NewStats: 3,264,780 , 8,184,695 topics. Date: Thursday, 12 June 2025 at 11:13 AM 624v1

dhtml18:

Tough. . .

@op, excellent post jare.

thanks, dhtml. means a lot coming from you.

asalimpo:
In my opinion, java is a good middle ground.
It's hard without being too hard ,so if you succeed at it ,you'd have developed
a higher level of self discipline that you would have if you went for easier languages.

It's better designed than c,c++ . So you wont have to spend a lot of time unlearning junks
as would be the case if you learnt c++.

How long will it take you to learn?
It's hard to say. This is a subjective question.
But they're some guide posts:
When can you think naturally in the language's paradigm?
When can you decompose a programming problem into its abstract components-
extract the interfaces,abstract classes and concrete classes in the problem.

When can you design extensible programs that many year down the road when
you aren't working on them or they need to be modified , the maintainer wouldnt be tempted
to throw out the old code and start again because it's a design nightmare?
At this stage , getting to program to work isnt enough. Clean, elegant design is a must.

When can you read source code the way you read english. This is a primary stepping stone in your
journey. Your brain should be a language parser so that you can debug code while your reading them.
This is the first step you need to cross in your journey towards maturity.

When can you analyse the performance of a program?
Know what data structure to choose and why?
Know the pros and cons of each data structure?
A wrong choice in this department would make your program slow under heavy loads even though
it would seem fast to you when you were testing it.

When can you solve real problems for people?
Once you know a little of the basics you can.
But your program would be , in retrospect, amateurish.

They are no opportunities here-
Most adverts you see are for web based programmers.
Even though java can be used for web development, it is not popular in that domain.

Do you think i should continue?
- A lot depends on you.
If you dont have ion and perseverance you wont go far. Infact, you'll be overwhelmed
by how much there is to learn that you will give up.
If you are going the self taught route, be ready to do a lot of programming , writing little programs
to test yourself. Pushing your own limits.

You have to stay with it. I'd say budget 3 years(if you have no background in logical disciplines (e.g mathematics, engineering etc) , after then, evaluate yourself and see if you want to continue. By then, the language syntax should be familiar. You'd have been able to design some mid level
programs. You'd have developed your sense of intuition and your inner style would be beginning to bud.

I always felt you were mature in this industry even though there was no reason other than a few concise comments here and there. Now I know why.

Seems like your connection parameters are faulty. You should post your connection code here, and just in case you havent tried this

you should end or all your database queries with "or die("eror occured here";

for instance :

$conn = mysqli_connect("localhost", "root", "" or die("Error occured here ".mysqli_error($conn));

This should say why you can't connect to the database.

If that doesnt work, then you should also check xampp control ...apache...config...php.ini..

look for

"error_reporting" and make sure its set to
"E_ALL & ~E_DEPRECATED & ~E_STRICT".


Also make sure your xampp server installation is actually running and so is the mysql.

FrankLampard:
larisoft in addition to all you have listed here, I will ask you to solve some complex Matrix Problems, Ordinary Differential Equations, Partial Differential Equation. if you , I will now set some easy Data Structure and And Algorithm questions. Before you will be asked to showcase your portfolio or maybe create a CRUD app in a particular language.

Lol! Do they ?

timotew:
First of all a Professional programmer doesn't need a job to survive , The web is free.
Wordpress themes & plugins are there.
Upwork is there to freelance.
Blogging is there.
Create an analysis tool and other for the web put advert on the page you will earn forever.

Not everyone is a programmer.
"Any fool can write a code that a computer can understand. Good Programmers write codes that human can understand" - Martin Fowler



Never Ever Hire a Programmer if you are Not One- or have not been one:
Disagreed: Everone does not have to learn carpentry just because we need a chair, All Client want is you to see their specification and prove that you can even make it better or exact.

Ask to solve reasonable programming problems:

Do people give tailors demo clothes to sew before giving them real one? Yes, but you will pay for it. Payment is per Hour in programming.

Ask to see written projects:
The best point, as a programmer you need to have a portfolio, if you have never done something for a client before try to creat thing just for fun put it on the web and you are fine.


Have them work on projects similar to what your company does:
Great.

If you are deeply interested in certificates. now is the time to ask for those.:
Most Expert programmers drop out of school, self though programming work the best all this W3school certificate mean nothing.
In my school Engineering student code way better than Computer scientist, I don't know why because I have never been to their class.

I personally started coding without certificates not even diploma in computer training I have none and nobody every ask me because nobody care as a matter of fact my first ever project was from the State Government and they did not even bother to ask about it.

Wow. really insightful, sir! I was looking forward to experience-filled responses like this!

r:
One more point to add, in Nigeria, Good programmers will not stay to through all these rigorous recruitment exercise unless you are paying really well.
They are usually already employed and usually have a number of offers waiting on the table.

Well, I usually keep the payment secret till the end of the interview (When companies ask me to help them recruit). Most times, the sheer joy of having succeeded where so many failed can be a motivation-alongside payment that is up to market standard of course.

asalimpo:
I share your sentiments.
But i think a programmer should know some computer science, at least data structures and their runtime performance. Knowing how to create some custom data structures : linked list, trees, maybe graphs-
is a big plus , because all programming problems are simply algorithms manipulating data structures.
The rest are just icings.

Asalimpo, you have a strong point. A candidate that knows these definitely has an edge.

<pre>
<code>
//JAVA
for(int i = 0; i < arr.length; i++){

int firstNum = arr[i];
for(int j = i+1; j < arr.length; j++){

int secondNum = arr[j];

if(secondNum==firstNum){
//do stuff
}
}

}


//PHP

for($i = 0; $i < count($arr); $i++){

$firstNum == $arr[$i];
for($j = $i+1; $j < count($arr); $j++){
$secondNum = $arr[$j];
if($secondNum == $firstNum){
//do stuff
}
}
}

//C#

for(int i = 0; i < arr.Length; i++){

for(int j = i+1 ; j < arr.Length; j++){

if(arr[i] == arr[j]){
//do stuff
}

}

}




//Javascript

for(var i = 0; i < arr.length; i++){


for(var j = i+1; j < arr.length; j++){

if(arr[i]===arr[j]){
//do stuff
}

}

}


</code>
</pre>

Hopefully, you speak one of these langauges. All you need do now is copy and paste.

I will really appreciate the input of senior developers on this forumn on their hiring experiences in Nigeria, as well as steps in this article they do not agree with.

Hiring programmers is a difficult task. Not only must you ensure that your selected candidates know the job; you must also make sure they fit in with your company’s objectives. Not every good programmer is good for your company.
This article highlights steps that must not be missed when hiring programmers in Nigeria.


Never Ever Hire a Programmer if you are Not One- or have not been one:
Of course you can interview a candidate for issues other than the technical aspect of the job; like work ethics, discipline, company culture, educational qualifications e.t.c. But if you are not a programmer, you have no business hiring a programmer. When I was a newbie, I got hired by a lot of people who saw my petty jobs, with fancy UI, and were impressed. I got paid writing a lot of crappy, unscalable, undocumented software. This would never have happened if I was interviewed first by a senior developer.
A qualified company CTO should interview the candidates. If you have no CTO, please delegate to a hiring firm/consultant. The danger in hiring bad programmers is that they will litter your company with other bad programmers, and if you ever manage to get a good one, they will frustrate him/her out of the company. God help you and your customers when that happens.
Even if you are not employing a developer on a full time basis, but for just a one-time project, get someone you know is deep in the game to interview him first. There are many good developers here on Nairaland that can help you.

Invite applications from 'ionate programmers'; NOT CERTIFICATE HOLDERS: sorry, but programmers are scarce and really good ones that will deliver reliable, scalable software are almost impossible to find. If you put in the barrier of certificates, you make a hard nut harder. Programming is a task that people master by putting in dedication and practice- Not by going to school and getting fancy certificates.

Also, if a CV has too many certificates listed, it should raise eyebrows. The fact that there are so many certificates is a strong indication that the person has not really sat down to code for long lengths of time.

Of course there are positions for which certificate barriers are welcome. These include project manager, software architect, e.t.c.. But for ‘programmer’-the guy who writes or maintains code pursuant to given specifications; a certificate shouldn’t matter during first screening.

Its also okay to add technology restrictions but rather than languages; emphasize platforms. If you already have PHP programmers, adding a Node.js programmer to the mix wont hurt.

Thus: I want a PHP/AJAX/JAVASCRIPT programmer is wrong.
I want a web programmer is right.

I want a C# WPF programmer is wrong
I want a Windows Desktop Programmer is right.



Ask to solve reasonable programming problems:
When I say programming questions, I don’t mean sort algorithms and asymptotic notations. You are hiring programmers; not computer scientists. What matters is that they know relevant data structures, design patterns, and how to use them to solve common business problems efficiently.

Off the top of my head examples will be:

1. Give problems that require the programmer to use polymorphism in solving. Don’t mention this. Programmers who have never come in with this will use other clearly non-efficient, code-obfuscating, tightly coupled strategies.
2. Give problems that involve hashmaps, hashsets, linkedlists, stacks, queues.et.c. These are data structures you don’t learn by reading ‘for dummies books’ or ‘learn java in 21 days books’.
3. Write code with subtle bugs and ask them to correct it. Candidates new to debugging will fail at this juncture.
4. You can add algorithms but this should be used to determine the best candidate-not the worst candidate.
5. Let candidates solve these in languages of their choice.

What to take out of this stage is: my candidates are actual programmers…not 3 month old newbies.

Ask to see written projects:
At this juncture, you have eliminated so many potential disasters. You should probably stop in your tracks and send me a ‘thank you’ mail before you continue.

Its unfortunate that this is the stage where many Nigerian employers actually start the hiring process. Its plain wrong. Many of the projects your candidates claim to own could have been written by other people. Also, how do you know they didn’t copy huge amounts of it from somewhere? And how much time do you actually spend on each software to determine and appreciate its strong points and weak points? Believe me, many software projects look beautiful and properly structured; until you put them to personal use. That’s why companies hire professional testers to detect bugs.

What you should take out of this stage: the technologies your candidates are familiar with!

You cant integrate another person’s code in yours, except you are familiar with the technology that person used. You should also take note of how these projects relate to what your company does, which brings us to the next stage.


Have them work on projects similar to what your company does:
If you have to pay them for the project, by all means do! But you need to be sure that a programmer can handle a typical project in your company before hiring them. Many java spring programmers will have difficulty writing java android and your company is a business environment, not a programming school!

Also, when they work on company project, you see subtle things like how they relate with your team, and how much they understand company objectives. By the end of this exercise, you already know who you want to hire and who you don’t. The next stage is usually unnecessary except in certain circumstances.




If you are deeply interested in certificates. now is the time to ask for those.:
There are positions and circumstances for which certificates are necessary. A university degree for instance shows that a candidate respects and obeys authority. A school dropout on the other hand is a sign of strong self-will and possible disregard for authority, while a candidate who has no tertiary education whatsoever, should ordinary be expected to be wanting in certain social/ethical skills.

Notice that I deliberately omitted mentioning discipline here. The truth is; no one learns programming, or any other valuable skill for that matter, without discipline. If your candidate made it this far; they are disciplined and just need motivation.

This step can be handled by a non-technical person.

DanielTheGeek:
Thumbs up larry!

Thanks, Dan.

prinzfunchi:
Its nice...

I can't imagine me playing hard tho

Thanks bro. I think I will be able to play it after a month or so on intermediate level. I play it much better when I save the distribution of the bubbles on the screen to my brain before the screen flickers. If I can what I memorized, I can definitely tell which bubble was added last.

Lol! Nairaland!!!

I guess the forumn will lose its color without the jabs.

Like I've always said, what seems easy to you; may seem hard to another person..

I've implemented this time and time again but never really knew it was called an 'accordion'.

Now; that has changed.

Thumbs up OP.

This app is completely effective and free.

It calculates the gp of nigerian polytechnic students on a semester, session, and full academic circle basis.

google play link

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.larisoft.larry.gpcalculator&hl=en

Thanks everyone.

Definitely three.

All you'd need is

1. A sign up form/page
2. A vote page
3. A database for storing votes and voter data

Nice one daniel.

I wrote this game to help me exercise my memory every morning.

The game, (Bubblebrainer) is a game implemented in C#. Its heavily commented and highly recommended for programmers who want to get into game development. I believe you will find the code easy to follow, and the seperation of concerns in the game is something i belive will help new programmers appreciate the necessity of proper design in programs.

To babas in the house, the game dey good for for memory o. Try am out too o!

Github link:
https://github.com/larisoft/BubbleBrainer

exe:
http://tfellow.com/larisoft/bubblebrainer.zip

Thanks bro. there is a validate function in the CleanDesktop.cs file:

(command = Console.ReadLine().ToLower().Trim();// trims and eliminates upper case letters

if (command.ToLower().StartsWith("add")
{
if (validate_command(command)) //validates command here
{
add_custom_extension(command);
}
else
{
speak("incorrect command format";
speak("type 'add .extension to folder'";
speak("To add a custom extension mapping type";
speak("e.g.";
speak("add .jpg to Pictures";
}
})

You have a strong point with the .net issue. Jar runtime is much smaller, and even cross platform. However, I chose .net because most windows 7+ installations come with .net preinstalled , plus i believe in using a windows tool (C#/.NET) for a windows platform (MS Windows).

I will recompile it now to allow lower versions of .net shaa. I believe that will make it accessible to more computers.

Full version of CleanDesktop is ready now.
This app, which simply keeps your desktop free of cluttering files, by moving every file to its appropriate folder (e.g. ".jpg" files on your desktop will always be moved to pictures folder " has the following features:


1. starts by itself once system boots
2. Allows you to create custom extension
3. ALlows you to send commands to the application through the command line
4. Moves html files together with their resource folders.
5. It is open source and newbies and pros alike are welcome to modify, reuse, and criticize the code. Plus you can look at the code and see there's no shady deal going on behind the scenes...e.g. hidden viruses.

github link:
https://github.com/larisoft/cleanDesktop

app link:
http://tfellow.com/cleandesktop.zip

cc: oga seunthomas, fincoapps, olumyco, donjayzi, knownpal, Danielthegeek, ,dammytosh, elfico, airsalongcon, diakon, dhtml18, pcguru, airsalangu, guru08 e.t.c.

Thanks everyone!

Full version of CleanDesktop is ready now.
This app, which simply keeps your desktop free of cluttering files, by moving every file to its appropriate folder has the following features:


1. starts by itself once system boots
2. Allows you to create custom extension
3. ALlows you to send commands to the application through the command line
4. Moves html files together with their resource folders.
5. It is open source and newbies and pros alike are welcome to modify, reuse, and criticize the code. Plus you can look at the code and see there's no shady deal going on behind the scenes...e.g. hidden viruses.

github link:
https://github.com/larisoft/cleanDesktop

app link:
http://tfellow.com/cleandesktop.zip

cc: oga seunthomas, fincoapps, olumyco, donjayzi, knownpal, Danielthegeek, ,dammytosh, elfico, airsalongcon, diakon, dhtml18, pcguru, airsalangu, guru08 e.t.c.

Thanks everyone!

Full version of CleanDesktop is ready now.
This app, which simply keeps your desktop free of cluttering files, by moving every file to its appropriate folder has the following features:


1. starts by itself once system boots
2. Allows you to create custom extension
3. ALlows you to send commands to the application through the command line
4. Moves html files together with their resource folders.
5. It is open source and newbies and pros alike are welcome to modify, reuse, and criticize the code. Plus you can look at the code and see there's no shady deal going on behind the scenes...e.g. hidden viruses.

github link:
https://github.com/larisoft/cleanDesktop

app link:
http://tfellow.com/cleandesktop.zip

cc: oga seunthomas, fincoapps, olumyco, donjayzi, knownpal, Danielthegeek, ,dammytosh, elfico, airsalongcon, diakon, dhtml18, pcguru, airsalangu, guru08 e.t.c.

Thanks everyone!

Diakon:
Hi larisoft
Please I really need to get in touch with you. I sent you a message but you haven't replied. Could you send me a WhatsApp message on 08165213439?

Thanks, Diakon. My phone is switched off 99% of the time. But you can reach me on [email protected]. Thanks for finding this interesting.

mbatuku1:
This is really nice stuff. This the kind of stuff I want to see myself doing in c# soon.
larisoft, How do I study the scope of .NET framework? I mean a link or book that let's me know all available functionality of c#. I'm just a beginner in c#.

Sorry am replying late. I got caught up writing the main, properly modularized version of the cleandesktop app. I will recommend you just google "dot net pearls C# tutorial" (can't the site address exactly". Then be prepared to write a lot of mini projects with the language. Also, take look at the cleandesktop app source code. It will show you a lot of stuff like creating windows shortcuts, creating and moving files, e.t.c.

That is a businness competition, not a coding competition. Not all coders are interested in running around looking for investors, writing business plans, and making -friendly GUIs. And business-minded individuals (for whom this competition is meant), rarely do competitive, or serious coding either.

Its important not to mix up both.

Knownpal:


I wrote a very short snippet in .cs I paste it in my desktop may be I ed it from my google drive directly to my desktop. I have a folder saved in C:\\RobotApp.

The app should allow me to create extension it will watch for, and where the folder should be saved.

Thanks man. I will implement it soon.

seunthomas:
Very nicely done larisoft. Looking at your code, i can tell it works.

Thanks baba.

Knownpal:

You didn't implement the custom extension module.

I dont understand what you mean, bro. Please elucidate.

Olumyco:
Wao! This is very good... I am higly impressed.

I av tested it and it makes sense....

More power to ur elbow

The option to either run it in d background or not can be injected into it... So dat for those who will want it run in d background can enable a feature to do dat and dose who wants to b firing it every time can also enable a feature for dat...

Love d concept...

Thanks so much, olymco. It means a lot coming from you. I will work on the background issh...but in the mean time, we can make it auto start by copying the shortcut source .exe into startup folder.

Thanks so much.

donjayzi:
This is a very excellent idea, but alas, i was unable to review because of this:

Dhtml, thanks for trying. but is it possible for you to disable the anti-virus?

My c# applications that are published using clickonce are always running into conflict with antiviruses. Doesnt happen when I use installshield though.

Please, i didnt write this because I thought its difficult and will prove myself as one of nairaland's baddest. Rather, I wrote it because the project idea specified here (https://nairaland.macsoftware.info/2957462/operation-prove-programming-skills) was something I already needed even before the OP called my attention to it. And I think many of us need it too.

This application, implemented in C# watches your desktop folder. Any file that is created on it, is automatically moved to the appropriate folder. If such appropriate folder does not exist on the desktop, it will create it.

Thus, if you add a picture on your desktop. It will move it to 'Desktop/Pictures' automatically creating the pictures folder, if it doesn't exist.

I wrote this in 1hour so code-readability and scalability were not my priority. Just wanted to get it working. If it turns out to be accepted here, I and other volunteers, will of course improve it. and I will drop the Larisoft in its name.

You can the application from http://tfellow.com/larisoftCleanDesktop.zip. After , launch the setup file.

The github link is : https://github.com/larisoft/cleanDesktop

I will appreciate any criticisms. Thanks

Knownpal:
Due to the fact that I don't have anything doing for sometimes now and due to thethe e-wars, e-bashing and e-i_sabi__you that has been happening in our hood here programming (though topics are maybe forbidden to reach FP )

1. I want a desktop app that will act like an AI. Anytime I paste anything on my desktop it should move it to the appropriate folders. based on its extension. I have these folders (types)

I want a clean desktop with only those folders.

Musics
- mp3
- wav
- avi

Pictures
- jpg/jpeg
- png
- gif

Videos
- mp4
- mov
- flv

Custom extension
Let me say I work with AutoCAD which has .dwg as its extension, your app should allow me to create my own extension to work just like the above extensions.

Others
For the ones the robot didn't recognize.

OOP should be strongly used. Let it get muscle please.

You can add other features o. It might not necessary be in GUI, cmd too is allow.

Well, we can vote for people by just liking their posts (you post the link to your codes/exe/zip/github or anything).
Posts that got shares na baba.

Please this is not really a competition but rather a challenge (what's the difference self lols). You can use any language of your choice. We must see your codes either use pastebin or github. This will help improve our programming skills and we gonna know the quack programmers, the guru (everyone is) and the ones that only have mouth-compilers alone. Please post the link and maybe screen shots to back it up.

Pardon my English oo. (English/Programming lecturers)

Duration : a week (for the ones that take comment seriously lols)

Disclaimer : No reward for the highest vote and for the lowest, I pray you're encouraged . Please me too I am a learner o, maybe this is a style to learn from you guys.

Start Date :February 26, 2016.
End Date: March 04, 2016.

Other people can post challenge as well, the poster will manage his duration and question.

I have solved your problem, bro. It took me an hour. its titled "Larisoft Clean Desktop". I will drop the larisoft name in it once its accepted as something useful and something everyone can work on.

The code is currently very basic, but serves the functions above.

If the guys here approve of my efforts, we can then work to make it better.


github :https://github.com/larisoft/cleanDesktop

You can and install the app directly from

http://tfellow.com/larisoftCleanDesktop.zip

THANKS.