I need ideas for a small programming project
 

Hi people, I am in need of your suggestions. I have some knowledge of C++, but haven't really written any programs of my own (apart from a calculator for complex numbers, which was quite basic). As such, I think it'd be better for me to write some programs first before finding an open source project to contribute to (which I would like to do eventually). Ideally, I would like to do something quite small (but a bit more advanced than a calculator!) and also useful, but am having trouble thinking of anything :(.

Any ideas?

I was thinking of doing something maybe Physics related, but I don't know what :/.

Thanks.

Edit: Google hasn't helped me much thusfar.

What's it for, self-paced learning? And do you want to start from scratch or would you be OK with taking something basic and making it less so? Point is, I have a C++ program that I wrote for some research I'm doing. It was good enough for the pre-pre-preliminary work, but could stand to be much better if I continue. My C++ skills don't lend themselves to rapid program development and I would be happy for the help.

It's not Physics related, it's engineering/statistics related. The work is low-key, there wouldn't be any deadlines, so you could work at your own pace. If you're potentially interested, shoot me an e-mail and I can give you more details.

Yeah, I was looking to do something just to learn and sort of hone my skills a bit. Your idea sounds interesting, so please give me more info :). One thing though: I'm going away tomorrow until the 24th so won't be able to start coding just yet (I had planned to keep an eye on this thread though). Would that be a problem?

Thanks though :).

Nope, not a problem. Like I said, no deadlines, no pressure. Shoot me an e-mail (I was gonna send you one, but you've opted out here at LQ) and I'll reply with a description of the research, the code I have to date, and what I'd like to add. Take a peak at it when you get a chance and let me know.

Thanks.

Thanks again. I've changed my settings on LQ so you can email me via my profile page. I'd rather not put my address on here, to prevent my account being spammed :).

Nylex,

i havent been around it for a while but i had worked through alot of the problems in the practice arena at topcoder.com.. its safe to signup, they dont spam you unless you ask for it. if you go to the practice arena there are hundreds of test problems that are challenging even at the lowest level..

as for a personal project... compression has caught my attention lately, i have had alot of fun working on my own implementation of the adaptive huffman algorithm over the past month or so..

have fun

I knew there was a site like that, but I couldn't remember what it was called. Thanks xhi! :)