Hackthon Experience

The past weekend I took a break from my app and participated in a hackathon. It was an amazing experience and I got to work with some really great people. Our team ended up winning second place with our project, Article 3D. I can say I learned a lot and I’m looking forward to whatever hackathon I go to next. I’m also back to work on my app. I’ll decide on a theme soon.

Hackathon

So I decided to take a break from the slightly stressful app development and register into a  hackathon. It was located at a Nickelodeon building and it has been really nice so far. Since I came in yesterday at 6 (It is a 3 day event) I have had a good time. I met a couple of awesome developers/programmers who are all hacking away at building a really nice web application for the hackathon. Unfortunately I could not do much as a programmer since my JS knowledge is still pretty low. I also have not used many frameworks for JS because of all the time I’ve put into Objective-C. As soon as I finish my iOS app I think i will head into web development with JS. I’ll see.

App Progress

I think I will want to start telling you guys a little about my new unnamed company. We have two people. They are programmers currently learning how to use objective-C. They will hopefully help me with the app before I actually finish it. We have a person in charge of advertising and marketing. We are still looking for a graphic designer and can not actually get too far without one first. I’ve hear about online graphic designers but I do not want to pay for things until we actually make revenue. The third person is myself and I also have no idea what I’m doing. So far we have a very simple start menu and a simple game layout with barely any game logic. The sprites are all placeholders as well. We are going for a base defense/RPG.

New startup

I have gone pretty far in the field of computers. I started with very simple Javascript an worked my way up learning every little thing. I have recently started a small company to pursue App Development and I am working on my first game. It seems incredible that I’m making a product with the knowledge I’ve gained so far. I am no expert yet, but I believe it can never be too early to start working on some interesting products. Hands on application can only teach me more. I just want to continue to learn like I have during these past months. My new games will release soon, and I need to start advertising soon as well.

New startup?

My game development is nearing it’s end as I have learned physics simulations and particle systems and collisions and game design. It’s been fun learning it all and I finally want to try it out since learning is only the first step in the bigger picture. Applying it will not only help me learn more but it will help me think differently, I have gathered some people to help me make my first iOS game. It might be considered a small startup since it’s a small team consisting of 3 programmers, 1 business person, and 1 graphic designer who I am still searching for. I will create a game with these people and bring something nice to the App Store. If any one could drop some feedback and let me know of any interesting ideas…that would be great.

iOS Developing

Well being an iOS Developer is not easy at all. If you know an iOS Developer you should definitely congratulate them for the amount of work they have done and the amount of Apple prewritten code that they have memorized because they have written a lot of it. There are methods for everything. It is hard to remember what they all do and you might spend more time researching a useful method than actually implementing it in your code. It is hard and I now see why it is a profession. I will soon proceed to develop my own app, a simple game. I’ve learned a bit of game development with SpriteKit and I definitely want to start using it. I have no good ideas so I will return when I get one or when I become a bit more confident with the SpriteKit engine and coding in Objective-C. I also have to find a good graphic designer. 

Great? Progress.

I’ve certainly been learning at an alarming rate. What might I mean by alarming? Well you can only learn for so long before your eyes get heavy an you start losing that spark of interest. I love to learn all of this but it started getting harder to make iOS apps and I’ve been having to take little breaks here and there to refresh myself. I’ve been making good progress but it seems as though I’m not getting every little thing and it is bothering me because I am sort of a perfectionist. I learn more and more but always feel like I missed something or another. I’m very close to actually designing my first app. I might start off with a game, unless any of you have any great ideas for apps?

Lynda.com

Lynda has great courses. It’s an incredible tool with great instructors. Sooner than later we are going to be learning from professionals in a monitor. I’ve learned a good deal already and these short 2-10 minute clips make it easy for me to stick them throughout the day on my phone. It’s on the go learning as you do other things (school). In other news I’ve shifted from Javascript to Objective-C. Apple Developer? Yes. You might think that Objective-C is not a great place for a beginner but I learned a lot from JS and I think I’m ready to move on to all the nice little low level memory management languages. After I make a couple of apps I’ll switch to Python and then maybe PHP. All in due time. For now I’m dealing with Abstraction, Polymorphism, Inheritance, and Encapsulation. Also the basics in Object Orientation. Classes and Objects, all of that. Will check back soon.

Frustration.

Do you ever stay up late at night thinking about things? I’m sure many people do and sometimes all I can think about is what else I could do. All the things I want to do. I want to learn programming and make some programs and make money off of doing it since I like it so much. Instead I lay in bed thinking about random things. No real learning in the last 2 days. I’ve gotten real hooked to Dota 2 and as an upcoming promising player I’m seriously addicted. Will get over it soon…hopefully.

Starting from scratch (sort of).

So due to recent events I have found tons of new things to explore. The field of Computer Science and Computer Programming is a big one. It has many resources to make use of and I think this is why I still like it. It is captivating because of the huge amount of learning it takes, and how hard it is to master. It is an art and that is non debatable. I have learned JavaScript. Now I realize that was a mistake. A mistake should not necessarily be something I regret though. I put myself into a difficult position. I went right into learning a computer language infatuated with the idea of coding. That was wrong. It certainly is a good way of attracting new people like myself to the Computer field, but it is not right. To really understand what the Computer Sciences are about you have to start with simple understandings. Why to use JS and when to use it. You do not just jump into the coding, you first understand why you are coding. Seems like a simple idea but it completely went over my head because I did not think twice. So I have found new ways of instructing myself in the basics of programming and I will get right on that. I am starting from the very basics of Computer Science and Programming, but with an already deeper understanding than any beginner would have. The website I am using is lynda.com it is a great website for learning anything. Coursera is also great. Keep in mind I live in a very small city near L.A. where Computer Science is scarce. I have no outside influences and I am teaching myself. If you all have any good ideas of other sources, I would appreciate them. Also feel free to look at my mentioned sources, they are great for learning any field and you could also make use of them