Forem: Cody Austin

Live Coding: Why am I so anxious?

Cody Austin — Tue, 01 Oct 2019 23:11:40 +0000

When I initially came to Twitch as a streamer about a year ago I was playing other peoples games. A pastime I still enjoy, but as I played them and was the vessel behind the telling of their stories I realized something. I had always wanted to be a writer and I never realized that this was a way I could tell amazing stories.

I got into coding as a way to get into video game development. The thing with that is as a sole developer on a game that makes you responsible for everything. The art, the story and every damn piece of code that makes the thing run. So how exactly do I turn that whole process into content people will watch? I’ve watched bits and pieces of other peoples game development streams, and it works for them. They end up with anywhere from ten to fifty viewers. Why is then that the idea of coding in front of other people terrifies me?

It could be my lack of confidence in my skill. The fact that I spend more time googling how to code things then actually coding makes me afraid to put myself out there. I am always proud of the work that I do and what it looks like when its done, but it just doesn’t seem like performance worthy stuff to watch.

So I’ve decided to present my game development process to the world in a way that makes sense to me. We start off with the storytelling. We will write the game script, then move on to the graphic design and then move on to the coding, By the time we get to the coding portion we should know 100% where the game is going so the coding is just there to bring it all together. Hopefully having all that done will help get me through the coding without to much anxiety. If you would like to join me on that journey you can follow me on twitch here:

http://www.twitch.tv/nerdmom630

Half Done...

Cody Austin — Sun, 22 Sep 2019 23:57:20 +0000

As a mother to a very active child I have a habit of leaving things half finished. Shelves of half read books and folders on my computer full of half completed projects. There just never seems to be time to finish especially if I would like to sleep like a normal functioning human.

So how do you get over this problem? I still haven't figured out how to get through my overwhelming stack of books. That is a mystery that may never be solved. My advice for getting through that stack of half finished projects while you have a small human in tow is as follows:

1.Let them see what you are working on. You will never have the free time to work alone unless they are in school, but if you are employed during that time frame your free time to learn that new skill is as elusive as seeing a unicorn. If you let them see what you are working on whether they understand why it works or not you bring them in instead of pushing them away. Truthfully the minute I start to explain what I'm working on to my son he stops crawling up my face to get attention because he feels included in the experience. Then slowly as if by magic he then wanders away and gives me the five minutes I need to figure out why the damn click function won't work no matter which way I write it. (more often then not it's because I'm distracted and missed a semi colon.

2.Build things you might need in your day to day life. As a content creator and everyday human my life needs organization. I realized when I became part of the Twitch community many moons ago that being a content creator is a special kind of job with special requirements of your time. So I wondered if people like me felt like the regular day planner wasn't organized in a way that would allow them to accomplish everything they needed. So I began to build a day planner specific to what I felt the needs of a content creator were. Then yesterday I realized what a cool idea it would be to have an app that allowed me to keep track of good behavior and chores for my son so that maybe he could earn an allowance. So I started work on said app. Both of these projects are open tabs on my laptop. I work a little on one and when I get stuck I move to the other. This means that no matter what I have accomplished something and feel like the time I took for myself meant something.

I feel like as wives and mothers trying to learn a new skill or just do something for ourselves is hard for us. There is always somebody to take care of and you are normally last on that list. If coding is your new found passion as it is for me then you desperately need to take that five minutes for yourself. Even if you can't code. Read somebody else's blog post, do one practice exercise or follow one coder on your favorite social media spot. Do one thing everyday to further your goal. Finish your projects one piece at a time. There is a light at the end of the tunnel and I swear it isn't just the glare of your computer screen.

Book Review: The Gamer's Guide To Coding

Cody Austin — Thu, 19 Sep 2019 14:43:44 +0000

When I first set out learning to code I wanted to do it for a couple of reasons:

1.I was really tired of downloading games for my son that claimed to be free only to find out 3/4 of the content was behind a paywall.

2.Also about two years ago I reinvigorated my love of video games as a way to tell stories. Horror/Thriller games have become my favorite. Those are always my go to movie genres so it figures that a good jump scare game would be my favorite as well.

So I did what anybody does when they’re looking to learn something new and what to my local nerd hub (Barnes and Noble) to scour the technology section. There right in front as if the place knew what I needed was The Gamer’s Guide To Coding by Gordon McComb.

The books takes a very beginners guide approach and starts you off with common HTML elements and what they are used for. Then moves you into basic Javascript. Before the first three chapters are over you learn how to build a random number game. It then moves you into CSS and working with graphics. I like the fact that it waits to teach you how to make things pretty until it teaches you how to make them function. Every time it teaches you something new it provides you with detailed code examples.

The book then progresses through teaching you animation techniques and how to manipulate the DOM. How to write code that thinks and responds to events. Every section builds on the content from the previous section teaching you all the concepts you need to be able to build a 2d Javascript game.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and continue to use it as a reference in new projects. I hope this helps anybody looking to start game coding. I firmly believe it is an excellent place to start if you are new to coding. It is something that gives you instant feedback to let you know whether your code works and at the end you have a fully functional project to show future employers.

Free Code Camp and It's Community

Cody Austin — Tue, 17 Sep 2019 20:15:09 +0000

As a mother and a self taught coder I spend a lot of time going slightly stir crazy in front of my computer. I love my little boy more then anything, but he knows nothing about Javascript. He always appreciates the end result though and sometimes having a cheerleader while you’re banging your face into your computer screen is the best thing in the world.

When I started posting my coding projects on Twitter and connecting with other developers I discovered my next educational resource that everyone seemed to be talking about. Free Code Camp and the 100 days of code challenge was everywhere on the coding twittersphere. This website had created a community of coders who celebrated each others accomplishments and helped out when people were stuck. I had to explore it.

The Free Code Camp website it a completely free resource that asks for donations, but all the content is there for you to use whether you donate or not. It starts you off at the beginning with HTML, CSS and responsive web design. It then moves you into Javascript and Data Structures. The front end libraries like JQuery and Bootstrap. The other sections of content include:

Data Visualization Certification
Apis And Microservices Certification
Information Security And Quality Assurance Certification

It all culminates in thousands of hours of coding interview prep challenges for the dreaded tech interview. Every section of content ends in roughly five portfolio projects to show off your work to potential employers.

As I was making my way through the front end libraries section trying to learn React and Redux I discovered the very helpful discussion forum. A mix of new coders and others with experience trying to learn something new. I found when I went looking for answers to my questions either people would respond with their own code examples, or find a very descriptive way to point you in the right direction so you can write the code yourself.

I would recommend this site to anybody looking to either start coding or learn a new library for work. As somebody who can’t afford to go to a coding bootcamp or go back to school and get my CS degree this site is a cost effective alternative to build my portfolio and go out into the workforce as a freelance coder.

Looking for recommendations

Cody Austin — Sun, 15 Sep 2019 04:43:20 +0000

I am trying to add python to my skillset and I was curious what your favorite free resources are? I also learn really well from books, and it gives me an excuse to go to the bookstore and touch all the books so if there's a book you love I would love to know about it.

Building a dayplanner

Cody Austin — Fri, 13 Sep 2019 05:01:25 +0000

Currently building a dayplanner app that uses sticky notes to hold events and To dos. I'm really having a hard time figuring out a save function. I just want to be able to save and access it on my machine. Any ideas?