Software, Geekery and other miscellany
As we come to the end of 2022 it's time to look back at the year. This was a very productive year for me as I completed a few projects that I had on my list:
✅ Started a tech blog again with Playful Python. There are a gazillion sites that …
This blog is now live and it's come a full circle. My first blog was started in 2000. It was a static site made from HTML. After that I started blogging on various platforms, mainly Blogger but also a few others. For a six year period between 2007-2013 I ran …
Today, a new commit was made to the Python tzdata package. What package is this and what was the change? Here is the story.
Python's tzdata module contains the timezone database which has all the different the timezones for each region as well as information on the start and end …
My new keyboard. A 42 key Corne v3 split ergonomic keyboard with colemak layout.
I was surprised to learn that there is a large community of keyboard DIY in India. They source the parts and build the keyboards from scratch, right from soldering the diodes onwards. Some even design their …
One of the things that I believe is that a programmer should type at a decent speed.
Not because typing speed is important -- the essential skill is thinking, and a programmer spends far more time thinking than typing. But typing is an interruption to thinking, and you want to minimise …
How do you accelerate learning new technologies? Well, a lot depends on your preferred learning style of course. Some learn by listening or reading. Maybe reading a book or article, or watching a video on youtube or a MOOC site.
You can supplement it by performing some hands-on activity. Maybe …
All programmers are familiar with the common data types found in many languages like integers, strings, floats and so on. After we learn about them, we go about our work, using those data types in our code. But have you ever thought about defining your own data types?
You get better just at programming just like how you get better at anything else -- by practicing. The question is: how to practice in an effective way?
There are two ways to practice of any skill. One is practicing individual techniques, the second way is to practice putting it all …
Conflict. It's that word again. We have all faced it and most of us would rather not discuss it, but sooner or later you will be faced with such a situation and it's helpful to be able to understand it. In this article, I will discuss what I understand by …