John's Random Thoughts and Discussions
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The world is packed with programming languages, each of them proclaiming their particular forte and telling you why you need to learn them. A good developer does learn multiple languages, each of which becomes a tool for a certain kind of development, but even the most enthusiastic developer won’t learn every programming language out there. … Continue reading “Programming Languages Commonly Used for Data Science”
My first programming experience (during the time of the dinosaurs) involved using a light panel to enter machine code into a rudimentary computer with 3 KB (yes, that’s KB) of RAM. The output was also in light form and I needed to decode the lights to determine if my code worked right. I worked with … Continue reading “Choosing a First Language to Learn”
Learning a new skill, such as programming—learning it quickly and easily, is much harder than it sounds, but “Rod Stephens’ Visual Basic 24-Hour Trainer” makes the task considerably easier. The book begins with possibly the best Introduction I’ve ever seen. The author tells you precisely how to use his book to learn how to code … Continue reading “Rod Stephens’ Visual Basic Programming 24-Hour Trainer”
This is an update of a post that originally appeared on January 17, 2014. It often surprises me that developers seem to choose completely useless variable names like MyVariable when creating an application. Although MyVariable could be an interesting variable name for an example in a book, it never has a place in any sort … Continue reading “Choosing Variable Names”
This is an update of a post that originally appeared on October 13, 2014. There are many issues to consider when choosing a programming language. Python is no exception. Just because I feel it’s the right tool to meet some of my needs doesn’t mean it will work well for you. That’s why the Understanding … Continue reading “Python Community Support”
This is an update of a post that originally appeared on February 23, 2015. I maintain statistics on all my books, including C++ All-In-One for Dummies, 4th Edition. These statistics are based on reader e-mail and other sources of input that I get. I even take the comments on Amazon.com into account. One of the … Continue reading “Understanding the Continuing Need for C++”
This is an update of a post that originally appeared on March 16, 2016. Most of my technical readers now use e-books instead of paper books. Of course, there is a convenience factor to storing your entire library on a Kindle, even if it’s a software version of the Kindle. Of course, there are all … Continue reading “Working with Code in e-Books”
Chickens can get hurt in a number of ways. In some cases, the chicken will care for itself or its nest mates will help out. For example, it’s not uncommon for a chicken’s comb to get a little frostbite during colder than normal weather. The damaged part of the comb will eventually die off and … Continue reading “Dealing with Hurt Chickens”
I was a bit surprised by the number of e-mails I received about Naturally Probiotic Foods. It seems that a lot of people are having the same problems as me with our highly processed foods today. One of the main questions I was asked is whether I feel that pasteurization is a bad thing to … Continue reading “Naturally Probiotic Foods (Part 2)”
As I’m getting older, I’m finding it helps to have a little assistance in digesting food. Given that I’m into self-sufficiency and tend to look for natural ways of accomplishing what I need to do, I started looking into probiotics, for example, something like mega sporebiotic. Probiotics can help with things like lactose intolerance, bloating, … Continue reading “Naturally Probiotic Foods”