#apptober

[derrickcodes]

Apptober v4.0: Day 21

Hey, so uhh I kinda fell off of Apptober. This whole pandemic is a huge blow to motivation for a lot of people, myself included. I’ve been on work-from-home orders since March 2020 and have orders to do so until at least June 2021. I’m happy to stay home for the safety of others, but I am also a very extroverted person and not having that social component has been very difficult. As a result, I’ve been struggling with a lot of things and motivation to do a coding project was part of that.

With that out of the way, I wanted to share something cool I wrote. Halloween is coming up and I wanted to do something that would allow the kids that are still gonna go trick-or-treating to get the candy they want but be safe with regards to the pandemic. My plan was to package a few pieces of candy in a little baggy and have the baggies spread out so the kids could just come up and grab one. No need to worry about digging through a bucket of candy every other kid has put their hands in.

So I went out and bought two of the big bags of variety candy. I guess I kind of expected those bags to be pretty uniformly distributed, but I was wrong. One bag had 100 Snickers and only 18 Starburst. I had 50 bags and about 350 pieces of candy. The challenge was spreading the candy out evenly in a way that no bag gets too little candy, too much candy, or too many/few of one type of candy.

So why is this on a coding blog? Well, this right here is an optimization problem. Is it weird that I made an optimization problem out of Halloween? Probably. But the problem existed nonetheless and I needed a solution. I threw together a model, which looks like this:

Basically, I wanted to ensure the following: each piece of candy is used, each bag has about the same amount of candy, and each piece of a specific candy must be used. I wrote a simple program in C++ using the Gurobi Optimizer because I didn’t feel like writing my own linear programming solver. If you want to see the program, I uploaded the code here: https://pastebin.com/YFzsvQKp . The results of the program was this:

I was able to follow along and pack all 50 bags with every piece of candy. It was so beautiful getting down to the last bag and the program had perfectly spread out every piece of candy. The bags of candy came out like this!

So I thought that was cool. Only 150 lines of code (minus the thousands of lines in the optimization library) was able to do this! I went ahead and sealed the bags and quarantined them off so that I can grab them with gloves on Halloween. I just hope kids come (safely) so I don’t have to eat all of these!

[array-of-frost]

Apptober 2020 Project

Greetings to my fellow Software engineers, programmers, script kiddies and code monkeys! It's that time of year again when we write code for fun, and post about it every day for fake internet points! I have been AFK for most of this year due to *vaguely gestures at everything*, and Apptober is the perfect time to get back into personal projects.

When I first started programming, I wanted to put together a collection of tools, scripts, and libraries that were useful for programmers. Kind of like Batman's utility belt, for for solving common computer tasks. Unfortunately, when I was just starting out I had no idea what kinds of things would be useful, and most of the things I thought of could actually be solved using existing tools that I just needed to learn (grep, find, nc, etc).

Now that I have been writing software professionally for several years, I have come up with a handful of tasks that I hate having to do, and would like to automate. So my Apptober goal is to finally start my Programmer Utility Belt, and add a couple of useful tools to it. I'll be posting all of the code on Github as I go, with summaries of my designs, thoughts, and process here on Tumblr.

I _think_ I’ll be writing most of it in Go, because that is what I’m using the most nowadays, but I might fall back on some familiar Python or Bash scripts too. 

[apptober]

A Gentle Apptober’s Eve

Working on a coding project and posting about about it every day for a month is a huge challenge in a normal year, but considering how exhausting 2020 has been, I’m feeling in the mood for a softer, chiller version of Apptober this year.

So for those of you who are feeling that creative autumn maker’s vibe, but are too burnt out to commit to a month-long coding project, I invite you to participate in:

Cozy Apptober

Instead of trying to finish a whole coding project and posting about it everyday as in Apptobers past, try one of these bite-sized options (and tag @apptober please, we wanna hear about it!):

Take a moment to appreciate your past coding projects; implement one of those small TODOs or features that you never got around to the first time, or post a screenshot or two, or write about your fav part

Write a post or two about the kind of coding projects that fill you with joy. Do you love javascript development? Want to make games with Unity? Is there something you’re looking forward to building some day?

Choose a project that interests you and do some research on it, then liveblog post about what you find.

post a pic of your rubber duck debugging buddy

As always, happy coding!

(and thanks to @array-of-frost​ for the cozy pumpkin!)

[delightedcrow]

Apptober: 2020 Edition

WHELP I don’t know why I expected October to go differently than the rest of this year but I’m still somehow shocked at how much I did NOT get to. My poor Apptober project may not have gotten the love it deserved this year, but sometimes that’s just how the raspberryPi crumbles.

RTL-SDR: Tinkering With Radio Waves

On the upside I did enjoy my brief dive into the research-hole of learning about Software Defined Radio. AdaFruit especially has some excellent resources that are very accessible to beginners:

Getting Started with RTL-SDR and SDR-Sharp and CubicSDR

Build a radio scanner from a RaspberryPi

I don’t know why tuning into radio stations using software is so much fun considering you can get a handheld radio scanner pretty much anywhere... but somehow it is.

And Now: Sleep

So that’s it, a happy little research project for this year’s Littlest Apptober.

Shoutout to everyone struggling with the motivation and energy to finish projects right now, may your expectations for productivity be tempered with judicious self care 😉

[rabbitcodes]

Apptober Days 1 & 2

Been working on an assignment for my Computer Graphics class. We're supposed to use C++ which I haven't used in a while so that's fun. I finally get everyone who says Python is so much easier. Onward and upward

[delightedcrow-deactivated]

Interested In Doing Apptober?

Like Inktober and NaNoWriMo, Apptober is a 30-day* coding challenge where you pick a project and try to work on it every day for the month of October (and post about it in the #Apptober tag!). Basically it’s a month-long hackathon where you work alongside other Apptoblrs in spirit as we all spend the month trying to make as much progress on our apps as we can. It’s great practice for writing about our projects and getting them out there, and it’s really fun seeing all the things people create!

What counts as a Project?

Literally anything coding (or just tech) related. Pick something you’re interested in learning and commit to making something with it!

Some Project Idea Examples:

Want to get better with the command line? Try learning a new CLI tool every day and post about it.

Love smartphones? Try creating an iOS or Android app.

Into Games? Create one using Unity, Unreal Engine, or in your browser.

Love JavaScript and web apps? Go tell the World Hello using React, VueJS, NodeJS, or make your own framework altogether.

Are you an Overwhelmed CompSci student or studyblr? Post about your assignments and course progress for the next month and enjoy the cathartic release of knowing everyone else is overwhelmed and getting SEGFAULTs too.

What if I Can’t Manage a Whole Month?

That’s ok, any and all participation is awesome! We prioritize self-care and progress-over-perfection here, so just do your best (who knows you might surprise yourself, I definitely did).

The ONE Hard-Coded Rule: Be Kind

It’s hard enough to create something and put it out there, so let’s all do our best to make the #Apptober tag a pleasant, supportive place. Big no-nos include: NO ridiculing people for being beginners or for not knowing something, NO gate-keeping (telling people they aren’t worthy or shouldn’t try a subject/space), NO tearing people down for their choices of programming language/project/IDE/editor/tech stack/etc, NO being condescending or needlessly pedantic

In Summary:

DO offer your supportive likes, comments, and kindly-delivered constructive criticism (when asked for!) to your fellow programming enthusiasts to help keep them going!

DON’T do/say things that would disappoint Mr Rogers.

Want A Reminder?

If you’re interested to try Apptober and want a reminder before it begins let me know in a comment/reblog/message along with the blog url you want to post under and I’ll @ you on a Night Before Apptober preparation post :)

*yes I know October has 31 days but Halloween is reserved for the Gods and candy so it can’t count

[vlkryia]

#03-04 of APPTOBER

Though I've managed to finish the lecture yesterday, I was so anxious about a test that I couldn't manage to type up anything comprehensible. Today hasn't been much better, but I still ended up wanting to take a look at the problem set.

As seen in the picture attached, the very first task was to write code that just says 'hello, world' in c. I've typed those lines so many times before, so it's kind of nostalgic to see them again, really. ( Though it's also kind of awkward, considering that I usually stopped coding again rather quickly afterwards, ha... )

So I rushed through the first assignment, kind of relieved that it wasn't hard, and clicked on the next one. Well.. ^^

I may or may not be stuck there. Perhaps it's just due to stress, but I literally cannot comprehend where to start. ( and there goes my confidence :p ) My mind has pretty much gone blank at the sight of it, but I'll think it over and try again later today. Maube I'm just reading it wrong?

Anyways, I'll be updating again tomorrow. ( i sure do hope it's with a solution ) See you then!

[playingforpix]

I’m pretty sure this guy put out a hit contract on himself after spending who-knows-how-long listening to these two yap about theater outings and gossip. 

The only way you can tell he’s still alive here is that every once in a while his jaw will drop (in disgust? disbelief? a yawn perhaps?) for a second before he pulls himself together again.

[grzesiekmq]

rewriting / modifying ETL (extract transform load) AngularJS app to Vue

[graphics-photos]

Beltsys apptobe Gracias por seguir nuestras noticias sobre diseño gráfico! https://t.co/l5RqsAsWmR

Beltsys apptobe Gracias por seguir nuestras noticias sobre diseño gráfico! https://t.co/l5RqsAsWmR

— informacionyarte.com (@infyart) February 26, 2017

via Twitter https://twitter.com/infyart February 26, 2017 at 11:26AM

[derrickcodes]

Apptober v4.0: Day 2

I went ahead and started a page that will be the “main” item being developed this Apptober. I still don’t know what games I want to do, but I figured a hub of sorts that links to games while also giving out some cool info about the games and theory behind them would be pretty neat. So if you want to find out more about Game Theory, check out my new page: https://daswick.github.io/Game-Theory/. I’ll be updating this pretty consistently as I learn more, so it’s pretty empty (and ugly) as of now, but I’ve got one section up about the most infamous dilemma in game theory that I’m sure you’ll find pretty interesting!

And I was able to find a game of Tic-Tac-Toe that I had developed while investigating game theory. It turns out that with a fairly simple program, you can make an “AI” that mathematically will never lose a game of Tic-Tac-Toe. Don’t believe me? Go ahead, try it: https://daswick.github.io/Game-Theory/games/TicTacToe.html. If you can win the game with screenshots as proof, I will personally recommend you to the council of the smartest people to have ever lived. Just don’t be discouraged if you can only tie it ;)

[apptober]

I’m not comfortable with the concept of time in general or the passage of 2020 in particular BUT the sudden onset of pumpkin spice marketing campaigns has alerted me to the fact that we are coming up on:

APPTOBER O’ CLOCK

So who likes the idea of writing a bit of code this season?

[delightedcrow]

Apptober: Chapter 2

Short post for today, since all I’m really up for is looking for the components for my raspberry pi radio scanner project (wow is that a mouthful - gonna have to think on a better name, suggestions welcome!).

It looks like there’s an absolute TON of options for RTL-SDR dongles that I can use to turn a raspberry pi into a basic radio scanner (pic below is one by NooElec), and I’m hoping to find something that: A) isn’t too expensive B) will ship relatively soon and C) Isn’t Amazon, though I might have to compromise on that last one depending on how things shake out....

For now my goal for the project is to play around with getting the raspberryPi to pick up local emergency radio channels.

[rabbitcodes]

Apptober Plans

Projects in Mind:

Design and Code a two-level Unity game

Program a Web application in its entirety

Project Specific Goals:

Unity Game:

Create a game design document

Gather/Create assets

Code | Test | Debug | Code.....

Web Application:

Brainstorm ideas for what the Web App could be about.

Design and plan out how it should work.

Figure out how to implement major chunks of it. What languages/frameworks etc to use.

Use REST API

Design and code the frontend

MUST have a backend. Use PHP and MYSQL for the backend

Code | Test | Debug | Code.....

Daily Goals:

Spend atleast an hour everyday on each project

Post an update every night. This will usually be around midnight

[delightedcrow-deactivated]

Apptober Day 26

OK, after a brief whiskey sabbatical (which really I don’t recommend ugh) I’m back with some error handling! Specifically, error handling and messaging for the weather module.

Now I’ve got a cool loading message that pops up while the weather data is getting loaded from dark sky:

And some error messages for when things go wrong:

Adding Multi-language Support

The real fun part to all of this is that now that I have some message copy, it seemed like a good time to figure out how to implement translations. MM2 already has a built-in translation engine so adding translation support was really easy.

The first step is to provide a translation file (in json format) with the necessary message copy:

Next I have to tell my weather module how to find the relevant translation files. I also added a simple translationKey object so that I wouldn’t have to type the key strings everywhere in my app that I wanted to do a translation (cause I misspel everything this way will give me autocomplete!):

Now anywhere I want one of those lines translated I can just pass the relevant translationKey property to the translate function:

Now it will be hella easy for anyone who wants the WallberryTheme in their language to add a translation file for their language and BAM, new language supported!

Next Up

The WallberryTheme is nearly complete! I think it’s time to start adding some README files explaining how to use the module, and then get this puppy up on GitHub! 

Wish me luck, documentation is my nemesis lol.

[vlkryia]

#05 of APPTOBER

With no picture of anything today, because I forgot to transfer my screenshots to my phone. ^^" I'm going to edit this post tomorrow evening, promise.

Anyways, after trying to figure out where to start for a solid 30+ minutes, I decided to try watching a walkthrough that is provided by the course. Usually I don't tend to use those, since it just feels like cheating my way through, but it ended up only giving away some hints for the solution. Which is great, since I was actually able to (more or less) figure out what I'm supposed to do on the assignment without immediately seeing the solution.

When I'll add the screenshot tomorrow, ( or rather today, seeing as it turned 12am just now ) I'll also add description of the actual task and what I've done so far, since it's kind of hard for me to describe without having anything visual to point to. Maybe I should just make a separate post, but we'll see about that.