i want to stop being a beginner

Yeah so I've taken a few c++ classes at college, up to data structures. But just because I know how to write a bs-tree doesn't mean im an EXPERT PROGRAMMER just yet. The most complicated program I've written so far is one that solves the Towers of Hanoi by brute force. I still consider myself a beginner-level programmer.

Does anyone have any tips on how to improve my skill? Like a large one-man project that will teach me how to write & manage larger programs? Whenever I got the book store and look at the programming sections everything is either TEACH YOURSELF JAVA IN 24 HOURS or like START C++ FOR THE MENTALLY RETARDED. Everything is aimed at beginners but I want to move on.

protips?

>>46
Thanks. That's good for the console, but not when you have to use that input (instead of just cout.)

Say you append to that a string representation of the time and date, and then send that to an "imported" function that stores the whole thing to a file.

I'm just making a point of real life C++ issues. Most of the time your code doesn't deal with the user directly, and it just deals with other code built by the OS or another company. COUT is for simple programs, intro classes or debugging messages. In the real world, if you can't summon a message box, you have to at least leave a log file with such pre-processed information and timestamps. You build lots of custom strings stating what things were running at the time. This is a pretty good thread. Thanks OP!