Lazy programmer? Not really!

Influenced by an article, I wrote about how programmers are lazy people, but I take it back because it's completely far from the truth. It's true that no one likes repetitive tasks but they also don't have the desire or willingness to learn how to get rid of it, but programmers do.

We are consistently learning, building, and putting in the effort to be more efficient. Our desire to free up time puts out a lazy illusion which sometimes fools even ourselves(I'm a victim).

First and foremost programming isn't easy and it takes a lot of effort. We want to automate not because we are lazy but efficient. We are always trying to see how much we can get done in the least amount of time. Would you call yourself lazy because you drive to work instead of walking. No! because walking would take 5 hours instead of 30 minutes to arrive. Never did I build a program so I can just do nothing but free my time to do something else. So stop calling yourself lazy, it doesn't make look cool.

Post PC era, Really?

Recently there's been a lot of people talking about how the post PC era is upon us because of all these smart phones and tablets. Let me tell you secret, it's not true but I'll let you be the judge.

Would you trade up your keyboard for an on screen one? Would you trade power and speed for convenience? Would you trade Skyrim for Angry Birds?

If you said yes to those questions you probably use your computer like a Television, passively. Surfing the net, snooping other people lives on facebook and that's it. And yes! Post PC era has arrived for you because you never belong with a PC anyways. For someone to think that a tablet will make a PC obsolete is ridiculous. This is all propaganda for you and I to be another victims to advertising.

How can a tablet ever beat a PC in programming, special effects and gaming. Tablets were supposed to come before PC but we decided to skip it. When I first got an iPod Touch I used it a lot for downloading games and apps but now the only apps I use is Twitter, email, notes and calculator because everything else is really not that important.

The Answer

“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.” -President Calvin Coolidge

htaccess python script, Clean URL

I enjoy the clean URL when it looks like http://baligena.com/home/page

However every time I create a new app I have to re-edit/create a htaccess file. This is too much work and remembering. Below is a python script for windows and linux that once ran inside the root folder of your site it will create an htaccess file to make that clean URL you always wanted. You can also fork it at GitHub

Warning! You may need to configure apache and php for the htaccess file to work. Click me for instructions.

createhtaccess.py

# this script customizes and creates the .htaccess to correspond to the current directory

import os

def create_htaccess():
 f = open('./.htaccess','w') 
 # get directory path
 directory = os.getcwd() 

 # if linux
 if os.name == 'posix':
  dirname = directory[directory.rfind('/')+1:]
 # if windows
 elif os.name == 'nt':
  dirname = directory[directory.rfind("\\")+1:]
 else:
  exit('error occurred: couldnt determine the system this computer is on')

 
 
 f.write('''
 # http://codeigniter.com/wiki/mod_rewrite
 # make sure you change the root url on line 27 RewriteRule ^(.*)$ directory/index.php?/$1 [L]

 
     RewriteEngine On
     RewriteBase /

     #Removes access to the system folder by users.
     #Additionally this will allow you to create a System.php controller,
     #previously this would not have been possible.
     #'system' can be replaced if you have renamed your system folder.
     RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^system.*
     RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /index.php?/$1 [L]
     
     #When your application folder isn't in the system folder
     #This snippet prevents user access to the application folder
     #Submitted by: Fabdrol
     #Rename 'application' to your applications folder name.
     RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^application.*
     RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /index.php?/$1 [L]

     #Checks to see if the user is attempting to access a valid file,
     #such as an image or css document, if this isn't true it sends the
     #request to index.php
     RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
     RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
     RewriteRule ^(.*)$ '''+ dirname + '''/index.php?/$1 [L]
 

 
     # If we don't have mod_rewrite installed, all 404's
     # can be sent to index.php, and everything works as normal.
     # Submitted by: ElliotHaughin

     ErrorDocument 404 /index.php
   
 ''')
 f.close()

if __name__ == '__main__':
 create_htaccess() 

Hit the road Dogma

Steve Jobs said it the best "Don't go out living other people dogma". In business, programming, sports and life people want to force their opinion on you wishing they had what you have and then telling what you should do. Oh if only I had your age, lack of money, computer, size of your head, number of toes.

When someone finds out that I'm a programmer they say "oh that makes a lot of money, you should work for blah blah blah". Why? What if I want to keep programming interesting and fun, not make into a dreading job.

People will hate on someone who finds satisfaction in things where the majority won't. If a millionaire lives a simple life or if a young professional athlete is not living a party life and has a strong religion(Tim Tebow) their must be something wrong with them.

Let my neighbor do his thang and I'll do my thang. I have my style, my vision, my perfection, my imperfections and if I have to change I will but not because of dogma.

Forgetting how to Program

As a programmer it's impossible to remember everything you learn. I saw this as being bad but today I see it as being good. Programs, languages, technology change and involve, and if you're not consistently learning you're being left behind and if you're remembering everything you are also being left behind.

Recently PHP had a new update with new syntax and deprecated old ones. Just like your memory, in with the new out with the old. Why hold on to all that useless code or memory? This is why I don't believe in computer science degrees. What you learned 5 years ago may not be relevant today. I would rather hire someone who consistently learns everyday for the past 2 years compared to someone who has a computer science degree 10 years ago.

Program everyday like you eat everyday, have your daily dose of it. Don't try to learn everything. At 9, when I started using a computer I didn't try to learn everything about it. I learned what I needed and that was how to play games. Today I'm not going to try to learn every language like its the end of the world but learn what is needed and it will lead to huge gains in the future without me noticing.

Internet Beauty: Location

Its one of the beauties of the Internet, freedom from location. We all should strive to create a business or a source of income independent on location. They're places in this world where its more expensive than others to live which also correlate with the average income someone makes. What if you can live at a location that the cost of living is the lowest but get paid in a location where its the highest, Internet is the answer.

You can live in Europe and have a job in America, you're not restricted to buildings and offices, you can travel the "Universe". This is freedom! We should strive for freedom to be where you want to be, when you want it and how you want it.

Now we cannot always get what we want like there's no perfect line of code, but we can get really close. Just to have the ability to imagine the possibilities is enough to make you excited to make into reality. You see, I don't quite have this freedom yet but its a work in progress.

Initial cost associated in selling a Mobile Application

When trying to sell an app you'll need to decide whether you want to developed for the iPhone, Android (2 most common) or both. You'll need to publish your app at each distributor store.

Android you'll navigate to their development site and sign up and pay a $25 fee. For the iOS is the same process you'll go to their development site and pay $99/Year to $299/Year.


tags:
itunes connect, create account, developing, develop, itunes, application