Day 41: Finishing up Ruby

The results from the exam last Thursday came in and I passed the Black Belt Exam!

I didn't pass with flying colors but the mistakes that I did make were easily fixable.

Now that I have the javascript stack behind me, it's time to tackle Ruby on Rails.

After priming my brain over the weekend, I really cruised through the whole Ruby section. I really like all the cool stuff you can do on Rails. For example you can use a selector in a parameter which allows you to submit a varying number of parameters when calling a function.

It is quite frustrating sometimes when using a new language especially when you're trying to do something as simple as a for-loop. But with any new language it'll come with time and exposure.

Here is an assignment that I particularly enjoyed. We were to override functions that are built into Ruby and simple re-create them. It showed us that all built-in functions are just a combination of basic functions that we know very well.

After zooming through the Ruby portion, it's time to tackle Rails!

Week 8 weekend: More Ruby

This weekend I simply worked on getting my brain wrapped around the Ruby language. I still find it difficult to code using it because it's not as "traditional" as the C-family languages (Java, PHP, C++, etc). There are just so many new functional (although very helpful) that it can get a little overwhelming.

Day 40: Intro to Ruby

Today begins the last stack we learn from Coding Dojo, Ruby on Rails.

Although there isn't formal class today, I decided to prime my brain for this new syntax that's completely different than PHP and Javascript. I really like how clean Ruby is. It's very similar looking to python. At times it's pretty refreshing to see code that doesn't have a bunch of curly braces making it look like machine language. Ruby reads a lot more like English and can be interpreted much easier (although that point can be debated).

This is a quick screenshot of tryruby.org where many beginner programmers start their journey to becoming Ruby on Rails developers. I really like how well this app was built to make it easy and fun to learn the Ruby syntax. Week 9 and 10 will be fully devoted to this topic!

Day 39: Black Belt Exam

Still not feeling 100% today but much better than yesterday. The exam is scheduled to start at 1pm so I took the morning to lightly review node and express. We have Ruby on Rails as our next topic so I definitely want to do well on the javascript exam before moving on.

Vision was still a little foggy and nose was stuffed up, but when 1 o'clock exam started, I got in "the zone". I really enjoy that feeling when you're able to tune out everything around you and focus all your energy on the task at hand. Our exam was to create an application where users can create polls and vote on them where the information will be broadcasted real-time to all clients connected to the server. I finished the 4 hour exam in about 2 hours. I'm pretty confident that I passed the exam. At the time I felt like I did everything correct, but now looking back I feel like there were some features I could've done better.

Here is a little glimpse of my work station. Got my code, browser, console, and assignment. What was once a convenience is now a necessity. I literally cannot code without 3 screens. Haha.

Since tomorrow is the 4th of July, we aren't required to come in. But I know that some of my classmates are to work on their projects. I'll probably start working on learning Ruby on Rails at home and make sure I get this sickness fully out of my system. It's been a rough week...

Day 38

One word of advice over all: Take care of your body.

I am still sick and unable to even code a single line. I decide it was best to go home early and rest so that I can expedite my recovery. I also didn't want to get my classmates sick either.

Towards the end of the night I did feel a little better so I prepped for my black-belt exam that's taking place tomorrow. Michael Choi sent out a previous exam for us to study with. Even with the sickness, I felt pretty confident doing the exam. We'll see how everything goes tomorrow!

Day 37: Project Week (front-end)

Today I started on a personal project that a coworker and I decided to team up on. It's going to be a peer-to-peer book sharing/selling service targeted towards college students. It'll make it easy for students to connect buyers and sellers.

I worked on mostly the front end making sure my site has a good User Interface. Other than that I had to go home early. I really need to fight this cold.

Day 36: Finishing up Angular

There was no post last Friday because I was off on vacation! Woot. But after not seeing code for 3 whole days, it became extremely difficult to look at code again. Especially a difficult and new topic like Angular.js. 

The worst part about taking my vacation is that I got sick and my brain is just unable to function at the rate that I usually go at. I really need to make sure I take care of my body better.

After working on more assignments on MEAN stack, I decided to start working on a personal project. I wanted to create an application where users can upload things that they want to sell. I especially want to target textbooks for students.

Will post up more later. Time to sleep so I can fight this sickness.