Learning Python the Disappointing Way
So, earlier today I decided that I was finally going to get down to it, and really dedicate some time to Python. A few years ago I took the dive at http://www.diveintopython.net/ and never finished the job. But today, after some googling, I decided to try out Learn Python the Hard Way - and man was I disappoint.
I don't want to blast the author (Zed Shaw) - I think he's fighting the good fight. And I agree, I may not have been the targeted audience for his book. But at a certain point I realized that the book had some fundamental flaws in it.
1. I've never used print " " so many times in my life.
So here's a thought: If by chapter/example 25 you're still going over the basics of chapter 5, we have a problem. I get it, it's CLI and there's not a whole lot else to do. But when I feel the lesson has more text being output via print than actual meaningful lesson it's pointless. Halfway through the book it felt like the examples were only so meaty because they had such extremely verbose outputs. An extra credit task for an early chapter was even "Fix your typos" - like... comon... really?.... really?
2. Moar meat.
There is literally an exercise dedicated to "go google python." I get it, you want to get Novice Programmer interested in the language they're learning, and to be exposed to other projects. But there's better ways to do that. How about instead of telling me to go search through thousands of open source projects you dissect one of your favorites in the book?
3. We didn't even get to the good stuff.
By the final 4 or 5 examples we started to get into meaningful content. Things that started to reflect "Real World" examples of programming in Python. By it just ends, and tells you to go off and have a great time with life. I blazed through the first 50 examples in hopes to get to something interesting, and when you finally had my attention - you stopped. Why? I'm a nice guy, people like me, why would you do something so mean to your readers?
All in all, I like where his heart's at. I just wish a book that had such awesome referrals would give me an awesome time.
RockMelt Browser – Future of Browsers?
I recently have installed the RockMelt browser and I have to be honest, I'm somewhat impressed. It's based off of the webkit engine, same look and feel as Google chrome browser, but with integrated social networking.
To be honest, this feels like the future of everything, right? Our phones are like this, our desktop widgets, the websites we go to all have 'Like This' or 'Tweet This' - so why not our browser?
What I think is done well, is the little side widget aka 'App Edge' - that allows me to quickly see the latest Facebook news updates, and then another one that is for notifications.
Not to mention the App Edge allows for easy (and I mean EASY) RSS subscriptions, allowing for even more ease to keep up to date. Add in the the left side 'friend edge' - where I can "star" my favorite friends on Facebook and easily chat or post to their wall. Or I can browse through all of my friends, see if they're online, etc.
But it's not all sunshine and rainbows...
RockMelt, while impressive, in its current state feels like it could be easily replaced by an addon to Google Chrome. I have yet to see anything that truly makes it impossible to clone without some trickery of an addon package. If Google could allow for Chrome addons, they could easily kill RockMelt, as they already have a huge acceptance. I could imagine though, that Google would want to reserve this tactic if they ever were to release a social network.
All in all, I'll be using RockMelt, and hope for some more major addon releases.
Adding Syntax Highlighting – Yay!
So I've finally added in some syntax highlighting to my blog, and I've gone ahead and updated a bunch of back posts.
Hopefully this will increase the readability of my posts, along with easing some user experience. I've also gone ahead and fixed up/tweaked a few items for this theme I'm using.
Along with these changes I'll also be gearing myself towards writing here again. Yay.
PHP Tip: Handling Form Data
One of the most common tasks of a Web Dev, has down, is handling form data. As a web developer you'll create hundreds of forms and in turn, write hundreds of pieces of code to handle your form data.
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Q&A: Which Framework Should I Use?
Q: Which Framework Should I Use to make <blank> ?
A: You're already off on the wrong foot. The reason? You're thinking you need a framework to get whatever you need done.
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Make an Impact
Recently, it has come to my attention that not all developers have the ability to make an impact.
But that begs the question, what does making an impact mean?
Making an impact.
It's coming out the door - swinging. So much of a developers role, especially in a start up, is determined by their first 3 days. Day 1, yes, come in, settle down, welcome aboard. Day 2, start asking all of the questions you had from day 1, and for heavens sake, do something besides look busy.
Day 3, you better have your shit together, and you should be swinging for the fences.
Don't ask for something to do, demand a project. And while you're doing, don't ask questions the very second you think you don't know something.
Look for the answer first.
It's this mentality that I find so damn frustrating - all of the answers should be in the code base. Run a damn grep on your project base, and find an answer. There's no excuse for any mid, to upper mid level programmer to be asking stupid questions. By stupid question, I'm refering to in the inabilty to traverse the code base in search of functions, methods, answers.
Make an impact, 3 days.
Someone Failed to Inform Me
Someone apparently failed to inform me that the video game industry is freaking crazy.
And I love it :)
I've recently started working at Zynga , and I couldn't be happier.
What this mean though, is that there will be fewer and fewer blog posts about programming related issues. Instead, I'll try to focus on theory rather than implimentation.
Until then, everyone should feel free to head over to zynga and try some games :)
Modrewrite and Short Urls – What you really want to know.
I recently opened up an old .htaccess and I was struck with the memory of how much it sucked trying to Google search for some real, working, answers on making short urls.
So here you go, my quick tip on what you really want to know about mod_rewrite.
Professional PHP
It's important to remember what sets a professional PHP developer apart from the pack that floods your average help channel.
Too often I run into reviewing or helping a "professional" developer, and I can't help but mutter "you're doing it wrong..."
Google Speaks on Net Neutrality and Benefits of caching
In this post on the google blog,http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/12/net-neutrality-and-benefits-of-caching.html , Google speaks about how people are confused on the net neutrality and the use of edge caching.
I find it interesting that someone could take the usage of CDN's as an act of an un neutral web.
The act of handling certain traffic as more important than other traffic is the act of an un neutral web. Developers should consider these words carefully.
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- Learning Python the Disappointing Way
- RockMelt Browser – Future of Browsers?
- Adding Syntax Highlighting – Yay!
- PHP Tip: Handling Form Data
- Q&A: Which Framework Should I Use?
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- Someone Failed to Inform Me
- Modrewrite and Short Urls – What you really want to know.
- Professional PHP
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