I'm fairly new to programming and want to practice my Python while also beginning to learn C++. I've started working through Project Euler problems and have begun trying LeetCode as well. How useful are these sites for becoming a better programmer, and what other resources or activities would you recommend? I'd like to develop broad programming skills while also getting experience with data handling.
4 Answers
Project Euler focuses heavily on turning mathematical solutions into code, while LeetCode focuses on algorithms and data structures. Both are worthwhile if you enjoy them, but they generally assume you can already figure out the solution and mainly give you practice implementing it. Use them alongside projects where you decide what to build, plan the pieces, handle errors, and improve the design over time.
Project Euler and LeetCode are useful for practicing syntax, loops, functions, data structures, algorithms, and mathematical problem-solving. However, they usually give you a narrowly defined problem, so they don’t teach as much about designing a larger program, organizing modules, documenting code, or working with an existing codebase. The biggest next step is to build projects of your own and make the design decisions yourself.
That makes sense. I don’t have many programming contacts, so how can I get experience reading other people’s code? What kinds of projects are good for practicing design and architecture?
A useful progression would be to continue with Python for quick projects, learn basic C++ through small console programs, and use a source-code hosting site to browse well-documented projects. You can also try a daily programming challenge series for variety. Once you’re comfortable, build something practical that reads, transforms, and saves data, such as a CSV report generator or a small inventory manager.
Try building small programs that are a little bigger than a single exercise. Command-line text games are a good starting point because they involve state, rules, input validation, decisions, and multiple functions or classes. You could also make a personal finance tracker, a file-organizing tool, a habit logger, or a small data-analysis program. These will teach you how to structure code that has more than one simple function.
Some people genuinely enjoy solving those problems even when the main challenge is figuring out the solution, so they’re still valuable practice. They just shouldn’t be the only kind of programming work you do.