Valuable Coding and IT Tools

Photo by Josh Sorenson from Pexels

As an Information System student, there are a handful of tools recommended to me by my instructors that have been critical. Every one of the tools below is free. Anyway, here’s my list:

  • Notepad ++: a richly powerful text editor. It’s what I’ve done most of my HTML and CSS in, and what I’ve done a lot of my JavaScript. I have shifted, though, back to Visual Studio, at least for now. I used Visual Studio for my Visual Basic class, so I’m pretty familiar with it.
  • 7 Zip is a great Zip file tool.
  • Agent Ransack, which boosts your PC’s search utility.
  • Winmerge: a great tool for comparing files. It has helped me a few times to find that one damn character I was missing.

Anyway, what tools do you use? That you find indispensable?

 

Featured Image by Josh Sorenson from Pexels

Amazon Frames, Google Glass and the Reinvented Future of Connected Eyewear

Today I logged into Amazon and the first thing I see is this ad: 

I’m surprised that I missed the announcement for Alexa Frames. Looks like these have actually been on the market for a few years.  Though not as feature-rich as the old Google glasses, they are definitely more discrete and attractive. 

This got me wondering about the status of Google Glass, and what similar products are on the market. With a little research, I found this piece about Google Glass. Now, I’ve known that the product is far from dead as there’s now Google Glass Enterprise Edition. But it has been more of a niche thing (here’s a post from the Verge from last February about it). 

 

As far as other products, I found this: Focals By North. Looks pretty interesting, but not ready for the mainstream yet. This video is from 2019, so perhaps they’ve updated things in the meantime. 

I think that the glasses will hold a significant part of the future of mobile computing. In particular, I’m curious about the ways VR/AR will be integrated into these glasses. Or how they won’t be. 

 

Some Thoughts 2 Weeks Into Winter Quarter

Student

It’s been a busy couple of weeks. Winter quarter started January 4th. This round, I’m taking 3 classes: one I’ve already talked about, “Web IV Joomla! and SEO”. I’m also taking Systems Analysis, and, lastly, but not leastly: JavaScript.

Web IV has been the most puzzling. Besides Joomla and SEO, the course also covers Amazon Web Services. All of these are cool, but, what a hell of a collection. I feel a bit of whiplash as I move through the week.

Systems Analysis is something I’ve been looking forward to. Understanding how to look at business systems in a strategic way excites me. I think this will be critical to my future career work.

Then there’s JavaScript. This is the grail! Yeah, this summer I coded in Visual Basic, which was fine and all, but JavaScript is what actual web developers use daily. So I’m delighted. But, code is a double-edged sword.

For several days last week/early this week, two of my projects were stuck. Try as I might, I couldn’t get the code to work. I went through all kinds of imposter syndrome stuff. Finally, grabbed one of my other classmates. It took both of us over an hour, but we figured it out: I was missing ONE curly brace (this thing: “}”). But as I’ve started interacting with the developer community on Twitter, I know this is not uncommon. Every keystroke is important, and variable names are case sensitive. Meaning “GetByID” is not the same as “GetById”. At one point in my career, I highly prided my typing skills. Back in the days of typewriters, that is. Spell check, autocorrect, and even simply being able to delete and re-write have spoiled me. Now my keyboarding kinda sucks. And just when it became critical.

And since I’m never happy unless I’m silly busy, I’m also filling in for a friend who’s on paternity leave. I’m “working” as a media coordinator for Trinity Lutheran Church in Lynnwood, WA (unpaid, but that works fine for me right now). This mainly entails creating graphics, as well as editing videos. Nothing too dramatic. I’m doing some of the photo editing in Photoshop to keep my skills up, but a lot of the stuff I’m creating I’m doing in Canva. It’s a pretty slick tool that really speeds up some workflow. Videos are also pretty straightforward. Our church services are online, and we’re using a fair amount of pre-recorded music and such to keep the number of people in the space to a minimum. Mostly I’m trimming down the videos, adding fades and such, and also plugging some b-roll in so that the videos have more visual appeal.

Here are a few things I’ve crafted recently.

Featured image:

Photo by Oladimeji Ajegbile from Pexels

Glaciers, Coding and My Social Media Feeds

So, earlier today this video appeared in my YouTube feed:

Then this popped up in my LinkedIn Feed:

Tracking the effects of glacial melting at the top of the world

I’m sure Jung would label this synchronicity, but I don’t know what the universe is trying to tell me with this. Anyway, I found the coincidence fascinating.

Some Thoughts On Being A 21st Century Student

person writing on notebook

I have a few favorite tools that really make school more effective. One: I get my textbooks on Kindle. I have the Kindle app on my computer, plus I have it on my phone and iPad. Having my books wherever I find myself is great. Plus, I can hit ctrl+F and search the whole book quickly. This has been really helpful when I’m struggling to remember “that one command”.

Also, I have Grammarly’s app installed. Being able to spell and grammar check in the browser is a great time saver.

Lastly, I love using Evernote to take notes. I often use paper, and also the note feature within the Kindle apps. But I can scan the papers, and import the Kindle notes, so all of them are in Evernote. Again, being able to search is powerful, and being able to review whenever I have a few minutes of downtime is great.

DNA, Technology and Unintended Consequences

From Wired Magazine: “There’s No Such Thing as Family Secrets in the Age of 23andMe”

This looks at the fascinating intersection of biological tech with democratized data, laden with so many “unintended consequences” in the DNA market (is it right to call this a “market”?).

I believe there was no way to guess these issues would come up when humanity first developed medical insemination. DNA databases and the commodification of DNA data: I doubt we could’ve guessed this coming about 10 years ago, much less in the 1970s.

Many, many questions, so few answers. The way forward seems murky. I guess it always is.

Social Media, Platforms and Control

Social Media

I’ve been kept in the loop about the different groups encompassing the #StopeHateForProfit initiative and their meeting with Facebook a few days ago (here’s a recap of the situation if you need it). Other folks have written about Facebook’s strategy and risks, so I really have nothing to add there. However, one element has given me pause. What happens if the site collapses?

No, I don’t think that Facebook is going to fail simply due to this issue. However, there are a huge number of challenges that Facebook faces, from privacy to a lack of public accountability.  All of that makes me wonder what the breaking point will be? Ultimately, I believe Facebook’s Waterloo will be a combination of all the issues facing it, along with the natural conservatism that comes with huge success and an IPO, and the creation of a challenger. And I have something of a fatalistic view: that the end will come for it. Not that it will suddenly vanish. It’s a well-run business. However, I expect it will simply fade from relevancy once the new thing appears (i.e.: MySpace).

For me, this speaks to the importance of having my own website, my own place on the interwebs. One where I control everything. My own personal brand, I guess. Mainly, though, where my presence is independent of decisions made by some random group of individuals.

I realize that, in many ways, this is a fantasy. This site is hosted by a company, built on WordPress…external factors that I don’t have much control over. However, I can move my site to another host. I can port my blog from WordPress to some other platform if need be. Everything on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc, will simply vanish if those sites end.

Now, maybe this makes sense as I’m currently studying web development and design. As I was told many years ago, “having your own domain is the height of being a nerd” (I own that with delight). So, I guess this might be my inner geek. But I see deep value in having my own site, using it as a hub to the rest of my internet presence. And I see the value for you, too.

Finding Your Passion: YouTube’s MrWhoseTheBoss

I’ve enjoyed MrWhoseTheBoss (otherwise known as Arun Maini) for a couple of years now. I like his take on tech. As I’m an OS Agnostic (whether we’re talked PCs or mobile), I find his takes balanced and insightful.

As someone who also likes to see people find their passions, and see how they came to that realization, I find his recent video wonderful. Seeing his unconscious progress towards a certain career end with him getting the dream job, then realizing that, no, that wasn’t the dream, struck home. I’ve seen that many times in my own life. It felt good to see him have that realization, see clearly what he needed to do, feel the fear that the non-conventional paths take, and take the plunge anyway.

Give him a few minutes of your time my friends. You’ll be glad you did.

A MS Word Student Tool

As someone who’s used Word for decades, I rarely find surprises. Yet, sometimes I do. Now, it’s important to note that I’m currently studying web application development at Edmonds College, I’m writing far more than I have in years. And it’s the first time in, god, I don’t know how long, I have written in an academic style. Blogging (both professionally and personally) and creating plenty of text-based content helped keep my writing chops solid. However, there are always new tools to explore.  Today I discovered “Read Aloud” under the “Review” tab.

MS Word Read-Aloud Tool
MS Word Read-Aloud Tool

A great editorial tool. Having my essay read out loud showed nicely several flow issues and a couple of grammatical glitches. Nothing that would’ve failed the paper, but I value quality and, well, those items don’t show quality. So, thanks Office Team, for another useful tool that I hadn’t hear of.