Learning Map – Summer 2017

A mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone, if it is to keep its edge. – A Game Of Thrones (George R. R. Martin)

This summer was a very hectic time for my self-study and for my career. I was finally able to make a career-transition I have been planning since I was in high-school: becoming a computer science instructor.

I’m very happy with the transition, and I have been mainly studying the technologies I’m going to teach: Javascript, Node.JS, Express, and React.I initially used Code School to learn the basics, but now I’m mainly studying with my workplace’s internal material.

I’m also using (and will continue using for a while) the great “You don’t know Javascript” book series.

I’m learning a lot and I’m having tons of fun!

Learning Map – Spring 2017

A mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone, if it is to keep its edge. – A Game Of Thrones (George R. R. Martin)

I want to spend a little bit of time covering what I’ve been learning about in the past several months.

C#

One of my current goals is to become a C# “expert”. A Programmer’s Guide to C# 5.0 is the first step in a long series of steps aimed at making this a reality.

I had to think long and hard to decide between C++ (which was my main area of expertise as a student) and C#. In the end, I opted for C# since it’s more aligned with several of my projects (e.g. Unity).

I’ve studied (I’ll cover how in a later post) about 70% of the material in this book and I’m eager to learn more!

Core Computer Science

But why become a C# expert if my fundamentals do not keep up? Another of my goals is to take my CS fundamentals and make them world-level. That is a humongous goal in and of itself, so The Algorithm Design Manual is only my first step.

I’m about 40% done with this one.

Math

“Why didn’t I go with a more traditional book like Introduction to Algorithms for my fundamentals goal?” you might be wondering about.Well, I discovered that my mathematical foundations were weak. The last time a did SERIOUS math was when I took calculus back in my home country university (circa 2006…).

Weak mathematical foundations were unacceptable. After all…what is computer science if not applied math?. I decided to re-start from the beginning of the road (Arithmetic) with Khan Academy and re-build my knowledge without any holes. More importantly, this time I won’t let my math rust away.

I started with Arithmetics. I’m currently on Algebra one, and I’m planning on going to calculus and beyond…so I would say I’m barely scratching 10% on this one (probably less).

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