Forem: Prashik Meshram

Journal your ideas and experiences with your voice: Voice Journal

Prashik Meshram — Sat, 13 Apr 2024 18:08:02 +0000

This is a submission for the Cloudflare AI Challenge.

What I Built

Voice Journal is a journal app which transcribes your natural speech to what I call a voice note 🔉. Apart from this, it also stores your voice recordings for playback ⏯️.

It has built-in AI chat integration, so you can ask anything about your notes, like list the activities I did today. You can also generate a concise summary of your voice note.

Demo

Here, try the live version of Voice Journal deployed on Cloudflare Pages and AI Workers.

My Code

Here’s the GitHub repository

The project is structured into two directories: web for frontend and worker for AI workers.

Journey

It was my first time using Cloudflare AI Workers, and I had an amazing developer experience working with it. I started building the app with AI Workers and used Hono as a routing library.

Apart from this, I was getting an error while working with the whisper model via the REST API; thus, later, I tried the same but with Cloudflare AI Bindings for Workers and it worked.

Thus, I had to deploy the workers separately for the same issue.

Build the frontend with Next.js, Tailwind CSS and shadcn components, integrated the AI Worker, and finally deploy it on Cloudflare Pages.

I have integrated three AI models, here’s the detail for each:

The whisper model is used for generating transcripts from audio; it takes an array buffer converted to an 8-bit unsigned integer for audio processing.

For text-generation, integrated mistral-7b-instruct-v0.1 model.

To provide a summary of voice notes, the bart-large-cnn model is used, which tries to summarize the recorded voice notes. I think it needs more fine-tuning for better results.

The most challenging part of this whole building process was handling the audio data format and how to process it, as it was my first time dealing with it.

The future plan is to connect Cloudflare R2 object storage to store the audio files and fine-tune the summarization model.

Multiple Models and/or Triple Task Types

The Voice Journal utilizes three models for performing the tasks:

whisper for speech to text conversion
mistral-7b-instruct-v0.1 for text generation
bart-large-cnn to summarize the notes

Which programming language you should learn?

Prashik Meshram — Mon, 03 Jan 2022 13:18:06 +0000

I am assuming that you are a beginner or still confused which language to choose or how to choose your next programming language which can maximize your efficiency and the language you would really enjoy working with.

Languages are just like tools. Let's take an analogy of building a dog house. For building a dog house first you need a plan and a drawing of the finished house, then some raw material such as woods and a set of tools like hammer, saw and so on.

Now if you don't know how to build the dog house what you will do is go online and search for how to build dog house, then you will read some articles watch videos and so on. You will gain knowledge.

It's just like same in programming, you require a plan on what you will do with the language in future it may be for web development, machine learning or game development. Then some raw materials such as PC (recommended) well you can also do it on mobile, but it's not that efficient. And tool(s) your programming language(s).

Depending on your needs or what you're building, you may need one or multiple languages. There are hundreds of language out there, so many that at some point you will get overwhelmed what to choose. This post will try to answer some of your questions about:

Which language to select
How to pick a language
Which language you should opt for larger companies or job interview
and beyond...

Also, I have mentioned my personal choice on which language to choose.

Why you should learn a language?

It can prove to be an important question, because you should first decide what you want to be or want to achieve, have a plan of what you will do.

A man who does not plan long ahead will find trouble at his door. – Confucius

Do yourself a favor and ask a question, want I want to do with it:

To get a job (it can be in large companies or any other)
Become a developer (game, android, web developer, etc.)
Go for freelancing
To get better at logical thinking and problem-solving ability
Out of curiosity, want to just explore the world of programming
Or for fun or any other reason

Whatever is it, just take some time and think about what you want with it. In case you don't know any developer fields, take some time and do research. Note, you should choose one thing at a time

Because if you just start without thinking or doesn't have a plan you will get lost in the world of so much knowledge and at some point you might get overwhelm with vast domain of programming (which happened to me). It's the same if you try to pick multiple things at once.

At this point you should have decided what you want to do by learning a language or want to achieve.

How to choose a language?

Ok I'm assuming that you have to decide what you want to do whether you want to get a job or just for fun.

Now you have decided, it's time to do some research to pick a language according to your work needs as well as best suited.

Let's say you have picked the Web Development domain and wanted to be a front-end developer. Now what you can do is simply search Front-end languages it will come up with some result now it's your task to go through some results and decide what's best for you.

In my case the results were telling me to first learn these three core front-end languages which are HTML, CSS and JavaScript. So I can say that I require three languages to get started in front-end web development. Similarly, you can do this with other domain or for any specific role.

If you ask me which language to choose for front-end I would also say the same thing, but the point of doing your own research is that it will help you to get more clear with your goals, and also you stay up to date with the latest information, who knows what will be used in industry after few years (if you are reading it now) it can be some new trend or new technology.

The only way to learn a new programming language is by writing programs in it. - Dennis Ritchie

Advice: Learn one language at a time. Look as a beginner you don't need to know all the details of every language, just pick up which suits best for you, do the basics and as you progress gradually and get more comfortable and experience with language than you would be at a level where you can decision for yourself.

Tip: Just don't pick language which is out-dated or too new, ESPECIALLY If you are just starting out.

Some pretty solid choices

If your goal is to get a job at large companies, then these are solid choices (choose anyone):

C++
Java
Python

Most large companies will let you pick any language out there (but not one which is not being used in industry) they will not take a language as a barrier, and also you should not. Just pick a language which you're comfortable and better at.

As the whole job ecosystem does not revolve around these, as many job fields have different work associated with different languages or framework. If you want to get a job at a specific company or startup you should check their job description or requirements which highlights roles, what you should know and so on.

At last, the interviewer will not ask questions about language, but it will test your problem-solving ability that how efficiently you can come up with solution of a given problem by using your preferred programming language.

Should you learn multiple languages?

Yes, off course you can learn multiple languages, it can benefit you in various ways.

Let's say you want to build a plagiarism checker with python to check pages for plagiarism, but if you want to do this task with lot lesser time let's say you want to check hundreds of pages at very minimum time then the preferred choice would be C or Java over Python. As these languages are faster.

But don't do this mistake, trying to learn multiple languages at the same time. It will decrease your productivity and harm your learning. Just don't learn them simultaneously.

Are programming language matters?

Well, it is not that important as you think it is. Let me clear what I want to say

Yes off course programming language(s) matter, without it would get very difficult to give instructions to computer or do all sorts of good things which it grants you.

But the more essential thing that matters is your problem-solving ability, logic skills, how you approach toward the solution of problem.

Programming languages are all the same; you just need a logic. – Joey O.

As programming is all about logically thinking about the given problem and coming up with an efficient solution, with language as a tool. It depends on you, how logically do you use that tool to solve a certain problem efficiently.

Personal Choice

If you are still confused, then I would give my personal recommendations to get you started.

Python
If you want to just get started in the world of programming without thinking too much, or you are coming from different work background and wanted to know about programming domain, then you can easily get started with it.

Why Python?

It's beginner-friendly.
Simple syntax.
Higher job market as well as higher opportunity.
It has a vast community so if you face any difficulty while learning you can just seek for help or there are many pre-build solutions to your problem.

JavaScript
Another most popular language out there which is also simple and easy to learn, which is an essential part of web applications.

Why JavaScript?

Simple to learn and implement.
Most widely used.
It fits with other languages nicely.
Can be used in a variety of application.

At last there is no such things as a perfect language all the programming languages have their own limitations, so it depends on you how you take this tool.

If you have any questions, suggestions or feedback related to this content, feel free to reach me at Twitter.

Some Common Pitfalls You Should Avoid As Programmer

Prashik Meshram — Mon, 14 Jun 2021 06:48:58 +0000

Well every one make mistakes it's in human nature. When I was just starting out in programming I don't have anyone who can guide me or anyone to show me the right direction. As I was alone in this journey where there is not one to ask for, I made some mistakes along the way.

I made a lot of mistakes and get to learn a lesson from it as well. It's good to make mistakes as long as they are new, but some mistakes are not worth making.

What I mean by that is some common mistakes can be avoidable with someone's advice or learnings which can save your time, effort and piece of mind or simply to say avoid making the same mistakes again and again

I'm not saying that you should not make any mistake, even if I say that you would! As it's build into our DNA.

“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.”
― Albert Einstein

But the point is some common pitfalls you would come across while you are learning which can and should be avoidable. So I have compiled some of my mistakes from which you can learn and avoid those common pitfalls which I face, especially when I'm a beginner.

1. Do not try to learn multiple things at once

Well I will not lie that programming is an ever-increasing field with increasing docs, updated version, new tools and the list goes on. There are so many things that it gets difficult to manage at one time.

This was the real problem with me whenever I see a new tool is released or something new then I try to learn things simultaneously without a thought what's previously going on. But later I realized if I try to learn things simultaneously it decreases productivity level and results in inefficient output.

Especially when you are learning something new, just focus on that one thing until it gets completed, or you are comfortable with it, then move on to the next. Don't try to learn multiple languages or tools or topics at once.

If you are doing many things at a time such as trying to learn two languages or building multiple project at once, then you should know that either you will not able to build properly or learn that thing properly, or you will lose your peace of mind.

As you learn or try to build things, your brain process that information at a time and as your brain need to stop, think, process and store that information.

“Focus on one thing at a time.”

2. Don't write the code that just works

Writing code is a process, especially writing a clean and efficient. Actually it's more of a skill I would say. It's not only Googling, Copy and Pasting. But it's about your thought process behind the code, how you approach the problem, the logic building ability of yours.

“Any fool can write code that a computer can understand. Good programmers write code that humans can understand.”
― Martin Fowler

If you just write the code that works without giving a thought about the problems you were facing during writing code, what went wrong, learning from your mistakes, learned something new along the way.

Then you are not building your programming skills properly, or you are lacking something to become a better programmer.

Know what is happening in the code, what is the problem or challenges you were facing (write it down if necessary), what went wrong, learn from your mistakes.

3. Don't just learn, implement while you learn

Watching tutorial is good, actually I would say it's a great place to get started with, but don't just watch, also implement what you learn. If you think you can remember what just you watched or think you don't need to write any code just watching tutorial is enough then you are very wrong.

You should put some effort into writing code with or without looking at tutorial or any other kind of source, because it's so different when you see and write. Writing makes connection to your brain and helps you get clear over with your learnings.

Also don't endlessly watch tutorial videos, books or whatever source you are referring. Instead, you should implement your own learnings such as try to build a project from what you learn, go to websites like HackerRank or TopCoder to put on practice or teach other, because when you teach someone then you would understand concepts better yourself.

4. Take a strategic approach while solving a problem

While solving any problem, take some time to understand that problem without writing a single line of code. Try to observe that problem while asking yourself some questions like:

how should I approach this problem?
how can I implement the logic in this way?
what if I will try to approach the problem this way rather than that way?
and so on

“First, solve the problem. Then, write the code.”
– John Johnson

It will save you a lot of time and effort rather than just reading a problem and intently writing code without giving a thought. You can also make a set of process for yourself on "how should I approach a problem" and gather some tactics, common solutions, your learnings from that problem, etc.

5. Not practising daily

If you want to be a better programmer then you should practice daily. I'm not saying just sit down and write some code, because programming is not about just writing code, but it's more of logically thinking, reading, problem-solving.

So practising daily can brush up your skills over some time. Start small, if you are just starting out then make small goals like 30 min learning and 30 min writing code and increase the time gradually.

6. Working for very long hours

Your brain needs time to think and store incoming information.

If it does not get a break for some time it will not carry out it's task properly as your brain needs time to digest the incoming information.

Hence, you will need recurring breaks over some time to let the brain digest and do it's work properly.

I follow this working and break schedule:

52 min → working
17 min → break

Or you could try the Pomodoro Technique, which is:

25 min → working
5 min → break

And repeat the process again.

7. Learn what's necessary

Do not try to learn all the things about a specific language or tool if not necessary. Learn the basics and then try to put that on practice.

In my opinion don't just try to learn the language(s), but master the one which suits best for you and then if necessary move on to another.
Move slowly and steadily. Know what you are doing and what going to comes from it.

8. Not backing up your code

You never know what's going to happen to your electronic device the next movement you wake up. It can be a virus, corrupted disk, accidentally deleted files or worse (your greatest fear)

That's why it's important to have a backup of your precious code which you have written with so many efforts and had taken so much time. You should consider backing up your code daily/weekly/monthly. As your hard work can disappear at any movement.

There are many options available out there to host your hard work online for free such as GitHub and Bitbucket or you can also back up into your Google Drive or Dropbox or any other external storage such as hard drives and pen drives.