Thoughts – Page 10 – By the River

2019-04-21

Chaos aka Computer Programming

Sorry for the overly dramatic headline. Things are not that bad. What I’m discussing is the frantic pace of the computer programming and information technology industry.

I started learning to code December 2017. At the time, I was asked to assist in updating a spreadsheet template for our company. The major features were written in Visual Basic for Applications aka VBA.

I was familiar with Microsoft Excel but knew nothing of VBA. My colleague assisted me in learning VBA. By the end of the project, I found myself interested in computer programming again. The last time I was interested in programming was during middle school. I stopped messing with coding back then because I could not afford to buy a computer.

At work, I use Microsoft Excel extensively for everything. Outside of work, I use Google Sheets. This lead me to start to wonder if I could do some of the tasks done in Excel via VBA using Google Sheets. This is when I discovered Google Apps Script.

As it turns out, Google Apps Script is JavaScript for Google applications similar to VBA for Microsoft applications.

I quickly found the syntax more to my liking. I wanted to learn more and ended up studying JavaScript itself… The language of the web. Despite its many quirks, I really enjoyed studying JavaScript. I lost interest in VBA because I found its syntax “dirty” compared to JavaScript.

I was overwhelmed to learn that JavaScript and web developers use a bunch of frameworks such as React, Angular, etc. The JavaScript world became an overwhelming and intimidating place where I started to feel as though I could never become an expert because there simply are too many plug-ins, frameworks, etc.

Since JavaScript uses syntax based on the C language family I became curious about its often-confused-with-though-unrelated cousin, Java.

My new manager at work went out to buy me books to help with VBA and Java! The company was looking into adopting the Java language for in-house application development. Unfortunately he bought me a book for advanced Java developers.

I remained focused on JavaScript and eventually stopped learning VBA. I started to study Java alongside JavaScript.

Somehow I stumbled upon yet another computer programming language called Kotlin. Kotlin was recently selected by Google to be an official language for developing Android applications.

I looked into this new language because I heard a lot of positive buzz surrounding it. I was amazed to see how “beautiful” the code looked. The syntax is concise and clear. It is a JVM language but devoid of the boilerplate code which is common in Java.

I am currently learning React and GitHub. React is the most popular JavaScript framework. There is also React Native which is used to write programs to run on both Android and iOS. I recently purchased a book which covers both React and React Native.

GitHub is a source control platform used by developers around the world. It is very convenient to have your code hosted in the cloud and available to download to any computer you like. It is also great for open source collaboration.

I recently purchased a new Chromebook which has a Linux container! Linux is very popular in the developer community. I knew nothing about Linux until I bought this laptop. I now do all of my coding on the Chromebook via Linux. I can sync with GitHub and then pick up where I left off on one of my desktop PCs which run Windows. I may convert one of my old PCs to Linux.

The fabulous world of computer programming… it is fast-pace, ever-changing, and interesting. One simply cannot get bored in this field, though at times it can feel overwhelming.

2018-04-182023-05-21

Spring!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Whatever happened to Spring? I was born and raised in what was then called Metropolitan Toronto and always enjoyed the four seasons. Somehow our climate has morphed into a two-season one. We no longer enjoy four distinct seasons. We are now cursed with only two… Awful and Nice. Unfortunately Awful season lasts throughout the majority of the year. Nice is the short season spanning mid-May through early October. Five measly months of nice weather versus seven months of awful weather. Snow, ice, cold, ice rain. At this pace, why not throw in a hurricane, earthquake, and who-know-what else?

This matter is made worse for me by the fact that I have many close friends who live in other countries… countries where they are enjoying sunshine, flowers, and beautiful weather while we huddle under dark clouds or seek shelter from precipitation.

It is time for me to consider leaving my place of birth. I would like to live in a country where the weather is nice for the majority of the year. I love my country, but I need nice weather. I really crave nice weather especially since 2016 when I started training outdoors. I love to run, speed walk, hike, or cycle outdoors. I spend my days in a grey office and like to spend my non-working hours outdoors.

Toronto is a fantastic city during the summer. People from all around the world come to visit during these months. The weather is usually nice and pleasant. There are countless festivals to attend during the summer.

During the cold months, Toronto is a boring place to be. Everyone simply goes to work and then seek shelter after work. The streets tend to be bare except for people hustling to and from work or restaurants/bars. The feeling in the air is gloomy and depressing. The city does a terrible job maintaining sidewalks when there is snow or ice on the ground.

During the summer, the streets of Toronto come alive. It really is a great place to be, as long as the weather is nice. If I move to a country with a better climate, I will make sure to visit Toronto every summer for the diversity in people and cuisine.

I really hope that spring arrives this year. I have a terrible feeling that it will not.

2018-04-042023-05-21

The Meaning of Life

The meaning of life. The answer to this question is often sought. I will not sit here and lie to you by claiming to know the answer. What I will tell you is the stark truth.

A life without meaning is a dangerous situation.

He or she whose life contains no meaning, no reason d’etre, no purpose, tend to be the most dangerous of all beings. What have they got to lose?

Those who have no friends, family, loved ones, or even a roof over their head are one spasm away from endangering others or themselves.

Life is not fair. Life has never been fair. Some people live quite enjoyable lives. Some lived tragic lives. Some live long lives. Some lives are cut short.

I do not mean to rain on your parade, and to be quite frank, if you are indeed parading on this cold, wet Tuesday evening in early April, you deserve to be rained on… Hard.

But reality is reality. What I speak of is the truth. For every smile, there is a frown. For every tear shed, there is a shriek of laughter. Ying and Yang. Up and down. Left and right. Canadian and everyone else.

My point is, try to live your life to the fullest. Remember that whatever situation you are in at this very moment, there are countless others who are experiencing either worse or better conditions.