Why am I attempting this?

I retired from a white collar job at the Post Office in 2015. Since then I haven’t really done much of anything involving serious brain activity. A year or two back I decided I should probably do something to keep my brain alive and functional. And, perhaps from a little fear - my mother developed dementia in her later life. I was 67 or so at the time.

I figured I’d learn how to program. You know read a book or two. Learn a language or two. I didn’t think it would be particularly difficult. And I certainly wasn’t planning on getting good enough to find a job. Still don’t. But I found the process of learning about variables, arrays, functions, etc. in beginner books rather unsatisfying. And, I really wasn’t remembering much of anything specific to the language at hand.

So, I decided to try some algorithm focused books. Still a might more theoretical than functional and entertaining. I even tried an on-line train-for-coding-interviews web site. Signed up for a year. But, given I really wasn’t looking for a job, it was not really supporting my desire to learn something which might give me some fun along with some brain activity.

I bought a book (well a MEAP if you know what that is) on data science with Python. I really got into it. But so far only three chapters are available and I finished the last one some time back. Will likely have to redo them all.

However, in the process of working on those three chapters I discovered I was actually having fun, maybe learning something and certainly stretching my brain. But it also became clear I needed to work on developing a better understanding of and fluency with Python before I could go much further. So, some more books.

With every book there were challenges. Some were written with Linux systems in mind. Some with Apple hardware as the development system. Some said use on-line development environments and/or playgrounds. Or a particular IDE. But my background and experience is with Windows. Not something it seems most books out there expect someone to be using. And for many I just didn’t find the exercises particularly interesting.

I had also just found VS Code, now my preferred code editor. Though I had used a plain text editor, Textpad, and the more capable Sublime Text for a period of time. (Still use both of them for one thing or another.) But I have for the most part been using VS Code for the coding exercises in the books I have recently been working on.

And, of course I played with Jupyter Notebooks when working on the data science MEAP. Reproducibility is apparently a desired characteristic of data science projects. Using them for the exercises took a little more discipline. And trying to sort out running codes segments each time I closed and opened a notebook; well, that is still an exercise in learning.

There were bumps and curves in getting things working nicely. And, Windows does have its quirks. Installing Python was easy. But while working on the last of the 3 data science chapters, I needed to install the “basemap” package. Something that is apparently not available through The Python Package Index (PyPI). That took me to Anaconda (well I used Miniconda, didn’t think I needed to load all the stuff that comes with a full Anaconda install). Then I had to get that all to work with the Jupyter notebook my code and notes were in. Still working on getting my head fully around virtual environments.

Git. Haven’t managed to sort using version control in coding and modifying the exercises. Don’t seem to have the discipline, though I expect I should really develop such discipline. And Git and Jupyter notebooks — don’t ask, I really don’t yet know where to go with that.

It’s not that I have never done any coding. I have worked on a few web sites over the years. On the first one I used CGI and Perl (that took a bit of learning time) along with HTML. Setup a Netscape web server on a PC at the office. Used a Pegasus mail server. Don’t remember which database I started with, but eventually used MySQL and MSSQL. Later moved to Apache, PHP, etc. Eventually also ran IIS for another department to host a small web site.

A while after I retired, I volunteered to upgrade/maintain the web site for a squash club of which I was a member. They had an IIS/ASP service provider. I decided not to try to change to a linux/appache environment. Didn’t really want to re-write the whole site. I spent a bit of time developing some basic skill in classic ASP VB-Script/VBA/or whatever it was. Eventually added some javascrip to the mix, but not much. And along the line moved the site to CSS for display. Used an MS database with this site. But, as a total self-taught amateur, expect it was all rather mediocre.

Bottom Line

Wondering what I am trying to get at? Well, I am not looking to work as a programmer of any sort. But, I want to learn to program for fun and perhaps a little cranial benefit. I recently read a book by Flavio Copes on blogging and thought I might give that a try. Mainly because trying to tell others about what I learn or experience should help me process and recall what I have learned. Something I am currently having some trouble with. And, it is another way to keep my brain and interest engaged and active. Assuming I can develop the necessary discipline to publish on a resaonable schedule.

I also thought there might be other older and/or retired people out there interested in learning to program. So, perhaps I can help them along the way. If nothing else it forces me to review what I am learning in a fairly productive way. And, if one other person should take up programming for fun because of my efforts that would be a big bonus. (Yes, I know I talk too much!)

Here’s hoping it happens and continues to happen. Though I sure don’t know, at this point, what I will be posting or writing about.

Some Resources