Andela BootCamp Day 2: “I can I will”

There are a lot of things that people cannot control. Yet, these things affect them. But what they can control, is how they react to them. No matter how hard the challenge, the outcome always depends on their effort. Trust me on this one because I accomplished Day 2 Tasks, even though they appeared impossible at first.

On this day I had three tasks to complete. Just like day 1, I started on a high, finishing the first task in good time. It involved two python codes, one that counted occurrences of words in a string and the other was on getting the max and minimum number in a list.

The second task read “A simple command line application that consumes a public API using a HTTP Client library”. This was tricky to me because I had never used Public API’s before and had no Good understanding of them.

I decided to consult “Google, The Great”. Goggle did not disappoint I had links to all manner of pages about API’s. I moved from page to page trying to get a good understanding of the topic, but in the end it was a case of information over load. I had a lot of disorganized information.

Feeling stuck. I consulted guys on slack. Almost immediately someone posted a link to a page that had content that was straight to the point, and provided me with the basics I needed to start off. From this, I fully comprehended the question. I then followed links in the page, to download python modules needed to do the work.

Before this day, I was familiar with HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and how it works. I also understood the meaning of its codes. Armed with knowledge, good understanding of python and my new found Knowledge, I was set to go. I knew what was to be develop and how to develop it.

I decided to create a weather app. After getting the appropriate API. I quickly used the new module ‘unirest’, which I had just installed, to get the required data. Using the body of the response. I wrote Python code to GET the exact the required information, and then made it possible for the user of the app, to customize the data further. I consulted friends on slack on the algorithms they thought would be good for analyzing the data and I incorporated a few of their suggestions, that made my program more efficient.

The third task had no surprises. It was a blog post on my experiences. Needless to say, this was the easiest task. It helped me relax after over thinking while creating the API app.

With the help of frustrations and friends on slack, I made it. Team work works. My effort paid off. And despite my struggles, I came out much more confident in myself, I proved to myself that I’m no Quitter.

If “I can I will”.

Bring on Day 3!