[Dankgravy]

This is not in relation to ICMAG in any way. I have been meaning to ask this question for a while, so please don't bring any drama in here. I honestly just want to learn.

That being said, where does one go to obtain advanced computer knowledge that is not a class? Is there like an ICMAG for computer nerds? haha. I consider myself better than most with computers, but I want to know as much about computers as I do about growing..

I know that I could probably Google some pretty good sites, but without having advanced knowledge of a subject it is hard to separate the good sites from the bad ones. A few people on here seem to have a good grasp of computer knowledge and would love if you could point me in the right direction

How do you learn the restaurant business? A: Wash dishes

It really depends on if you're a reader or a 'doer'....I'm of the age where computers were not a concern (code for not invented yet) when we were in school, so pretty much self-taught.

I'm not extremely advanced, but much further along then my peers.I just had to pick the areas of interest that intrigued me, and dig in.

[PhenoMenal]

You don't need to go to any class to learn anything about computers, it's the one field where literally everything is online just waiting for you. You can of course however do online courses if you're struggling in regards to teaching yourself what you want to learn. But just with anything, you don't become "advanced" by reading a few books ... it takes practice and patience ... better known as years of experience.

Computing has so many diverse subfields though ... perhaps you're interested in 2d graphics like Photoshop, or 3d graphics, or networking, or programming, or databases, statistics, website development, etc etc it goes on and on ... you should think about what you ENJOY doing the most, and head down that road.

Then simply google away for beginners/learning stuff, and we'll see you again in five years

[The Phoenix]

Usenet Newsgroups

alt.binaries.e-book.technical

Ebooks and video training for free if you desire it.

[KonradZuse]

Originally Posted by PhenoMenal

You don't need to go to any class to learn anything about computers, it's the one field where literally everything is online just waiting for you. You can of course however do online courses if you're struggling in regards to teaching yourself what you want to learn. But just with anything, you don't become "advanced" by reading a few books ... it takes practice and patience ... better known as years of experience.

Computing has so many diverse subfields though ... perhaps you're interested in 2d graphics like Photoshop, or 3d graphics, or networking, or programming, or databases, statistics, website development, etc etc it goes on and on ... you should think about what you ENJOY doing the most, and head down that road.

Then simply google away for beginners/learning stuff, and we'll see you again in five years

The thing is that even though a lot of it is on the internet, you need to know how to use it, and be able understand it. As a computer scientist myself, I can take bits of code off the internet, but it means nothing if you don't understand it all.

MY advice is to figure out what you want to do, and learn from there on the web about it.

[smokefrogg]

try to find a particular area that really piques your interest, from there get as many books, ebooks, videos, etc. etc. as you can and keep on DOING it and reading and learning and DOING and DOING!

there are messageboards, newsgroups, irc chats and more for the area that you will be interested in. when you go to these places, make sure you do your part of the leg work, research and trying and more research before you start barraging people with questions. if you let it be known that you are putting effort forth and that you aren't a know it all, you'll get folks wanting to pitch in a hand and help pretty quick, if you fail to do this you'll get folks telling you to RTFM and maybe GTFO

[Stress_test]

Computers are a lot like building a brick house: You need to lay the foundation before you begin laying the first course of bricks.
Once that is accomplished you can learn the next steps.

Each layer that is learned, makes it easier to learn the next.

[HighDesertJoe]

Originally Posted by Stress_test

Computers are a lot like building a brick house: You need to lay the foundation before you begin laying the first course of bricks.
Once that is accomplished you can learn the next steps.

Each layer that is learned, makes it easier to learn the next.

You talking DOS? hehe

[smokefrogg]

i use dos type commands all day at work, love batch scripts

[Stress_test]

Originally Posted by HighDesertJoe

You talking DOS? hehe

That does kinda bring a chuckle.
But it's true also. Anybody who worked on computers when we had dos and even MS3.0, and 95, and 98, appreciates the simplicity of the old operating systems. Most of what I know about computers was gained off of that foundation.