My previous two attempts at getting my blog aggregated to the CS@Worcester blog have failed for one reason or another! (I assume). I must, however attempt posting once more and hope that through divine intervention, the aggregator decides to pick it up this time.

This situation reminds me of a quote by the famous pirate war-lord Vaas Montenegro: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”

From the blog Zed's Blog by Lord Zed and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

My previous two attempts at getting my blog aggregated to the CS@Worcester blog have failed for one reason or another! (I assume). I must, however attempt posting once more and hope that through divine intervention, the aggregator decides to pick it up this time.

This situation reminds me of a quote by the famous pirate war-lord Vaas Montenegro: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”

From the blog Zed's Blog by Lord Zed and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

My previous two attempts at getting my blog aggregated to the CS@Worcester blog have failed for one reason or another! (I assume). I must, however attempt posting once more and hope that through divine intervention, the aggregator decides to pick it up this time.

This situation reminds me of a quote by the famous pirate war-lord Vaas Montenegro: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”

From the blog Zed's Blog by Lord Zed and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

My previous two attempts at getting my blog aggregated to the CS@Worcester blog have failed for one reason or another! (I assume). I must, however attempt posting once more and hope that through divine intervention, the aggregator decides to pick it up this time.

This situation reminds me of a quote by the famous pirate war-lord Vaas Montenegro: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”

From the blog Zed's Blog by Lord Zed and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

My previous two attempts at getting my blog aggregated to the CS@Worcester blog have failed for one reason or another! (I assume). I must, however attempt posting once more and hope that through divine intervention, the aggregator decides to pick it up this time.

This situation reminds me of a quote by the famous pirate war-lord Vaas Montenegro: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”

From the blog Zed's Blog by Lord Zed and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

My previous two attempts at getting my blog aggregated to the CS@Worcester blog have failed for one reason or another! (I assume). I must, however attempt posting once more and hope that through divine intervention, the aggregator decides to pick it up this time.

This situation reminds me of a quote by the famous pirate war-lord Vaas Montenegro: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”

From the blog Zed's Blog by Lord Zed and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

My previous two attempts at getting my blog aggregated to the CS@Worcester blog have failed for one reason or another! (I assume). I must, however attempt posting once more and hope that through divine intervention, the aggregator decides to pick it up this time.

This situation reminds me of a quote by the famous pirate war-lord Vaas Montenegro: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”

From the blog Zed's Blog by Lord Zed and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

My previous two attempts at getting my blog aggregated to the CS@Worcester blog have failed for one reason or another! (I assume). I must, however attempt posting once more and hope that through divine intervention, the aggregator decides to pick it up this time.

This situation reminds me of a quote by the famous pirate war-lord Vaas Montenegro: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”

From the blog Zed's Blog by Lord Zed and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

We all have people we look up to, those who we see as guiding lights in the unpredictable lives we all live in. These special few, these mentors can be anyone, from friends, to family, to anyone in between. Having a mentor does wonders to the process of learning as well as providing a source of motivation and consultation when you find yourself struggling or at a dead end.

In ‘Apprenticeship Patterns’ by Hoover, Dave H., and Adewale Oshineye we see the pattern of seeking mentorship described in detail. Consider being an inexperienced software developer who has run into dead end after dead end while developing a new piece of software. Often we turn to those more experienced than us for insight into our problems and this case is no different. We seek out anyone who has had a similar issue and ask what they did in that situation.

Finding a master craftsman and learning from them is the goal of all aspiring apprentices and an ideal that we all seek. This however is often very rare today so many of us will find mentors who we can gather advice from regarding their own past experiences. Our field is relatively young and often changing, leaving few master craftsmen to teach those who are just starting out. Along with this many of these masters may not be physically available to you. This is where the mentors arrive to fill in the gaps.

Weather they are a coworker, a dear friend, or an anonymous individual online, a mentor can mean the difference for many software developers out there. They can offer insight on their prior experiences that may mirror your own, expose you to new ways of thinking, or just offer genuinely good advice. It is just another way to break your coding block when you find yourself stuck with a nonfunctional or misbehaving program you are attempting to get working.

With that said however, we all ‘walk the long road’ at the end of the day (Apprenticeship Patterns Ch 3). and finding someone to guide you can be hard so I will leave you with a recommended course of action by the authors. Find a library, or community with an active mailing list and being observing any messages left there. Over time you will pick up on the values of the community and which members are patient and willing to teach others. At the next opportunity, seek them out and establish that first connection with them in order to see if they would be interested in offering any informal advice or lessons they have learned over their time.

Bibliography:

Hoover, Dave H., and Adewale Oshineye. Apprenticeship Patterns: Guidance for the Aspiring Software Craftsman. O’Reilly, 2010.

From the blog CS@Worcester – George Chyoghly CS-343 by gchyoghly and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

In the first Craftsmanship post I made, I mentioned that I am reading through Hoover and Oshineye’s book named “Apprenticeship Patterns”, which outlines certain patterns that inexperienced software developers may adopt so that they may overcome any potential hurdles during their personal learning experience rather than providing technical solutions. In fact, in that very post I mentioned (though not by name) two of such patterns, namely “Craft over Art” (introduced in chapter 3) and “Record What You Learn” (introduced in chapter 5). Though I may expand on these two particular patterns in a later post, I want to first address my reactions to one of the very first patterns that are introduced in the book, namely “Your First Language”.

            Briefly put, “Your First Language” is a pattern that is meant to address a software developer’s potential issues that may arise due to the fact that, though they may know multiple languages, they lack sufficient fluency in one of them. As such, such lack of fluency may put the developer in a difficult position when they are needed to work on a project that needs to be in a specific programming language. In this case, the book suggests picking a specific programming language to learn and master, preferably one that is used by any experts one might know. Now, it is important to specify that “learning a language” is not simply achieved by reading some resources related to a specific language, but by using that language to solve problems and actually apply what has been learned. Thus, by continuous application, a software developer may hone their problem-solving skills, which then may help them in learning other languages as well.

            While I personally found this pattern to be particularly helpful when I first started studying Software Development, I feel like my experience has changed the way I approach specifically learning a programming language. Though becoming fluent in a language is important, I believe it is also important to be proficient in the learning process itself. In my case, while I was learning my first language, I also made sure to internalize what that language was composed of in terms of concepts and structures I could use so that, when there is a need for me to switch to a different language, I would have some expectations as to what concepts I should expect to encounter and only worry about syntax while learning the new language.

From the blog CS@Worcester – CompSci Log by sohoda and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.