A few years ago I found a list on the internet of 10 things to do when learning a new programming language.   I thought it was interesting and shared it with my coworkers at the time.  A couple of weeks ago, one of my former coworkers contacted me and asked me for the list.  The site has since disappeared and I could not find the same information, but by coincidence I saw a link in an RSS feed recently for a similar idea.  The list is titled Martyr2′S Mega Project Ideas List! and it contains 150 different project ideas organized into 10 categories. 

A sample of the ideas includes:

• Find PI to the Nth Digit
• Fibonacci Sequence
• Distance Between Two Cities
• Dijkstra’s Algorithm
• Pig Latin
• Post it Notes Program
• CD Key Generator
• FTP Program 
• Packet Sniffer
• Small Web Server
• Web Bot
• Bank Account Manager
• Vending Machine
• Family Tree Creator 
• Quiz Maker
• Image Map Generator
• Traffic Light Application
• Hangman
• Magic 8 Ball
• BlackJack (and several other card games)