Summary
Do you want to become a better programmer? I have some advice: share some code!

Many programmers have trepidation about sharing their code in a public setting, mainly because no one likes being judged or criticized. In a recent blog entry at CDiggins.com I extoll the virtues of sharing code. Not only can it instill some humility, it can help pull you up to the next plateau of programming skill, once you get past the initial shock of the barrage of criticism.

Sharing code with the Boost C++ library community, and on various newsgroups, was one of the most effective things I ever did to improve my programming skills.

The other thing which really helped me grow as a programmer is less viable for most programmers, but I'll mention it anyway, and that was designing a programming language. Designing a complete and cohesive programming language provides great insights into how programming languages work, and why the features are the way they are.

What do you think is the single is most effective way to improve your coding skills?

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About the Blogger

Christopher Diggins is a software developer and freelance writer. Christopher loves programming, but is eternally frustrated by the shortcomings of modern programming languages. As would any reasonable person in his shoes, he decided to quit his day job to write his own ( www.heron-language.com ). Christopher is the co-author of the C++ Cookbook from O'Reilly. Christopher can be reached through his home page at www.cdiggins.com.