I'm editing a few things today - you may see some pretty crazy layouts for a bit.
Here's a picture of Soot as Santa as compensation. He is so cute!!
Here's a picture of Soot as Santa as compensation. He is so cute!!
Monday, November 25, 2013
November GUSH! List
Hey friends!
Its been almost a month! Eep! This is going to be more of a GUSH! list of amazingness, so here goes:
Its been almost a month! Eep! This is going to be more of a GUSH! list of amazingness, so here goes:
- If you still haven't checked out Codewars I don't know what you are doing in life.
- Web Dev training is going awesome!! I'm about 50% done with Treehouse's 'Ruby on Rails' track. It includes 13 sections including Responsive Web Design, jQuery, Ruby, and Rails to name a few.
- Buffer This fantastic social media manager has given me the opportunity to really come into my own as Imagine Me's community manager.
- How NOT to Suck Online - I printed out the PDF and its hanging, framed, on my desk.
- Web Development Tools! Gosh, way to many to list here - I am like a little kid in a candy store with all the goodies I've found lately. Here are a few:
- Pattern Lab - An awesome way to save time, space, and resources when building web sites!!
- Subtle Patterns - You all probably already knew about this gem, but it has been a tantalizing 'goodie' for me full of subtle patterns to tile to my little hearts content!
- Brad Frost - A web design god in human form. (Twitter: @brad_frost)
- Responsive Design Resources - Awesome set of tools from said god (see above)
Its been a month full of learning amazing things and I couldn't be more excited!
Friday, November 1, 2013
Making vs Taking the Time to Code
Hello friends!
I have to admit my fervor for coding has been sparked anew! It may be the cold weather snap in Minnesota has pushed me indoors or perhaps the mental check on the difference between "making" and "taking" time.
Lately, I've been trying to "make" the time to code. However, I am neither a Time Lord nor a deity and cannot make time. Instead, I made the mental switch to dedicating myself to "taking" the time to code. Each and every day. There are awesome tools that provide daily code challenges (see my last post where I gush all over Codewars) as well as multiples of sites dedicated to "meat & potatoes" learning.
Albeit a little expensive, I finally dove into all that is Treehouse. I've flirted with the site for a while, but what really drove me to pay the fee (usually I pick free sites) was the combination of languages in each track. In reality, each language has its strengths and weaknesses. A wise developer knows how to use Javascript, HTML, and CSS in harmony (or uses AbsurdJS but more on that another time). Treehouse really impressed me in that there isn't a single track in which you only learn a single language. Its well worth it to check it out!
Finally, I have another GUSH! post. DEVICE 6 from Simogo (the game studio that brought Year Walk to the world). Where should I start!?! Its an experience. I absolutely love the puzzles. I love the interaction. I love the audio. I love that Anna gets a whole song. I love the style that brings a fantastic feel to the game. And despite what most reviews say - I love the length. I played through the game in around 3 hours. It was worth every penny of the $3.99 on the app store. Expensive you say? That's half the price of a micro brew and still less expensive than a Pumpkin Spice Latte - and it will last longer than either of those. If ya decide to play it, please let me know what you thought!
I have to admit my fervor for coding has been sparked anew! It may be the cold weather snap in Minnesota has pushed me indoors or perhaps the mental check on the difference between "making" and "taking" time.
Lately, I've been trying to "make" the time to code. However, I am neither a Time Lord nor a deity and cannot make time. Instead, I made the mental switch to dedicating myself to "taking" the time to code. Each and every day. There are awesome tools that provide daily code challenges (see my last post where I gush all over Codewars) as well as multiples of sites dedicated to "meat & potatoes" learning.
Albeit a little expensive, I finally dove into all that is Treehouse. I've flirted with the site for a while, but what really drove me to pay the fee (usually I pick free sites) was the combination of languages in each track. In reality, each language has its strengths and weaknesses. A wise developer knows how to use Javascript, HTML, and CSS in harmony (or uses AbsurdJS but more on that another time). Treehouse really impressed me in that there isn't a single track in which you only learn a single language. Its well worth it to check it out!
Finally, I have another GUSH! post. DEVICE 6 from Simogo (the game studio that brought Year Walk to the world). Where should I start!?! Its an experience. I absolutely love the puzzles. I love the interaction. I love the audio. I love that Anna gets a whole song. I love the style that brings a fantastic feel to the game. And despite what most reviews say - I love the length. I played through the game in around 3 hours. It was worth every penny of the $3.99 on the app store. Expensive you say? That's half the price of a micro brew and still less expensive than a Pumpkin Spice Latte - and it will last longer than either of those. If ya decide to play it, please let me know what you thought!
Saturday, October 26, 2013
There was never a good war...except CodeWars!
Hello friends!
Its been a crazy fall so far. For those of you who don't know, I have been working with the indie game Imagine Me from KinifiGames and its launch for the Nintendo Wii U. Paired with this launch, there will be a Mac, PC, and Linux version of the game. I was originally part of the Kickstarter back in 2011 and it has been so much fun picking it up again. If you are at all interested in finding out more, please visit the website or find us on Twitter.
As for the other projects, I'm elated to share with you my most recent passion - CodeWars. Codewars is a compilation of code challenges for JavaScript, CoffeeScript, and Ruby. You earn kyu (Japanese term used in modern martial arts and academic tests) by completing Kata (the detailed choreographed patterns of movements in martial arts). The challenges are mainly community written - and pretty fantastic! I absolutely love that I can use it daily to refresh myself on JavaScript and Ruby syntax. I definitely recommend the site. Once you sign up, let me know what you think!! :D
Its been a crazy fall so far. For those of you who don't know, I have been working with the indie game Imagine Me from KinifiGames and its launch for the Nintendo Wii U. Paired with this launch, there will be a Mac, PC, and Linux version of the game. I was originally part of the Kickstarter back in 2011 and it has been so much fun picking it up again. If you are at all interested in finding out more, please visit the website or find us on Twitter.
As for the other projects, I'm elated to share with you my most recent passion - CodeWars. Codewars is a compilation of code challenges for JavaScript, CoffeeScript, and Ruby. You earn kyu (Japanese term used in modern martial arts and academic tests) by completing Kata (the detailed choreographed patterns of movements in martial arts). The challenges are mainly community written - and pretty fantastic! I absolutely love that I can use it daily to refresh myself on JavaScript and Ruby syntax. I definitely recommend the site. Once you sign up, let me know what you think!! :D
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Projects Galore!
I've been super busy getting a little project started and haven't had too much time dedicated to learning Ruby or JavaScript. That little project is entitled Imagine Me. I'm working with a small team as they develop the adventure platfomer puzzler for the Nintendo Wii U. :) My job is both administration and community management. I've set up a little website at ImagineMeGame.com and have connected all of our social networking apps to the site (Twitter: @ImagineMeGame, facebook: KinifiGames, Google+: ImagineMe, and Instagram: kinifigames). To manage all these social outlets, I am using Buffer. It allows me to use custom scheduling, multiple accounts, and give other team members access to post things as well!
Our team is kinda small so the game designer and I are also the support desk. We are chose to use ZenDesk and it is pretty much amazing.
As for learning/coding, I'm almost exclusively back to JavaScript. I have been using treehouse and c<>deschool. So far, I have preferred c<>deschool, but that may change. I'll keep ya posted! I also have a couple of awesome books, but more on those later. For now, enjoy this awesome tip from c<>deschool:
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Live Coding
Well, I just finished my very first live code challenge. It was... not what I expected. I'm sort of disappointed. I've worked through a lot of problems online recently and one of them happened to be almost identical to the one I did for my code challenge. I really wanted to see how I've been progressing with learning Ruby, so I kind of have mixed emotions. I'm excited I knew what to do (think I knew what to do), but disappointed it wasn't a challenge. Blessing in disguise?? I'm just a whiny girl?? Both??
Now that I have that off my chest, I'm looking for help. I want to challenge myself. I'm past the "Intro" and "Beginner" classes. What online programs do you recommend that really push you as a developer??
Now that I have that off my chest, I'm looking for help. I want to challenge myself. I'm past the "Intro" and "Beginner" classes. What online programs do you recommend that really push you as a developer??
Sunday, September 8, 2013
el·o·quent
The past week has been a lot more reading than grinding through lessons. I've been working through the book Eloquent Ruby. I absolutely love it! Eloquent Ruby, by Russ Olsen, is by no means a textbook. It is written with a "casual conversation" tone, but also very applicable (application ready?). I'm just starting Part II and can't wait to hone my concepts of "Classes, Modules, and Blocks." What is wonderful is the code is available on GitHub and I can practice while I read. It is a very useful companion and I cannot recommend it more!
Once I'm done with Part II, I'll be caught up to my place in RubyMonk and then start working on the Metaprogramming lessons online (RubyMonk) as well as reading the chapters in the book. I already have my sights set on the next title Design Patterns in Ruby. What books have been of use to you while learning a new language??
Once I'm done with Part II, I'll be caught up to my place in RubyMonk and then start working on the Metaprogramming lessons online (RubyMonk) as well as reading the chapters in the book. I already have my sights set on the next title Design Patterns in Ruby. What books have been of use to you while learning a new language??
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