Very small programs to improve programming skills? [closed]

Question

I realize that to become a better programmer, you need to program! So obviously the more practice, the better you become.

My problem is this. I am currently in university, and I find my course load is a bit daunting, and I don't have a lot of free time. I don't think I could really take on a big project, particularly I don't think I would have to motivation to see it through, it would be easier just for me to keep putting it off in favour of work that is due is school.

But I still want to practice. So I am looking for any resources which have programming challenges which can be completed in a fairly small amount of time. Ideally something i could get done in under 10 hours of work (so just over an hour of work each day), if not smaller.

I have heard of Google Code Jam, but I am not sure the length of the programs it specifies, nor the skill level.

Does anyone have suggestions? Even perhaps a compendium of tutorials for different functions might be useful. For example, a tutorial on file IO would be worthwhile (if I didn't already know it), even though it can be a fairly small topic.

Answer 1

You should look into code katas, they do exactly what you are talking about. Short exercises that are designed to perfect your coding/thinking abilities.

Other references:

1. http://kata.coderdojo.com/wiki/Overview_of_Learning_Resources