I mainly work with PHP/SQL and I feel like whenever I am programming something I always have to google what I want. I know this sounds stupid but if I want to search for a string I am always forgetting its strpos and if I do remember its strpos I forget if the needle comes before the haystack or afterword. I use Notepad++, but I do not have any plugin that gives you a tooltip while typing out the function, not sure if that exists. Anyways that's just an example. I have the same issue with getting a substring. I would know its something LIKE strsub or substr but I wouldn't in my head be 100% sure so id google it anyways.
Any suggestions in remembering besides constantly using the functions, because that's obviously not working.
a lot*
I do too. And when I don't have any Internets laying around that I can ask, I dig around in the header files.
The stuff I use a lot come to mind easily, but I might still forget them after some time when not using them.
I hope youcompleteme (vim plugin) can show me function signatures once my libclang doesn't break it.
I was taking skill tests at oDesk and I didn't realize how helpless I would be in coding what they wanted if I didn't have the internet.
It's not unreasonable to expect to have a copy of reference documentation for any library you're using. You usually can get this stuff for offline viewing but it of course depends on the library. For something like the standard library that comes with a language and reference for the language itself, you can generally even find the docs in book form (and there's nothing wrong with owning and referring to these).
Memorising functions is not the most important thing in being a programmer - it just means you've memorised some stuff and that doesn't actually require a significant amount of (specific to programming) skill to do. Working out that you need a function that does what substr does is more important than remembering substr itself.
An IDE with autocomplete / suggestions will help you out and a lot of people can't work without one. As for how to memorise all the functions, the only real way is to continue using them unfortunately (and it will work eventually).
Also the fact that you're concerned about this stuff on a website like oDesk puts you ahead of most of the other programmers on there.
I think PHPStorm is good for PHP, the main reason I keep away from scripting languages like AngelScript is just because while it's good, it's slow to write in bare text.
I use VS2012 for everything else.
Keep a notepad handy :)
The act of physically writing down names of functions can help you remember them and if not you have an easily accessible reference :)
[QUOTE=JustExtreme;40886379]Keep a notepad handy :)
The act of physically writing down names of functions can help you remember them and if not you have an easily accessible reference :)[/QUOTE]
Having a medium-sized dry-erase whiteboard is a godsend for this. (also you don't end up wasting paper).
There's no way any sane person should be expected to memorise the cluster-fuck of an API that PHP ships with.
So basically no, it's not at all bad.
You're using PHP, so no, it's not bad. PHP's standard library is an incredibly inconsistent mess.
Agree on that one ^. Also, I use Visual Studio 2010, and without IntelliSence and/or internet, I would freeze.
Yeah, I also use VS2012 (with c#). When I do java stuff for school (In Eclipse) it feels slow and tedious, and I feel that I'd get so much more done if I could program java stuff in VS2012.
I hope this isn't a crutch; I don't think I use it as such.
[t]http://i.imgur.com/juerM88.png[/t]
[url=http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com.au/2010/04/alot-is-better-than-you-at-everything.html]alot of functions[/url].
[QUOTE=DoctorSalt;40904741]Yeah, I also use VS2012 (with c#). When I do java stuff for school (In Eclipse) it feels slow and tedious, and I feel that I'd get so much more done if I could program java stuff in VS2012.
I hope this isn't a crutch; I don't think I use it as such.[/QUOTE]
IntelliJ is a bit more like VS and made by the guys who make ReSharper, I'd suggest giving it a try but I imagine you don't have admin rights?
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