#Programme Note

[calversstudy]

Sunday, 29.09.2024

The physics test is on Thursday, so I've studied some orbital mechanics. I've also written my EE, but I'm not even near the end.

[o-uncle-newt]

Which Cabin Pressure episodes do you play when you're breaking down and you need to turn off your brain and make yourself feel better?

I probably turn most frequently to (in order) Paris, St Petersburg, Limerick, Zurich, and Wokingham- though I haven't been able to listen to Wokingham recently because some of the themes about caring for aging relatives have been a smidge too close to the reasons why I need to be cheered up in the first place...

Honestly I think each episode provides something different- when I did an advent listen-through I identified St Petersburg as something I listen to when I'm feeling defeated and Limerick as something I listen to when I'm feeling lonely (about which more here) so I'm wondering- for the episode you picked, what itch does it scratch?

Please share in the comments- maybe we'll gain inspiration from each other for the next time we need a pick me up!

[vagueeyes]

s/f was great!! thank you @silverview for taking time out of your day to meet up with me before & after the show, and for the lovely bracelets!!! ddd my beloved 🥹 and also for being first in the queue for the stage door!!!!

quick summary of the stage door experience:

so. i had scriptbook 3 with me and had it open and ready when people started coming out. in my mind i thought steve could sign ttp (bc he's amazing in it) & reece could sign curse of the ninth (bc it's his "new favourite"). and i had my fingers on both of those pages...

but then while chatting i heard steve say hello and suddenly they were both in front of me?? i panicked and ended up having them both sign on curse of the ninth because my brain stopped functioning???

and yet i felt like externally i held it together 😅😅 and steve said to me, "ah, curse of the ninth - good choice!" so it was alright in the end i think!!!

then we lurked for a bit and watched them go in to j sheekey 😬

in hindsight, i wish i got them both to sign ttp but not dwelling too much on this. the queue was long and i didn't want to hold things up!

[averlym]

ghost story premiere day! check @melliotwrites for more info

[izicodes]

Motivation

me, feeling unmotivated from programming my projects: this sucks.

youtube recommendation: here's a random playlist full of programming projects in programming languages you don't know!

me: aright bet. i am motivated again.

[hezacodes]

Concatenation vs. Interpolation

I have always used the string concatenation format with '+' :

console.log('My name is ' + myName + ', and I am ' + myAge + ' years old.');

but now while going through my JS review, I've been wondering why I wasn't using string interpolation:

console.log(`My name is ${myName}, and I am ${myAge} years old.`);

because it is so much easier to read. Major sigh. . .

[afieldinengland]

[heart-ghost-studyblr]

Definitely, there is a time for everything.

I was desperate not long ago, so I decided to quit all my hobbies to study really hard, or at least 4 hours a day like I did during my graduation (I graduated in IT Management). The main thing I discovered is that even if I don't get the job I want, the person I will become—someone with real knowledge of the Software Engineering process, from the bare bones to deployment—will be worth it and enjoyable to become.

Because of this, I started to perform better in interviews and made new friends on Discord servers for programming languages.

Okay, I’m not saying that everyone will be surrounded by friends by studying like this, we need a pretty time alone to accomplish many things. But the point is, the more you talk about it, the more you attract things related to it.

[doldulce]

Gamedev update: it's been a rough few days for me, but I finally found the energy to code. Lots of progress on Joanie Game, very nearly through to the route divergence. (Also, we have sound effects now)

Here's another teaser (translation of code in the Alt text for non-programmers):

[calversstudy]

Saturday, 5.04.2025

The photo’s from last week, but long story short—I’m finally done with all my mock exams and submitted all my IAs. Basically, I’ve got some free time for the first time in a month. I’m super tired, but finals are in about three weeks, so I can actually rest a bit now.

[mr-abhishek-kumar]

Augmented assignment operators in python

Augmented assignment operators in Python combine addition and assignment in one statement. Instead of writing a = a + 1, you can write a += 1. This can make your code more concise and readable.

There are many augmented assignment operators in Python, including:

+= (addition)

-= (subtraction)

*= (multiplication)

/= (division)

//= (floor division)

%= (modulus)

**= (exponentiation)

&= (bitwise AND)

|= (bitwise OR)

^= (bitwise XOR)

<<= (bitwise left shift)

>>= (bitwise right shift)

Augmented assignment operators can be used with any Python variable, including numbers, strings, lists, and dictionaries.

Here are some examples of how to use augmented assignment operators in Python:

Python

# Add 1 to the variable a a = 1 a += 1 # Subtract 2 from the variable b b = 10 b -= 2 # Multiply 3 by the variable c c = 5 c *= 3 # Divide 4 by the variable d d = 10 d /= 4 # Floor divide 5 by the variable e e = 10 e //= 5 # Take the modulus of 6 by the variable f f = 10 f %= 6 # Raise 7 to the power of 2 g = 7 g **= 2 # Perform a bitwise AND operation on the variables h and i h = 10 i = 5 h &= i # Perform a bitwise OR operation on the variables j and k j = 10 k = 5 j |= k # Perform a bitwise XOR operation on the variables l and m l = 10 m = 5 l ^= m # Perform a bitwise left shift on the variable n by 1 bit n = 10 n <<= 1 # Perform a bitwise right shift on the variable o by 1 bit o = 10 o >>= 1

Augmented assignment operators can be a powerful tool for writing concise and readable Python code. They can be used with any Python variable, and they can be used to perform a variety of arithmetic and bitwise operations.

[ganondoodle]

FYI this "aesthetic blog" posts a ton of maschine generated pictures

im sure there are a ton of blogs like those around but i saw this one multiple times today alone; not every single post contains maschine generated stuff but i looked over a bunch and 90% was 100% made in one of those picture generators

not a single post containing clearly maschine generated stuff is tagged as such, but all posts have notes in the thousands

of course i cant tell if the person running the blog is aware or doing it on purpose but if you want to stay away from anything spit out by a plagiarism programm i thought id mention it

[izicodes]

I feel like some people are too serious with learning how to program. “I gotta be the best in this and that and build this and that to impress this employer” blah blah, that kills the fun out of programming. I see a lot of people (bashing people on Twitter again and actually a few people on here too, oops) making programming such a serious topic and you can’t have fun in it. Besides the proper syntax, documentation, best practises whatever, people in the tech community have putting up “rules” about how you should program and what to learn and if you fall out of that, you get ridiculed for it. Literally making it less fun.

Someone said that there’s no point in learning jQuery because JavaScript alone can do all that jQuery can and more.

So? I’m still going to learn it for fun? I’m having a blast with SCSS and jQuery, I don’t care 🤷🏾‍♀️ and I’ll learn the other frameworks and libraries that suits me because I want to. I don’t care if the entire tech community stops using a technology - if it interests me, I’m still going to learn it~!

Also no hate or anything to that person who said that to me - I completely understand your POV on jQuery! 💗✨ When I first read comment, I was a bit down like “oh what’s the point then…” but slapped myself and was like “I’m not learning for them or anyone. This library is cool and I like it so I’m still gonna use it”

Moral of the story: just do you. Do what makes you happy, code what you happy. Don’t be so serious all the time and make stupid dumb programs or games or websites whatever. Have fun in such a hard subject!!!

[hezacodes]

flex-direction: row; & flex-direction: column;

Flexbox has a property called flex-direction and this determines the direction that the flex items are displayed.

flex-direction: row; - this is the default and aligns the items across the page, making the main axis, left to right and the cross axis, top to bottom.

When this property is applied with this value, and if you use the flex-basis property on the flex items within this container, it would affect the width of the items:

if we apply a flex-basis of 500px to the first child div, it would change the width of the div.

flex-direction: column; - this aligns the items down the page, making the main axis from top to bottom and the cross axis from left to right.

When this property is applied with this value, and if you use the flex-basis property on the flex items within this container, it would affect the height of the items:

if we apply a flex-basis of 300px to the first child div, it would change the height of the div.

The flex-basis property interacts with the main axis, and depending on the direction of the main axis, determines whether the flex-basis will change the items' width or height.

[spotaus]

Woah!!! Ec-4o.Verse reference?? Bringing you Geno! (With a bunch of notes that are intelligible off to the sides-)

Cropped versions for easier reading/zooming! But to be more fun about it, here's a Lore Recap for each design! (I'd say these designs are from... hmm, a hundred years or so? He's a Boss Monster so he lives a lot longer.)

(Tw: Mentions of Death, Self-Loathing, Mental Illness, and I feel a few other things)

Pre-War:

Geno was a normal guy, had a dayjob, but was beloved by his friends for being a Programmer. He was lazy, had awful work ethic, but would pump out amazing quality work for cheap as long as he was given the time to do things at his own pace. He has a passion for Psychology, but was awful socially, so he designed programs that mimicked mental illnesses in Test Ectos (ectos not embedded with personalities or magic) so people could research mental health without risking patient wellness. He made A.Z. too, the first real mimicry of mental illnesses in children. Geno got attached and kept A.Z. himself, the last prototype of the code. The finalized ones can be found anywhere, but he kept A.Z. around, and even though A.Z. wasn't sentient it was such a good mimicry, Geno practically treated him like a son.

Geno was known for his work, and was contacted by the government of his country to come and work on a big nation-wide upgrade they were planning to improve ecto functionality. Again and again Geno simply ignored their letters, emails, chats, and attempts to call. It wasn't his field of study, so he could care less. So, all that led to the government sending people to confiscate A.Z. from Geno and shut down his workshop under the pretenses of 'unethical programming methods'. He was forced to relocate, and A.Z. was basically held as blackmail to force Geno into working. (Since A.Z. wasn't sentient, he was simply property, and therefore there was no legal issues with the government taking him.)

Before/During the War:

In this time, Geno was among hundreds of other talented people from all across the country who were 'recruited' to work on this project. People who didn't comply with orders went missing, loved ones were "lost" and life projects destroyed. Geno was part of the Programming team (there were also Medical, Bio-Enhineering, and Engineering teams) and he was initially supposed to just shut off the programs within an Ecto that gave them emotion protocols, even the ones infused with magic.

But, as things went on, he was told to do more and more. He was involved in more marketing and branding and announcements. He was made to be on screen, be the face of the change. His background was good for publicity (man who studied ways to harmlessly study mental health) and he was supposedly trustworthy. By day he'd stand up beside someone and listen to them implore people to bring their ectos in for this quality of life upgrade to their nearest government office. By night he'd be slaving away infront of code, being forced to find a way to make these robots kill people. Just enough people. To nullify themselves when it was all over. I'm his despair he tried to make it so that their emotion drives would at least register these events as something positive, so they felt no distress if they were sentient. He tried so hard to stop but any backlash did nothing. So he kept his head down and worked quietly.

And then he was transferred locations. Somewhere closer to the heart of the operation. He met Sci, a man unaware of the Culling Orders or the heartache, because they government had been treating him well. He was a bio-engineer, and his project (nicknamed Fresh) was like if a self-healing code was a living thing and could slow, or even heal, wounds. The government wanted it, in the case that it could unlock immortality. Sci was getting funding and a cushy life. Geno realized Fresh was the best way he coukd possibly end all of this war that was in the works. For good.

So he poured hid heart and soul into finishing that code. "A change of heart prompted by wanting so desperately for his prized project, AZ, to be saved" He claimed. There were a few useful bots that filled through the office. He offered to install code that would prevent the Culling Order from activating inside them since they were going to be preserved. While adding code he added failsafes and kill codes and important information from his and others work he wanted saved. He added the names of every researcher he knew had been drafted into this unwillingly. He did it in secret, so entrenched in code only another programmer would notice.

And then the war started, and Sci learned the truth, and people started dying. Geno had to convince Sci to help him after that. Sci feared being killed. He feared not being able to finish his work. He feared not being protected from the pain and destruction outside. It was a long plenty of *years* that Geno had to configure just the right plan, just the right way to ensure that Sci abd Fresh would survive it. That the rest of the base would be no threat and that it'd stop the Ectos and the Culling Code.

And then he did it. He put an end to the war, at the price of all the power on the continent running to every piece of tech, and at the price of his own arm and eye.

Post-War:

Geno was disfigured. He knew that to make an EMP large enough to cut off all electricity, he would need to overload his own master consol to the point of battery meltdown. An explosion. He didn't tell Sci. Only mentioned he'd need Fresh on-hand. So when it exploded, his left arm (non-dominent just like he planned), his chest, and the right side of his skull (his left eye was better) were demolished in the blast and dusted near instantly. Sci and Fresh managed to save his life, and Sci, resident Bio-Engineer, was able to replace his missing limbs and his wounds with spare ecto parts over the course of a few weeks.

Geno was slow to recover, nearly on the verge of falling down during recovery (He didn't know where they'd stored A.Z. if he was even still in-tact, he had been the reason so many humans and monsters had died, and now to reverse his mistake he'd taken out the electricity the country had been relying on for the past thousands of years.) But he pushed through. He was Determined. He needed to get to the four robots he embedded information and failsafes into. But they were scattered across the country for aafe-keeping. Incase he'd failed. So he has to hunt them down.

As soon as he can he leaves. Sci stays. Geno promises he'll come back (he doesn't). Geno takes a medical uniform, packs the supply belt with programming tools, and moves out. He enters the main story while on this trek to hunt down his Ectos. Not a single one is where they should've been, and he can't help but be furious, praying to a non-existant God that they weren't scrapped by heathens out for parts or destroyed in a rage by scared survivors.

Looking for the four? One day their trackers finally Light up again. One by one. All in the same location. And Geno follows it like a moth to the flame.

[mythuzalasheir3]

As far as I can tell it’s not the right time for when the school year starts just some advice for people who’ll be starting university (from a british perspective)

This is all stuff that I have found really helps when trying to organise everything so I can put most of my mental energy into actually studying and enjoying my degree

1: Leave a paper trail!

If it’s to do with funding/your studies and it seems important, screenshot it, or get a physical copy and keep them safe in case it’s needed.

Top things to keep would be any receipts of tuition and rent and agreements if you need to have an exceptional circumstance for either of those, important numbers/emails like maintenance, finance, and the university’s disability advisory programme, and when possible save the lecture materials to your own device.

2: Figure out who can help you and get a rapport with them!

Some worthwhile ones would be the credit control at the university as if the payments of loans and when you have to pay off stuff don’t align, for example, you can talk to them and figure out a plan, your first contact point for academic issues and Disability programme when appropriate. It will feel awkward, but you will probably just have to bite the bullet and call them.

3: Find people who can help you advocate for yourself/advocate on your behalf when you can’t!

This is a huge thing. Even if it’s people at home and friends and not staff, having people in your corner helping fight with you if it comes to that, makes it all less daunting and overwhelming. I don’t think I’d have been as good at advocating for myself over these last years if I didn’t have the backing of people who trusted me and supported me because I knew they were there as sounding boards and to be there when it got tough.

It is harder than it sounds, but that’s not the be all and end all of the advocacy support. I’m not sure how it works at other universities but we have academic tutors who are the first port of call for pretty much anything. Attend meetings with them, let them get to know you so if they need to, they can successfully advocate for you if you aren’t allowed to

4: Research benefits and aid the university/government offer and if you’re entitled to any, take it. It’s a hassle at times to sort out, believe me, I know, but it genuinely is better to have and not necessarily need it than to suddenly need it and not have it. That has always been my philosophy when it comes to stuff like this and it always has worked out.

5: Learn when to ask for help and who to ask, if you don’t already know.

That’s basically summarising points 2 and 3 just phrased better. I struggle with asking for help, but my uni experience has taught me lots about it.

and the most important one

6: Enjoy yourself!

Find your perfect balance between work, fun and learning how to be an adult so none of them consume the other.

At the end of the day, it’s your degree, so focus and get your head down, but enjoy the learning and the fun times with your friends and coming into your own.