My GF learned to code in 3 months. This is what she came up with.(nukaco.la)
nukaco.la
My GF learned to code in 3 months. This is what she came up with.
http://nukaco.la/
41 comments
Title is misleading because your GF was utterly awesome before that.
I think it's great work - but why does the developer need to be introduced as 'my GF'.
She's clearly very technically capable - why not introduce the site on it's own merits?
She's clearly very technically capable - why not introduce the site on it's own merits?
I'm insanely jealous of your gf. I've been doing programming as a hobby for nearly 10 years and haven't knocked out anything as cool at that.
Nice skills section too. I might make that as an extra attachment page to my CV.
Ask her, Python or Ruby and why for me.
3 months of programming and already had a glimpse of Haskell, I'm really impressed.
I'm struggling to find time to learn it a little, and during the last 10 years since I first heard about it I hadn't had enought time (the only haskell code I "do" is xmonad.hs :)
Well she is clearly tech savvy lady: http://nukaco.la/projects.html
So probably it was not very hard for her =)
Daniel Tammet learned to speak Icelandic in a single week. Unfortunately, like your girlfriend, he didn't share much of a guideline for others working towards similar goals.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMz3gjl9x-M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMz3gjl9x-M
It's amazing how much folks can learn in such a short amount of time. I wonder if she was learning full-time or on the side.
Nice! The skills section is really nice!
And please take care of your gf, she's awesome! :')
In 3 months I've only got how to create data types, functions, and conditionals. Haha.
I'll just come out and say it - I'm jealous of you.
This is a good example of how people should learn coding. Not doing examples but doing something that is very goal directed (for her doing a website). Exercises should help you understand how to do a final goal. This is pretty impressive for only 3 months of study also.
I've been bugging my friend that he should learn to code a website for the past few years. And for the past few years, he's been stating that "its not for me" or that "I'm not the techie type". I hear this all the time from people who don't know anything about coding.
A few months ago I showed him a demo of my website (artJutsu.com WIP) and showed him the basics behind the code. I also showed him how to create a simple site. The dev site (on my laptop) has many different concepts that I'm still hammering out. To him it looks complex, so I told him that it doesn't have to be.
I gave him the following advice for why one does create a program. "Just think of a "simple" problem that you'd like to fix. It doesn't have to be super robust, or super smart, or super technical. Just try to solve this problem through an elegant interface."
For me, artJutsu (once I get the main part completed) will solve a variety of small problems. Yes, there are things in it that is very complicated, but that comes from research. We're in an amazing time as developers where we can access a rich array of resources just with a simple Google search. The great thing is, the simplest solution usually solves the problem just as well.
I always was the type of person that hated reading those coding books and doing lesson after lesson with very little getting done. For the most part, you don't really know WHY you need to know techniques and theory. Its just way too confusing. I find getting down and dirty building something teaches you a lot more. Theory is great, but what good is it if you don't know that you need to know it? I believe that getting your feet wet will enhance the traditional learning experience.
Anyway, after a month of coding, my friend has created a pretty good "list" site for his wife. He's at the point where its getting tough to maintain his code, but he loves it. The joy of creating a useful tool to solve a problem is what we thrive on.
A few months ago I showed him a demo of my website (artJutsu.com WIP) and showed him the basics behind the code. I also showed him how to create a simple site. The dev site (on my laptop) has many different concepts that I'm still hammering out. To him it looks complex, so I told him that it doesn't have to be.
I gave him the following advice for why one does create a program. "Just think of a "simple" problem that you'd like to fix. It doesn't have to be super robust, or super smart, or super technical. Just try to solve this problem through an elegant interface."
For me, artJutsu (once I get the main part completed) will solve a variety of small problems. Yes, there are things in it that is very complicated, but that comes from research. We're in an amazing time as developers where we can access a rich array of resources just with a simple Google search. The great thing is, the simplest solution usually solves the problem just as well.
I always was the type of person that hated reading those coding books and doing lesson after lesson with very little getting done. For the most part, you don't really know WHY you need to know techniques and theory. Its just way too confusing. I find getting down and dirty building something teaches you a lot more. Theory is great, but what good is it if you don't know that you need to know it? I believe that getting your feet wet will enhance the traditional learning experience.
Anyway, after a month of coding, my friend has created a pretty good "list" site for his wife. He's at the point where its getting tough to maintain his code, but he loves it. The joy of creating a useful tool to solve a problem is what we thrive on.
She has a lot of skills for 3 months.
keep her!
Seriously? 3 months to know so many things including what Richard Stallman says ... admire.
Can you ask her to outline the process she used to learn to code this tool?
Basically, for ruby and javascript we had (very informal) coaching sessions together roughly once a week (around 2 hours each). I would walk her through core syntax problems (how to use functions, objects, arrays) and give her some hints of what APIs to look for. And then she went and researched and tried a lot of stuff (sometimes more than 8 hours a day) and would ask me when she got totally stuck. I would then try to not give direct answers but hint at where to look for or how to develop some sort of divide-and-conquer strategies. And then I was kinda amazed at the results ;)
I wish I had a buddy like you!
Great execution, that's what it's really all about!
This is really impressive for three months, and the little charts on her skills page are funny!
I really like the skills section
http://nukaco.la/skills.html
I wish this was standard practice for resumes, even though it's subjective assessment it's really easy to compare relative strengths and weaknesses, for example it's very easy to see "dabbled in haskell, very proficient in garage band" just by glancing
I like it, but in 3 months she got 2/5 in rails, 2/5 in javascript and 2/5 in git? I doubt thats even possible...
I've been working with each of those for ~6 years and I'd still only put myself at a 4 and if I was being generous. It's funny the longer you work with something the more you realize how little you understand it. I probably would have put myself at a 2/5 in those categories 5 years ago, but looking back, I'd rate myself at 1/5 instead.
I've been working with each of those for ~6 years and I'd still only put myself at a 4 and if I was being generous. It's funny the longer you work with something the more you realize how little you understand it. I probably would have put myself at a 2/5 in those categories 5 years ago, but looking back, I'd rate myself at 1/5 instead.
I think you should look at 1-5 or 1-10 scales logarithmically. It doesn't take a whole lot of work to become basically competent in a git or Rails (2/5), but to become an expert (4/5) takes exponentially more work.
Well, I didn't know there was a standard... for me it just felt "I know more Javascript than Haskell etc" so I put one more black square. So maybe I should change it to 2 out of 7 or whatever. :/
Aliz, I guess I was responding to the OP comment about resume's more than anything and didn't mean to offend. I really like your use of a scale, and your project is very impressive!
Don't let pedantic nerds get you down. It's fine. Full disclosure: I too am a pedantic nerd.
Wasn't trying to be pedantic, just giving feedback. In fact I totally respect the relativity of the scale, I would just say if it was for a job interview you'd want to maybe do as you said and adjust on a larger scale.
My point was 2 months in JS != 40% knowledge of JS. If that came across as pedantic, I apologize.
My point was 2 months in JS != 40% knowledge of JS. If that came across as pedantic, I apologize.
It might be a weighted 40%. As in, she knows 40% of what she needs to know or will encounter in real-world JS... or she's 40% as productive as she'd be with maximal fluency. There's probably a Zipf's Law over programming idioms where you can pick up the first half in a few months, the next quarter takes a year or so, and the last quarter takes more than a decade to encounter, comprehend, and be able to use masterfully.
Using a frequency-weighted metric, I would say that I'm 70-95% fluent (unknown unknowns make it hard to get confidence in a number) in my best languages, but I'm not an expert in any of them (and I'd only rate myself 3-3.5 on a 5-point scale, because percentage fluency on first-order concepts isn't the only important thing). I don't think it's hard to get to that point. Getting those last few percentage points is much harder.
Using a frequency-weighted metric, I would say that I'm 70-95% fluent (unknown unknowns make it hard to get confidence in a number) in my best languages, but I'm not an expert in any of them (and I'd only rate myself 3-3.5 on a 5-point scale, because percentage fluency on first-order concepts isn't the only important thing). I don't think it's hard to get to that point. Getting those last few percentage points is much harder.
I had an interview that asked me to rate various skills on a 1-5 scale. I think I gave myself a 1 in t-SQL and a 2 in C# even though I had been programming professionally in C# since the .NET beta SDK. I was worried they would pull out some crazy trivia questions and and try to trip me up if I rated myself too high. After I rated myself so low they almost didn't want to continue the interview.
I think most places are not like google where if you say 4 it means you invented the language.
I think most places are not like google where if you say 4 it means you invented the language.
I do a lot of interviewing and I almost always ask people to rate themselves on a scale of 1-10 in their primary language with a note that I recognize I don't expect our scales to match.
After they answer I ask what they learned last to raise their knowledge along their scale, what they're learning now to try to grow further (if anything, sometimes you're just executing not learning,) and if the candidate is applying for Senior Software Engineer or higher what "gotchas" they typically look for in a junior coworker/employee that would be rated lower on their scale (during a code review, for example.)
I usually get really thoughtful answers and gather a lot of insight about the candidates mastery of the language, mentoring and overall thought process.
After they answer I ask what they learned last to raise their knowledge along their scale, what they're learning now to try to grow further (if anything, sometimes you're just executing not learning,) and if the candidate is applying for Senior Software Engineer or higher what "gotchas" they typically look for in a junior coworker/employee that would be rated lower on their scale (during a code review, for example.)
I usually get really thoughtful answers and gather a lot of insight about the candidates mastery of the language, mentoring and overall thought process.
I didn't sense any Dunning Kruger in her self assessment.
Indicators for that state of mind are actually fairly easy to spot, e.g. when you see someone quoting it without any further justification.
Indicators for that state of mind are actually fairly easy to spot, e.g. when you see someone quoting it without any further justification.
You have to be reasonable about the scale. A 4/5 in English by your standards would also imply a deep understanding of root languages, old English, literature etc...
Becoming "fluent" in a programming language is vastly different from becoming "fluent" in a natural language. I hate when people make that comparison. How often does one ask for the etymology of the "if" statement and to what extent is such an understanding required for programming language mastery?
Actually, I think knowing the history and theory behind a language (as appropriate) is very helpful.
Particularly, if you're using a language like Haskell or Ocaml, it helps to have at least a vague idea of what a functor actually is and where the idea comes from. (I actually only realized that functors were actually similar ideas in both languages a couple days back.)
On the other hand, if you're using a language like JavaScript, understanding the history (especially the languages that influenced it) makes understanding some of the "quirks" much simpler. When you see the influence of Scheme, the scoping suddenly makes much more sense, for example.
So, over all, I think understanding the background of a language really helps for complete mastery.
Particularly, if you're using a language like Haskell or Ocaml, it helps to have at least a vague idea of what a functor actually is and where the idea comes from. (I actually only realized that functors were actually similar ideas in both languages a couple days back.)
On the other hand, if you're using a language like JavaScript, understanding the history (especially the languages that influenced it) makes understanding some of the "quirks" much simpler. When you see the influence of Scheme, the scoping suddenly makes much more sense, for example.
So, over all, I think understanding the background of a language really helps for complete mastery.
> Particularly, if you're using a language like Haskell or Ocaml, it helps to have at least a vague idea of what a functor actually is and where the idea comes from. (I actually only realized that functors were actually similar ideas in both languages a couple days back.)
I could not agree more! Understanding the significance of particular keywords is quite important when failing to do so will affect your ability to successfully use the language. I distinguish that from my argument, which I premised on such knowledge not affecting one's ability to successfully use the language.
I could not agree more! Understanding the significance of particular keywords is quite important when failing to do so will affect your ability to successfully use the language. I distinguish that from my argument, which I premised on such knowledge not affecting one's ability to successfully use the language.
Be that as it may, what most would call a "fluent" English speaker likely only has a high level working knowledge of the actual English language
If she would put 3/5 (like you imply) I would think that she as B1 level or something like that. She is not native. If she was a native the scale would be different.
As if rating one's skills in a particular subject with a 1-5 rating under no context bears much meaning... it's so arbitrary as to be insignificant (but it could be a cool concept if not abused). It also depends on one's motivation for representing their skill level; for example, jobseekers probably overestimate their skill levels.
It would be great to have a standardized rating system based on a few different tiers wrt a language/framework/etc.:
It would be great to have a standardized rating system based on a few different tiers wrt a language/framework/etc.:
1 - Wrote some really basic code in the language
...
5 - Wrote some really, really advanced code in the languageOn my resume, I have a "skills" section that basically lists technologies I've worked with that I'm interested in working with now (and some I haven't work with) with a "code-word" based description of how I'd rate myself. The "code-word" selection will beat most HR folks, but I include a "decoder-ring" style description in my cover letter on what I mean by those code words. Things like, "familiar: know at least basic syntax and can easily use all syntax with reference, will likely need to use a reference for common libraries" and "expert: Need documentation only for infrequently used or obscure library calls, comfortable writing a tokenizer and lexer for the language given the specification". I actually got the idea when I applied for a job way out of my league and actually got a response explaining it was out of my league, so I asked for some feedback on my resume, figuring don't let a good thing go to waste and the response was "years of experience in a language doesn't quantify your knowledge of the language." I was quite young at the time and the approach I ended up with hasn't steered me wrong yet.
That sounds pretty interesting. Do you happen to have the full list of code-word's available?
I'd put 5 at "wrote the language or contributed to the language". So 1-5 on Python where 1 is completed first tutorial book, written a non-trivial program. 5 == Guido Rostrum / contributed to a release. 3-4 would be if you have written a compiler.
Since the scale is only 1-5, saying that only a few people in the world qualify as a 5 or even 4 wastes 20% or even 40% of the expressiveness of the scale, which makes it pretty useless. It's better to round in the other direction, and think of the scale as logarithmic. If most people in the world won't have any ratings in the 4-5 range, that makes it pretty useless for comparing your own proficiency in the languages you do know, which is the entire point of the exercise, not comparing yourself to the people who designed the language. The interesting thing she's trying to express is how much better she knows JavaScript than Ruby, not how good she is compared to Brendan Eich or Matz.
"Guido van Rossum".
I mean how advanced can you be in a scripting language ? There is no memory management, no low level systems knowledge required. Can you give me an example of writing really really advanced code in Ruby or Python ?
> Can you give me an example of writing really really advanced code in Ruby or Python ?
I will take your comment at face value and will answer accordingly.
First, here's a direct answer to your question: take a look at [0], and you will se an example use of metaprogramming.
In this file ModelBase is a metaclass, which is used to create new classes at runtime.
[0] https://github.com/django/django/blob/master/django/db/model...
Also, you may have to reevaluate your definition of a scripting language. I will try to guess as to what it could mean to you currently:
Now you can compare the size of the C/C++ sdtlib and e.g Python, Ruby or Java. The latter ones are an order of magnitude bigger than standard C and C++.
Now maybe that's because we're not declaring types and not having function/method signatures that makes it a scripting language. Really what's at play here is static vs dynamic typing. Python and Ruby are dynamically typed, while C is statically typed. But Objective-C is dynamically typed too.
So I think we have made quite a round-up of things, and hopefully enouch to demonstrate that well, while Python and Ruby are effectively able to be used (and quite efficiently so) to write scripts, they are clearly just not only "scripting languages", but full-blown, extremely advanced and potent programming languages.
I will take your comment at face value and will answer accordingly.
First, here's a direct answer to your question: take a look at [0], and you will se an example use of metaprogramming.
In this file ModelBase is a metaclass, which is used to create new classes at runtime.
[0] https://github.com/django/django/blob/master/django/db/model...
Also, you may have to reevaluate your definition of a scripting language. I will try to guess as to what it could mean to you currently:
A script language is interpreted, a non-script language is compiled
A script language has limited tools, a non-script language has a sizable standard library
Now you can compare the size of the C/C++ sdtlib and e.g Python, Ruby or Java. The latter ones are an order of magnitude bigger than standard C and C++.
A script language has no external library facilities, a non-script language has third party library facilities
A script language has no types, a non-script language has types
Now maybe that's because we're not declaring types and not having function/method signatures that makes it a scripting language. Really what's at play here is static vs dynamic typing. Python and Ruby are dynamically typed, while C is statically typed. But Objective-C is dynamically typed too.
A script language is used to write scripts
A script language is not written in itself, a non-script language is written in itself.
A script language has no memory management, a non-script language is low-level
So I think we have made quite a round-up of things, and hopefully enouch to demonstrate that well, while Python and Ruby are effectively able to be used (and quite efficiently so) to write scripts, they are clearly just not only "scripting languages", but full-blown, extremely advanced and potent programming languages.
Great roundup. Its nice to see all this points. One big difference between scripting and non-scripting languages is that, in scripting languages you can modify the structure of the program at runtime, while in compiled languages you are stuck once you compile it. C++ does have metaprogramming through the use of templates and those programs look immensely complicated, but it can't introduce new data types and logic at runtime. I kinda dislike C++ from beyond templates as the code looks super ugly.
The ability to modify the program at runtime (and elegantly) is a huge advantage over compiled ones and allows you to express new category of solutions. Programs that change itself is in my opinion pretty advanced.
So it seems, Python and Ruby allows the programmer to free the mind from the low-level housekeeping and focus 100% on logical thinking and give incredible expressiveness. I would buy that. I wonder how often an above average python/ruby programmer use its metaprogramming / reflection capabitlies?
The ability to modify the program at runtime (and elegantly) is a huge advantage over compiled ones and allows you to express new category of solutions. Programs that change itself is in my opinion pretty advanced.
So it seems, Python and Ruby allows the programmer to free the mind from the low-level housekeeping and focus 100% on logical thinking and give incredible expressiveness. I would buy that. I wonder how often an above average python/ruby programmer use its metaprogramming / reflection capabitlies?
> I wonder how often an above average python/ruby programmer use its metaprogramming / reflection capabitlies?
Daily.
Daily.
I once had a professor teaching a course on elegance in software design proclaim "Python is not a real language". The course is taught in Java. I cringed.
"I can't define it, but I know it when I see it."
Managing memory and using low-level system functions is only advanced when the problem at hand requires it. Otherwise its yak-shaving. It would be like digging a pool with a spoon because you're too bad-ass for shovels.
I totally agree. I would not write web services in C++ unless I have only one computer and million users.
You've been downvoted a decent amount, and I can see why, but I believe it is unfair because it's only due to your perspective.
At one job I ended up having a lot of work writing language bindings from C to what is commonly considered a "scripting language" (TCL), so it's easy to have to deal with memory management and low level systems knowledge in relation to a scripting language (knowing the semantics of memory management within a language drastically changes how you have to write the bindings). However, the idea is to rate your skill with that particular language. No matter what the most advanced state is of a language, a 5/5 (or whatever the scale is) means that you can accomplish the most advanced task possible in the language. That doesn't mean that someone who is, say, 5/5 in Perl, will have the same skillset and capabilities as someone who is a 5/5 in AT&T syntax assembler. However, there are a list of base assumptions of skills they do have that may align with what we need as a developer when looking at resumes.
At one job I ended up having a lot of work writing language bindings from C to what is commonly considered a "scripting language" (TCL), so it's easy to have to deal with memory management and low level systems knowledge in relation to a scripting language (knowing the semantics of memory management within a language drastically changes how you have to write the bindings). However, the idea is to rate your skill with that particular language. No matter what the most advanced state is of a language, a 5/5 (or whatever the scale is) means that you can accomplish the most advanced task possible in the language. That doesn't mean that someone who is, say, 5/5 in Perl, will have the same skillset and capabilities as someone who is a 5/5 in AT&T syntax assembler. However, there are a list of base assumptions of skills they do have that may align with what we need as a developer when looking at resumes.
"5/5 (or whatever the scale is) means that you can accomplish the most advanced task possible in the language"
I appreciate your sympathy. I have no problem with people who are born into scripting languages. Personally I started with C, C++ and worked on few scripting languages. My question came from more of curiosity. There is more learning curve in low-level languages because the very structure of your code can affect the memory foot-print of your programs and that requires careful crafting of data-structures and algorithms. At a scripting language level you are in a virtual "world". It does allows you to SOLVE pretty advanced problems but it does not necessarily translate into your expertise in the scripting language itself. For example, I might use Ruby to create true AI system but in the end its the algorithm that mattered not my knowledge of the language.
I appreciate your sympathy. I have no problem with people who are born into scripting languages. Personally I started with C, C++ and worked on few scripting languages. My question came from more of curiosity. There is more learning curve in low-level languages because the very structure of your code can affect the memory foot-print of your programs and that requires careful crafting of data-structures and algorithms. At a scripting language level you are in a virtual "world". It does allows you to SOLVE pretty advanced problems but it does not necessarily translate into your expertise in the scripting language itself. For example, I might use Ruby to create true AI system but in the end its the algorithm that mattered not my knowledge of the language.
I don't know how much effort you put into learning high-level languages, but people coming from C tend to keep writing "C" in scripting languages as well.
While that can work, they miss out on all the cool and more advanced stuff these languages has to offer.
While that can work, they miss out on all the cool and more advanced stuff these languages has to offer.
People downvoting: this guy is admitting to his ignorance and actively and constructively asking to be challenged on it. I don't think that's the kind of comment we want to downvote here, even if the tone makes you bristle.
Read Higher Order Perl, think it's usable for Python & Ruby as well..
(available as a free pdf now)
http://hop.perl.plover.com/book/
Edit:
Here's the TOC:
(available as a free pdf now)
http://hop.perl.plover.com/book/
Edit:
Here's the TOC:
1) Recursion and callbacks
2) Dispatch tables
3) Caching and memoization
4) Iterators
5) From recursion to iterators
6) Infinite streams
7) Higher-order functions and currying
8) Parsing
9) Declarative programmingHow about PyPy? It's a Python JIT compiler written in Python.
There are thousands of other examples. Managing memory and low level system is not the difficult part, it's just tedious - algorithms and mapping a problem correctly is the difficult part.
There are thousands of other examples. Managing memory and low level system is not the difficult part, it's just tedious - algorithms and mapping a problem correctly is the difficult part.
the way i think of my language skills in my own head is mostly a three-level system: read, write, and debug.
at the first level, you know enough to be able to look at existing code and have some idea what's going on. (this is me with C++.)
at the second level, you know enough to write new code with real functionality and have some chance of its working. (this is me with C.)
at the third level, you have a fairly thorough understanding of most parts of the language and know idioms, common pitfalls, etc., and can fix other people's code. (this is me with q, and it was me with java seven years ago when i was working in java.)
if you want to extend this, an extra level up could be "hack", where you contribute to the language itself--modify gcc or the python interpreter or whatever. (i aspire to get to this level in q, and i think i'm close.)
not sure how to wedge a fifth level into the system....
at the first level, you know enough to be able to look at existing code and have some idea what's going on. (this is me with C++.)
at the second level, you know enough to write new code with real functionality and have some chance of its working. (this is me with C.)
at the third level, you have a fairly thorough understanding of most parts of the language and know idioms, common pitfalls, etc., and can fix other people's code. (this is me with q, and it was me with java seven years ago when i was working in java.)
if you want to extend this, an extra level up could be "hack", where you contribute to the language itself--modify gcc or the python interpreter or whatever. (i aspire to get to this level in q, and i think i'm close.)
not sure how to wedge a fifth level into the system....
--the longer you work with something the more you realize how little you understand it
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metacognition
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metacognition
I typically just list things I've worked with, no matter the experience level. I like to do so because then the interviewer has to ask about them in an interview, where I'd then get a chance to (subtly) showcase my knowledge and enthusiasm.
From my own anecdote: I had an interviewer ask me about something I had listed in my resume (but not related to the job position). It made for good conversation and allowed them insight that they otherwise wouldn't have seen with a straight technical question.
Edit: Hopefully I didn't go off topic with my comment, but I also think the graphic indicator was a clever and very straightforward way of expressing experience level. It just doesn't seem very space efficient if on a paper resume.
From my own anecdote: I had an interviewer ask me about something I had listed in my resume (but not related to the job position). It made for good conversation and allowed them insight that they otherwise wouldn't have seen with a straight technical question.
Edit: Hopefully I didn't go off topic with my comment, but I also think the graphic indicator was a clever and very straightforward way of expressing experience level. It just doesn't seem very space efficient if on a paper resume.
I disagree, because of the subjectivity. For some things, it's fine, but for others, I don't think it's an accurate reflection.
For example, what actually quantifies 1/5 of Ruby? And does a 5/5 rating mean you know absolutely everything about it? Is 1/5 of Ruby the same as 1/5 of Python, or soldering, or speaking Icelandic?
There's also no improvement from 5/5, but even a master of their craft will know there is always room for improvement and greater mastery.
That demo has a lot of javascript going on, and she rates that 2/5. I don't think that demo is trivial to implement, and on relative terms I can assume that she's more than just dabbled in Haskell and Python.
We know she's German, so she puts 5/5 in German language, as it's her native tongue. If that was the base, does that mean she's as fluent with Garageband and Logic as she is speaking?
I don't think skills are so easily quantifiable, and I'd much prefer to see a qualitative analysis of those skills. Otherwise, I'm just looking at a meaningless pattern of shaded boxes on a page.
For example, what actually quantifies 1/5 of Ruby? And does a 5/5 rating mean you know absolutely everything about it? Is 1/5 of Ruby the same as 1/5 of Python, or soldering, or speaking Icelandic?
There's also no improvement from 5/5, but even a master of their craft will know there is always room for improvement and greater mastery.
That demo has a lot of javascript going on, and she rates that 2/5. I don't think that demo is trivial to implement, and on relative terms I can assume that she's more than just dabbled in Haskell and Python.
We know she's German, so she puts 5/5 in German language, as it's her native tongue. If that was the base, does that mean she's as fluent with Garageband and Logic as she is speaking?
I don't think skills are so easily quantifiable, and I'd much prefer to see a qualitative analysis of those skills. Otherwise, I'm just looking at a meaningless pattern of shaded boxes on a page.
From an interviewer's perspective though these kinds of ratings are still useful. They just need to be calibrated.
If I were hiring this person it would take less then 10 questions about one language to figure out where her competency is according to my scale and now (assuming she didn't fudge too much) about her competencies with others (some of which I may not know).
If I were hiring this person it would take less then 10 questions about one language to figure out where her competency is according to my scale and now (assuming she didn't fudge too much) about her competencies with others (some of which I may not know).
Another approach could be to normalize everything against your best skill. So rather than saying "I'm this good at X", you're saying "I'm about half as good at X as I am at Y."
I think the tricky bit would be making your intentions obvious.
I actually took a similar approach on my résumé: I broke my skills up into categories relative to each other rather than vying for some absolute quantification.
I think the tricky bit would be making your intentions obvious.
I actually took a similar approach on my résumé: I broke my skills up into categories relative to each other rather than vying for some absolute quantification.
Came here to say the same thing. I think it's an incredibly effective visualization.
I found it hard to figure how my resume could summarize the breadth of my knowledge. I ended up putting a table up with "Good knowledge of", "Some knowledge" and "Worked with" in my resume, listing each skill under one of the three headings. Gives a pretty general idea. Then again, during interviews for the job I'll be starting soon no one asked me a single technical question.
If it's a technical job and nobody asked you a technical question - you're probably better steering clear!
My reasoning of that is that it's a two year "traineeship" (widely used term in the Netherlands, seems less so abroad), which is more of a dive into the company, with extra coaching and mentoring at two different positions within the company. Most interview questions were of the sort "how do you work in teams" and "where do you see yourself in 5 years" - much harder to answer than technical questions :)
She's clearly a World of Darkness fan.
It looks neat, but I'm not sure it would help her find work, if that was the purpose of it. People seem to be more likely to find and hire you when you're easily classifiable—say, “JavaScript front-end developer”, or “Mixing engineer”.
I'm sure many people are good (or could be good) at many unrelated activities. I had an idea of personal portfolio that would encompass all of my interests and work, too. But in the end I chose to market myself as “just” a programmer. Knowing about my proficiency in Logic or InDesign or playing piano won't help anyone looking for a programmer, and if by chance I rate my Python skill lower than InDesign or, say, OS X skill, I'm pretty sure it will turn away many paying clients.
I decided to go with discrete “brands” for various activities. Failing at that currently, though (hard to manage).
I'm sure many people are good (or could be good) at many unrelated activities. I had an idea of personal portfolio that would encompass all of my interests and work, too. But in the end I chose to market myself as “just” a programmer. Knowing about my proficiency in Logic or InDesign or playing piano won't help anyone looking for a programmer, and if by chance I rate my Python skill lower than InDesign or, say, OS X skill, I'm pretty sure it will turn away many paying clients.
I decided to go with discrete “brands” for various activities. Failing at that currently, though (hard to manage).
> It looks neat, but I'm not sure it would help her find work, if that was the purpose of it.
If this is true, we live in a truly depressing world. I don't understand the point of an interview any more. I sit down, lie to you for an hour, you Google the shit out of me, stalk me on Facebook. But if I tell you who I am honestly? Trash bin.
If this is true, we live in a truly depressing world. I don't understand the point of an interview any more. I sit down, lie to you for an hour, you Google the shit out of me, stalk me on Facebook. But if I tell you who I am honestly? Trash bin.
I don't think it's that bad.
Why would you lie about yourself on an interview? An interested employer is unlikely to drop you because you are also proficient in, say, Final Cut.
The question is, how do you get to the interview?
It's simple: if a potential employer or client needs a Java programmer, they are likely to look for a “Java programmer”. Therefore, if you have a website that says “John Doe, Java programmer”, you seem more likely to get that job than if you only have a website about some John Doe that has Java listed somewhere among his multitude of skills.
Your website is probably made for other people. In that case, optimize it for other people. It seems easier for them when they can “classify” you. People who could appreciate your complex personality are your friends (and maybe family), but are they probably are outside the target audience of your website.
Why would you lie about yourself on an interview? An interested employer is unlikely to drop you because you are also proficient in, say, Final Cut.
The question is, how do you get to the interview?
It's simple: if a potential employer or client needs a Java programmer, they are likely to look for a “Java programmer”. Therefore, if you have a website that says “John Doe, Java programmer”, you seem more likely to get that job than if you only have a website about some John Doe that has Java listed somewhere among his multitude of skills.
Your website is probably made for other people. In that case, optimize it for other people. It seems easier for them when they can “classify” you. People who could appreciate your complex personality are your friends (and maybe family), but are they probably are outside the target audience of your website.
I like it too. One thing though: I think it should've been OSes, rather than OSs: http://english.stackexchange.com/q/3348/21816
Awesome work!
Wow she is awesome. This music hack day project is intensely beautiful http://nukaco.la/projects.html
It is a musical umbrella! That synths sound as it is hit by water!
She learned all by herself?
Actually she might learned to code in 3 months, but shes coding much longer I guess. e.g She wrote in her XING profile that she started studying informatics in 10/2010. Despite that, consider marrying her :)
Yup, I started studying bioinformatics in 2010. I chose bioinformatics, because I was interested in biochemistry and biology and wanted to learn how to code. To my disappointment uni did not teach me much practical things and programming courses (Haskell) were really boring. I would find myself sitting over a really dull homework in the middle of the night thinking "It's so stupid and boring. I really don't want to do this. I want to do more fun stuff... like coding a game or so.". Well trying to code a game in Haskell turned out to not be the best idea. Especially if you don't know how to code yet... and then I just stopped going to classes.
3-4 months ago I wanted to make a band, but had a hard time finding musicians. So I decided to learn Rails and HTML etc to build a web application which could help me (and others) find some musicians. In the end I never really officially launched it but learned a lot and found that I enjoy coding. :)
I'm learning Haskell using http://learnyouahaskell.com/ and I don't find it boring at all. Nowhere near as boring as homework.
Don't blame it on Haskell. Everyone has to learn the fundamentals. Haskell is suited for making games, it's just not the mainstream language for that. See http://www.haskell.org/haskellwiki/Frag . Yes, 3D games have lots of tricky state handling and OpenGL doesn't map well to Haskell. But doing a point-and-click adventure in Haskell is not harder than doing it in C++.
I really doubt your classes were stupid and boring. Maybe you were the one who was stupid and boring :P
I really doubt your classes were stupid and boring. Maybe you were the one who was stupid and boring :P
I have to say I like Haskell and I don't think it's boring at all. I just wanted to learn more than they were teaching us in uni. :) Haha, I even played around with HOpenGL...
Thank you all for being so nice! :')
I liked some of her other projects more, like the little Maniac Mansion thing, or her Rails app haveband.
I think this might be a one-off case, as she mentions RMS as a reason for not being on Facebook or Twitter.
Turn On -> Nyan Cat. LMAO!
Edit: I should have included the URL for context: http://nukaco.la/maniac.html
Edit: I should have included the URL for context: http://nukaco.la/maniac.html
I personally like how nyan cat becomes vampire cat when you turn off the light...
I can't find the key to the safe
edit: I'm having too much fun.
edit: I'm having too much fun.
Talk to one of the pictures. :)
and the javascript is unminified
hacked!
hacked!
spoiler!! 3 1 4 1
Care to share how she learned so quickly?
I'm most impressed with the 8-bit sound umbrella.
I saw that umbrella in Amsterdam @ MHD. Sadly, they just showed how it worked but not how it was made.
Really, really?
Congrats to her
I remember doing "something similar" in MSX Basic about 20 years ago =)
Congrats to her
I remember doing "something similar" in MSX Basic about 20 years ago =)
hach lukas. sweet.
That's really incredible. I love the Skills page, very creative.
The only thing that bothers me is that I can't select text... A little unnerving, actually.
The only thing that bothers me is that I can't select text... A little unnerving, actually.
Hard to believe, i'm really impressed.
You have an awesome and intelligent girlfriend. Congratulations.
Great work. Also, nice site name. :)
I think your gf is your hand. However, very nice work.
Can you tell us how she/you went about learning to code?
Almost invariably when we see posts like these on Hacker News, the person actually had prior programming experience, but just happened to start taking it serious for the last [small number] [unit of time].
Thus is the case here. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4050952
However, it's impressive for a first project. I hope you stick with it.
Thus is the case here. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4050952
However, it's impressive for a first project. I hope you stick with it.