

Skills Self-taught Programmers Might Need - ColinWright
http://simpledeveloper.com/important-skills-self-taught-programmers-lack/

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jiggy2011
Some of these things (like compilers) are often optional modules on CS
courses. I think it's difficult to practice programming for very long without
figuring out different data structures and recursion , sorting etc.

You may also run into compiler problems when you need to do anything
complicated with text, at this point playing around with a PEG for a while can
get you quite far and is reasonably intuitive.

OTOH you are more likely to lack the formal underpinnings and math behind it.
Then again, how many people would be able to pass a drilling on Big O/Theta
analysis 10 years after completing their degree?

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logical42
for those who are not sure what @jiggy2011 means by PEG, it is basically an
acronym for [parsing expression
grammar](<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parsing_expression_grammar>).

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huntedsnark
If you're relying solely on an undergraduate degree in CSE to cover these
topics then you're probably also lacking these skills, at least in a truly
meaningful way.

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ja27
This is kind of rolled into compilers, but automata and state machines are
another. I've seen a lot of wheels partially reinvented by self-taught
programmers, with bad results.

