I have a very good grasp off but none seem to teach any practical C++ programming. I been trying to get into Database but I dont know where to start. I understand somewhat SQL syntax but from what i searched on google none show you how to make that data base file. Or they talk about communicating via client/server which I figured not knowing how to create a data base file trying to learn communications with client/serve would be out of my league. So maybe anyone have some suggestions on interacting with a data base file on your computer? Or how to make one or links. Anyway I know this is alot but[Edited by - Supaflyfrank on July 9, 2006 12:23:53 PM]
  You need to start some project, this could be a game, a game engine, or maybe something else like a scripting language, a computer algebra system (Mathematica), an application to manage games. No matter what you choose you'll most likely find that you lack proper understanding of something.   ;  I would suggest learning a GUI. If youre using windows I'd go with win32 API. A GUI will take you out of console mode and allow for simple graphics and a nice user interface. I dont know much about database programming but Im sure you'll need to know about data structures and algorithms. If you dont already, heres a great resourse: http://www.brpreiss.com/books/opus4/   ;  My first project when learning a new system is usually a GUI hex viewer program.  You get basic file I/O, minimal GUI, minimal user input.  You can get quite fancy if you want once you understand the basics - one time I did a viewer with multi-threading, multiple files, split-windows, export to text, file associated, etc, etc.A step up from there is to make an editor.  This can be as dumb as something like Notepad where the system is doing 90% of the work for you all the way up to a full-fledged word-processor.   ;  if you want to learn database programming go with mySQL.  Make a project to catalog things, books, program disk, bottle caps, what-ever.  Make the database, the User interface.  This will give you some experince in both.theTroll   ;  Another thought would be to find something that interests you (Graphics, server, database, etc) and get involved with the developement of an existing project in that area, such as an open-source project (Gimp, apache, mySql, blender)   