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?

where is it initialized you prick?

$ cat <<HERE>hello.c
#include <stdio.h>
>
int main(int argc, char** argv)
{
char buffer[300] = {12};
sprintf(buffer, "you lie");
}
>
HERE
$ gcc hello.c -S
$ cat hello.s
        .file   "hello.c"
        .def    ___main;        .scl    2;      .type   32;     .endef
        .data
LC0:
        .byte   12
        .space 299
        .section .rdata,"dr"
LC1:
        .ascii "you lie\0"
        .text
.globl _main
        .def    _main;  .scl    2;      .type   32;     .endef
_main:
        pushl   %ebp
        movl    %esp, %ebp
        subl    $344, %esp
        andl    $-16, %esp
        movl    $0, %eax
        addl    $15, %eax
        addl    $15, %eax
        shrl    $4, %eax
        sall    $4, %eax
        movl    %eax, -316(%ebp)
        movl    -316(%ebp), %eax
        call    __alloca
        call    ___main
        leal    -312(%ebp), %ecx
        movl    $LC0, %edx
        movl    $300, %eax
        movl    %eax, 8(%esp)
        movl    %edx, 4(%esp)
        movl    %ecx, (%esp)
        call    _memcpy
        movl    $LC1, 4(%esp)
        leal    -312(%ebp), %eax
        movl    %eax, (%esp)
        call    _sprintf
        leave
        ret
        .def    _memcpy;        .scl    3;      .type   32;     .endef
        .def    _sprintf;       .scl    3;      .type   32;     .endef
$