00 -- Greg Turmel

[gturmel]

• 1. Learning about Learning
  • Read Fixed vs Growth Mindset
  • Read Top-Down vs Bottom-Up Design
  • Read Learning Styles and researched more...
  • Read why that is all bunk and researched more...
• 2. GitHub-ing to Know You
  • Created a GitHub account
  • Edited your GitHub profile to provide:
    • A picture, so we can recognize your face.
    • Your full name, so we can recognize your name.
    • A valid public email address, so we can contact you.
  • Found and starred the class project
  • Read the class wiki
• 3. You've Got Issues
  • Created a new WIP Issue
  • Named it 00 -- YOUR NAME (where YOUR NAME is your name)
  • Made this checklist the description of your WIP Issue
  • Started checking off boxes... 😲
  • 3a. Answered all those many questions in comments
• 4. INSTALLFEST!
  • From the App Store:
    • Google Chrome
    • Atom
    • Dash
    • Slack
    • SourceTree
  • 4a. Dev Tools are Weird
  • XCode Tools (CLI)
  • Homebrew AKA brew
  • Via brew:
    • git
    • tree
    • zsh
    • node
    • ruby
• 4b. Prezto Change-oh!
  • Found and forked the Prezto project on GitHub
  • Cloned your fork of Prezto into your home directory
  • Linked all the dotfiles into your home directory
  • Confirmed operation!
  • Edited .zpreztorc to add modules
  • Added a screenshot to your WIP Issue

[gturmel]

20 Question Answers:

• Best Way to ask a Question:

Poorly researched questions get ignored. The best way to ask a question is to start by asking myself if I can handle the question on my own. Lets take the question apart and see if there are smaller pieces to solve. Lets examine the other facets of the question and see if a few judicious moments on google can clear things up. Learning happens best when I take an active role is solving the problems that appear.

• How can you explicitly schedule time with your instructor to review a problem?

There is a link to the Calendly for both instructors under the Syllabus section of the class wiki. Instructors will also be available during lab hours, but 1 on 1 time isn't guaranteed during that time. There may also be further availability, but that's still to be determined.

• Are there any other times that we're available?

Instructors will always want to be contacted in case of an emergency. There are also 15 minute meetings scheduled throughout the cohort to touch base.

• What are the three possible grades? What do they mean?

Red, Orange, and Green. Incomplete, Not Yet, and Satisfactory. Red is code that doesn't work, and isn't meeting the requirements of the homework assignment. It's also getting file names incorrectly named - clear communication is important! Orange is code that's taking shape. Might be buggy, might aim for a tree but miss the forest, and might show that I'm missing some of the skills needed for that assignment. Green shows competence in the skill, good understanding of the underlying concepts, and may have some extra functionality.

• What is the link to your GitHub profile? Your profile image?

My GitHub Profile.
My Profile Picture

• In what week do we plan to review material?

Week 6. At this point, we're halfway through, and it's time to take a breath, look at where we've come, and prep for a strong finish.

• At what time does class begin? Is attendance mandatory?

Class is 9-12:30, lab time from 1:30 to 5:30. Attendance is very important, and after 4 missed instruction days, there are going to be issues recommending me for a job. Two tardies in a week count as an absence. Attendance is not 'mandatory' per se, but it's so important, why would I not show up?

• After what amount of time are you counted late?

While an explicit number isn't spelled out in the student handbook, if lecture has started and my late arrival interrupts it, I can be considered late. Ultimately, my tardiness is up to the instructors discretion.

• When are you counted absent? Does that matter?

Two tardies in one week count as an absent. Four absences is a serious problem. The take home message here is to come to class on time and ready to dive in.

• What is the most common kind of mistake in programming?

This is a tough question to answer. I know that typo's are going to be rife and tricky to deal with. Forgetting a semi-colon has caused my Javascript to not work (Code School does a great job pointing this out, Codecademy just sits back and waits for me to review my code again and again), and referencing a misspelled function will definitely throw any program for a loop. These issues are also going to be tricky for me to spot, since I thought that they belonged in the first place. This is part of the reason we should show others our code - they'll catch what I won't.
I'm also going to say that the other mistake to watch out for is communication based. Am I making what I want to make, or what my instructor/client/boss wants me to make? The best code in the world isn't going to be useful if it does a completely different job than intended.
Once upon a time, I used a Chromebook for all of my computering needs. It was a great uni-tasker - web browsing like a boss, really bad for anything else. Any time I worked in google Docs, it backed up constantly. I'm going to have to keep an eye on how often I save work now that I'm away from the auto-backup.

• What are some strategies you can use to work through a difficult problem?

  First, see if the difficult problem isn't a series of smaller problems that can be tackled individually. Breaking the size of the problem into smaller chunks is going to present facets of the solution as those small pieces are solved. If I'm having issues, bringing a fresh set of eyes to look at what I'm stuck on will bring a new perspective and way of thinking to the issue.

• What exactly is the ⌥ key, anyway?

The Option Key is useful for a variety of tasks on the Mac. It's PC equivalent is the 'Alt' key. Using the option key opens up a wide variety of characters and extra keyboard shortcuts. This article scratches the surface, and states that it helps open up a different boot partition upon startup, but doesn't have a whole lot of other good information.

• What do you think will be the biggest barrier to your success in this class?

I see two personality traits coming between me and my success in the class. I like for things to have an order, and I can see myself looking at a problem, and focusing so much on one direction that I forget to shift my angle of attack. Focusing is good, and working on a problem is also good, but I am worried about taking a sledgehammer approach to something that needs more refined tools. I also prefer to close problems, to arrive at a solution and package it all very neatly. Leaving things undone or unfixed will bother me. Also not a bad thing in and of itself, but if it stops me from effectively moving on to the next issue, then that splits my attention. This is part of the reason I like the Pomodoro technique so much - work time is broken into chunks, and after the time is up, I'm to get up, take a minute or two to reset. This break is letting me come up for air and not get too focused on the minutia of a problem, and stops me from disappearing down a rabbit hole.

• How can you identify with the Growth and Fixed Mindsets? In what areas do you feel fixed? Where do you see the most potential for growth?

I've always liked the Growth mindset, I grew up with it, and I've always enjoyed education and learning. I was also told that I was 'smart', so when I was younger I had problems following a difficult project through to the end. Since I was 'smart', this thing was beyond me. I've taken steps to accommodate that, and I'm working on seeing problems as opportunities instead of roadblocks. I see a lot of potential for Growth in both my own mindset and in my future as a Front End Developer.

• Do you consider yourself a top-down or bottom-up thinker and why?

I consider myself a top-down thinker. Whenever I set goals for myself, they always start off really big and a bit vague. 'Learn Spanish', 'Go Climbing', 'Apply to Iron Yard'. I'll make a list, then start making sub-lists of the main one. What activities do I need to do to make these things happen? What's a bite-sized chunk or two that I can work on right now? Breaking the problem into lots of little problems lets me find something to work on regardless of the time limits that I'm facing.

• What do you think about your "learning style" and the debate about their validity? Which would you categorize yourself as and why?

I was very surprised to learn that learning styles are up for debate. I had previously considered them to be very established and respected theories. While it does seem that some of the theories are respected, it seems like there are very real limitations to the theories.
I've always done my best learning by being in class and hand-writing physical notes. Having been a life-long reader, I can go back to the words that I've written for review. Hearing a lecture, then distilling that to hand-written notes, also helps me assimilate and think about the information that's being presented.
I'm not particularly sure what this means in terms of my own learning style, other than I like writing notes.

[gturmel]

[gturmel]

• 1. Learn to Program
  • CodeCademy: JavaScript](https://www.codecademy.com/learn/javascript)
  • Team Treehouse: Web Development Track](https://teamtreehouse.com/tracks/front-end-web-development)
    • JavaScript Basics](https://teamtreehouse.com/library/javascript-basics)
  • CodeSchool: JavaScript Path](https://www.codeschool.com/paths/javascript)
    • JavaScript Road Trip, Part 1](https://www.codeschool.com/courses/javascript-road-trip-part-1)
    • JavaScript Road Trip, Part 2](https://www.codeschool.com/courses/javascript-road-trip-part-2)
• 2. Web Technology
  • Introduction to HTML on MDN](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Guide/HTML/Introduction)
  • Team Treehouse: Web Developer Track](https://teamtreehouse.com/tracks/front-end-web-development)
    • How to Make a Website (Beginner HTML & CSS)](https://teamtreehouse.com/library/how-to-make-a-website)
    • CSS Basics](https://teamtreehouse.com/library/css-basics)
  • CodeSchool: HTML and CSS Path](https://www.codeschool.com/paths/html-css)
    • Front-End Foundations](https://www.codeschool.com/courses/front-end-foundations)
    • CSS Cross Country](https://www.codeschool.com/courses/css-cross-country)
• 3. Command Line Training
  • An Intro to the OS X Command Line](http://eddywashere.com/blog/an-intro-to-the-os-x-command-line/)
  • Learn the Command Line on CodeCademy](https://www.codecademy.com/courses/learn-the-command-line/)
  • CLI Crash Course by Zed Shaw](http://cli.learncodethehardway.org/book/)
  • Team Treehouse: Console Foundations](https://teamtreehouse.com/library/console-foundations)
• 4. Source Control Crash Course
  • 4a. First there was git...
    • Try git](http://try.github.com)
    • Team Treehouse: git Basics](https://teamtreehouse.com/library/git-basics)
    • CodeCademy: learn git](https://www.codecademy.com/learn/learn-git)
    • Code School: Git Real](https://www.codeschool.com/courses/git-real)
  • 4b. Then there was GitHub...
    • GitHub: Hello World](https://guides.github.com/activities/hello-world/)
    • GitHub: Forking Projects](https://guides.github.com/activities/forking/)
    • GitHub: About Issues](https://guides.github.com/features/issues/)
    • Team Treehouse: Explaining Markdown](http://blog.teamtreehouse.com/explaining-markdown)
    • GitHub: Mastering Markdown](https://guides.github.com/features/mastering-markdown/)
    • Markdown Tutorial](http://markdowntutorial.com/)

[gturmel]

Journal for 1-9-16
I'm working on finishing up the last few questions for the pre-work. I'm traveling now, and I didn't want to bring my Mac, so I'm going to be away from that for about another week or so. In the meantime, I am looking to tackle some Code School.
I'm also reading 'Pomodoro Technique'. I'm inordinately excited about this book and the organizational guidelines it presents. I've always enjoyed checking lists - that sense of accomplishment is pretty huge. Presenting those lists in an 'Activity Inventory' first, and pulling items to a 'To Do Today' list is a bit more mind-blowing than it should be. I've noticed that my lists can get sprawling, and I draw arrows from the current day, to the next day, to the next day, as I get to some of the items. There always seem to be more items than there is time. After a while, when a few items cling on for dear life, after having been dragged through weeks of 'maybe I'll get to this shortly', I abandon the list altogether and start over. Having a better system sounds like such a good plan.
Bright Bulb: HTML. I don't know all the tags that are available, and I don't know all of the tips and tricks. I feel like I know enough to wing it with Dr. Google.
Dim Bulb: That Javascript. I'm still plugging away, but the depth of the language continues to evade me.
Dark Bulb: Command Line. That's going to be my focus when I return to my Mac.

[gturmel]

1-10-16
Continuing to work through Pomodoro Technique. I am going to have to improve my communication with everyone around me when I'm trying to focus and get work done. Being unavailable isn't a bad thing, I'll be able to focus on everyone later.
I started the Command Line Training on Codecademy. I'm not very far along. Still dark bulb. Couple of flickers, not enough to warrant going to dim bulb yet.

[gturmel]

[gturmel]

I took a swing at installing Pretzo today. I'm about 60% sure that I did it, but I keep running into Permission denied errors.

I'm not really sure where to go from this. Definitely putting zsh and prezto into the dark bulb category.
@al-the-x @kellymurray, I'm going to take a break and get something to eat. Do you have any hints to start steering me in the right direction? I'd like to try and figure out what I'm doing wrong myself, but I'm on the struggle bus on this one. Thanks!

[al-the-x]

No worries, Greg. The path ~/.zpreztorc refers to a file, so when you feed that to the command line, it tries to run that file. Since the file you're trying to run isn't one that can be executed (a special permission a file can be assigned), the shell responds with "permission denied". What do you want to do with the file instead?

[gturmel]

Thanks for getting back to me so soon, David @al-the-x. I was working through the Prezto install, and found myself at an impasse. Zsh looks the same, and I can't seem to get any real traction on figuring out why prezto isn't working. (It seems like once it starts up, the display on 'terminal.app' changes)
I wanted to open ~/.zpreztorc, so I could look at theme options. When I enter prompt -l for themes, it says that the command is not found.
I did have an option in 'terminal.app' to go with either emacs or vi, I picked emacs. I don't know if this information is helpful, but I wanted to pass that along.

[al-the-x]

I understand now. Do you know any programs that can edit files? If you get a "command not found" error for the prompt command, you don't have Prezto installed correctly yet. No worries, as my instructions for that part are incomplete still. You can hold there and keep working on your exercises.

[gturmel]

I spent some more time with the command line training today, and I'm pleased to report that there are a few flickers. I'm appreciating the advice under Ready-Player-One - just do them. Then do them again. One the second play-through, things started making tons of sense. It was good to see that I'm progressing. It's nice to pick my head up from time to time and see that I am making (slow and steady) progress.
Frankly, I'll still put the command line in the Dark Bulb category. I realize that I'm having a hard time trusting that the computer is doing things, even though I can't actively see them happening. Windows don't pop up, I'm not clicking on anything. The commands pwd and ls are my friends, they're helping me realize that I'm where I think I am, and the files are what I think they are.

[ebonertz]

Hey Greg
Nice too see your progress with the command line. Keep working with it every time you open you log in and you will quickly become more comfortable. It's really amazing how powerful the command line is and how many purposes it serves. I have found it is exceptionally useful when committing and pushing changes in your code to your repositories on Github. It's relatively easy to set this up and will save you a ton of time. I'm sure this is something we will cover early on in the course. Cheers!

[al-the-x]

Great work cheering each other on, gents. And you're finding the real important part of the prep work: repetition.

If you find you need a little visual while you're working, you can use the open command on any directory to open the same in Finder. Files and folders that you make via the command line will "magically appear" in Finder, as well. Similarly, the Source Tree program you installed will give you a visual on your repository. These should be viewed as crutches, though: useful while you learn to navigate with your new legs. Best of luck!

[gturmel]

Spent some time on Code School today with their Git Course. This is another tool that's going to help so much when we start. I also am starting to see the general outline of how we'll be working. Terminal will be responsible for pushing all of our changes in Atom and any other file we're working in to Github for review. Using a book analogy - Github is the library that Terminal publishes to, and we create our work in Atom or elsewhere.
Also finished the Pomodoro Technique book. The structure that it brings to my working time has been really valuable.

[gturmel]

[gturmel]

Oh man!
Great day for breakthroughs. Right about down to the wire...I'll try and get things done a bit more efficiently next time. I realized that I needed to edit my ./zpreztorc file in Atom, and then make sure to save the changes. Suddenly my prompt is what I wanted it to be. I'm also reasonably sure that I got the git and node modules up. I used a few shortcuts for the git module, and things happened, so that was pretty great.
I'm building a few Coder Projects in Codepen, and that's been an interesting time. While for the most part I'm just following directions, building these things is giving me new ideas.
Tomorrow's the big day! I better get some good sleep tonight!