MY start

Hello,

This is a personal project, while I learn "how to code". I am writing this to keep track of my adventures while I learn how "code"

I have already started a month ago, so in my first post I will go over what I have done, and what I have learned so far. I plan to post every few weeks when I feel I have made some progress.

A long term plan would be to customize this blog as a resume per-say with CSS,HTML, javascript, as well as showcase any programs I have created.

I would say I am a visual learning. I am more artsy, than logical. Google searches tell me that programming is problem solving. Problem solving I feel I am not very good at.

I do hope that learning to program helps me in learning how to solve problems more efficiently.

Previous Background
I took a course in college that introduced programming to me in visual basic. It was done at the medicine hat college. I have since forgotten most things I learned. I do remember that I learned variables, if else statements, and loops, however I was still very raw at loops. I think I passed the Course with a C.

Javascript - Month once
I began my coding adventures learning javascript at code academy. It took me about a month of off and on practice. When I did practices it was usually in 2-3 hours sessions, and I probably did about 4 sessions a week. So in total it took me a month for 40 hours of learning.

 For a beginner I'd say I really liked the course. It hand held me through a lot of concepts. I'm not sure if I want to code in javascript when I'm done, however the main thing I was interested in, was learning some of the basic concepts.

 I got stuck a couple times on loops, arrays, functions, and methods, the concepts were new to me. I repeated multiple lessons twice, and it was often the second go-through where these concepts "clicked'

Harvard - CS50 - Month Two
Introduction to Computer Science

As I read about programming and the best places to learn, one program kept popping up. It was an online course through Harvard university called CS50.

The basic feelings of the course was that it was hard, but if you pushed yourself, you would learn a ton, and most everybody feels like a new person after going through the course. The best part of it, was that it is free. You can pay money to get a certificate and a credit.

I am taking this as an intellectual challenge to push myself. I was never a great student because I didn't recognize how I learn. I get frustrated when I don't understand something.  After doing javascript I feel like I learned a lot about myself in "how to learn". I need to expose myself to a new concept and bash my head against the wall trying to figure it out. Take a break and then come back, repeate if neccesary.

I pride myself as someone who can adapt to anything and this course I feel will really test this out.

CS50 - Week 0 
Learning basic programming concepts by a programming interface called scratch.
Scratch is like coding with legoblocks. It's an ingenious method of learning basic concepts. Their are lectures and shorts about binary, and ascii.

    I made my First Game 
https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/132881515/

This was my solution to week 0's problem set. Catching fortune cookies, while avoiding falling bats. The game is very short, but the final 5 cookies to catch can get difficult. I could have easily of spruced up the game, but I want to focus on learning, and not the color of backgrounds, and things like animating losing cookies.

Their was also an IQ test of sorts when submitting the problemset.  A bunch of questions that involved logic to answer. It took a few minutes, but I felt confident in my answers.
Grade: 1 = 100%. I got my mark a couple days later and I passed! Yay!

CS50 - Week 1
Their are 3 projects. By the projects are learning to code in C. I have never coded in C before.
    Project 1
    This project calculated how many bottles of water you used depending on how long you shower for. I found this project relatively easy.



    Project 2 
    The second project is recreating the "Mario pyramid". On the Nintendo mario always finished a level by jumping up a pyramid and then jumping onto a flag. The higher up on the flag the more points he scored. This project re-creates the mario pyramid, but using # instead of blocks.

I found this project a little difficult. the first part in getting a user input between 1-23 was simple, however recreating the pyramid based on the user input I struggled with a little.

Example: I ask the user for an integer between 1 and 23.
If the user input is 5 the pyramid should like like
       ##
     ###
   ####
  #####
######

It took me a few tries before I realized I would have to "nest" a loop. Loops are still relatively new to me, and I struggled a bit with the initialization of the loop, as well as the condition.

I had to google loop examples, before this idea clicked. This solution itself probably took me 5-6 hours in itself, which was equal to my work in week 0

On we go
 I have been fairly general so far, while I get myself up to date on my progress. I plan to be much more specific going forward, and hope to udpate this week by week. This is where I am now, Finished with project 2, and onto the last project of week1.

I am feeling a little intimidated with the last project taking me so long, but it was really the first "hard thing" in this course so far.

Project3
TBA