Last weekend, I had the opportunity to attend Twin Cities Code Camp for the first time. Actually, despite being in the industry since before the Code Camp concept had even started, this was the first one I'd ever had the opportunity to attend. At the urging of a coworker who had attended a number of these events for the past few years, I loaded up my trusty steed and made my course north-east towards Minneapolis.
While the ride up and back is beyond the scope of this discussion, I do want to note that this was the first trip longer than a single tank of gas that I've made on my motorcycle. At almost two hundred and fifty miles each way, this made a good shakedown run for some of the longer rides I've got planned for later this year. I came away with a couple of items that I definitely want to adjust for next time, but overall the ride went well.
For code camp, I attended five sessions: Building C# and iOS apps with Xamarin, Augmented Eyes = Azure Cognitive Services + Hololens, Scratch: Programming for Kids (and Adults), The Importance of Networking (human, not computers), and Cool SQL Features Everyone Should Know About. Having previously worked on HoloStudio and Robo Raid, the Hololens talk was a personal highlight. The post talk Hololens play session where people were trying on the devices for the first time and experiencing Robo Raid was great. Watching other people have those "Whoa!" experiences for the first time is fantastic.
The Xamarin talk was another excellent one for me. I've been hoping to work on a personal project for mobile devices later in the year, and Xamarin is sounding very promising as a technology for me to use. Since I'm primarily a C# developer these days, the promise of being able to use what I already know to develop for multiple platforms sounds like a great time saver.
The most humorous moment for me came at the start of the Networking panel. Let's be honest, most of us in the software industry are introverts to one extent or another, and it was never more obvious than before a panel about talking to new people, when literally no one in the room was talking to each other! No wonder we need an extroverted placement specialist to help remind us why we need to be talking, making new friends, and keeping our personal networks up to date.
This isn't meant to slight the other two panels I attended either. While the SQL talk was a bit over my head (I'm still working on better understanding SQL), there was some excellent advice there. The Scratch panel was also fantastic, introducing me to a programming language I'd never heard of before,that it sounds like some of my kids will really enjoy.
It was a great use of a Saturday. I met some new people, learned some things, and came away with a cool new t-shirt. I'll definitely be back next year. If you're even tangentilly involved in software development, or interested in writing code, I highly recommend finding out if there's a code camp near you.
In via praemium sum est - The journey is its own reward
Showing posts with label SQL. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SQL. Show all posts
Thursday, April 27, 2017
Monday, May 16, 2016
What I Got From Sixteen Years of Baseball Card Collecting
Yes, sixteen years. I don't know the exact day when my grandmother first gave me a couple packs of 1988 Donruss Baseball, a small shoebox, and some rubber bands, but it was definitely some time in '88, and it helped kick something off that's still going today.
A lot of people my age and older talk about how reading the stats on the backs of baseball cards was the first time they really understood math concepts like percentages, averages, and ratios. When you figure out the formula to calculate a batting average or an earned run average for yourself, it suddenly makes more sense than all the dry story problems about "Suzy bought 20 apples for $1.26, 10 oranges for $1.87, 2 kiwi fruit for $4,38, and 7 kumquats for $0.68. What is the average cost of each piece of fruit Suzy purchased?"
For me, later, there would be other benefits as well. By the time I'd graduated college with my shiny new Computer Science degree, I'd accumulated a decent sized collection. Not any particular great shakes, but big enough to make tracking what I had somewhat unwieldy.
I tried using duplicates of the set checklists to see what I had (assuming the set had checklists and that I had them in the first place.) I tried using paper checklists. (Too many cards to be effective, and the lists had to be kept updated with new sets.) I tried a spreadsheet (in Excel '97. Enough said.)
But hey, I had a CS degree, I had a copy of Microsoft Access '97, and I knew databases. How hard could it be to make my own Access/SQL database to track my inventory?
As it turns out, rather more difficult than I thought. However, the protracted side development (and eventual abandonment of the project) taught me several lessons in software development that I've never forgotten. Things about scope creep, and estimation of effort were lessons that I learned before I knew the proper terms for them. Add to that some valuable SQL experience that stood me in decent stead on my resume.
Who knows, maybe one day I'll tackle that development project again. There's certainly enough things that bother me about Beckett's Organize system (and especially their barely functional iOS app) that I'm certainly tempted to roll my own again at times.
But perhaps not. If I've learned one thing over the years of trying to find solutions to this particular problem, it's that an 80% solution that you have now, is far, far better than a 100% solution that you'll have eventually, some day, maybe.
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| Judging by their condition, these are probably two of the first cards I got. |
A lot of people my age and older talk about how reading the stats on the backs of baseball cards was the first time they really understood math concepts like percentages, averages, and ratios. When you figure out the formula to calculate a batting average or an earned run average for yourself, it suddenly makes more sense than all the dry story problems about "Suzy bought 20 apples for $1.26, 10 oranges for $1.87, 2 kiwi fruit for $4,38, and 7 kumquats for $0.68. What is the average cost of each piece of fruit Suzy purchased?"
For me, later, there would be other benefits as well. By the time I'd graduated college with my shiny new Computer Science degree, I'd accumulated a decent sized collection. Not any particular great shakes, but big enough to make tracking what I had somewhat unwieldy.
I tried using duplicates of the set checklists to see what I had (assuming the set had checklists and that I had them in the first place.) I tried using paper checklists. (Too many cards to be effective, and the lists had to be kept updated with new sets.) I tried a spreadsheet (in Excel '97. Enough said.)
But hey, I had a CS degree, I had a copy of Microsoft Access '97, and I knew databases. How hard could it be to make my own Access/SQL database to track my inventory?
As it turns out, rather more difficult than I thought. However, the protracted side development (and eventual abandonment of the project) taught me several lessons in software development that I've never forgotten. Things about scope creep, and estimation of effort were lessons that I learned before I knew the proper terms for them. Add to that some valuable SQL experience that stood me in decent stead on my resume.
Who knows, maybe one day I'll tackle that development project again. There's certainly enough things that bother me about Beckett's Organize system (and especially their barely functional iOS app) that I'm certainly tempted to roll my own again at times.
But perhaps not. If I've learned one thing over the years of trying to find solutions to this particular problem, it's that an 80% solution that you have now, is far, far better than a 100% solution that you'll have eventually, some day, maybe.
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