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The Successful Programmer | P-PL.com

Lambda Technology Inc — Mon, 29 Nov 2021 20:13:21 +0000

The world needs more successful programmers. More specifically, the world needs more people that embody the mindset and attitudes of skilled and successful programmers. Programmers are problem solvers. Programmers embrace and learn from failures. Programmers persevere and innovate the world around them. Successful programmers make the world a far better place.

Modern programming started in the era of punch cards and working on green screen terminals. Back then, programming was pretty difficult to learn; syntax was nothing like it is today. By the way, the reason screens were green back then is because the fluorescent green on black background was easier on your eyes and allowed you to work longer hours. Hollywood ran with idea and that's why hackers are depicted with green on black terminal windows, no other reason. As time has passed, a multitude of new languages to write code have emerged, syntax has become far more intuitive, and technology has advanced in some wild ways. Yet, be that the case, there are some things that have never changed since the dawn of the industry: the mentality of the successful programmer.

I'd like to make one clarification before I proceed. Above, where I mention "successful programmers," I'd like to make a distinction: Successful in this case does not refer to the wealth a programmer has, his position at the top of the ladder within his organization, or the any type of worldly gain procured through his job as a programmer. Success here is simply defined as the individual who has embodied the characteristics we are about to talk through and is successfully employing them in his life at a whole.

Successful programmers embody many attitudes and traits; we will touch on 5 of them here:

-Problem Solve

-Persevere

-Embrace and Learn from Failure

-Finish the Job

-Innovate the World Around You

Problem Solving

Programming is a process of solving problems. Solutions are arrived at through clear and logical thinking, analyzing complex concepts down to their most fundamental parts. A program goes from concept to operation in stages: analysis -> design -> implementation -> verification/testing -> production and maintenance. This very process has been repeated over the years by millions of programmers, generation to generation, with only one goal: Solve problems. In a world where you can solve most your life's problems through Google search and Facebook friends, in a world that is obsessed with social media and entertainment, we have lost the problem solving spirit of our youth; the mindset that many famous programmers attribute their success to: Programmers are problem solvers. They know how to think about a problem, and more importantly, how to approach it. The programmer realizes that specialization is not enough. Creativity and intelligence is not enough. Original thinking is not enough. The "thing" that wraps all of this up together and makes it work... is the ability for the programmer to think about the problem in the correct manner. In your programming career (hobby or professional) you will undoubtedly run into something that has never been done before; this is where the fun begins. Programmers have to be able to take an idea and think of ways it can be implemented in code. To do this, you will need the ability to quickly understand concepts that most people wouldn't understand unless they were told directly. For instance, say you are implementing some sort of data editor/browser; it doesn't matter how elegant you want to make it look or how nice your user interface is, the bare minimum you have to do is take some data and display it in a window. How could you do this? Well, there are numerous ways; which way would you choose? The answer most likely depends on the type of data. For instance, if you were writing an RSS reader, you would probably implement a tree data structure first on paper (or in your head) to represent the hierarchy of each node. Then there are different ways of rendering this list; you could use a text list with some CSS styling, or a table. What about radio buttons? If it is set up as an editor, then it needs to be able to add, edit, delete data. What if it is web based? How would you get the contents of a text file into it? These are all questions that have been asked before and answers found; if you don't know what those solutions are then you must research them or come up with them yourself. This is the cunning of the programmer.

Perseverance

Programmers persevere through the most difficult situations possible. However, perseverance is not just about hard problems; it is also about not giving up after the first blow. There are so many programmers that give up when their Kickstarter fails to yield any funds, or if they can't get the attention of venture capitalists for their new start-up (even though some VC's flat out deny anyone who asks) but why did these people fail? It is because they were unable to persevere. They could not weather the storm and they gave up when things got rough; this is where perseverance comes in.

Not giving up is difficult because of the reasons behind failure can be more than just a lack of skill or being unfamiliar with the task at hand, but sometimes it is personal (injury) or circumstantial (no money). If you are a programmer, then perseverance is your bread and butter. You should always be ready to learn from failure and use it to improve yourself; this will allow you to tackle many different problems, even if they seem insurmountable at first glance.

Learning from Failure

Learning from Failure is a high level skill that not everyone can readily posses. There are many examples of how people fail. The key here is to embrace the failure in order to progress forward; learn from your mistakes and continually improve: The Wright Brothers and their failed glider, Edison's almost-failed light bulb, Jobs' IBM career and his next venture (NeXT/Apple), Musk and SpaceX, the list goes on. Failure is a part of life. Everyone fails (except for those that never try) and the skill that separates the successful from everyone else is failure's ability to drive them forward. If you cannot accept your failures or learn from them, then you will be stuck spinning your wheels on a "dead end" path. The simplest example I can give would be someone who keeps failing at the same concept or task over and over again. They keep doing it wrong, they keep trying to do it right, but they are stuck in this failure loop that continually drives them nowhere. This is where a programmer can break out of the cycle; if you were able to learn from your mistakes then you could think about the problem differently and approach it another way. To put it simply: failing is not a necessary evil; it can be turned around and used to your advantage if you know how to handle it right.

The programming world is full of people like this; people who keep trying to do something, but can never seem to get past the hump. They are stuck and they are unable to get out of it. It could be that they don't know how to learn from their failure; this is a skill you have to possess in order to continually improve.

Finish the Job

Successful programmers are extremely dedicated to the tasks in store for them; they finish what they start. Whether this is an epic, multi-year quest to create a web application that will bring new data into your company's production database or a simple one-night hack job to just get your resume working; programmers always complete their assigned work. This is because successful programmers do not just focus on completing tasks, but they are also dedicated to their craft. If you spend time learning how to program and write code and then someone comes along with a small task for you; it may be tempting to jump right in and start helping (You'll find over time that programmers are extremely helpful to one another; the community is a great one to become a part of). Knowing how much workload you can handle, however is an important trait. Its critical to recognize when you're taking on too much. This is where the debate comes in about whether or not you should say "no" to helping someone out. The bottom line is this: The world is full of unfinished projects... I can't even begin to count the number of coders/programmers who start a project and then let fall head first in the "Incomplete Abyss." Don't get into a habit of starting a project and then failing to finish. Finish what you start and complete your work. The reward at the end is always worth it, and the habit you will begin forming is incredibly advantageous in this industry.

Innovate the World Around You

This is an important characteristic of anyone in the software development industry. In a world where technology changes every day, and new languages are created as fast as advances in computers allow; programmers must be on the forefront of building something new and innovative. This doesn't mean you have to start your own company and create your own product or service. You can still be successful in the industry without doing this.

What I mean by "Innovate" is that you should make changes to yourself and your habits, and build something new that will better your life and the lives of others. If you fail at a project or task in front of you, consider it as an opportunity to learn something new. If you see a simple (or complex) problem in your day to day life, ask yourself a few questions:

1) How big is this "problem"?

2) Can I solve this problem with code/technology?

3) If I do solve the problem with code/tech, will my solution help or benefit people around me who have the same or similar problems?

This right here, is the basis for any innovation. Passion and drive to solve that problem are the ingredients for a great outcome.

Conclusion

The goal here is to isolate some very finite, yet complex character traits that you can begin to think about on your journey through the wonderful world that is programming. No matter what project you encounter, task you take on, or dreams you decide to build, if you embody and take action on these mentalities, you are setting yourself on the best course... a successful one. The Successful Programmer.

If you are interested in becoming a better programmer, learning a new language, or want some second opinions on the code you're writing, head over to P-PL.com and sign up! It's free to sign up and we've got experts ready to help you!

Python Lists + Lists Quiz!

Lambda Technology Inc — Fri, 19 Nov 2021 19:30:40 +0000

Ahhh, Lists!

Nearly every single functional programming language contains lists in one form or another. Lists are an important part of any code slinger's repertoire because they allow us to deal with data in a convenient and comprehensive way. After all... how many times have you found yourself writing a program that didn't, deal with data? Today we'll be focusing on the use of lists in Python.

Let's take a look at some basic principles of python lists and what they might mean for your code.

*If you're here to take the quiz and want to skip ahead, the quiz is linked at the bottom of this article.

First, let's define what a list truly is.
In essence, a list is a single variable that can store multiple items or, as we call them in python, elements.

Lists are one of the 4 Collection Data-Types (Arrays) in Python:
-Lists
-Dictionaries
-Sets
-Tuples

Let's look at an example list, and break it down.

foods = ["cherries", "apples", "grapes"]

First, we must give our list a name. In the above code example, we call our list "foods."

Next, we define our list using the '=', '[', and ']' symbols. An important thing to remember here: lists always use brackets ( '[' and ']') to contain their elements.

If the elements in our list are strings (text based items), we wrap each element in "double" quotation marks, followed by a comma to separate each element.
*If our list contains integers, we do not need quotation marks and would simply write the list as follows:

numbers = [0, 2, 4, 6]

Pretty simple so far, right?

Next, lets look at some of the properties lists have, and explain those properties in a bit more detail.

1). Lists are Ordered
What this means is that the data (elements) contained within a list have a set order. Generally, that order will not change (except in some more rare cases using some particular list methods, but we won't dive into that here... topic for another time).
If you were to add an element to an existing list, that newest element would be added to the end of the list.

2). Lists are Mutable
Building off our last property, we know that lists can in fact be changed (mutable). We can destroy, add or even change the existing elements in the lists that we create. 'nuff said.

3). Lists are Indexed and Allow for Duplicates
Basically, we can have multiple elements of the same exact value inside of a list. For example, a list may contain the following elements:
numbers = [0, 0, 2, 2, 4, 4,]

4). Lists Allow for Multiple Data Types
So far in this introduction to lists we've seen two lists with two different data-types: strings (fancy word for text) and integers (fancy word for whole numbers). Lists can also contain other data-types, like Boolean values. (Boolean data is a fancy way of saying: data that is either True or False... think of how computers operate with binary numbers: 0 and 1... True or False).
*One important thing to remember: Boolean values (True or False) are not wrapped in quotes, similarly to integer values.

For example:

boolean_list = [True, False, False]

The above code is very different than the below code (even though the lists look very similar).

not_boolean_list = ["True", "False", "False"]

The above code (not_boolean_list) represents a list that contains elements made up of string data, not boolean type data.

On a final note, it is also possible to have a list that combines all of these different data types, such as the following:

multi_data_type_list = [0, 2, "foo", 4, True, "bar"]

Let's now talk about how the Python Interpreter recognizes the positions of elements stored in a list. After all, we'll want to be able to call or grab the data stored in our lists as needed, so it's important to know what position that data is sitting in within a given list.

First, lets create a new list:

new_list = ["string", 4, 5, True]

Next, open a new tab here in your browser and enter the following in the address bar: https://www.online-python.com/

Clear the code example that loads and input the following:

new_list = ["string", 4, 5, True]
print(len(new_list))

*Here, we first define out list. In line 2, we invoke the print function. This tells python to print something. Next we invoke the len function, which tell python to count the length of the parameter contained inside the parentheses (in this case, it is our list: new_list). A helpful thing to remember here is that when we call a function in python, it is followed by parentheses, which contain the parameters that the function will need to operate and complete the job).

Run the code.

You'll notice that the output is 4. What this means is that the length (len) of our list is 4, meaning we have 4 elements of data stored in that list.

Now, here's what you want to remember about all of this: Python begins counting list elements starting at 0.

To illustrate this, clear the code in the IDE and enter the following:

new_list = ["string", 4, 5, True]
print(new_list[0])

*Here we invoke the print function, and pass the parameter new_list to the function. The '[0]' tells the print function that we wish to print our the first (zero) element of the data stored within the brackets.

Run the code.

The new output is now: string.

That's because the first element (element zero) in the list is a string data-type value called "string."

If you've made it this far, Great Job! You've now interacted with your list data in a couple of meaningful ways. This is only the beginning to your journey in working with lists, but we can assure you, this is a great jump into the Collection Data-Types that Python utilizes.

PRO-TIP: In tutorials like this, verbiage can sometimes be confusing. Different people write different tutorials in different languages. So I'm here to tell you this:
'Invoke a function' means the same this as 'Call a function'
'Calling our data' usually means the same thing as 'Grabbing our data'
'Arguments' mean the same thing as 'Parameters'

CHALLENGE TIME!

BROUGHT TO YOU BY P-PL.COM

Now, we'd like to offer you a challenge. If you're new to lists in python, the following quiz will test your abilities to understand the program flow in a tiny python script that interacts with two separate lists, and outputs a 3rd based on the results. This quiz may actually challenge a few intermediary python coders who aren't careful.

Native Link:
https://www.p-pl.com/resource/quiz/6192e4e956873400097e519a

Shortened and Shareable Link:
https://bit.ly/32jKcC8

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P-PL.com - JavaScript Interview Questions Quiz: Just how Well Do YOU Know JavaScript?

Lambda Technology Inc — Tue, 16 Nov 2021 20:18:03 +0000

P-PL is a place where teachers and students, experts and beginners, freelancers and customers can come together to collaborate on software development.

Currently, were are seeking experts in the languages of Python and JavaScript.

Just how well do YOU know JavaScript? Take our 10 Question Interview Quiz to find out… https://bit.ly/321NHgd

Before you can become a Jedi Master in JavaScript, you first must master the Interview. Give it a go today and see how you do!

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As a user, you have access to video chat anyone at anytime given their schedule and expertise you are looking for.

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P-PL.com - Python Multiple Choice Quiz: Just how Well Do YOU Know Python?

Lambda Technology Inc — Thu, 11 Nov 2021 22:43:16 +0000

P-PL is a place where teachers and students, experts and beginners, freelancers and customers can come together to collaborate on software development.

Currently, were are seeking experts in the languages of Python and JavaScript.

Just how well do YOU know Python? Take our little 5 question quiz to find out… https://bit.ly/31J77X4

At its core, p-pl.com is a network of experts willing to connect over video chat.

As a user, you have access to video chat anyone at anytime given their schedule and expertise you are looking for.

Whether you are a software engineer looking for help on a bug or a life coach advising clients on their next big move, p-pl.com is the solution for convenient quality information.

As an expert and consultant, you have the option to bill for your time and expertise for every call you accept. It is YOUR time, why not get paid?

P-PL.com Seeking JS and Python Experts

Lambda Technology Inc — Thu, 04 Nov 2021 17:04:44 +0000

Calling All Developers!

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-Python

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Happy Coding!

P-PL.com - Bringing Experts and Learners Together, Real-Time!

Lambda Technology Inc — Tue, 26 Oct 2021 21:31:37 +0000

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