Weekend Programming

I plan on spending this weekend learning to program a little more. As you may remember, I had purchased a book on iPhone program developement. Well that book did not work for me because I didn't know Objective-C prior to buying the book. Lucky for me I was within my 14 day limit and was able to exchange it for a different book. I am currently using Objective-C for Absolute Beginners: iPhone and Mac Programming Made Easy. The approach this book takes is by slowly easing you into Xcode. To do this, the books incorporates the use of a program named Alice. Alice is a drag and drop program that allows the user to program using OOP (Object Oriented Programming). I am a little short of being half way through the book. The great thing about this book, other then slowly easing in the user, is that it has exercises at the end of each chapter. These help to re-enforce what you just learned. So, my weekend will consist around this and other work. Hopefully I will be creating applications soon.

~Dave

Book It

Yesterday I went on a small rant about how Kindle is slightly unfair with the way they sell their eBooks. The more I talked with people, the more I realized there is no need to pay $20 for something you can't physically have. It is for this reason I have decided to purchase the book in a physical version. Although it will cost me an extra couple of dollars, I have a physical copy of a book. Plus, the book itself is very big, so it is very hard to lose because of its size. In addition, I took time to consider when I would be using the book. This book is to be used when I am creating an application in Xcode, so I don't want to be reading the book on the computer while I am trying to work on it. I don't want to read it from my iPhone either, as that would go to sleep too often. Although it is a big book, I don't mind. I think jumping between the index and the chapters would be tedious on a computer compared to a physical copy. We will have to see how this works out. I am really hoping to follow through with this book.

~Dave

Weekend Plans

The weekend is here and I have some things which I plan on learning. As part of my goal to learn code, I have invested in Xcode 4. For only $5, I get the entire Mac and iPhone SDK to use. Now, I by no means know how to use Xcode,but I will learn. I happen to find a great tutorial which teaches how to program using Objective-C. The tutorial is actually very straight forward. The reason I have found it easier to understand is because of what iProgrammingclub.com has taught me. My limited knowledge of python has allowed me to understand Objective-C better. Plus, as long as I take time to try each of the snippets of code, I will understand it better. Hands on always helps when learning a new language. Reading gets you no where.

My plan for this weekend is to learn as much about Objective-C as possible. I will, in the future, apply my knowledge of what I have learned to create something. I say something because I am not exactly sure what I want to create yet. So far I have only worked with code which I can execute in Terminal, meaning there is no user interface yet. I guess that is something which I will learn later on. Much of what I am learning now, although it is only numbers and some other functions, will help me later on. Each small snippet can help make a great program what it is. This is my plan for the weekend, what is yours?

~Dave

iProgrammingclub.com

welcome= "Hello!"
print (welcome)
Hello!

Above is what I have learned in just a week and a half. I have mentioned iProgrammingclub before, but now I am going to get into it more. The site is aimed at beginners, but accepts anyone who is advanced.
Classes have now been setup, and happen live on Tuesdays and Thursdays. These classes, at the moment, are teaching people how to code in Python. Python is one of many languages to code in out there. The course on Python is aimed at creating video games. Now, obviously we won't have a grand scale production and put a game on every console out there, but we will be making side scrolling games. The site is great, and the atmosphere is a friendly one. No one is allowed to put you down because you don't understand something. Every person is asked to help everyone else out. And, since it is a small community, you can read what other people make and see how they create things. This way, you are not only learning from a book, but from each other. However, it is not all fun and games. There is work, and you have to do it if you wish to progress. Sitting around and reading books will not help unless you actually attempt it.
The course is graded, and you can fail. However, don't let this put you down. If you work hard, and try hard, you will pass with flying colors. There has been no better time to join. Since we are just starting, you won't be far behind. And, the best part. If you finish the first four assignments, you will be awarded server space. You can use this space for anything (legal of course) related to the club/. There is no cost to using the server. The only thing you must put into the club, is your effort. And when I say effort, I mean 110% of it. I have already started, and if you ever wanted to learn programming, you should start too.

~Dave

iWantToProgram

Over the last week or so I have been trying very hard to program. Yet, with each book or tutorial I attempted to read, I became confused and frustrated. I just couldn't understand these languages, or the way the person was trying to teach them. It really bothered me because this is something I would like to learn in life. I jumped from site to site, language to language, but I just couldn't get it. So, I resorted to asking reddit. I posted a thread in the sub reddit, /r/learntoprogram, about how I was having so much trouble. I wrote in the post that I really would like to learn, it is just not clear from all these tutorials where I should start. I got many great replies, but one of them caught my eye. It was an invitation to a site called iprogrammingclub.com. The poster said that they were just about to start learning to make video games, and up until then they hadn't learned any code. So I thought, what the heck lets give it a go. To my surprise, his method of teaching was very good and straight forward. Now, although we were working with what he called "pseudo code", it was still fun and easy. Sure it wasn't the real thing, but the lessons and assignments were to help you develop the idea that you can do anything if you put your mind to it. After completing all the lessons thus far, and the assignments that go with them, I was awarded some database space which I can use in the future to host my code and try it out. I am very excited for this, and I can't wait until we actually start working with some code.

~Dave

What Are You Doing This Weekend?

Well the weekend is finally here. I decided to start learning how to program. I wasn't sure were to start so I just googled "how to program ruby". First hit led me to a site that teaches you how to code ruby. The site is very straight forward, and easy to understand. All you need is a compiler and code editor. For me, I use Text Wrangler to edit the code. Then, through text wrangler, I compile it in Terminal. Methods may differ depending on the OS you are using.  The site I am using is very straight forward and easy to follow. I picked up the language fairly quickly. Plus, there are small self tests at the end of each lesson for you to try. If you do them, there is a good chance you will understand the language better. By doing the self tests, I learned to figure out what I wanted my program to do. I solve any mistakes, and tried different things until I got it right. It helps you know the program a lot better by testing yourself.  This is what I am spending my weekend on, how about you?

~Dave