September 2012
1 post
Stop, Don't Follow.
You should just follow me on Twitter. I write on my own website sometimes now. That doesn’t have an RSS feed or a follow button or anything though. I haven’t built one yet. So twitter is the best way to talk to me. I’m also trying to do a better job of meeting people in person. If you’re in San Francisco, let’s meet up. Email me.
I’m going to delete the rest...
July 2012
2 posts
2 tags
“Pop culture is all about identity and feeling like you’re participating....”
– Alan Kay
Textbooks are Broken
Last week I took home a computer science textbook to learn more about computer science. I was in a unique position where I had both the resources and motivation to learn something new. A chapter into the textbook though, I realized that textbooks are horribly broken for several reasons:
They become out of date extremely fast
My first thought was that my computer science textbook was obsolete...
May 2012
2 posts
1 tag
Humanizing People Isn't Feasible In Many...
I had an interesting debate with Diane and Matt today about how people are treated at companies.
A few thoughts:
Treating people like they’re human beings instead of hours to extract value from is an old fashioned concept that’s coming back into fashion. I think it’s because the skills of one employee to another can’t be mapped out 1:1 any more.
In the assembly...
1 tag
Beautiful Code
Had a conversation with Tony the other day about what beautiful code means and wanted to jot down some thoughts.
I think beautiful code has to do with three things:
readability
encapsulation/abstraction
performance
As a beginner, the first is the most important to me. I’ve worked with code bases with poor naming, poor indentation, poor line-breaking practices, etc. And it makes it...
April 2012
2 posts
2 tags
Floats are mutable objects, apparently?
UPDATE[4/7]: Floats are NOT mutable apparently. Thank you to Robert for clarifying what is actually happening below. Read his comment below.
——————————
I just discovered another interesting tidbit while working with floats and modulos.
First this:
1.9.3p125 :001 > 3 % 0.05 => 0.049999999999999836
I haven’t...
2 tags
"Called id for nil, which would mistakenly be 4"
I’ve gotten this error so many times while building Rails applications and it didn’t make any sense. It usually appeared when I was trying to call Some_Object.id and the object wasn’t assigned correctly, so in essence I was calling .id on nil. But I had no idea why that would “mistakenly be 4”.
Thanks to Tim, I finally unraveled the mystery.
The first important...
March 2012
6 posts
1 tag
“Listening is an interactive activity.”
– Chris Lichti
2 tags
Method names and variables are the same thing
I discovered something interesting today. Kudos to Craig for leading me to this discovery.
Method names and variables are really the same thing. Both point to some object that is being returned. This makes more sense now that I know it, but we proved it in IRB below.
We first create a class Person that is initialized with a name property and make the name accessible outside.
1.9.3p125 :067...
1 tag
“In Python, I would just say something like, ‘Get up and go through the door.’ In...”
– Guido van Rossum
1 tag
NYE in NYC 2012 (the most epic story ever)
December 26th morning in St. Louis. Justin calls me. I don’t pick up. December 26th evening, I call back. He invites me to go to New York City to sell T-shirts on Times Square. He has 1,000 T-shirts and he needs help selling. I say OK. We talk about costs and profits and agree to split everything 50/50. We’re driving.
December 27th, I drive 6 hours back to Whitewater, WI.
...
1 tag
DevBootcamp Testimonial
I moved this post here.
February 2012
11 posts
2 tags
What the Proc? (The Art of Being Confused)
A proc is a block of code that is passed into other blocks of code. But it’s different from a block because a block isn’t an object.
It took me 3 days to understand that. It might take me another 3 weeks to understand how to use it. And that’s saying nothing about using it well.
I’ve been confused many times in academia. It’s possible that my standards for...
1 tag
“A startup is never competing with other products. It’s competing with nobody...”
– Michael Staton, Founder and former CEO of Inigral (via roginc)
1 tag
“We live in democracies, but we work in dictatorships.”
– Shereef Bishay
1 tag
“One of the Steve Jobs themes that really struck me is the difference between...”
– Roy Bahat (@roybahat)
1 tag
1 tag
Friday morning bootcamp blues (in Ruby)
#Disclaimer: this is not TDD code.
##REFACTORED##
class Student
def initialize(num)
@energy_level = num
end
def will_do_yoga?
tired? ? “Please do Yoga at home today” : “Go to Yoga”
end
def tired?
@energy_level < 2
end
end
######ORIGINAL######
class Mehul
def initialize(num)
...
2 tags
The Ledged Learning Environment
I come here and I meet these guys. I look up and it’s dark outside and I realize I’m energized not drained. …I’ve been, like, giving hi fives, fist pumps. I never hi five anyone. - Doug
A couple years ago, when I started teaching (at Hogwarts), I was dissatisfied as a student. I knew that something about institutional learning was significantly off. If it wasn’t...
2 tags
“Most career advice is either an attempt to live vicariously through you or an...”
– Roy Bahat @roybahat
2 tags
“The things that make you academically great at being a computer scientist are...”
– Roy Bahat (@roybahat)
1 tag
“It is human nature to collaborate.”
– Alex Chaffee, Pivotal Labs
1 tag
Artisans and Laborers
There are those who draw the plans and those who lay the bricks. Those who solve problems, and those who write code.
Shereef made it clear to us on the first day of Dev Bootcamp that we would be be of the former brood. That we weren’t here to slap at a keyboard. That in 8 weeks we were to become architects; of software, of solutions, of castles if we wanted.
We would not be laborers to...
January 2012
1 post
1 tag
Desi Shayari
Aao yaadon ki qawwali shokhiyon mein sunayein to mehfil muskuraaye, dard sharmaaye aur honsle badh jaayein. Ashqon ka waqt jo kahin bhula diya tha haseen ho kar phirse laut aaye.
Aao, yaadon ki qawwali shokhiyon mein sunayein.
September 2011
1 post
1 tag
The Victories No One Cares About
We have this crazy, insatiable need to share the happy moments of our lives. A majority of communication is based on this desire to share. Unfortunately, in the grand scheme of things, most of these happy moments are tiny. More importantly, they are personal and hard for other people to relate to.
As a tennis instructor, my success is in seeing tiny improvements in technique, changes that are...
June 2011
2 posts
1 tag
A toast, impromptu
From acquaintance to friendship to a daily routine Through complications and hate cycles, Thursdays and after parties. UC hangouts, international dinners Getaway day trips and typical week nights. Intramurals and barbecues, Religious debates, walks by the lake. black hats and gowns and good bye tunes… We’ve come together. Whether or not we die in the same places I raise my glass. In celebration of...
1 tag
Just Say It
Usually I write in riddles and rhymes To try to disguise what I mean So I can Get away with opening up and saying true things Without feeling
…exposed…
or obscene. I can, weave my thoughts into webs of words, Laced in sweet honey-stick furs. They’re a little too smooth Uncomfortable And so you get caught, but it still feels good.
My rhythm and flow keeps you anticipating, waiting to hear a...
May 2011
2 posts
1 tag
Being perfect
My life is an open book except the parts that I don’t want you to see. All of those parts are just for me and for the people who get too close.
Because not everything I’ve done and not everything I do Is up to the standards that you would expect out of me Not every decision I’ve made is perfectly aligned with the way I was raised; my beautiful education. You know? sometimes my choices have made...
1 tag
Blind faith is evil
Disclaimer: I really don’t know what I was thinking when I wrote this. I can’t make sense of it now, but maybe it means something to someone else.
Blind faith is evil, but necessary. Need is a strong word, want is enough for most. Or maybe I have it all wrong. And faith is just… Easier. And we really do need.
What if there’s reason for every one and thing. What if hope is just an excuse.
And...
April 2011
3 posts
1 tag
Impromptu light hearted verses
I can be your scapegoat If you will be my sailboat Help me catch this tide Leave it all on the shoreside, We can be as wild or as tame as we like, Depending on the wind and the waves that we ride I know you need a reason to run out free Baby make up an excuse and call it me.
I can be your alibi If you will be my fancy tie We’ll cruise the streets in limousines I’ll buy you suits and...
1 tag
The man who beat me
It’s like I’m stuck waiting for a moment that matters, except the moment never comes until it shatters in my face like I was running a race and finished second place and the man who beat me disappeared without a trace.
Until I discovered that the man who won was none other than me a version of myself that didn’t wait for opportunity to be served on a platter he made every...
1 tag
Some Key Blogging Tips
Update (2.8.12): now that I’ve switched to Tumblr, the game may have completely changed.
I was emailing someone some advice about how to write a good blog post, based on everything I’ve learned in the past year, and realized it was good advice out of context also. Here it is:
The major thing that I like to see in blog posts is good formatting, and this little post was my AHA moment when I...
March 2011
6 posts
1 tag
I think you should do your job →
I think you should do your job. I think a lot of people don’t do their job, because they don’t like their job. I don’t get that. You know, if you go to a coffee place, and the kid looks at you like, “Uh.” I didn’t come to your house to ask you for coffee. This is a coffee place. Your clothes match the building, I had a right to expect… And you’re closer to the coffee machine. I don’t know why...
1 tag
Quick thoughts on Monetizing Websites
My criteria for online monetization is simply defined, but extremely difficult to execute. It is based on asking a user (a content producer or viewer) to act out of greed. Greed for more. This can be:
more stuff to see or use.
more marketing or features or sales
more satisfaction/ the “I’m so awesome” feeling
The user experience should be designed in such a way that the desired action should...
1 tag
“The thing that’s gonna decide what get’s talked about what gets...”
– Seth Godin
1 tag
An Informal Commencement Speech
This is a speech I wrote to deliver as the student speaker at graduation this May. It was not chosen because some judges felt it wasn’t formal enough. So I publish it here instead.
I wanted to write this speech in rhyme.
I wanted to write this speech in rhyme So I could pretend that I was on time To tell you these next few lines, today.
I wanted to deliver it fast Say the words quick but...
1 tag
“I don’t think of my life as a career. I do stuff. I respond to stuff. That’s not...”
– Steve Jobs
1 tag
“Marketing is the connection between company and market. Tactics are breadcrumbs...”
– Arnold Waldstein
February 2011
12 posts
1 tag
“I don’t want to chase, I want to be chased.”
– @ashkumra
1 tag
Quitting is the Easiest Thing
But then you remember that time when you stayed up all night thinking about it.
…or the time you drove miles and miles for something trivial and inconsequential.
…or how every time something goes right, it’s the greatest feeling in the world.
…or other people’s faces when you tell them about it.
…your own face when you talk about it.
Quitting should be the easiest thing.
But it’s not.
1 tag
Geography is (not) History
I keep hearing this phrase, and I’m not sure it’s entirely true.
Yes, you can now work in a team where every member is in a different state. Yes, you can deliver software internationally with no extra cost. And yes, you can manufacture in China to sell in Australia and reap the profits in the States.
So maybe supply chain logistics have put “distance” out of business.
But there is another...
1 tag
“Art is not in the eye of the beholder. It’s in the soul of the artist.”
– Seth Godin
1 tag
Getting Noticed has nothing to do with talent
There are a lot of talented people in the world. Not all of them are given the credit they deserve.
And it’s not about perseverance either. For every heart-warming success story you hear, there are many many more of failure.
Getting noticed isn’t about having the skills…
Getting noticed is about the surprise factor. About doing something unexpected.
Greyson is a pretty good singer and piano...
1 tag
“Obscurity is a far greater threat to authors and creative artists than piracy.”
– Tim O’Reilly
1 tag
“As long as you are 100% honest 100% of the time no one cares about the failure,...”
– Dan Voell
1 tag
“Makers are enthusiasts. They are amateurs.”
– Dale Dougherty
1 tag
What Your 16-Hour Workday Says About You.
You’re a really hard worker
Your time is poorly managed
You don’t know what to do with your life
Your boss knows you’re gullible
At least 40% of your diet consists of pre-packaged food
You send out work emails at inappropriate hours
You have no perspective on life
You don’t sleep enough for proper brain function
You have very little self-respect
Your salary should be higher, but isn’t
...
1 tag
“There are people who want the comfort and structure of a job where they’re given...”
– Mark Pincus (Founder/CEO of Zynga)
1 tag
“Business is fundamentally about two things, innovating and selling, and most MBA...”
– Philip Delves Broughton (The Economist) 