Another Time, Another Place In Cyber Space

Random programming and technology posts

[boggletheowl]

[skunkbear]

Big math news! It’s been thirty years since mathematicians last found a convex pentagon that could “tile the plane.” The latest discovery (by Jennifer McLoud-Mann, Casey Mann, and David Von Derau) was published earlier this month. Full story.

[techcrunch]

Two-thirds of parents believe computer science education should be mandatory in schools. 8% of students think they will learn about CS in the future. But, for administrators, CS is simply not a priority.

Something isn’t quite right here. As a new Gallup poll commissioned by Google shows, we’re still a long way from being able to assume that virtually every school teaches CS.

Found out more about education and computer science programming here.

[toocooltobehipster]

windows users, save money using these free apps!!

[yuswaggalagginnarukami]

naotoacedetectiveshirogane these sound extremely useful.

[atapics]

Recommended App: Swifty

So, HTML & CSS has been put on the back burner for me. I wanted to be able to create something beautiful to provide information to people (a few different ideas on topics, but not sure which yet). I assumed I’d like HTML & CSS for this, to build website. But I actually decided I’d rather learn to make apps. And since I have an iPhone... and an iPad... and a MacBook, I figured it’d make the most sense to learn the programming language to use on all three.

Enter Swift, Apples programming language. Well I tried Apples two guides to getting started... and found myself frustrated. Both used terminology that was far too advanced... I took three years of programming in high school, so I had a vague concept of what they were, but truthfully, it’s been so long (4-5 years) since I used them that I forgot most of it.

So I thought I’d look for books and apps... and found Swifty. It’s a nice iPad & iPhone app that teaches you the basics in a very easy environment, and is easy to learn without a MacBook and access to Xcode. Each chapter deals with a different topic in the language, giving you easy and plain-english-based tutorials that help you understand the concept without any programming knowledge. The first chapter is free, but each one after that costs a small amount of money (or you can get a fantastic deal if you buy all of them at once).

And just like my last recommendation, it looks good while doing it too.

[atapics]

Really cool to see how much it's changed.

[atapics]

Awesome little website to make those cool triangle-isn thingy wallpapers.

[atapics]

Recommended Reading: HTML & CSS by Jon Duckett

So some of my coworkers asked how I learned basic HTML so quickly (essentially overnight because I put so much effort into it). I definitely recommend the book I read, which is called “HTML and CSS: Design and Build Websites”, written by Jon Duckett. I received it as a gift from my family one year... and it sat. For three years until I got so pissed off at work that I came home and said ‘Screw this, I want to learn HTML so I can get a better job’

I’ll be honest; does it contain a larger quantity of or more useful information than another book? No clue. What it did well for me was look nice and be simple and straight forward while using good design to draw attention to the right things and separate types of information... EXACTLY LIKE A WEB PAGE SHOULD!!! MIND = BLOWN! KA-POW!

Seriously; highly recommended.

[dash]

“Before you learn to code, think about what you want to code

Knowing how to code is mostly about building things, and the path is a lot clearer when you have a sense of the end goal. If your goal is “learn to code,” without a clear idea of the kinds of programs you will write and how they will make your life better, you will probably find it a frustrating exercise.”

[atapics]

[atapics]

Coming from an iPhone 6+ to a iPhone 6, I can confirm this is very true!

[atapics]

[codeorg]

Fun new make-your-own-video-game system, powered by Arduino.

[atapics]

Cool little project!

[hansolo]

Who did you kill for this url?