I started Learning python February of 2022, so this month marks 2 years. I have been writing mostly python, but I have written a couple of other programming languages. My aim with this post is to look back at those years 😊 and look ahead to the next year.

Looking Back

I have learnt a lot. The thing that stands out amongst what I have learnt is python, Infact, I have written some python before coming to write this article. All the stuffs in the project page of this website was written with python.

Instead of listing all the stuffs I have learnt, I decided to divide it into two and list some for each.

  1. Tools:
    • NVDA - NVDA played a big role in my journey. NVDA is the only screen reader I have used on my PC.
    • Git and Github - I learnt about git when I wanted to roleback a change I made to my code but I couldn’t, and github from ALX.
    • Vim and Neovim - I met vim at ALX, and I chose it over emacs (the only two text editors you can use for the first 9 months) because it worked, and now that is where I write my codes.

      I am writing this blog in neovim 😉

    • CLI (Command Line Interface) tools - I used to wonder how someone could do stuffs in the command line, but now I don’t have to wonder because I have become that person 😊.
    • WSL (Windows Sub-System for Linux) - is my go to place for lots of things. It feels like home, comfortable. I would try linux on bear metal very soon.
  2. Comcepts:
    • Frontend And Backend - When I started, I used to hear people talk about both and I had little idea what they are talking about. Now that I have first hand experience with both, I know the difference better.
    • How everything in a computer boils down to 0s and 1s. Is one thing to hear people say it, is another thing to experience it. I had most of my experience with this concept by playing around and from ALX. Maybe someday I would write a hello-world program entirely in binary :).
    • Data structures - Until February of 2022, I had no idea what data structure is. Fast forward, I have used some. From strings and integers all the way to binary tree and linked list.
    • Algorithms - Before all these months, I had a naive understanding of what algorithms are. I thought they were complex stuffs that are difficult to understand. Fast forward, I now take algorithms for what it is; a step-by-step approach for solving a problem.
    • And lots lots more.

One of the key thing I learnt is to be okay with not knowing and to be ready to learn (Just-in-time learning). I must say, Chat GPT really helped with this.

My goal was to learn enough python and solve a problem I had. The problem is still there, but it’s of less importance now.

Looking forward

I have learnt a lot. The logical next step after knowledge is action. It’s time to build!.

I want to focus on building, and more learning of course, but it will be mostly just-in-time learning. Another thing I would explore is getting a job / internship.

Building

There are two projects I want to focus on;

  1. Accessibility Hub: This is a website I started working on late last year. The main aim of the website is to become an open community for accessibilitty. The website used to be live on http://accessibilityhub.tech, but I have lost access to the server. My goal is to focus on it for the first half of this year or until I am satisfied with what I have built.
  2. a-notes: This is a python app I started working on late last year as well. It is a note manager, it lets me manage my notes the way I like. It has other features, like auto-compiling notes and a local server to view html outputs. I am not planning to focus on it, but I will work on it as the need arises. I use it to write notes in school, so I think the need will arise.

There are other things I might work on. TWBlue is definitely one. I just want to have my priorities straight.

Learning

Most of my learning will be from school. I have 1 cs course this semester, which has some algorithms and overview of programming languages topics in it. I’ll be starting my 2nd year sometime around late Q3 or very early Q4. In my 2nd year, I’ll be taking lots of cs courses. I’ll be learning C++ and Java.

Outside school, I would try and learn C# and asp.net. Maybe some rust and lua as well.

I might be taking more than I can chew, but I think I have my priorities straight.

Conclusion

Here you have it - A brief overview of my past 2 years and what I want to focus on for the next dozen months.

We shall meet next year Gods willing.