Hi everyone! To give you some background: I graduated from university with top marks. That’s where I first started programming—we were taught a little bit of everything, including Pascal, C++, PHP, Python, C#, and so on.
Our coursework always covered up to OOP (Object-Oriented Programming), but never went any further.
I also studied C# and Python on my own, but again, I never really ventured much beyond OOP.

During my studies, I tried to avoid web development because it didn’t particularly interest me; however, after graduating, I realized that most of the job market is in web development, so I need to find a way to get comfortable with it. Since I’m most familiar with C#—and it’s the language I enjoy the most—I’ve decided to focus on C# backend development. But a few issues have come up:

It’s been a 2 years since I graduated, at that time, I had to find a job quickly, and it wasn’t in the field I had actually studied for; now, I want to return to my studies so that I can finally work in my chosen profession. and I’m not sure what tech stack I actually need to know to build a project of my own. Also, how can I recover the knowledge I gained during my studies? This uncertainty makes me procrastinate whenever I set out to learn something new, or I end up not dedicating enough time to actually master anything.

A crisis of ideas. Even back in university, I struggled to come up with projects to build. I have a persistent feeling that everything has already been created by more skilled programmers. Is it even worth working on a project if a more successful version already exists? How does one go about choosing a suitable project topic?

AI. The rise of AI happened around my third year of university, and we even started experimenting with it a little bit back then. It’s one thing to enter a prompt to get some guidance for a specific task, but it’s quite another to actually learn something and build a project of your own. How should one interact with AI models when learning? Should you even use them at all? I recall plenty of times spent endlessly tweaking prompts, trying to get a decent result—when, in reality, it would have been faster to just write the code from scratch myself. What is the right way to learn programming today using AI (given that AI is clearly here to stay)?

Right now, I’m trying to learn ASP.NET through a course by Teddy Smith on YouTube, but I’m struggling to grasp a lot of it. Plus, I’m essentially just following along and mimicking what he does—which isn’t really the kind of learning process I’m used to.

I would like to know how much manual coding you write in your job and in what ways AI has been helpful or being utilized?

Especially those engineers who are working in the low level systems programming and system domains writing code in low level languages such as C, C++ or Rust, how has AI affected your job?

Do you think AI will replace engineers in your domains?

Running uv run main.py in my VS Code terminal fails to execute.

Some features of python may not work because we can't confirm who published python.exe that the app tried to load.

Added the developer folder (D:\play-store-review-scrapper) to the Windows Security Folder Exclusions list.

Cannot whitelist the app in "Reputation-based protection" because the options are greyed out with the message:

This setting is managed by Smart App Control

How do I allow my .venv Python executable to run when Smart App Control completely locks the reputation-based settings?

Hello,
I'm a 10th-grade student here in Morocco. There is a Python competition built around it.
The project should be related to problem-solving. It must solve a problem in modern life or something we encounter. I can't find any great ideas. I'm the only one who can code Python in the entire school, so for me to create a great project. It would be difficult. I will do anything for it to work out. I'm here to ask if you have any useful ideas.
I would like to hear about some of your ideas, hopefully!
Take care.

I'm learning Networking and I'm noticing that most resources do not have a programming component

I'm curious about the programming side of things. I'd like some examples of "networking code", ranging from simple to complex

For example:

- What's the code for a switch to redirect packets?

- What's the code for the 3-way handshake?

- What's the code for servers to record IP addresses that interacted with it?

- What's the code for a firewall?

Stuff like that. Whatever you want to share, you can. Even if it's like 2 lines

I'm curious about how the code looks for networking stuff

My company forced me to become Full-stack developer (before I was fluttter dev). I vibe code most of the features. In mobile part at least i can quick review stuff and find some issues. But I am not really experienced in to really check Web / Backend code.

I feel like my programming skills have stagnated. I don't feel like learning a thing for the past months.

I also have to maintain + implement many projects, so much so I have to work off clock. My boss says I should speed up, says how my colleague is conducting AI a lot more efficiently. But I really don't want to give in full vibe coding, I would really rather just switch career.

What do you do to keep yourself "in shape"? Today's job market required Juniors to result like Seniors, how do people become one?

Sometimes my colleagues talk about a new library or tool they think we should start using or at least start paying attention to. I browse tech subreddits and naturally do hear people talking about things that are new to me, but I'd like to be more proactive or at least more effective about it.

Do you have news feeds that you trust, or blogs from people who keep their ear to the ground and report all the interesting new stuff?

Firstly, I apologize if I am not explaining things well and if this entire post is long. I am new to learning JavaScript, and I have been using RPG Maker MV as my game engine. I will do my best to explain what issues I have run into, what kind of solutions I have tried, and what I am stuck on. I want to learn and understand what I am working with because too many people tell me to just use Gen AI for my code, when that is the last thing I want.

For my game, I am using a visual novel plugin made by Lulu's Church called Standing Pictures, where you can assign IDs to busts/sprites and use them in a text code with coordinates assigned to each one within the message window of RPG Maker MV, ex. \F[Antonio] (Displays the assigned bust image to the right) \FF[Susana] (Displays assigned image to the left)

You can also assign two blink images to a parent sprite, overlaying them on top of the sprite at random intervals to give the illusion that the character is blinking. You can assign a cut-up version of the face to the blink image ID to do so, and I thought it would be a good idea to do something similar, but without the random intervals and instead use text codes to call an expression onto a parent sprite.

I cracked open Visual Studio Code and got to work editing the plugin file as per the licensing of the plugin. I made my own variables(?) called spriteExpression and spriteExpression2, and allowed them to be affected by filters and color changes. I made my own tester function that only draws on the first variable to show up using a simple boolean, as with the blink images. It works when using a test expression on one of my character sprites, as it overlays onto the sprite and sticks onto it when animations and colors are being changed; however, I quickly ran into an issue.
   

    //Neon Addition
    Sprite_LL_SPicture.prototype.updateExpression = function() {
        this._spriteExpression.visible = true;
        
    };

How the heck do I connect this to a text/escape code in RPG Maker?

I tried to follow what the plugin does already by making this huge code block as with the other text codes, but I am not sure how to make this call my function to turn on the expression.

            // Neon Addition
            // Retrieve Expression for Specified Character
            var sPictureExpression = null;
            if (index === 0) processEscapeNumber = text.match(/\\E\[(\w+)\]/) || text.match(/\\E1\[(\w+)\]/);
            if (index === 1) processEscapeNumber = text.match(/\\EE\[(\w+)\]/) || text.match(/\\E2\[(\w+)\]/);
            if (index === 2) processEscapeNumber = text.match(/\\EEE\[(\w+)\]/) || text.match(/\\E3\[(\w+)\]/);
            if (index === 3) processEscapeNumber = text.match(/\\EEEE\[(\w+)\]/) || text.match(/\\E4\[(\w+)\]/);
            if (index === 4) processEscapeNumber = text.match(/\\E5\[(\w+)\]/);
            if (index === 5) processEscapeNumber = text.match(/\\E6\[(\w+)\]/);
            if (index === 6) processEscapeNumber = text.match(/\\E7\[(\w+)\]/);
            if (index === 7) processEscapeNumber = text.match(/\\E8\[(\w+)\]/);
            if (processEscapeNumber && processEscapeNumber[1]) {
                sPictureExpression = processEscapeNumber[1];
            }
            //

Once again, I am super sorry that I may or may not sound like I am making sense. I am still learning and trying to figure out what to do, and any help would be appreciated.

I have linked the original plugin by Lulu's Church so people can take a look at the source code just in case.

Lulu Church's Standing Pictures Plugin

I've recently started my software development oficial studies, and I've got the basics down so far (variables, classes, conditionals, arrays, etc.).

Now I'm looking for a project to help me learn some practical skills and, hopefully, start building up my GitHub profile XD.

Do you guys have any project recommendations?

Edit: I’m currently studying a Higher Vocational Training in Multiplatform Application Development
In Spain this is the step before College and after a middle vocational training (2 years, just after obligatory studies). I started programming this year on my studies two months ago, but i had contact with python for like one year before this.

whenever I search online or ask AI's how to get cryptographically secure random numbers in C++, all I get is overcomplicated setups with huge libraries. what is the cleanest, simplest way in practice to make secure randomness into a small C++ learning project like this? Also open to any general feedback on the protocol structure

Repo: https://github.com/dev-dawud/ZeroKnowledgeProof

Hi! I'm an architectural designer (41,F) and I want out of architecture. It's been a 15 year schlog with little pay off and I just want to be done (for now). Because of my background (bach/master's in architecture/project management/construction) I have a lot of adjacent skills that fit into the tech arena but I feel completely out of the loop when looking for even entry level jobs. Other than how it may affect a design program (Revit, Rhino, Adobe Suite), I know very little about programming, java, C++, whatever but I'd like to learn. I want to learn how to utilize my graphic skills and translate them into a digital/coding/tech space. My tech friends also tell me I have a talent for systems analytics because of my design and management background but I haven't had any luck landing a job in that arena yet, most likely because I can't speak the language and what little I do know isn't evident in my resume.

TLDR:

1. What are the pillars of programming/coding languages that I (a very analog architecture-brained person) need to know to get started?

2. What top resources (ideally free or low cost) should I invest in to educate myself?

3. Tips on industry language I need to study for job searches?

4. Suggestions on arena targets for transitioning my skillset (2d/3d modeling and graphic design, marketing, writing, construction project management)?

Also, if there's a better forum for this question let me know - thanks!

Hii guys 🤘

I always have some troubles with algorithms and sometimes it makes me feel that programming it isn't for me. 😥

I'm a full-stack JS (React/Node) develor and I have 2.5+ years of experiecne. I've done a lot of features and made a lot of good decisions. I started programming when enrolled a uni and I'm obsessed with that from those days. I like full-stack cuz I always can do a full app without someone and I know the best practices for the both parts.

So I always hard with myself because of algos, I really don't have "mathematic thinking" and it makes me frustrated somtimes. I always think straightforward, I have not ideas how to solve a problem by a good way like from the other side yk. And I tried to solve some tasks on leetcode cuz an AI told me that it's just experience and I jsut need to know typicall patterns, and probably it helped a little but I couldn't change my mind and I gave up 😓 .

I rate myself around middle (beginner) but I really struggled with algos and I can't understand what's the problem - me or just experience. Cuz sometimes it affects on my job, for example when I need to create some algo it takes a while to write real good but not brute-force solution yk. 😖

One of my friend has such a good math thinking and I always compare myself with him, it's not so hard for him to find a way to solve some problem. He can resolve medium tasks on LeetCode without a lot of problems as me. Probably each medium task took a lot of my time. 😭

Guys how're ur deals with algos lmk pls. And pls share ur experience and stack. If u have some advice I'd be glad to give it from u. Thanks for advice 🙏

Peace ✌️

I think I have gotten everything covered by design, but it feels precarious and I don’t want to be setting myself up for a rewrite of so many core functions.

The document is an append-only journal of typed commands, and reopening a project replays it (really from a checkpoint). Every command has a known inverse, which is how the undo works, and every command also declares what it touches. Layout is derived from the document and computed by the authority, not by the clients, which is the main reason I’m not using a CRDT, I want the authority to be able to refuse an edit.

I am setting it up to have one authority per document, which others can collaborate with either via a port opened on the authority’s computer or via a cloud-hosted authority. It does have an OS lock on it so only one process writes the journal, and I don’t really know how to manage that beyond the simple case. If the same document is opened in a second window on the same computer, should that window attach to the running authority instead of opening the file again?

For crash recovery, my plan is that if the authority crashes it replays the journal on restart, and clients resend whatever edits they hadn’t had accepted yet. Is there anything I’m missing there?

I am worried about journal management and snapshots causing bloat once several client computers are involved, and about how a late joiner catches up. I figure I can keep each user’s edits as their own chain within the authority’s journal, so as long as they aren’t editing the same object the undo functions can stay more organized than linear.

I am also trying to get 'rebase if the edits don’t overlap, refuse otherwise' to work, but it feels like it has a big blast radius with deletes and reordering that I am not fluent in. Where does that approach usually break?

Finally, what does the cross-OS wildcard change for me? If a guest joins from a different operating system than the authority, what actually bites in practice?

I'm currently working with an executable (.exe) compiled using NSIS (Nullsoft Scriptable Install System).

My goal is to:

1. Unpack/Extract the EXE to access its internal contents.

2. Modify one of the .dll files included inside the package.

3. Repack/Rebuild everything back into a working NSIS installer executable.

Is this possible?

Here are snippet for ToDoList in Russt, c# AND Node so u see how hard is it to read and write Rust compared to otherss

Rust

use axum::{
    routing::{get, post, put, delete},
    Json, Router,
};
use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};

#[derive(Serialize, Deserialize, Clone)]
struct Task {
    id: u32,
    title: String,
    completed: bool,
}

#[derive(Deserialize)]
struct CreateTask {
    title: String,
}

Node

// READ ALL
app.get("/tasks", (req, res) => {
    res.json(tasks);
});

// READ ONE
app.get("/tasks/:id", (req, res) => {
    const task = tasks.find(t => t.id === Number(req.params.id));
    if (!task) return res.status(404).json({ error: "Not found" });
    res.json(task);
});

// CREATE
app.post("/tasks", (req, res) => {
    const task = {
        id: Date.now(),
        title: req.body.title,
        completed: false
    };

    tasks.push(task);
    res.status(201).json(task);
});

c#

// READ ONE
app.MapGet("/tasks/{id}", (int id) =>
    tasks.FirstOrDefault(t => t.Id == id) is { } task
        ? Results.Ok(task)
        : Results.NotFound());

// CREATE
app.MapPost("/tasks", (CreateTask input) =>
{
    var task = new TaskItem(
        tasks.Count + 1,
        input.Title,
        false
    );

    tasks.Add(task);
    return Results.Created($"/tasks/{task.Id}", task);
});

// UPDATE
app.MapPut("/tasks/{id}", (int id, UpdateTask input) =>
{
    var index = tasks.FindIndex(t => t.Id == id);
    if (index == -1) return Results.NotFound();

Hi!

I'm developing a video game with C++ and Unreal Engine.

A few days ago, I've read and watch some videos about Data-Oriented Design. After that, I've been thinking about how to improve my code and learn how to do it.

To test it, I have declared this struct:

struct MyStruct
{
  TArray<FTransform> Transforms;
  TArray<FVector> Colors;
  TArray<int32> IDs;
  TArray<bool> Visible;
  TArray<FName> Names;
};

This is a structure of arrays, where each Array contains a different data type.

My question is that I'm not sure if that's a good design in the context of data-driven design.

Perhaps the optimisation would come from using arrays of the same data type, rather than using a structure containing data of different sizes as the data type of an array.

Thanks!

Probably, I'm gonna become a red team specialist and I'll enter the university for this speciality, but I wanna start learning earlier. I already know some CS, but at the beginning level. I'm familiar with databases, some of c++, python, and java, some of backend, some of Linux, and some of cryptography.

I'm tradcoding a website, and I chose to use a proprietary BBCode inspired markup language for posts; in order to avoid writing two separate implementations respectively in JS and Python (to parse it both in the frontend & backend) i think it's best if i write a single implementation and then transpile it to both languages. Lisp-like/functional languages are also fine by me.

Bonus points if the resulting scripts don't require too much space or time (due to having to bundle a whole separate set of libs in the frontend or having to call a separate NodeJS process in the backend).

right that, Im upgrading an internal nuget from .net 8 to 10. (right now we are on the 2.0.0 version )
Most of the public nugets do that, but is it correct? semver doesnt mention anything related, and honestly i dont know if Im missing something.

I just want that my team understand better the meaning of each version.

Hey everyone,

I'm a software engineer working in Germany with a few years of experience. I started my career doing full-stack development and currently work on a mix of Android/Kotlin, backend development, hardware integration, and some ML-related work.

I have experience with Java, Kotlin, Python, Spring Boot, and FastAPI.

I'm particularly interested in backend engineering and system design. I genuinely enjoy studying distributed systems, understanding how large-scale applications work, and exploring architectural trade-offs.

However, I don't get much exposure to these concepts at my current job, and I feel my technical growth has slowed down.

I've been thinking about contributing to open source, not just for my CV, but to learn how real-world systems are built and maintained.

My questions:

• How do you actually find good open-source backend projects to contribute to?

• Are there any active projects or communities where experienced developers guide newer contributors through code reviews and discussions?

• Would contributing to existing projects be more valuable than building my own backend projects?

I'm not necessarily looking for easy first issues. I'd love to start small and gradually work on meaningful features.

Would appreciate any recommendations or experiences!

I feel like I understand programming when I read someone else's code, but when I try to solve a problem on my own, I get stuck way too easily.

I end up searching for solutions instead of figuring things out myself.

For those of you who got past this stage, what actually helped you improve?

To convert a decimal number X to binary, you keep dividing X by 2, keeping the remainders in a list, until X is 0. Then you simply reverse the remainders list

void convert_N_to_binary(int n)
{
    if (n != 0) {
        pb(n / 2);
        putchar('0' + n % 2);
    }
}

I would like to understand the reasoning behind each step, Could someone break it down for me. Thank you

Hey everyone,

I’m currently learning Java to build projects and grind Data Structures & Algorithms (DSA), but I am hitting a massive wall with how the code is structured.

Today, I was trying to implement a simple ServerSocket. To understand what was happening, I instinctively Ctrl+Clicked on it. The IDE immediately unzipped the internal source code and dragged me down a never-ending rabbit hole: from ServerSocket, to SocketImpl, all the way into NioSocketImpl and hidden factory classes.

It throws hundreds of lines of complex internal implementation code at me. It is incredibly time-consuming, frustrating, and completely breaks my momentum. I feel like I'm getting sucked into a black hole of code that I didn't even write, and if I keep this up, I am going to get stuck and fail to actually build anything.

I need a serious reality check and some practical advice:

1. How do developers actually read and reason about Java without constantly opening up the internal source files?

2. What is the fastest, cleanest way to look up how to use a class/method without getting bogged down by its underlying implementation code?

3. How do I force myself to treat things like ServerSocket as "black boxes" so I can just focus on building my app and solving DSA patterns?

Any strategies to help me break this habit and speed up my learning would be deeply appreciated. Thank you!