Day 7 at MakerSquare.
Back-end: Algorithms demystified. Got into the nitty and/or gritty of the Great Hash Versus Array Quandry. There’s the balance to strike between what’s best for the computer [which really is about the user] and what’s easiest to write. Ruby was created with the user [read: programmer] in mind; I wonder where the other trade-offs will be.
Spent too long drawing diagrams and writing pseudo-code to solve an aspect of an extra credit problem that wasn’t actually requested. Ha. Takeaway: Beware the trap of walking around with my Ruby-hammer, looking for the question-nails.
Front-end: Javascript. Hit a good stride with my pair, but once I started working individually, there was…some stumbling. This sort of self-assessment, though, is invaluable. I imagine that some of this hilarity has to do with switching gears in the middle of the day. But, hey, it’s the name of the game.
After class, Albert Swantner came by to give a break-neck presentation on Git. Afterward, he fielded questions all about anything, which I think has been the best Q and A here to date. [This opinion was not at all influenced by the awesome notebooks he brought.] Thinking back on the talk and the challenges he mentioned related to raising money here [versus Silicon Valley], I’m glad to hear that there isn’t the same attitude here as in other centers of outrageous wealth. I like to think that the tech scene in Austin is more grounded in reality, as opposed to an obsession with building the next #{hot_startup_with_an_IPO}.
Homework: I updated the version of Ruby that Sublime Text 2 uses in its build system. Why is it so exciting to hone my tools and personalize them?
Conquerors: the length of these things, setting a variable to zero in a loop when I want to be counting it, accidentally bringing up the terminal with my cool-d00d hotkey
Conquered: working on Ruby at 7 am with a fresh cup of coffee, green lights in the morning, sitting in the sun at lunch, asking questions to presenters