I completely agree. When my friend and I were teaching ourselves how to develop software, we would write simple games. We went through a process of learning the basics of C, Python and Java by writing Scratchcard style games. It was simple enough conceptually, and it covered all the bases you needed.
The summer before I started university, I wrote a text based version of Minesweeper in Java. It helped build up my knowledge and confidence in using Java to the point that I skipped all my programming lectures in first year, and breezed the exams. That did annoy a few people, who didn't see the work I had put in, and just assumed I had it easy.
The summer before I started university, I wrote a text based version of Minesweeper in Java. It helped build up my knowledge and confidence in using Java to the point that I skipped all my programming lectures in first year, and breezed the exams. That did annoy a few people, who didn't see the work I had put in, and just assumed I had it easy.