[1] CREATE
that is the underlying purpose
The idea behind it all is to create.
For too long, I’ve been on the receiving end of technology. the consumer. the end user. perhaps in some cases, the product itself. this had to change. what happened behind the scenes? under the hood? this, i needed to find out.
Just a few weeks in and the potential is proving to be immense. off the bat, i learnt that knowing how to code not only allows you to “make apps” but makes your routine tasks, infinitely simpler.
From day 7 to day 11 of the bootcamp, I’d already built a functioning “program” that made my life much simpler. I use the word much liberally here, that is but a reflection of how exciting this can get. I built this thing from scratch. This “program” was a Residency Calculator that notifies me of the ideal date to apply for my citizenship. the constraints being the number of days spent abroad and the minimum required days to be eligible. this automated butler of sorts that keeps track of my travels will be much welcomed when I apply one day. basically i took a bunch of ugly spreadsheets which held my travel history and simplified them into a locally hosted app on Sinatra. pretty neat.
Granted, it looks like a government portal. from the 1980’s. but, hey, maybe that’s what i was going for. But, really, no, i was not going for that. I just still don’t get styling and CSS! yes, the flag is a waving gif. of course.
looking forward/
When you know what’s achievable, the ideas keep flowing. on my horizon now are some potential projects.
From my “pre-tech” days; spent in corporate construction offices, i’ve found inspiration.
- A Critical Path Method tool to automatically build schedules. A sort of lightweight Primavera. If just to say I was able to build this. I have the logic behind it down.
- An Earned Value Management Tool. This already exists on my drive as a spreadsheet. making a program out of it shouldn't be too complicated.
- An Automated Workflow management tool. Workflow in this sense referring to rounds of authoring, editing and approval of documents across departments and business units. Somewhat a lightweight Aconex. Again, to solidify the concepts and logic behind it.
on the personal side though….
I use Plex frequently to access media from my macbook on my smart tv. the laptop acts as a media server and needs to be running for this to work. now.. what if i acquire a raspberry pi/ arduino. do some coding magic. hook up my hard drive to the pi and have it be my media server…
the thought that this just might potentially be somewhat perhaps just maybe achievable one day makes me feel
and somewhat
Final thought. If you are to create anything. it sure is a good choice if it involves coding. the gratification is instant and -at best times- frequent. You solve a problem and see it in action in real-time. nothing beats that. endorphins having a blast up there.
