AppAcademy W3D1: Being Bilingual
I'm officially bilingual.
If I count my Python experience before a/A, I'm already a polyglot. On the other hand, considering that I can now do more with Ruby after two weeks than I ever did with Python, the standards have been raised. (Although I'm sure I could quickly improve my Python on the back of Ruby should the need arise.)
Today's new language, however, was SQL. Static typing, mysterious "databases," unfamiliar syntax. Weird disagreements on pronunciation. (It's pronounced "sequel" at a/A, with the caveat: "When you get hired by a company, get them to say 'SQL' first, so you can follow their convention. Or risk being mocked to forever and back.")
We spent the day working through SQL Zoo, a series of increasingly complicated database queries. The first half was straighforward (I daresay some of it was trivial!), but it got challenging pretty quickly afterwards, and by day's end we were walking around in circles trying to fit two self-joins with two other self-joins to select all bus routes, and the companies that serviced them, that could take us anywhere that was two buses from "Craiglockhart." Or was it "Sighthill"?
An Uber ride would have saved us a lot of trouble.
Earlier in the day, we saw our last of pure Ruby in Assessment 02. It's incredible to think that we're now capable of building a functioning card game (except for the display, a separate problem) within an hour. With a working, reasonably intelligent AI player, no less.
I also finally encountered a pair-programming challenge today, though it was minor. For the first time, it felt like my partner was picking up the day's material significantly quicker than I was.
I've been pretty well matched so far, but today, at times, it was difficult to keep up. I've learned it's best to stop my partner and say, "I have no idea what this does or why this works. Can you explain it to me?"
The last two weeks have been wonderful---busy and challenging and extraordinarily fulfilling. I'm excited to see where Week 3, and these new multilingual powers, will take me!