Forem: James Palermo

Why isn't there Tinder for coding partners?

James Palermo — Thu, 09 Jun 2022 12:58:40 +0000

I'm a person who really enjoys having a partner to work on stuff with. Maybe there is some obscure syntax that needs googling -- one of you can go look it up while the other keeps working on the actual logic challenges.

Perhaps you're just struggling with motivation, or your sleep cycle, and knowing that someone is waiting on you to get up off your lazy backside and get on voice chat and get to work is important to you.

Maybe you just enjoy bouncing ideas off of another person, and hearing their ideas, then working together to make them a reality.

Not only that, but for a lot of new coders who might want to go on to make a career of this you're going to need to learn how to talk to other humans about code.

I can fire up an app on my phone and find almost anything I want. I can buy a broken refrigerator, sell a camera lens, or as the title implies find someone to go on a 'date' with.

I know there are lots of great communities (my favorite being dev.to due to the diversity of skill level, writing style, and culture) but there isn't a centralized place to say "I'd like to build my first Vue/React/Vanilla-ts/Python/whatever, anyone want to learn with me?"

I know the webdev community loves to think of itself as super inclusive and open and friendly but to be honest, it is a little cliquey. Go on any Discord server about webdev and you'll find there is a group of people who are usually highly skilled and very tight knit. Open source projects are even more intimidating.

I wish I could swipe ... right? left? I've never used Tinder but whichever way you swipe to say "We're a match!" and find people to work on projects with.

People often say learning to code on your own is an "adventure" but in all my years I've never once been on an adventure that wasn't enhanced by having someone else along for the ride.

Stay healthy,

Normal to struggle with Tailwind?

James Palermo — Mon, 30 May 2022 05:50:00 +0000

I'm trying to experiment with Tailwind. It seems so... Scattered and difficult to keep track of. Should I push through and keep practicing with this method of styling or is normal CSS still going to be around for the foreseeable future?

I like structured and grouped stuff I guess.

When you realize half your car is stuck in a frozen lake.

James Palermo — Mon, 30 May 2022 00:10:32 +0000

One time I was driving on an icy road in my GTI. Then I heard a crunch and it tilted sideways.

It was actually partially the bank of a river that had such thick ice it seemed like a flat road. I immediately did everything I could to prepare for the recovery truck, but without them I was stuck.

I've wound up in this situation with my Python project. I Came up with an exciting project idea, judged it within my ability to execute, made quite good progress until... crunch. Tilt. Splash. I'm stuck.

This is something people gloss over when saying anyone can learn to code on their own. The ability to wave over a teacher or ask a student next to you if they can help can save hours of research, trial, and error. Furthermore with an instructor overlooking your attempts to get unstuck, you're less likely to come up with a fragile or unsafe solution.

All this is to say my wonderful project is stuck, and boy I wish I had a Python tow truck to help me out.

What is forgotten about why we need C++ for the future

James Palermo — Sun, 19 Sep 2021 05:05:23 +0000

[Note: I will be using C and C++ interchangeably throughout.]
Discussions about Rust, Golang, Kotlin, etc replacing C++ always overlook how deeply entrenched C/CPP is in the world. Cars, cable boxes, movie projectors, fighter jets, particle colliders… heck Python uses a ton of C under the hood and the internet runs on Nodejs, written in C, running on operating systems written in C. Accessed by browsers written in C. The world runs on it.

Yeah it’s got a lot of problems but when a language is so widely deployed the problems are equally widely known. The quirks don’t surprise engineers, they build for them. The capabilities and limitations of the language are known quantities. Sure Ryan Dhal can complain about C and switch to Rust for Deno, but if you’re coding a new missile guidance system do you wanna use a new language that is theoretically better and easier to use, or the one that you’ve spent 20 years getting REALLY good at using for guiding missiles?

I predict that C/CPP will be replaced by a new language around the same time QWERTY keyboards are replaced by a new layout.

I'm not sure when that will be, but I'd love to hear from any of you who can see a practical path to what would be nothing short of a revolution in how we tell the stuff in the world what we want it to do. It seems such a long uphill fight to my eyes, but I'm open to being convinced otherwise.

Thanks,

[Note: This is a lightly revised repost of comment I wrote, which I wanted to publish under my profile for future reference]

The loneliness of learning

James Palermo — Sun, 19 Sep 2021 01:05:12 +0000

I sit at my machine, launching my IDE and getting ready to work on my project. I’ve recently made a breakthrough and now the basic functionality of my simple website works. I decide that I’ll focus on styling for a while, and soon the familiar click-clack of my trusty Khail box white keys fills the room.

That is all that fills this room. As I briefly let my attention wander, an existential chill comes over me. How many other thousands of people are learning CSS right now? Are they networked and collaborating and helping each other figure out challenges? Do they have anything in their ears other than the clack of their keyboard and creaks of their chair?

As you can guess by the fact that I’m posting here I am well aware of development communities; I’ve come in contact with many helpful folks who have helped me when I’ve had a question or two. Yet for me, people to stay in touch as we learn escape me.

I write this all to say that if you are learning coding and you see busy open source projects, read Medium posts with lots of views, and see popular YouTube coding channels but don’t feel part of anything you’re not as alone as it feels.

Learning this stuff from home can be very lonely. It can be challenging and frustrating not having human contact to sit down with and solve problems with. It can be exhausting and make you insecure.

But even with all that, you know what? I’m not going to quit. I love making stuff. I love my chair, I love my keyboard, and even if nobody else ever sees the new CSS I’m working on I’ll still be god damn proud that I taught myself how to do it.

Soon the familiar click-clack of my Khail box whites fill the room again, but somehow they sound a little bit more cheerful than before.

Stay healthy my friends,