Coding Frustrations

I hate not being able to know where to begin with a coding project, especially one where the requirements are made for me, such as in a homework assignment. Especially coming out of Boken week, I still have no will to work, even after 12 hours of sleep.

The start of the day was spent doing class things, but even then I was barely in academic mode. I then ran some post-Boken errands, and then finished other Boken house-keeping things and goofed around for most of the afternoon until dinner with DJ, which ended up in a bit more Boken things and procrastination.

For the past hour I've been looking at the assignment, and the work I did for the assignment before it (since the one continues from the other/we could use stuff from the last assignment), and I have no idea where to begin. It also doesn't help that I have some Maya renderings to complete as well as a final for the class this assignment is for on the same day... With a presentation. Whoop-de-do.

I feel like the assignment will require me to redo a lot of things I did, which will make me very angry. I'm very big on code reuse, and I really don't want to have to rebuild something. It's hard to find a way to use certain things if your past homework was about a month ago with other things distracting you. Buh.

I wanted to make a short post, sharing my coding frustrations. Nothing too specific, and I'm also using this as a procrastination outlet. I already blogged on my tumblr today; crazy, I'm blogging more than once a day! AHH!

A Major Change?

Sorry Rob! Haven't had any good topics to switch to as of late.

But, now I have one.

I've been thinking about it since I realized I'm not very good at or really enjoy computer science theory and such. After reading some things and looking at the Study Plans at Stevens, I am slowly getting convinced that Information Systems might have been a better choice for me.

Yes, I know it's probably not too late - they share a lot of the same courses, and anything I have extra can count as electives. The switch is easy. I'm just somewhat unsure. I enjoy programming and such, but I enjoy web design and web programming a lot more. I was reading what the IS majors at Stevens do, and I've been considering it.

Before I continue, I must apologize in advance for just using Stevens as my reference point as to what these majors do; it's where I'm attending now, and I do not plan on switching schools; just maybe majors. (Well, I'd be keeping the Art & Technology part and math minor, but anyway!)

Computer Science:

Our Computer Science degree is the degree path followed by most of our undergraduate students. The degree emphasizes the principles of Computer Science, and prepares students for careers in industry and/or graduate school. Course materials focus on how to design, implement, deploy, and manage sophisticated software systems.

-- Stevens CS Dept. Undergraduate Website

Information Systems:

Our Information Systems program is for students interested in the areas of system development and design and user interaction and interface. Starting in the second year, the students begin to interleave with the core computer science courses other courses geared toward managing computerized systems in a business setting including attention to customer-client interaction.

-- Stevens CS Dept. Undergraduate Website

I plan on sending an e-mail to my advisor soon, but I'm not sure if I were to switch if it would put me back a year. That can't happen ('cause my parents want me out in 4 years). It might only because of Art&Tech, but I'm almost done with that, to be honest.

I can always go back to school and get a masters in IS. That might be a good route to take as well. I don't have anything profound to say about what's going on in my mind about this right now, only because Boken is attached to my hip right now. I just wanted to put that out there; vent, somewhat.

Signing off for now,

Caroline

Bow down to me!

Two in a row! I'm on a role. I wonder where my fellow bloggers are.

Anyway, to get on with my topic. Ever wonder what it would be like to be unable to make your own choices? I have. Sometimes I think people don't make their own choices and only make them based on what others say. Sure, I can't say that I haven't made a decision based on what someone else said. Certainly you've been to a restaurant and made a choice on what you would have based on the review your friend just gave you. I know I have. But what if you had no choice at all? You couldn't even make a choice based on another's opinion or review. Well, apparently this can happen.

In Columbia, there is a drug known to the locals as Devil's Breath. Its a drug that essentially robs the taker of free will. There are many horror stories related to this drug as bad as someone killing another under its influence. It's a little terrifying to think about.

Just thought I'd share this with you. Here is the link to the article:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/04/06/vbs.colombian.devils.breath/index.html

If you want to do more research on it than I have (which would be doing more than just reading the article), the article has the actual drug name. I'm pretty sure it's on Wiki.

Update on Website: I've learned the basics of Javascript, so I should be able to put it to practice once I read up on some techniques and look at source for other sites. I'm working on the design of the site too. Nothing amazing, just something simple for now. Just enough so I have something to work with. Anyway, I hope to have the design and most of the coding knowledge down by the end of the month, depending on work, and I can start shortly after finals (Early May).

~Rob

(KeyboardDucks.lastPostDate().getSecondsSince() > secondsInMonth) ? post() : chillax;

So this is just something random because I noticed no one has posted anything here for quite some time. Since I haven't posted anything blog like since my intro post, I'll ramble in your general direction for a little while.

So I've recently compiled a list of computer languages that I want to learn (no pun intended). When I went about this, the first thing I did was list the languages I know and feel comfortable with. Here is that list:

Java

C#

shell/bash scripting

eggplant scripting (aka SenseTalk)

I use three of these four languages everyday, so I get a fair amount of practice in them. I'm the most comfortable using Java and can program something quickly, such as a catch rate calculator for Pokemon, with ease. C# I don't use often enough, but because of the similarities to Java and the syntax I know, I can still easily make a program in it. Shell scripting I'm learning now for work, and eggplant scripting I've also learned for work and have made a bunch of tests with it (which is what it's used for).

Now, after looking at this I noticed I'm missing something: A web-based language. Although I'm not too fond of web-based programming, I find it shows up a lot and could potentially be really useful, especially since I'd like to make myself a website at some point to house and display all of my programming projects (there is a lot of them). So I looked at some languages and picked a few that were either recommended to me or that I've seen others use:

Javascript - Good start, in my opinion. Easy entrance into other web languages.

Actionscript - Flash's language, so it can be used to make regular executable video games or some fancy animation for a web site or just because, I think this will be a good one to learn especially since my friends and I have worked on a video game that was programmed in this, and we only had two coders (a bit of an overload for them). Learning this will let me give them a helping hand.

PHP - Of course. I don't know a lot about this one, but I plan to.

MySQL/SQLite - Not just for web stuff, but for my own projects that require some form of database.

Python - This really has nothing to do with web programming, but I want to learn this so I have an alternative to shell/bash scripting.

I think this is a pretty good list. Once I've learned these languages, I'll have a pretty rounded knowledge in programming. Now all I need to do is find the free time to learn all of this and I'll be good to go.

Something completely off topic: I've decided to start up my LiveJournal again. Why, you ask? Well, I used to have one. Three, actually, from when I was in high school. There was only one that I updated somewhat regular and I just finished reading through all of it the other day. I definitely enjoyed reading the journal entries from my younger teen years. Very nostalgic. It got me thinking that maybe I should do this again, so that in another 5-6 years I have another LiveJournal to look at, have a nostalgic moment, and laugh at myself (which I did, a lot). I'll post the link to it eventually.

Just as a note, this is going to be a journal, not a blog. Anything that seems close to blog related, such as a random rant or some rambling like this post will be copied from the journal and put on here as well, so I'm still going to keep this up. At least with the journal I'll have more posts for this blog also since a lot of my rants and rambles come from everyday life.

Anyway, back to the programming.

So those are the languages I will be learning. To learn some of the web-based stuff, I'll be making a site. Its going to be pretty basic, nothing fancy like Caroline's or WillyWorld (when its finally up). Just something to house programs. Also when I get my desktop computer completely set up and permanently operational, I'll create a subversion repository for those of you who would like to download my projects. All of my stuff will be open source, so its yours to take and edit at your pleasure, it would be polite of you to give me credit for the original code though (if any of you do actually take it). Not necessary, but it would be nice.

So thats it for this. I'll post some updates about the upcoming site and code repository when I get stuff set up. Also I may change from Subversion to GIT, since I here only good things about GIT and Subversion can be stupid. We'll see.

Have a good April Fool's Day!

(Edit) I fix'd the title.

~Rob, ramblin' man (pun intended)