[sousousou]

I'm coming from music as a profession to programming as a profession.

In music you can craft repetitive exercises to improve small aspects of your skillset, but in computer science you can't do that exactly (or sanely). However, I do find myself directing my study in a similar way. I have various high-level goals and I try to find some way to get at them on a daily basis. I use concrete projects like reading a book, doing exercises, or taking on a hobby project. It feels very similar to practicing music, but I wouldn't call it practicing. It's my practice!

[nickff]

Thanks for your insight, I really appreciate hearing comments from people who weren't born coding, because these often contain very interesting insights!

I would suggest that revisiting code which you have previously written, and trying to re-factor it, or at least considering how this could be done (and its impacts), is a very useful tool to help you 'practice' coding. I know that this is imperfect, but I have personally learned a lot from applying new lessons (from books, experience, or code reviews) to my own prior work.

[Dewie]

> Thanks for your insight, I really appreciate hearing comments from people who weren't born coding, because these often contain very interesting insights!

How nice that we outsiders can be of some use.

[jmalicki]

Actually, you can.

Sites like topcoder and Project Euler are actually very good at building skills... they're much like playing arpeggios or similar exercises... they're small, may take 30 minutes to two hours to complete, and the more you do the more used to solving problems you get, and you also find out what you need to improve upon.