Nearly every interesting programming problem is a bit over the top to you, at your current knowledge level. The point is to apply yourself, learn things as you go, research, and conquer the problem.
There are no cookie-cutter "noob" problems; there are problems whose solutions you can visualize in your head and see them happen, and problems that make you sit back and go "hmmmm". As you gather many technologies, more and more previously impossible problems begin to fall into the first category. This is what allows you, as an experienced programmer, to rule many application domains as boring and trivial. Even if you have never written a ticket ordering application for a concert hall, if you have done the most basic database application, you can pretty much visualize the solution :-)
Even though he is a "noob" the term coined by pg and appropriate here is to be relentlessly resourceful. That is if he wants to become a good hacker from a nubile state he will need to become relentlessly resourceful in the effort to get things done. I agree with pg that the good/great hackers are extremely resourceful.
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Some of your suggestions are a bit over the top for a noob...
Nearly every interesting programming problem is a bit over the top to you, at your current knowledge level. The point is to apply yourself, learn things as you go, research, and conquer the problem.
There are no cookie-cutter "noob" problems; there are problems whose solutions you can visualize in your head and see them happen, and problems that make you sit back and go "hmmmm". As you gather many technologies, more and more previously impossible problems begin to fall into the first category. This is what allows you, as an experienced programmer, to rule many application domains as boring and trivial. Even if you have never written a ticket ordering application for a concert hall, if you have done the most basic database application, you can pretty much visualize the solution :-)
Even though he is a "noob" the term coined by pg and appropriate here is to be relentlessly resourceful. That is if he wants to become a good hacker from a nubile state he will need to become relentlessly resourceful in the effort to get things done. I agree with pg that the good/great hackers are extremely resourceful.