I was going to reply with a comment. But one of the most Important things to realise as a programmer is that your program is not unique and most likely someone smarter has spent longer on crafting a much better solution . Here's a full post with a comprehensive answer.

http://samizdat.mines.edu/howto/HowToBeAProgrammer.html

An even more important requirement is realising when your solution is better and being able to explain exactly why.