Udacity – Learning how to program (Computer Science)

Udacity – Learning how to program (Computer Science)

by | Aug 20, 2012 | Updates

Python

In the middle of a Udacity.com lesson! 🙂

Recently, I found this great website where you can learn how to program.

I thought I’d give my experience and thoughts on how things are going and what Udacity provide and who they are.

So what is Udacity.com?

The site essentially offers free courses where you can learn programming. Right now, I’m studying the first unit of programming (CS101) and I’m in the process of learning Python. I’ve installed the Python interpreter and Java as well, for that matter. (Though, I’ll be learning Java later on, once I get the gist of Python)

CS101?

CS101 is a course on the Udacity website and essentially it tells you the basics of programming and it is a step-by-step guide into programming with Python. At the end of CS101, I should have completed programming my own search engine equipped with a cool little robot website indexer.

Links:

http://www.udacity.com/

http://www.codecademy.com

Review of UNIT-1

I’ve gone through UNIT 1 and I feel I have more of an understanding with Python, although I’m still confused in some areas. – This may mean I have to go back through the entire UNIT again, so as to ensure I haven’t missed anything. I’ve written only 2-pages and should have probably noted down a lot more. I’m actually quite excited in learning Python as this type of interactive learning is quite fun and not too confusing. Although on some occasions it has been a little confusing for me.

I hope to make it through this course alive and well, with hopefully a new understanding of programming. – I’ve also found another website which has also been helpful called “Codecademy.com”, that is equally as good although there aren’t any university professors explaining things, you have a highly interactive interface helping you along the way.

I just hope I can focus on this one thing and not get too distracted. I think this is a great opportunity and I hope I can get something out of this. I have to give thanks to whoever set this up and especially to the professors who assembled all of this. Now I have homework to do! 🙂

Update

I’ve decided to take a different direction. I feel that for me the Udacity.com course was a little confusing. I feel as if I couldn’t understand a lot of the questions as the course furthered on. I feel this is due to a lack of practice. While I did repeat UNIT 1 again, I still had the same issues. In the mean time, I’ve been using Codecademy.com. – I feel that the examples and the longer explanations there are more understandable for me. Once I complete the Codecademy course I feel I’ll have a better understanding of the Udacity course and of the requirements in order to create the search engine.

So what’s the major difference?

Udacity explains and teaches too much of the theory, while Codecademy explains and teaches a lot of hands-on approaches. I’m not saying that is all of what Udacity does, but Codeacademy is specifically telling you how to do things with better examples. (I feel that this is a little easier for people who are just starting out learning Python) It does indeed (Codecademy) hold your hand along the way, but if you are just starting out, how else are you going to learn? If it doesn’t hold your hand and you get confused then it can totally put you off of programming. At least with this approach you can learn the right way to do things then apply it in other scenarios.

So, perhaps you have had the same issues as me and the Udacity course is a little confusing, well, I feel that the Codecademy course will ease you in with better explanations and examples.

Step 1:

Codecademy.com (Python)

Step 2:

Udacity.com (CS101)

Why do Codecademy first then Udacity? 

As said previously: I feel this way, you can can have a better understanding of Python before heading onto the Udacity course. While I like Udacity.com, I feel, perhaps, that a lot of explanations are quite difficult to grasp. Which is why I think Codecademy is a little better at the explanations. I almost feel that once you complete the Codecademy courses you can take that information you have learned and use it on Udacity.com.

I’m trying really hard to get this and I know it will take time, as my mathematical abilities suck, but we’ll see where this gets me. I have been writing down lots of notes so hopefully when I go out and I can just pull them out to remind myself what I’ve learned. I’m also trying to remember how to code and what the layout should be. I’m thinking of buying a book on Python just so I can read it when I’m out. I think I need to make this like an idol-worship thing and become fanatic about learning the language, in order to improve.

Life is tough shit, here in the real world. Being lazy, doing nothing is nice and relaxing, but that won’t get me a good paying  job in the future. Plus, if I can learn a programming language, then if at any point I go to university, it won’t be so difficult on me. (i.e. It’s like preparing for university) — I’ll probably have quite the advantage in comparison to not having much knowledge on programming itself.

Another new website up!

Another new website up!

by | Jun 26, 2012 | Updates

I recently bought another website called, Simple Templates.org and I hope to add more designs to its portfolio.

I already have a web hosting design, which I had created quite sometime ago.

I still need to make a few edits to the site and I think I’m also going to add a blog to the site, to give out updates and web design help.

Need to find out if your site has been compromised?

Need to find out if your site has been compromised?

by | Jun 16, 2012 | Updates

In this day and age security is a concern as there are assholes out there who will do anything to find exploits on your site, no matter how small of a site you are running.

I recently came across an awesome website that details any issues with your site that you may have not noticed. Whether that be a javascript line prompting a java applet/download onto those who visit your website etc.

The website is called:

Sucuri

It successfully located some malware, such as the described one above, on my website. I was finding difficulty tracking it, and then finally solved the issue. Although, I still need to look for any back doors, otherwise if I can’t find any or if this issue prompts up again, I’ll likely have to do a full re-install of WordPress.

I just had to give a shout out to that website as it proved incredibly useful.

Is gambling a good idea?

Is gambling a good idea?

by | Jun 6, 2012 | Updates

I know very few people who’ve made it out of gambling. Around 3 years ago I lost around £1,000 on a gambling website, after being up £300.

I panicked as I was losing my money playing poker, thinking I could regain it all in the same way I had been able to gain (Win) £300 originally. So I continued until my metered amount went to £0.00. It was devastating and I nearly thought of committing suicide. But that obviously wasn’t worth the cost, I’d have to lose everything I owned before I could do anything as serious as that.

Determined to make my money back, I started gambling again and I made my £1000 back and called it quits. I made my money back playing poker and just decided I’d stop there. It wasn’t worth the risk of going through all that again. But if you really know how to play poker then you should try the game online and if it works for you then you must set a limit.

Before gambling always plan before hand:

  • Work out how much you can afford to lose. (SET A LIMIT) Don’t make bets any larger than the money you can actually spend. Please, do not use a credit card as you’ll end up losing another person’s money or some bank’s money at interest.
  • Behave sensibly when gambling, although taking big risks might be all about what gambling is, can you afford it?
  • Maintain control and think before you do.
  • Set a certain amount of time you want to gamble.
  • Know how to play the game, otherwise the game will play you.
  • Do not try and recover any losses immediately. Trust me, you’ll make bad decisions that way.

Just be aware that the game is meant for the dealers to make the money, otherwise these big casino websites wouldn’t be raking in as much money as they’d like and it simply wouldn’t be profitable for them.

So is gambling a good idea?

From my perspective it isn’t. However, if you know how to play the game and you just want to have some fun and you can control your spending, then I see no problem with it at-all. Just don’t become addicted to throwing your money away.

Secure your website, don’t neglect it!

Secure your website, don’t neglect it!

by | Jun 3, 2012 | Updates

I wrote an article about this around two weeks ago, and website security is paramount, especially so when leaving your website unattended for a while. I did this an faced the consequences of having my sites hacked/cracked and I regret neglecting my website in such a way, as it was such a pain to sort this mess out.

I lost a lot of my Google rankings in search results, which hit my traffic big-time, however considering I don’t worry about that much it isn’t much of a problem. However, for others who won’t know how to fix an infected site, it is better to totally re-install whatever script you’ve got installed. For example, most of my websites run on WordPress, and when my sites became infected as I hadn’t updated the latest version, the best thing to do was totally re-install my WordPress installation. – This takes care of the following:

  • You can be at ease and know that whatever virus which has infected your site has been removed. So as long as you have totally replaced all your files, other than your images in your WordPress installation.
  • You get rid of any back doors the hacker may have injected into your website because of any script vulnerability.

Trust me on this, don’t neglect your website. It is much easier to first take care of your website rather than have to worry about it later, as it will become much harder to ‘fix’ the longer you leave it.