The Iron Will and Positivity Thread

[Narz]

Can relate, I've been abysmal in my Spanish study but very consistent with working out even after I broke my toe by dropping 45 on it

Feel free to PM me commitments and we can do some sort of challenge or bet regarding Spanish study

 

[Truthy]

Well so far I'm absolutely failing at both my new years resolutions. I had planned to set aside 2 days each week to learn - one day Spanish, another programming - but I have not done it even a single week. To be fair to me, I went from part-time to over-time in the space of 1 week but still, I never even tried to get this going. I'm pretty mad at myself for this. Usually when I make up my mind to do something, I do it, but I've been trying to learn Spanish off and on for a decade. I should start recording Spanish soap operas or something. Really at this point anything to get me moving. If someone wants to PM me in Spanish that would be awesome to attempt to translate and respond to.

I have at least kept up with my exercise routine, so I'm happy that has stuck for another year.

What programming language(s) do you want to learn? Is there something in particular you’re trying to do?

 

[yung.carl.jung]

On a related note, I've been thinking about getting into Unity which would require C sharp. Not really sure how difficult it is and how relevant. I thought Python looked pretty good, but it's not really a game programming language and my cousin is learning unity, I was looking to support him.

 

[MaryKB]

I'm looking into taking singing lessons. I just want to be able to sing without making people cry. I'm going to a classical/opera teacher.

 

[Truthy]

On a related note, I've been thinking about getting into Unity which would require C sharp. Not really sure how difficult it is and how relevant. I thought Python looked pretty good, but it's not really a game programming language and my cousin is learning unity, I was looking to support him.

By "how relevant", do you mean how relevant is C# in general? Or how important is it to know C# well if you want to create a Unity game?

About difficulty - C# is middle-of-the-road. Python would be a fair amount easier to learn. But if it doesn't suit your needs, then just go for C#. Also, at the end of the day, having a fun goal and someone to collaborate with (your cousin) is a great way to learn programming (and, well, anything else). It's a good way to bond, learn new skills, and stay motivated. And it'll probably just be fun in general

 

[hobbsyoyo]

What programming language(s) do you want to learn? Is there something in particular you’re trying to do?

Python and/or C++. Matlab would be a nice too.

I want to be able to write simple scripts and I had planned to start using like Khan Academy or something to learn Python first.

 

[Truthy]

Python and/or C++. Matlab would be a nice too.

I want to be able to write simple scripts and I had planned to start using like Khan Academy or something to learn Python first.

I'd say C++ is a bad language for writing scripts. However, it is a very good language for programming satellites

Python is a lovely language. And it is very good for scripting (I'm thinking of things like file parsing, data processing, numerical computing, automating/running tests, creating plots). And it's just useful for lots of other things. For example, on the off chance you want to tinker around with any AI stuff, the most popular neural net libraries are usually used in Python.

I imagine Matlab is popular among aerospace engineers. Personally, I haven't used it much and I do a lot of Matlab-like stuff in Python.

 

[Hygro]

My friends tell me to start with Ruby on Rails and switch to javascript after.

 

[Truthy]

Buy the domain hyg.ro

Make a site with a Rails backend and have some sick Javascript on the frontend. Eg like something with this Tone.js library (aside: the demos on that page are really trippy)

 

[civvver]

I don't find any language more or less difficult than others, it's more about what tools are available to you and ease of use. Like c# in unity or visual studio will have a lot of stuff built in to help you, as does Java. Like in Java there's straightforward classes to say read file streams and zip files while c++ you will have to either write your own implementation or go find an api someone already wrote to do it.

I find the most difficult thing about programming is interfacing with a bunch of stuff and configurations now. Cus everything is tools, you don't write that much actual code now. What do I mean? For example we have this phone app written by some other group and needed to add push notifications to it but it's cross platform so of course they want to use one solution for both andriod and ios. So we had to use google firebase. Which means figuring out how to configure it separately for ios and andriod. It's not that much code, it's just figuring out where to put it and then how to upload all the correct credentials to the firebase server it so it has privileges to send the notifications. It's a lot of steps and jumping through hoops basically just to do something simple cus all the backend work is already done.

 

[Truthy]

I don't find any language more or less difficult than others, it's more about what tools are available to you and ease of use. Like c# in unity or visual studio will have a lot of stuff built in to help you, as does Java. Like in Java there's straightforward classes to say read file streams and zip files while c++ you will have to either write your own implementation or go find an api someone already wrote to do it.

Many of the challenges of programming are language-agnostic, as are most CS concepts. And I agree a lot of difficulty comes down to the available tools, using their features correctly, and getting different tools to work together.

That being said, all the objects and boilerplate in a language like Java makes for a more difficult learning curve. And pointers, references, explicit memory management, and debugging difficulty in C or C++ makes them much more difficult for a beginner. Not to mention the lack of "batteries included" features or the complexity of the libraries (like the STL or Boost). So I think Python is undeniably one of the easiest languages for beginners. And even for experienced programmers--I mean, Python syntax is basically pseudocode. Now, of course Python can have a lot of difficulties of its own, but there are so many things that you can do in Python in 10 minutes that could take hours in C++.

 

[civvver]

yeah STL in c++ sucks. I still have to lookup random crap like how to declare a std map or vector cus I rarely use them.

 

[Truthy]

yeah STL in c++ sucks. I still have to lookup random crap like how to declare a std map or vector cus I rarely use them.

Quoted for truth. The simplest things are confusing if you haven't used them in a while... You do a lookup with your map and instead of the thing you're looking for, you get an iterator to a pair object. So then you need to dereference the iterator or treat it like a pointer. Very extra

 

[Narz]

20 minutes mediation tonight, goal is to get back into it 20 and 20 (20min morn, 20 min eve)