Hi dear reader. 😉
Welcome to the 2nd issue of my newsletter.
Stick around. I've got something for you.
What have you been up to since our last time together?
Has the country and life in general been kinder to you?
Let me know in the comments.
In this episode, I'll mostly be giving you an update on my programming journey: the bad, the worse and the ugly. I'll also be reviewing one of my favourite reads of the month. Please stick with me, don't miss out.
Since my last newsletter, quite a lot of difficult things have happened in the country, which in all honesty, has been quite draining. I know I promised we would be discussing real things here. Still, I'm not about to make Nigeria's dreadful state the focal point of today's newsletter.
Reminder:
I stated that this would be a bi-monthly newsletter which will be dropping in your mails every first and last Thursday of the month.
What have I been up to since the last time?
Two things;
Unceasingly churning out content: I know it's what I'm paid to do, but it gets exhausting. It's not like I'd ever run out of ideas.
My Developer journey: Learning programming with Altschool Africa
First, a quick rundown of how AltSchool plans to make me a world-class Engineer:
It's a six-month programme that features three tracks (Frontend, Backend and Cloud Engineering). All students learn together in the first three months before squarely facing their respective tracks in the remaining three months. Stellar students are likely to get internship placements.
Here's a timeline of my learning so far;
It's been 2 months and 4 weeks since learning began.
Month 1: I learnt about the fundamental of computer programming; recursion, loops, data structures, conditionals, variables, big O notation, and Algorithms.
Month 2: This is the final week of the 2nd month, and I've been learning to use Frontend tools like HTML and CSS to build websites.
Frontend engineering deals with the interface of a website. The part you interact with as a user. Text, buttons, pictures, shapes, text boxes, navigation, and animations are all incorporated into a website through Frontend Engineering, employing HTML, CSS, and Javascript tools.
For now, I'm working with HTML and CSS. HTML is a markup language used to structure a webpage and its content. e.g. Sections, paragraphs, texts, and images, while CSS deals with the presentation of content on a page. It gives life to a page and makes it pleasing to the eye. E.g. Colours, borders, position, width, font size, font style, spacing etc.
My first projects
This week, we were to turn in our first assignment;
An HTML page featuring an about me page, a contact page, a register page and a login page. We were given some parameters to incorporate into each page.
A calculator.
I was able to build a calculator with the help of Youtube.
I was also able to build the webpage, but I couldn't make it responsive, i.e. it'll look not very pleasant on any other device apart from a Laptop. But considering we weren't asked to do that, I did well for my first webpage.
I'm currently learning CSS Media Queries, which explains how to make web pages responsive, amongst other stuff. So you can almost trust that my next project will have a proper display on your mobile devices.
Here is the page:
To save you the stress of viewing with a desktop or a laptop, here’s what the desktop view looks like:
The homepage:
Homepage 2:
Contact page:
Register page 1:
Register page 2:
Login page:
A review of On Writing
On Writing by Stephen King is a memoir about the life of the prolific writer and more a biography of the craft of writing itself.
This book is divided into 3 sections: His life and journey as a struggling writer from 1947-to 1999, His writing process and writing tips, and his near-death experience.
The first section describes his journey as a writer and growing up in penury. He wrote for his mum as a kid, wrote dailies for his brother, and got into trouble writing satires about his teachers. When he had his own family, the struggle went on until his book rights were sold for $400,000, which he received half of.
In the second section, he reveals his writing process and shares some useful tips. In his writing process, he describes a toolbox with three main features;
Vocabulary and grammar
Forms and styles
Words and paragraphs.
Some of his writing tips for writers:
Keep it short. His formula: 2nd draft = 1st draft - 10%
Please get rid of adverbs; they are unnecessary.
Read a lot, write a lot.
Care about the reader: Write with doors closed and edit with open doors. Share your writing with your people and gather their opinions.
Always speak the truth. Write what you believe in. Do not write for money and fame.
The story is instrumental to any piece. Create an atmosphere where the reader can come along for a journey.
You do not have to figure out your plot before writing. Start first with an interesting situation that draws in your reader, and the plot will reveal itself during your writing.
The concluding section describes his ghastly accident, which almost cost him his life. He talks about recovery, recuperation, rehabilitation, getting back to writing and his wife being supportive throughout the journey.
That will be all for today. See you next time.
I didn’t get any emails last time; I hope you write me back this time.
Video of the day
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Beautifully worded!👏
Well done on your first project!🎉 You did so good.