Is rewriting project a good way to practice the skills?

Question

I find nothing to do in my spare time. And I want to practice my c++ skills on project. The idea is to rewrite a project in c++, such project like Minix. Is this a good way to improve my programming and architecting skills or it's a waste of time?

Answer 1

I would rather see you focus on something new - get involved with an open source project that uses C++, for example. Or answer C++ questions on stackoverflow.com. I don't see a lot of value to rewriting an existing project just for the sake of exercise.

Answer 2

If programming is your job, then try to apply your knowledge to your code. But in in this case please do not forget - you're working on code with other people, so try to code in "their" level. This will all team player understand and improve the code.

As for me I try to improve my programming skills by reading various blogs, stackoverflow, books and applying it in my code. As for architectural skills, you can always plan it on paper - less time consuming :)

Answer 3

While it is most likely possible and would indeed improve your skills, I think there are better ways. Which one exactly may depend on you actual skillset and on what area you want to focus.

A intermediate step which may increase your skills to write "smart" code may be to solve programming puzzles like Project Euler. While you are most likely able to solve them, solving them in a smart way may be a different matter. Comparing your solutions to those of other programmers (in C++ and various other languages) will teach you a lot. Though I wouldn't use too much time on this.

If you are interested in learning on project level, contributing to Open Source projects may give you better results. You would be in a close dialog with the existing developers and exchange a lot of knowledge that way.