Poll: What's your programming level?

[MsMittens]

For the upcoming newsletter we are curious as to what is the current level of most of our security programmers here. The reason we are asking this is to help tailor the articles on programming to the majority. This doesn't mean we will leave out beginner programming tutorials but we would like to know if it will be worthwhile to include some intermediate and advanced programming articles.

So put your place on the poll. Many thanks. ;)

[8*B@LL]

i guess i go in the "begginer to intermediate" level...i've only been taking c++ classes for a few simesters, but i can pretty easily look at any c/c++ tutorial and atleast begin to understand it right away. after a few read-throughs i usually have a pretty much total understanding(atleast i like to think so :-P)

not sure if that really goes in the "begginer to intermediate" or "intermediate to advanced", but i think its the former.

[freeOn]

Just bumbing this up to the top. This is a very important thread just because it will show what level the majority of AO members are programming at. So the AO newsletter will have an idea of what level to start the programming section on.

Also would like to say to be honest about it. Don't clam to be ellite if you are a begineer.

[MsMittens]

Just giving this another nudge up to get more info on our users and what level they program at. Helps make for a better newsletter. ;)

[Louie]

PUSH -- BREATH -- PUSH

DAMN IT I got the Topic to the TOP


PUSH, BREATH, PUSH

OMG ITS A BOY

[Alcatraz]

Just my thoughts on what tutorials would help the most. Or at least, what'd help me the most. HTML is totally unnessesary. You can go to www.htmlgoodies.com for that. There are already a lot of VB tutorials out there so you don't really need them. I could use something in Java, especially in C++. The problem I've found with most C++ books and such, is that they assume you know C already. So I guess the best, would just be a variety. Something for everyone.

[redant55]

i am a proggrammer
i am a programmmer
i am a programmer


i write code

[D.J.]

hi, just giving my input to the poll. i think i would be placed at the beginner/intermediate level. the programming
language that I'm somewhat familiar with is c++. i have started on my own simple programs to gain experience,
still referring to books. i wold greatly appreciate some c++ on that level. thanks! btw, could you place some
advanced html stuff in there, too? i'm very good with html, but i'd like to learn more! :)

[Wizeman]

Hello everyone!

I just thought I'd put my two cents in about what sort of tutorials I'd find helpful. I basically know how to program just about anything with the exception of Microsoft Foundaction Classes stuff (GUI crap in C++). Anyway, what I'd find the most useful would be a tutorial on programming security. What I mean by programming security is checking for basic ideas of buffer overflow checks, and other such obvious errors that cause many programs no-a-days to be ridden with security holes. I can certainly say that they don't cover any of these sort of security concerns in any of my programming classes in college, and I think it is a necessary thing to learn.

Regards,
Wizeman

[MsMittens]

As a reminder those interested in submitting articles on secure programming and security programming should get their articles in by February 22, 2002 Midnight EST. Based on the present poll, you should orient your programming article to a beginner-to-intermediate level. This doesn't preclude having a more advanced article however. I would like to see one advanced programming article in place.

Remember you can send the articles to me via PM or via email at msmittens@msmittens.com (plain text or Word doc welcomed).

Thanks in advance for helping to make a great newsletter.

[chsh]

Originally posted by MsMittens
For the upcoming newsletter we are curious as to what is the current level of most of our security programmers here. The reason we are asking this is to help tailor the articles on programming to the majority. This doesn't mean we will leave out beginner programming tutorials but we would like to know if it will be worthwhile to include some intermediate and advanced programming articles.

So put your place on the poll. Many thanks. ;)

MsMittens, I have a problem with the way this poll was worded.

I am an example of why it's a problem. I code in Visual Basic (don't lynch me please), C, PHP, ASP (VBScript), Some Java, etc..

On a day to day basis, I use PHP and ASP, I do not use C or Visual Basic. As such, I can fall into several categories. I could say that I am a beginner, because I have to refer to manuals and etc. on the rare occasions I do write code in C or VB. I could also say I'm Advanced because with PHP and ASP I write them both all the time.

I picked Intermediate-Advanced because it really depends on the language we're discussing. I imagine quite a few others face similar problems. I for one intend to continue learning programming languages, so I'll have the same problem in the future.

Perhaps a wide variety of articles on various languages would be a good idea. I would be willing to contribute to future editions of the e-zine if you're interested in having more contributors.

[MsMittens]

chsh,

I understand where you are coming from in regards to the wording of the poll. It was hard to create a poll that would get to the heart of the matter: basically, how comfortable are our users with programming in general? If users are very comfortable, then articles targetting intermediate to advanced would be requested more often. If users are new to programming in general then articles targetting towards beginner to intermediate should be appearing more often (it appears that users are in the latter group).

This poll was more of a straw vote to help tailor the articles as much as possible. We needed to start from somewhere. I know that we will not please everyone, especially with a membership base well over 50,000 but we would like to try to meet the needs of as many as possible. I realize that some people are probably more advanced in some languages over others and some of the articles on those languages, whether a beginner one or an advanced one, may yet still bring some glimmer of knowledge that even the most advanced programmer might not of thought of.

That all said I would love an article from you on your language of choice, ideally with security in mind. Perhaps along the lines of what Wizeman asked for. If you are interested do not hesitate to PM me or email me at msmittens@msmittens.com

;)

[guardingspirit]

im a below beginner i suppose but i dont see why you cant tailer to me as well as to the advanced master :drink: in the mean time ill be in the bottle waiting to see what you end up with

[guardingspirit]

i really agree with wiseman you can find programming tutorials for most anything but ive not seen any security programming tutorials and i would think that to be a great idea

[neel]

Well i'm pretty comfortable, but not the very best so the second it's goin to be than (if it still counts)...