Writer of words and code

Category: Programming (page 1 of 1)

AI Slop: The Death of You and Me

I sat in a garage and invented the future because artists lead and hacks ask for a show of hands.

steve Jobs (2015)

boy finds love, pt. 1

My life changed the night my dad brought home our family’s first desktop PC. Inside the huge cardboard boxes were a CRT monitor and a Micron computer with a 1 GB hard drive and Windows 95. I was smitten with the machine from the moment the crackling screen was first turned on. I spent the rest of the night drawing in Microsoft Paint and playing Minesweeper though I did not even know the rules of the game.

Soon after, I picked up a book on HTML from my elementary school’s Scholastic book fair. A world of possibilities opened up before me. CSS was a new invention and a complete unknown to me; the <center> tag was a critical tool. <table>-based layouts ruled the web. Discovering the <marquee> tag was like Oppenheimer unleashing nuclear weapons, but good design and separation of concerns were irrelevant. I could create my own websites. The computer had become a creative tool for me.

Learning HTML set me on a lifelong path. I taught myself C++ in order to develop my own video games. In high school, I picked up Java. Originally, I went to college for biomedical engineering, but I would eventually realize I wanted a degree in computer science instead. The house I live in is paid for by the career I have built writing code.

Programming is still my passion. My nights and weekends continue to be spent learning and building with the computer. Why do I still love coding so much? Because it is literally fucking magic. You pick the right words and put them in the correct order then you can change the world. You can communicate across continents, solve impossible math problems, or build entire virtual lands.

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How to Earn Your CS Degree in 9 Months

In fall 2019, I started my bachelor’s in computer science at Western Governors University. By April 2020, I had finished my degree.

At most schools, this would be impossible. WGU, however, has a unique system. Students sign up for a six-month term at a fixed tuition price. You start with a regular semester’s worth of classes. Once you finish those first four classes, you can take additional ones as long as you finish them before the end of the term. In theory, you can complete your entire degree in a single six-month term. My studies only took an extra 3 months. If you are looking to do the same, here are some of my best tips:

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