Recently, I have been pondering what to do to further my growth as a developer. Here are some of my current thoughts on what to start doing in the near future:
- I should get more practice using Git and working in a group. I think that I should start a small Python project with someone to get more Git practice. (I also recently found a helpful page for remembering the main points of Git.) EDIT: Someone just linked me to this tutorial for learning to use Git better.
- Start using a fully-fledged code IDE like PyCharm or Spyder
- Checkout the interactive browser-based IDE IPython
- Host my own Python server for $5/month on PythonAnywhere.com
- Learn Flask (which is supposedly easier than Django)
In other news, I recently purchased two books on Amazon that should be arriving later this week:
- Think Like a Programmer: An Introduction to Creative Problem Solving by V. Anton Spraul
- Python for Informatics: Exploring Information by Dr. Charles R. Severance
I also started studying Android development on Treehouse. Having a program developed for Android is great because at an interview I will be able to show employers a project simply by taking out my phone.
The Data General Eclipse MV/8000
I’ve also been reading The Soul of A New Machine by Tracy Kidder. It won the Pulitzer Prize and is the story of the Data General Corporation trying to create a new 32-bit minicomputer in the 1970s. It really shows the high-paced world of computer-development at the time and the people then who lived purely for the challenge of inventing and creating something radical and new. The machine they went on to create would be the Data General Eclipse MV/8000.