[sim7c00]

got a book Low Level Programming by igor zhirkov. IT's not technically a course, but he wrote it for his teaching (his classes won a lot, a lot of prizes).

It's ofcourse, about low level programming, but since, the lower levels underpin the higher ones, for me the most useful thing was this book.

It was a super challenge for me personally (no degree in computing or anything), and working through it i felt more things click than any other resource i tapped into before. I feel i understand much better in any language now, what actually happens on the PC, and how to go about investigating what happens if i do not. (finding specifications, isa documents, documentation on interpreters of scripts etc. etc., learning to read code/sources.)

That being said, do you have a specific direction in which you want to improve? Because this obviously leans towards a specific flavor of programming, where it's maybe not as useful if you want a different flavor. I know many good/professional programmers who know nothing of this stuff and are really really good in their own domains.

[hnthrow098767]

I have some project ideas but they are too complex for me. I have domain knowledge but my programming skills are lacking + lots of ambiguity/confusion/uncertainty/fuziness while implementing.

I haven't delved into low level programming much but I will give it a shot. I do mostly scripting and automation - I want to improve my programming skills to the next level.

[sim7c00]

What 'type' of project ideas are this? don't need to share the idea, but in general: webapp,networkapp, desktopapp, does it have a GUI, is it a CLI tool, etc.

These different types will likely have very different learning paths and things for you to explore that will get you to a practical skill level in the areas you want quicker than going the assembly -> c -> c++ -> script engines route for example. This last one is really a long journey (to me atleast), and it will bare fruits only near the end unless you're into embedded stuff because hardly any apps these days are written in such languages (c++ being a bit more common).

[hnthrow098767]

I want to build a desktop gui app. Similar projects have 10000+ loc. It's math heavy and sometimes too complex for me while implementing. I haven't used chatgpt much because I wanted to improve my programming skills.

[sim7c00]

chatGPT is a bit like google or stackoverflow etc, but maybe more directed. Don't use it's code as it's nonsensical mostly, but it can definitely summarize well what directions to take.

Other then that, if it's math-heavy/complex, maybe start with parts. try to identify what you want to be libraries and core logic etc.

you could start by making a math library in C, maybe with some bindings to a higher lvl language you want to write the GUI code in. It will be quite a project in itself already, and once done, you have part of your goal completed.

Selecting, testing and experimenting with GUI code is also tricky. There's tons of different libraries out there. You can use existing, or even write openGL/Vulkan code and write your own. If cross-platformness is important, maybe look at things like .net maui etc. as it has that feature as a core feature.

Also, before writing anything, look into how to structure such large projects. Structuring your project will help in many ways, including deciding how to break up the project, where to start potentially etc. etc.

There's many ways that lead to rome, but most will be 'chunk it up untill the size of steps is so small you feel confident you can take a step, then take it'.

[hnthrowaway0328]

Feed your idea to ChatGPT and it can give you some basic ideas about what to learn.