Software Development and Programming Careers (Official Discussion Thread)

[Sonny Bonds]

Yesterday, I received the instructions for the classes final* project. Topic-wise, it's pretty open ended. Pick a product or a business\industry (can be made up) and make a site (min. 7 pages). And a bunch of requirements from stuff I've learned over the last 4 weeks.

I'm making a website for a fictional custom PC company. I've already thought of a few features that I can put in to hit some of the project requirements.

*Passing this project means I go on to a proper bootcamp.

 

[PikaDaDon]

Cool video but a bit too short imo. Seems like it was designed for millennials w/ ADHD.

 

[TrebleMan]

After working in this field/industry for about a month, I've come to the conclusion that building programs is more art than science.

Learning it is scientific, the actual process of how a computer does it's calculations is scientific, but actually building an app/feature is very artistic and opinionated - even when working in the same framework/environment/language.

I don't know how many times I've got conflicting answers from multiple Senior Engineers:

One senior engineer would offer advice for a code review of how they'd want something implemented and how it differs from what you had.
Only for another senior engineer to review the code and want it implemented in another way.
Then another senior engineer would not like any of the changes and insist on it being another way (perhaps the way I originally had it)
Then another senior engineer would disapprove.
Repeat cycle.

If it was so much "concrete" why are there so many opinionated responses?

I'm starting to believe whether or not a coding decision is acceptable by the senior engineer sometimes just depends on the day they review it.

I brought that up to another Senior Engineer this week and he pretty much told me "People really don't know shyt. That's the funny part. If I'm interviewing somebody, I'm hiring the person that admits that."

When an artist(s) makes a song: Go where the music takes you, follow your feelings.
When a coder(s) designs an app: Go where the code takes you, follow the design.

Both similar decisions at the end of the day, where future implementations (adding a chord/adding a feature) rely on a decision you or someone else made in the past that can greatly affect what you're trying to do in the present. It's also why I believe people lose interest in creating their personal projects. There's just no way of telling what you're trying at the start of your program will play nicely with what you're doing on the same project a month later.

I was watching an interview of a studio/sound engineer once (I think it was Philip Tan) and he said that even if he mixed a hit song in the past, if he got the same song today he'd probably mix it differently. I think the same can be said in this industry.

Again, I haven't been working in this industry long, but I'm getting that this is the sense more than people would like to admit.

 

[lightskin jermaine]

i know this may be simple for some of y'all but i'm stuck and drjava is giving me hella errors. can y'all help me with the code i'm supposed to write on this exercise?

Instructions: Based on the lecture or the slides for The Anatomy of a Java Program, code three (3) Java application classes with the class headers, class braces, the header for the main method and the method braces. Insert the appropriate comment box and line comments. Use DrJava to create these files. Note: You should've already installed DrJava on your personal computer (see first homework for IS 2033). Follow the instructions in chapter 3 of DrJava QuickStart Guide (File section below).

1. Name the application classes as follows:

OceanYourLastNameLE12.java

LakeYourLastNameLE12.java

RiverYourLastNameLE12.java

 

[levitate]

Using PyCharm as my Python IDE now.

Also getting into GUI programming with Tkinter. Adding buttons, input boxes, and pull-down menus to my programs now...LAWD...

My programs now look like they were made in 1995 instead of 1985.

 

[lightskin jermaine]

i know this may be simple for some of y'all but i'm stuck and drjava is giving me hella errors. can y'all help me with the code i'm supposed to write on this exercise?

Instructions: Based on the lecture or the slides for The Anatomy of a Java Program, code three (3) Java application classes with the class headers, class braces, the header for the main method and the method braces. Insert the appropriate comment box and line comments. Use DrJava to create these files. Note: You should've already installed DrJava on your personal computer (see first homework for IS 2033). Follow the instructions in chapter 3 of DrJava QuickStart Guide (File section below).

1. Name the application classes as follows:

OceanYourLastNameLE12.java

LakeYourLastNameLE12.java

RiverYourLastNameLE12.java

nevermind, i figured it out. i feel like an idiot

 

[luciddreamer]

I got an idea for an app but no programming skills or any idea where to start....how would I go about this?
Are online app builders useful? and if I go the route of getting a freelancer, how would the rights to the app go, and am I looking at a pretty penny?

 

[PikaDaDon]

Wall running ain't perfect but I think it's satisfactory for a prototype.

 

[kevm3]

After working in this field/industry for about a month, I've come to the conclusion that building programs is more art than science.

Learning it is scientific, the actual process of how a computer does it's calculations is scientific, but actually building an app/feature is very artistic and opinionated - even when working in the same framework/environment/language.

I don't know how many times I've got conflicting answers from multiple Senior Engineers:

One senior engineer would offer advice for a code review of how they'd want something implemented and how it differs from what you had.
Only for another senior engineer to review the code and want it implemented in another way.
Then another senior engineer would not like any of the changes and insist on it being another way (perhaps the way I originally had it)
Then another senior engineer would disapprove.
Repeat cycle.

If it was so much "concrete" why are there so many opinionated responses?

I'm starting to believe whether or not a coding decision is acceptable by the senior engineer sometimes just depends on the day they review it.

I brought that up to another Senior Engineer this week and he pretty much told me "People really don't know shyt. That's the funny part. If I'm interviewing somebody, I'm hiring the person that admits that."

When an artist(s) makes a song: Go where the music takes you, follow your feelings.
When a coder(s) designs an app: Go where the code takes you, follow the design.

Both similar decisions at the end of the day, where future implementations (adding a chord/adding a feature) rely on a decision you or someone else made in the past that can greatly affect what you're trying to do in the present. It's also why I believe people lose interest in creating their personal projects. There's just no way of telling what you're trying at the start of your program will play nicely with what you're doing on the same project a month later.

I was watching an interview of a studio/sound engineer once (I think it was Philip Tan) and he said that even if he mixed a hit song in the past, if he got the same song today he'd probably mix it differently. I think the same can be said in this industry.

Again, I haven't been working in this industry long, but I'm getting that this is the sense more than people would like to admit.

It's pretty much a mixture of both imo. The science is there in that there are sound, fundamental, well-researched tools you are given, but how you use those tools to build a product is where the art comes in.There's so many ways to build the same thing and you won't really get your grounding under you until you get experience and see what generally has worked over time and what hasn't. It kind of reminds me of architecture or engineering a product.

 

[kevm3]

Using PyCharm as my Python IDE now.

Also getting into GUI programming with Tkinter. Adding buttons, input boxes, and pull-down menus to my programs now...LAWD...

My programs now look like they were made in 1995 instead of 1985.

Jetbrain IDEs are easily my favorite, especially when you start learning the keystrokes. Way better to use them when working on a big project compared to using something lightweight. If you go to the help pulldown menu, you can get the keymap reference.

 

[Obreh Winfrey]

Apparently there's a sale for IT courses going on for Udemy. $12 per course so stock up if you need to. Ends in 2 days.

 

[PikaDaDon]

In my game I'm using a visually scripting language called Blueprints. Here is a screenshot of what the code looks like (not mine)

You could imagine this shyt is a nightmare for large, complex code. I've implemented alot of features that work as intended but the code is ugly as fukk. One of these days I'm gonna have to spend hours cleaning shyt up.

 

[Sonny Bonds]

Hey @everyone just last minute advice... Please remember to CHECK ALL YOUR FILE PATHS.. use ONLY the shortest paths possible.. my laptop does not recognize "/psa101/etc... MAKE SURE YOUR LINKS WORK..
[10:38]
cannot stress the file paths enough! I wont be accepting projects that include these super long file paths..

I don't really understand what this means. And why did he wait until 10:30 the night before it's due to say this?

 

[Obreh Winfrey]

I don't really understand what this means. And why did he wait until 10:30 the night before it's due to say this?

It sounds like when he was extracting projects the total file path would be too long and not extract files properly. Rather than him extracting to something short like /root/prj he wants people to refactor their project structure. If that's the case, kind of lazy on the professor's part IMO. He probably didn't discover until just then, probably trying to help out another student.

@PikaDaDon keep up the good work, and I mean that sincerely. I honestly wish I had the drive to stick with an area and really learn it in depth in my free time. I gain a cursory understanding and then move on to the next subject, quickly forgetting the first.

I did a couple of things with a visual scripting system when I was doing stuff in Unity. This was before I was a solid programmer. I made a nice little zombie wander and attack system but visual scripting felt kind of limited. I don't know how things go for UE though.

 

[Ayo]

anybody here use magento at work? i need to learn this shyt asap.

bloated slow resource hog. but practically an industry standard for the companies that don't have custom in house solutions.