It's Almost 5 o'Clock...

....Which means I'm fiending for my commute home so I can work on other things.

Things that I need to do:

1. I need to kick myself in the ass and stop using my shitty modem as an excuse to not work on my project. I have an Amazon Web Services server running a guild website for my GW2 guild (which has been painfully inactive lately). I should just load it up there and use that instance as a host.
2. Once I'm done kicking myself in the ass, I need to break the damn code I've been pouring over so I can see what errors I can cause and, consequently, fix.
3. I also need to continue working through the programming projects in the textbook I have (yes, that one written by K.N. King that I was working out of ages and ages ago). I post my progress on these on GitHub. I think I mentioned that last week sometime.

I was working on one project that had a do loop in it, but my logic was obviously flawed, as the loop fired infinitely. My biggest question about loops has to do with the variables... And I may post up a thought process about them so I can work out the details of how they work. I'm thinking once I have that down, loops will come much easier to me.

Also on my list: working out some actual form of balance and continuity for the project I'm working on. I have a lot of features that I want to add to the base code I have and not much in the way of structure for adding them. There are huge-scope projects, like a different login system, and not-so-huge-scope projects, like adding in a racial selection menu to character creation. Content is taking a seat on the back burner until I can get some other details in place, but I've already printed up some material that should help me with that once I can spare the time to work on it.

Now, if WoW would stop sucking up all my time, I'll be in good shape.... *starts chanting "I'm not addicted" softly, feverishly*

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I think about this blog frequently. I think about the different directions I've pulled it in; about all the directions I've been pulled in, myself! I ought to be more regular here.

I ought to be more regular in studying the things I want to pursue, too. Here's the hard truth though... When you're not in high school or college, but in the school of the self, there is no grading scale to push you forward. There are only two states you can be: Are you where you want to be? Or aren't you?

For me, I laugh at programmer jokes because I understand them. But can I sit down and write a program? Well, maybe a really short one. It might be good for a couple of computations, but you'll have to use the console to run it. I have a hard time calling myself a "programmer" at this point.

If I had spent the last year or so working nonstop on programming languages, namely C, I'd be able to say a lot more for myself than that, I think. But this isn't a pity party. This is recognition of the truth. If I had worked harder, I would have made more progress.

I took a few detours here and there, and dabbled some in HTML/CSS. It was a good feeling to be able to build my company a website, and, in turn, host my own website for a guild I own in Guild Wars 2. I've been commissioned for a third website by my father's band. I won't say that my time learning HTML and CSS has been wasted. Even so, I'm not very good at it, and other web developers will make me feel stunted because I don't know Javascript or PHP. I started learning PHP too, but got overwhelmed with keeping these languages straight.

Now, after all this time, I'm back in the C seat. There are several reasons for this decision: I have an applicable chunk of code that is open for manipulation. Every time I make headway in a chapter of a book, I go look at this code to see how much more of it I understand. This is my way of quantifying my progress. Can I write a program? Not yet. But I can start making a little more sense of how this program is written and that is loads more than I could do before I worked through that chapter.

I keep my Github updated with recent programs I've written with the goal of working through each programming project at the end of a chapter. Some chapters have 8 projects, but lately they have had upwards of 12 - 15. It's slow going, especially when I have a wedding to plan, a full-time job to work, and all I want to do when I get home is mindless stuff. But when I write a program, it goes there. Find my Github at this link, or in my bookmarks page.

I also want to expand on that bookmarks page a bit more. As I learn things and teach myself how to do more things, I want this to turn into a resource for other people in the same boat I'm in. Those who want to learn how to do this stuff because of a calling or an interest, but don't know where to start. I was inclined to delete the posts I made that were off-topic from C, but I will leave them. It just goes to show how sometimes, distractions happen. And even if you look back at them with some regrets, you still have the experience to show for it.

I hope to be able to post things that are less dreary and more fun in the near future. Fingers crossed!!

Update of sorts

I'm terrible at this regular blogging thing.

Then again, I have usually made a point to blog about progress or interesting things I find pertaining to coding or scripting, and not much of either of those things have been happening lately (much to my chagrin).

I did take a huge step forward this week when I finally tackled an AWS EC2 Instance. EC2 is Amazon Web Services' virtual server service that allows 750 hours of micro instance runtime per month for a year, and you can host on Linux or Windows. There are lots of other services that fall under the "free tier" of Amazon Web Services, so go check them out if you feel it may help you out.

Right now, I have a private server running a game called Starbound. I wasn't able to get it set up without lots of help, namely a step-by-step guide from a kind fellow on Youtube who made a 15min video about a year ago. Starbound has been updated since, so it wasn't a perfect guide, but I was able to get it figured out. It is now plugging along quite happily on my Ubuntu instance.

Possibly the most difficult part of working on this project has been getting used to the lack of a GUI. I'm not good at that yet. I need to practice more and get better, and that was part of the reason I shied away from exploring AWS as a viable hosting option for a private server. Something clicked the other day, though, and I realized that I was never going to get better at it if I didn't give it a shot. So I went for it.

Now, I'll be looking into getting a Ventrilo or Mumble server set up for using in Starbound or any of the MMOs I play (GW2, FFXIV, WoW, SWToR) in either the same instance or a separate one. It is so empowering that it costs nothing and I have 100% uptime. I no longer need to worry if my internet goes out at my apartment, or if my computer auto-updates and terminates my server in the process. My next project will be to figure out how to work FTP on the virtual machine, so I can backup the universe files on my Starbound server.

As far as programming things, I have still been all over the place. I had a disenheartening chat with someone recently who managed to stick that small doubt back into my head that wonders if I'm ever going to feel like programming comes naturally, or if I will always fight with the logic. One of my biggest fears is that I will come to find out that I have spent so much time learning all of these things, only to be a mediocre programmer at best. I can handle being mediocre while I'm still learning; but to think that I'd be terrible at it no matter what I do is a hard feeling to beat.

Regardless, I'm plugging along with a Python class that is followed immediately by a C class. These are internet classes that are hosted by a kind person who believes in making programming easier for people to understand. His site, Learn Python the Hard Way, has helped me immensely. He encourages good study and research habits, points out tips and tricks along the way, and if you give him a little money, he offers personal 1-on-1 assistance via e-mail. I'm a big fan. ;)

Outside of that, I have been busy writing down ideas and plotlines for a major project. That keeps me busy when I'm not playing games or working. Maybe sometime soon, I'll be able to sit and hammer out more programming stuff. I also want to get a personal website up and running for myself, but that is pretty far down on the list of priorities. We'll see if it happens.