What I’ve been up to

These past two months I’ve taken courses at Code School.

I completed the HTML/CSS Path and I tried the Ruby Path, though there is a spike in level between the Try Ruby course, which is beginner level and the other courses (I’ve taken Ruby Bits and Rails for Zombies Redux) which require to already have basic programming knowledge (which I don’t). I couldn’t have completed them without a heavy use of the hints, since I only have really basic knowledge of Ruby (I’m still at the “Hello World!” level in my understanding of Ruby’s inner workings).
It will take me further study and application on other platforms or using other resources, maybe print ones too, to acquire a deeper understanding of how Ruby works and how I can implement it for my projects.

On the HTML/CSS front, too, even though I’ve been using HTML since HTML 1.0, I’m still far from master level. There’s still (much) room for further study and improving. Yet, I can already use my shaky knowledge to correct code if something’s broken on my blogs.

Also, thanks to Code School courses, I’m learning what Git is and how to use it. It might prove useful in the future. Who knows?

Sadly, Code School requires an entry fee to take the full courses. Being still a student, I don’t have a really big allowance so I’m not going to renew my subscription next month; it’s too pricey for me. I’m doing my best to complete the courses I’ve already started, then I’m going to cancel my subscription.

Luckily, I found another platform I can take courses at, which is crowfunded and thus free, Codecademy. It’s a pity they still haven’t implemented a function to send badges earned to Moz Open Badges Backpack, but I feel like the courses are better tailored to the learner’s level (no spike in the learning curve here).

I still log-in to P2PU from time to time, even though I’m not taking courses or challenges there anymore. At least for now.
I’ve adopted the Webmaking101 challenges and I’m still receiving notifications for submissions. I’m doing my best to review submissions for badges, but right now I’m kinda lonely, since the challenges have been deserted for quite sometimes now.
So, if you’re on P2PU, too, dear reader, may I ask you to consider these lines as a kind reminder to help with the submissions?
It’s not nice for those who worked hard for the challenges not to be rewarded for their hard work.Mind, there are those who submitted broken links or some totally unrelated junk but there are those who did their homework well, too.

I know, this post is really long and it’s likely boring, too, so I’ll end it here.

See you next time?

Taking a break from p2pu challenges to deepen my understanding

Hello, readers!

Right now I’m taking a break from p2pu challenges to deepen my understanding of HTML and CSS. I’m reading some manuals and fixing some concepts that’ll come in handy later on.
I’m also participating to the HTML+CSS path on Code School to test my knowledge.

I also compiled a little lovely program in Python for the MadLib challenge. You can find the code here, if you wanna play around with it: http://pastebin.com/DFQnMCST.
When I’m finished with HTML and CSS I’m planning on reading a very nice manual on learning Python for children, title Hello World by Warren Carter and follow it start to finish.
I’m not aiming at becoming a programmer. I just wish to understand better how computer works.

On the side, I’m following Smashing Magazine‘s articles and reading their ebooks on Web Design. It is one field I’ve been always interested in and this is helping me better my understanding of how things work dramatically.

And that’s it for now.

P2PU | #7 You’re Live

This is the final product for the p2pu webmaking101 challenges: my glorious 101webmaking challenge blog!

Just joking. This is the blog I’ve created to trace my journey through p2pu courses and challenges.

I’ve already written a fair amount of posts related to my experience on p2pu.

Actually, I’ve been tinkering around HTML and websites since I was a kid (age 13).

My very first website was hosted by a service called Geocities, provided by Yahoo! Ah, the good ol’ days!

Geocities didn’t last much. It was closed down some years later and then I moved to another service.

Eventually I gave up looking for hosting solutions and all the jiggery stuff of installing and running a website from scratch and embraced the convenience and user-friendly ease of blogging platforms.

I’ve tried several: Wodrpress.com, Blogspot, Tumblr… My favs are Blogspot and Tumblr but for this particular project I chose WordPress.com because it’s kinda stand alone – there’s not the hassle of having to set up a G+ profile – and the system to leave comments to post is much nicer than Tumblr; which doesn’t really have a decent service for comments of its own and you need to use third-part, like Disqus, but many people don’t quite understand how Disqus works.

Anyway, this is my p2pu logbook. I hope it will be of some use to other peers too.

P2PU | #6 Your Hosting

I’m gonna stick with this self-hosted wordpress.com blog for now.
I don’t really need a hosting for a website, since I don’t have a need for a website of my own.
I’m fine with this blog.
Also, I can’t afford paid solutions and WordPress.com takes care of all the jiggery stuff to boot.
A little bit of advice to peers who’re just gonna open up a blog: you don’t need fancy domain names and dedicated hosting to do so.

Just choose a self-hosted platform like WordPress.com or Blogger. You really don’t need more than that at beginning.

You can always look for pricey solutions later.

Badges 101

I joined this challenge to learn more, well, about badges and how the system works.
I think it’s a great way for people to share their knowledge, especially for kids.
Kids are used to win trophies when playing a game. I think the badges are a great way to encourage them to learn.
But badges alone are not enough to win children over video games. Courses should be structured in a way that they resemble games, that are gratifying and pleasant for them to take.