Feeling Restless

The outside world providing other dramas, distracting from FCCamp.
Also the Ziplines were frustrating, a sudden toss into the deep end of the pool. Plus the frantic hype and chaos of front-end web development reminds me of what I did not inspire me about the Unity game dev course.
And the MIT 6.00 course just started on EdX.

Feeling restless.

Programming Python, 4th Edition

Powerful Object-Oriented Programming

By Mark Lutz

Publisher: O'Reilly Media

Final Release Date: December 2010

Pages: 1632

3.9 Read 18 Reviews Write a Review

If you've mastered Python's fundamentals, you're ready to start using it to get real work done.Programming Python will show you how, with in-depth tutorials on the language's primary application domains: system administration, GUIs, and the Web. You'll also explore how Python is used in databases, networking, front-end...

FCCamp

What I have done on FCCamp: 284 Brownie Points (mostly Waypoints)

What I have left to do::

5 basejumps
6 bonfires
28 waypoints
10 ziplines

What does that actually mean?

Free Code Camp progress?

Apparently the little points I am earning at FFCamp are called "Brownie Points." Hm.

Just to fill in all those new blank checkboxes they added "behind" me, I went back to do anything unchecked in my list ("Map"), and found that many took only a few seconds to do. I am now up to 222 points! Woo! (We won't talk about whether that represents any actual progress or not for now :)

Other:

• Finished reading Joomla 3 Explained (2nd Edition), by Stephen Burge, from Joomla Press. (Published August 7, 2014. Doesn't cover new Joomla 3.4 release.) All the key stuff was in the final chapter. Should I try setting up a Joomla project for practice? Should I focus on Wordpress instead? Or just FCCamp? 
• Still craving MIT. Tempted by Introduction to Computer Science and Programming Using Python MITx 6.00.1x . Starts Aug 26, 2015. I think it's the same course I took last summer on MIT OpenCourseware, but updated and moved to EdX. So, if it's only a review, maybe not insane to do it simultaneous with FCCamp/javascript? Well...

Free Code Camp progress bars

Bad news: Jafar Husain's 42-step course in "Functional Programming" was so awfully demotivating I lost momentum after completing about 1/4 of it.

Good news: while I away being demotivated, FCCamp restructured their curriculum again. And Jafar Husain's course vanished.

Bad? news: After the curriculum restructure, I no longer know where I stand on my progress bar. A lot of new tasks have appeared "behind" me, the numbering system has changed again, and I don't know how many total tasks there are from which to calculate my Percent Complete.

May 8 - Aug 18, so three+ months from starting date. The number in the corner of my FCCamp "Portfolio" page now says "183". Out of how many total? Who knows. If I stick with 218, then 84%.

Gotta try and get back in the saddle...

List of over 80 Women in Tech Programs & Events in the Bay Area

Karen Church: A few weeks ago I began a quest to crowdsource a list of women in tech programs and events in the Bay Area and to make the resulting list public for all the benefit. And a couple of days ago I published the resulting list in a Medium article along with details of my quest, my motivations, the crowdsourcing effort I employed, the dataset collected and the analysis I conducted.
Since publishing the article, a couple of people have asked if there is a link to just the resulting list of 80+ events so I figured a separate post with just the final compiled list might be useful. Enjoy!
https://medium.com/@karenchurch/list-of-over-80-women-in-tech-programs-events-in-the-bay-area-5a8d210de878

Free Code Camp progress bars

Free Code Camp: May 8 start date, now at almost three months. At scorepoint 179 (out of about 218, so 82%, if all the points are equal-- which I think they are not -- they get longer/harder toward the end). (For example: Item #184, "Waypoint: Practice Functional Programming", is a Jafar Husain's 42-step course they say will take several hours to complete. Earlier items took only 10-30 minutes each.)

Was scared by the Udacity course at first, but once I got started, I felt capable. Now that I've been in it a while, I am bored. Learning without "doing." I liked the Bonfires which felt more like "work" rather than "lessons." Udacity is way better than Codecademy though. Well built, alive-feeling.

Others:

• Have read 68% of Kindle Joomla 3 Explained (2nd Edition), by Stephen Burge, from Joomla Press. (Published August 7, 2014. Doesn't cover new Joomla 3.4 release.) Also slightly boring, but a necessary orientation.

#ILookLikeAnEngineer campaign

Another bit of inspiration this week: the #ILookLikeAnEngineer campaign started by Isis Wenger @isisAnchalee. (A fun followup on June's #distractinglysexy )

http://ilooklikeanengineer.net/

Ada Lovelace, Tim Berners-Lee, Hackerschool Recurse...

Interesting looking organization: Recurse Center (formerly "Hacker School.")

(Sadly, I heard about Recurse in an email today announcing the shutdown of the Ada Initiative.)

Another source of inspiration: just read library book (published 2000, so, old, but Berners-Lee is a UU and a hero of mine) Weaving the Web: The Original Design and Ultimate Destiny of the World Wide Web, by Tim Berners-Lee.

Just watched his 2014 TED Talk, and burst into tears at the end when he gently, but clearly, asks the audience to fight for a Magna Carta for the Web. So UU. https://webwewant.org/

Free Code Camp progress bars

Free Code Camp: May 8 start date, now at two months + 2 weeks. Finished "Bonfires" section! Now at scorepoint 171 (out of about 218, so 78%, if all the points are equal-- which I think they are not -- they get longer/harder toward the end). Haven't done any "pair programming" though. It's so hard for me to find time alone to concentrate on learning; let alone find that PLUS find time and space where I can chat out loud with someone over the internet about the assignment.

Next step: They want me to take a Udacity course in Object Oriented Javascript. Scary, intense Hack Reactor vibe. Ulp. Where is my warm, fluffy hand-holding?

Others:

• Have read 52% of Kindle Joomla 3 Explained (2nd Edition), by Stephen Burge, from Joomla Press. (Published August 7, 2014. Doesn't cover new Joomla 3.4 release.) 

Geek Feminism

• Geek Feminism blog
• Geek Feminism wiki

And also: Yay Python! and Django Girls Tutorial.

Free Code Camp progress bars

Free Code Camp: May 8 start date, now at two months + 1 week. Now at scorepoint 165 (out of about 218, so 75%, if all the points are equal). Getting a little tired of "Bonfires" but definitely learning from the work.

Others:

• Finished audiobook The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution by Walter Isaacson.
• Have read 42% of Kindle Joomla 3 Explained (2nd Edition), by Stephen Burge, from Joomla Press. (Published August 7, 2014. Doesn't cover new Joomla 3.4 release.) 

Progress bars

Free Code Camp: May 8 start date, almost two months gone. Now at scorepoint 136 (out of about 218, so 62%, if all the points are equal).

Others:

• Listening to The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution by Walter Isaacson, at bedtime. Now in the 1980's, GNU, Linux.
• Bought that Kindle copy of Joomla 3 Explained (2nd Edition), by Stephen Burge, from Joomla Press. (Published August 7, 2014. Doesn't cover new Joomla 3.4 release.) Also spent time trying to get public library access to Safari Online books set up. (If I had it working, I wouldn't have needed to pay for the Joomla book.)
• Gave up on the MITx CS6.00 Python class that started June 10. :(
• Irrationally, signed up for MITx Entrepreneurship 101: Who is your customer? I don't have time for it (nor for being an entrepreneur), but it doesn't have any deadlines either.

Non progressing (or nonlinearly progressing):

• Michael Hartl's Ruby on Rails Tutorial, Third Edition: Moved to non-progressing bars.
• LinuxFoundationX: LFS101x.2 Introduction to Linux. 
• Version Control with Git, 2nd Edition by Jon Loeliger & Matthew McCullough: p 130 of 416. (31%) 
• Practical Object-Oriented Design in Ruby: An Agile Primer, by Sandi Metz. Read through chapter 6 of 9. 

Progress Bars

Free Code Camp: Finished sections 1-6. Passing a milestone: Moving from "Waypoints" intro section to "Bonfires" practice section. Section 6 included brief lessons on Chrome DevTools, Regex searches. Now, section 7, Javascript "Basic Algorithm Scripting", and pair programming using Screen Hero.
Other markers: Now at seven weeks post May 8 start date. Now at scorepoint 117 (out of about 218. I counted by hand. So 54%, if all the points were equal).

Others:

• Hello Web App by Tracy Osborn. Finished. Not super useful. 
• Michael Hartl's Ruby on Rails Tutorial, Third Edition: Moved to non-progressing bars.
• Listening to The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution by Walter Isaacson, at bedtime. Now in the 1970's, founding of Microsoft, Apple.
• Want to buy a Kindle copy of Joomla 3 Explained (2nd Edition), by Stephen Burge, from Joomla Press. (Published August 7, 2014. Doesn't cover new Joomla 3.4 release.)
• Really wish I were in the MITx CS6.00 Python class that started June 10. :(

Non progressing (or nonlinearly progressing):

• LinuxFoundationX: LFS101x.2 Introduction to Linux. 
• Version Control with Git, 2nd Edition by Jon Loeliger & Matthew McCullough: p 130 of 416. (31%) 
• Practical Object-Oriented Design in Ruby: An Agile Primer, by Sandi Metz. Read through chapter 6 of 9. 

Free Code Camp week five

Finished the rather silly Stanford Online "CS101" class.
Freecodecamp then sent me back to Codecademy, bleah.
But I had already finished that course! Free jump ahead!
And escape from Codecademy again! Next task:
"Discover Chrome DevTools" at CodeSchool.com
Oo, I don't know any of that stuff. Finally something new and exciting!

I found a number at FCCamp that seems to be a score: "113". It ups my score when I complete a "Waypoint" or "Challenge" (for example, one for each week of the CS101 course.) It doesn't say how many there are total.

This is their plan. I'm on item #6 "Basic JavaScript" -- the "Discover Chrome DevTools" is step 9 of 10 in that section.

800 Hours of Practice:

1. Get Set for Free Code Camp - done
2. Basic HTML5 and CSS - done
3. Responsive Design with Bootstrap - done
4. jQuery - done
5. Computer Science - done
6. Basic JavaScript
7. Basic Algorithm Scripting
8. Object Oriented JavaScript
9. Intermediate Algorithm Scripting
10. Functional Programming
11. Advanced Algorithm Scripting
12. Front End Development Projects
13. Full Stack JavaScript
14. Full Stack JavaScript Projects

800 Hours of  Real World Work Experience:

1. 100-hour Nonprofit Project
2. 200-hour Nonprofit Project #1
3. 200-hour Nonprofit Project #2
4. 300-hour Nonprofit Project

Free Code Camp update

• Completed jQuery at Codecademy
• Working through six-week "CS101" course at "Stanford Online Lagunita." ("Lagunita is Stanford's instance of the open-source software release of the Open edX platform, which was developed by the joint Harvard/MIT non-profit organization, and which Stanford engineers have been collaborating on since April 2013. Lagunita hosts many of the free, online courses that are taught by Stanford faculty and made available to lifelong learners around the world for self-enrichment. Lagunita also hosts a variety of professional education opportunities in conjunction with many of Stanford University's schools and departments."). Now working on Week 4 of 6. (June 11: finished week 6.)

My quest for true understanding is doomed to frustration

Progress Bars

Free Code Camp: Reached a milestone-- Finished "Waypoints", now entering the "Bonfires" section of their program. Finished brief lessons on Chrome DevTools, Regex searches.  Other markers: start date May 8 + seven weeks, score points 117 (out of ?).

Others:

• Hello Web App by Tracy Osborn. Finished reading.
• Michael Hartl's Ruby on Rails Tutorial, Third Edition:  Moved to non-progressing bars.
• Listening to The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution by Walter Isaacson, at bedtime. Now on chapters about early 1970s, founding stories of Microsoft and Apple.
• Wanting to get Kindle book  Joomla 3 Explained (2nd Edition), by Stephen Burge, from Joomla Press. (Published August 7, 2014. Doesn't cover new Joomla 3.4 release.)
• Really wishing I were in the MITx CS6.00 Python class that started on June 10. :(

Non progressing (or nonlinearly progressing):

• LinuxFoundationX: LFS101x.2 Introduction to Linux. 
• Version Control with Git, 2nd Edition by Jon Loeliger & Matthew McCullough: p 130 of 416. (31%) 
• Practical Object-Oriented Design in Ruby: An Agile Primer, by Sandi Metz. Read through chapter 6 of 9. 

Bootstrap hope and joy

OK, this is silly, but I just discovered Bootstrap and it's making me cry with relief. Ever since CSS was announced as our supposed liberation from HTML Table layouts (1996?!), I've been waiting for CSS become usable (or at least better than Tables)... I think this may finally be it! The era (decade?!) where web page creation and I parted ways may finally be over...

Also: Free Code Camp chat member "david" posted the following graphic today. A nice little jiāyoú 加油  :)

And today, I finished Free Code Camp thru Waypoint #13 ( aka Codecademy "Make a Website (Airbnb home page), 3 hours"). Next FCC task: Codecademy jQuery, 3 hrs.

Finished Codecademy Ruby course

When did I start? Looking back over this blog... Sometime between Feb 9 and Feb 27. That means it took me three months of stolen moments to complete the "nine-hour" course. :(

Progress bars:

Newly Started:

• Hello Web App by Tracy Osborn. Got a Kindle edition.
• Michael Hartl's Ruby on Rails Tutorial, Third Edition: Paper edition finally came out. Might do this as reading, and do my typing via FreeCodeCamp...
• FreeCodeCamp.com - trying this. Feels attractive. Welcoming to us over-30 nonprofity types. Staffer (founder?) guy "QuincyLarson" was nice to me in site chat. I've finished all their introductory "about us" lessons ("Waypoints" 1-8) and am now obediently doing the first real assignment, Waypoint #9 (which turns out to be yet another Codecademy course-- sigh.)
• Also got a copy of The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution by Walter Isaacson. My liberal arts brain thinks this should count for something.

Recently Finished:

• Ruby Wizardry: An Introduction to Programming for Kids by Eric Weinstein. 
• Codecademy.com Intro to Ruby nine-hour course. 

Non progressing (or nonlinearly progressing):

• LinuxFoundationX: LFS101x.2 Introduction to Linux. 
• Version Control with Git, 2nd Edition by Jon Loeliger & Matthew McCullough: p 130 of 416. (31%) 
• Practical Object-Oriented Design in Ruby: An Agile Primer, by Sandi Metz. Read through chapter 6 of 9. 
• Michael Hartl's Ruby on Rails Tutorial: completed tasks through chapter 2 of 12. 

Totally shelved-- the intro chapters gave me enough of a sense, for now:

• Nand to Tetris Coursera course (completed most of Week One) and Elements of Computing Systems textbook by Noam Nisan and Shimon Schocken (read through chapter four).
• Unity 4.x Game Development by Example Beginner's Guide, by Ryan Henson Creighton.: 69% complete. (No progress since Dec 13-- switched focus.)

freecodecamp.com

It takes about 1,600 hours of coding to develop the skills you'll need to get an entry level software engineering job.
Most coding bootcamps try to jam all this into 3 or 4 months of intensive study. Free Code Camp is fully online, and there will always be other people at your skill level that you can pair program with, so you can learn at your own pace. Here are some example coding schedules: 

Time budgeted --- Hours per week --- Weeks to complete
Weekends  --- 10 hours/week  --- 160 weeks (36 months)
Nights and Weekends  --- 20 hours/week  --- 80 weeks (18 months)
Full time  --- 40 hours/week  --- 40 weeks (9 months)
Traditional Bootcamp Pacing  --- 80 hours/week  --- 20 weeks (5 months)

It's hard to not feel discouraged by this info. Three or four years of my current life seems very depressing. And I can't pretend I am even really doing 10 hours/week successfully.

Also I must be amused by the use of the word "Traditional" in "Traditional Bootcamp."

Thanks DevChix for the link to freecodecamp.com though. It looks interesting.

----
PS Reading the chat at freecodecamp led me to this similar site: "The Odin Project". Ruby on Rails. Free. But, clear macho (nerd-macho) theme. And, none of the fun little checkboxes that FreeCodeCamp has :)

Ruby Wizardry: An Introduction to Programming for Kids by Eric Weinstein

Ruby Wizardry: An Introduction to Programming for Kids by Eric Weinstein.

I finished it!

I'm thinking I like Eric Weinstein, but not really Ruby. Too chaotic.

If I return to Python, will it be as orderly as I remember it as?

Ah well. Python is not next on the list. Linux is. After finishing the silly Codecademy Ruby course. Got up to 87% today.

Three weeks gone.

Well, if Wednesday checkins are the measure, it looks like the sick kid and events killed three weeks. Or four, if you count this Weds too, since almost nothing got done today either.

I did do some of the Nand to Tetris course-- the intro/overview, and the first week. Almost got the first week homework done. Read the textbook up through the third week/chapter. It was helpful/orienting. (But decided I do not have enough hours/week to avail do that course right now, so I do not plan to continue and complete.)

Also a few inches gained on the two Ruby items.

Progress bars:

• Ruby Wizardry: An Introduction to Programming for Kids by Eric Weinstein. p 208/272. 
• Codecademy.com Intro to Ruby nine-hour course. 79% complete 

Non progressing (or nonlinearly progressing) bars:

• LinuxFoundationX: LFS101x.2 Introduction to Linux. No progress. (Was doing Nand to Tetris instead.) 
• Nand to Tetris Coursera course (completed most of Week One) and Elements of Computing Systems textbook by Noam Nisan and Shimon Schocken (read through chapter four).
• Version Control with Git, 2nd Edition by Jon Loeliger & Matthew McCullough: p 130 of 416. (31%) 
• Practical Object-Oriented Design in Ruby: An Agile Primer, by Sandi Metz. Read through chapter 6 of 9. 
• Michael Hartl's Ruby on Rails Tutorial: completed chapter 2 of 12. 
• Note new book, similar, but in Python and by a woman: Hello Web App by Tracy Osborn.
• Unity 4.x Game Development by Example Beginner's Guide, by Ryan Henson Creighton.: 69% complete. (No progress since Dec 13-- switched focus.)

From NAND to Tetris

Today's work session cancelled by sick kid.

My scattering (multiplying? replacing?) of task bars continues: a friend sent a recommendation for the new NAND to Tetris Coursera course (starts April 11, 2015), and I feel sort of hungry-angry about it. I want this literacy. They claim it's a basic course, no technical background required. Ha. I read the first few pages of the textbook, and it was scary. And I don't think the I have the hours per week that I would need to wrestle with it. (Especially if I keep using the few hours I have to explore new courses rather than finish my "old" ones.)

• Book: The Elements of Computing Systems, MIT Press, by Noam Nisan and Shimon Schocken
• From NAND to Tetris: Building a Modern Computer From First Principles website

Toys to supplement Week One:

• Logic Gate Simulator -  by Steve Kollmansberger
• Logic Gate Simulator - Academo.org

Linux

Well, as I continue my nonlinear explorations, I am looking at adding yet another unfinished Progress Bar to my record: LinuxFoundationX: LFS101x.2 Introduction to Linux.

I supposed I should also add the kid book I am reading in odd moments: Ruby Wizardry: An Introduction to Programming for Kids by Eric Weinstein. It's funner than Codecademy.

Progress bars:

• LinuxFoundationX: LFS101x.2 Introduction to Linux. Completed Chapter 00, Welcome and Introduction, and part of Chapter 01. Viewed perky intro videos. Enjoyed. (Course consists of 18 chapters plus final exam.)
• Possible inspiration: The Code: Story of Linux movie. I like books/movies that lionize hacker culture :) But I don't have much movie-watching time avail.
• Ruby Wizardry: An Introduction to Programming for Kids by Eric Weinstein. p 169/272.
• Codecademy.com Intro to Ruby nine-hour course. 70% complete 

Non progressing (or nonlinearly progressing) bars:

• Version Control with Git, 2nd Edition by Jon Loeliger & Matthew McCullough: p 130 of 416. (31%)
• Practical Object-Oriented Design in Ruby: An Agile Primer, by Sandi Metz. Read through chapter 6 of 9.
• Michael Hartl's Ruby on Rails Tutorial: completed chapter 2 of 12.
• Unity 4.x Game Development by Example Beginner's Guide, by Ryan Henson Creighton.:  69% complete. (No progress since Dec 13-- switched focus.)

Progress bars

Great gods, it's been a month since the last post. I thought maybe ten days.

Progress bars:

• Using Drupal, 2nd Edition. Choosing and Configuring Modules to Build Dynamic Websites. By Angela Byron, Addison Berry, Bruno De Bondt. Finished reading, or skimming at least. Need to learn more about web servers, PHP, etc. Back to Michael Hartl.
• Codecademy.com Intro to Ruby nine-hour course. 60% complete 
• Version Control with Git, 2nd Edition by Jon Loeliger & Matthew McCullough: p 130 of 416. (31%)
• Practical Object-Oriented Design in Ruby: An Agile Primer, by Sandi Metz. Read through chapter 6 of 9.
• Michael Hartl's Ruby on Rails Tutorial: completed chapter 2 of 12.
• Unity 4.x Game Development by Example Beginner's Guide, by Ryan Henson Creighton.:  69% complete. (No progress since Dec 13-- switched focus.)

nonlinear progress?

Joined the devChix mailing list. Along with Wired magazine and O'Reilly Media's Programming Newsletter, helps give me a sense of culture and context.

Other "progress bars":

• Using Drupal, 2nd Edition. Choosing and Configuring Modules to Build Dynamic Websites. By Angela Byron, Addison Berry, Bruno De Bondt. p.86 of 456. (19%)
• Codecademy.com Intro to Ruby nine-hour course. 38% complete 
• Version Control with Git, 2nd Edition by Jon Loeliger & Matthew McCullough: p 130 of 416. (31%)
• Practical Object-Oriented Design in Ruby: An Agile Primer, by Sandi Metz. Read through chapter 6 of 9.
• Michael Hartl's Ruby on Rails Tutorial: completed chapter 2 of 12.
• Unity 4.x Game Development by Example Beginner's Guide, by Ryan Henson Creighton.:  69% complete. (No progress since Dec 13-- switched focus.)

My latest distraction, sprung from the events of winter break: 

Also, just for fun, with my kid:

Back from winter break

Five weeks of silence on this blog. Five weeks of almost no computer lessons. Completely distracted by a personnel crisis in an organization I am in. Crisis phase is now over but restructuring work continues.

Purchased and began reading Version Control with Git, 2nd Edition by Jon Loeliger, Matthew McCullough. Everyone keeps saying Git is an easy no-brainer but I keep feeling confused and wary. This book is helping a lot. "Don't worry your pretty little head about the details" only goes so far.

I may begin the Ruby sequence on Codecademy because a) I am still distracted enough to need something a little brainless to do and b) I am tired of being given code examples that I am supposed to "understand the gist of" when I don't even know the elementary syntax. Plus, Codecademy is only play so it doesn't require Git.

But, a friend is working on learning Drupal/Open Atrium, causing my attention to wander toward learning more about Drupal... Wander, wander...

Practical Object-Oriented Design in Ruby: An Agile Primer, by Sandi Metz. (POODR)

Been reading Practical Object-Oriented Design in Ruby: An Agile Primer, by Sandi Metz. Now on page 70 (of 241) now. So helpful.

Ruby on Rails Tutorial by Michael Hartl: completed 3.1, 3.2., 3.3, 3.4.3

I really gotta do a basic course in Ruby syntax if I'm going to keep learning good stuff from Ruby teachers. :P

• http://www.codecademy.com/en/tracks/ruby

Meanwhile endless advice flows into my mailbox:

• A concrete approach to learning how to program: A solid foundation on which more meaningful learning can happen, by Semmy Purewal, OReilly Radar