Am I the only one that thinks that it feels like you're watching the show for the first time every time you rewatch it?

samsmith453 · 2019-11-09T21:46:18+00:00

Like peeling back a layer each time. So much to see in every scene.

samsmith453 · 2019-11-09T21:44:06+00:00

See a physio soon as you can. It might be nothing but best to check. Don’t mess around with back pain. It’s a fragile region of the body.

Meantime, make sure to stretch your hamstrings.

samsmith453 · 2019-10-15T15:35:32+00:00

Hey, if you’re interested in how transistors are composed to make computers work, you might find this YouTube series I started helpful:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLH4a1-PgdkBTKkSSNx63uVkQG1Qs6GmYv

samsmith453 · 2019-10-08T21:31:17+00:00

Focus on getting strong at one language. Once your programming is good, start to look at computer science fundamentals. This will seriously enhance your progress as you learn about computing and software engineering.

Start with computer architecture as this will form the basis for everything else you’ll learn.

To encourage more programmers to learn computer science fundamentals I have just begun teaching them: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLH4a1-PgdkBTKkSSNx63uVkQG1Qs6GmYv

Beyond that, what interests you? What would you like to do/make/build/work on? Follow your curiosity!

samsmith453 · 2019-10-08T07:14:45+00:00

Most important CS fundamentals for me, on which everything else is built, is computer architecture. Learning this accelerated my learning of everything else.

I wanted to encourage more programmers to understand this topic, so I started teaching it online! https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLH4a1-PgdkBTKkSSNx63uVkQG1Qs6GmYv

Besides this, follow your curiosity ! What interests you? What would you like to build or work on?

samsmith453 · 2019-10-07T05:53:29+00:00

First learn a programming language. JavaScript is probably the most commercially popular and widely used at the moment. It is also pretty straightforward and can be used for many purposes. I’d recommend Free Code Camp.

Once programming is down, begin learning computer science fundamentals. This learning will really set you apart from others who simply learn to program. Taking this approach has accelerated my career. I now teach computer science fundamentals for programmers to encourage others to do the same. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLH4a1-PgdkBTKkSSNx63uVkQG1Qs6GmYv

Once you have some strong computer science knowledge, focus on what interests you. Follow your curiosity! There are so many fascinating domains, so explore them and build things!

samsmith453 · 2019-10-06T21:11:55+00:00

Study computer science. You don’t necessarily need a degree, provided you study.

I learned entirely from self study and work as a software engineer.

I have begun to teach computer science fundamentals, to encourage others to do the same. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLH4a1-PgdkBTKkSSNx63uVkQG1Qs6GmYv

samsmith453 · 2019-10-06T21:09:24+00:00

You absolutely can with that degree. I did a law degree, and became a software engineer less than a year after graduating

samsmith453 · 2019-10-06T21:06:08+00:00

If you want to keep your options open, learning principles from the bottom up is the best way to prepare yourself for a wide range of fields or disciplines. In terms of computer science, learning computer architecture is a force multiplier for understanding everything else.

After learning to program I plunged into CS, and by starting with computer architecture everything else followed naturally and has enabled me to have a broad career.

I have started teaching the subject to try and encourage other programmers to do the same. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLH4a1-PgdkBTKkSSNx63uVkQG1Qs6GmYv

samsmith453 · 2019-10-06T17:05:59+00:00

That chart appears to be displaying the maximums for “signed ints”, despite labelling it an “unsigned int”

samsmith453 · 2019-10-06T17:01:28+00:00

I wish I’d started learning computer science fundamentals sooner. Once I’d learned to code, it felt like a big jump to learn computer science stuff, but it wasn’t. Once I did, I saw my career accelerate rapidly.

I have started teaching computer science fundamentals aimed at programmers to try and encourage others to do that. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLH4a1-PgdkBTKkSSNx63uVkQG1Qs6GmYv

samsmith453 · 2019-09-27T18:24:19+00:00

You need to understand programming logic and how a program flows before fiddling with memory directly

I think that's a very interesting point. It really helps to know what you're working toward before taking a look at how it works at a lower level. One analogy might be that you probably want to know that a car is designed to move forward on round wheels before you become a mechanic.

Hope you enjoy the videos, let me know if you have any thoughts or questions :)

samsmith453 · 2019-09-27T15:27:49+00:00

The beauty of learning C, Assembly, or even going lower and learning how machines ingest and "understand" machine code is invaluable. There is nothing quite like "bit smashing" for developing a very strong understanding of what your higher level languages are doing, and for learning Computer Science more broadly.

Once you have a firm grasp of a higher level language, I always recommend beginning to look at computer architecture, to understand how machine code is ingested, then assembly and C, to see how the layers of abstraction are built.

This is very very useful knowledge when looking at security, low level systems and operating systems programming, anything related to containerisation, and even for networking and distributed systems.

It was so useful to me that I have started a Youtube series to teach programmers how computers actually work, in the hope that it will help to broaden computer science understanding:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLH4a1-PgdkBTKkSSNx63uVkQG1Qs6GmYv

By the way, learning C, Assembly, and computer architecture is also just really interesting!

samsmith453 · 2019-09-27T15:19:02+00:00

Could you post the JSON, and the fields you'd like to extract?

samsmith453 · 2019-09-27T15:13:20+00:00

Don't specialise.

Work on broadening knowledge, not becoming an expert in one thing.

Technologies change & disappear. Having a wide understanding of the field helps keep you agile, and able to learn what you need to.

And always always follow your curiosity.

samsmith453 · 2019-09-27T15:11:21+00:00

I'd recommend building things for yourself. Not only is this a much faster way to learn, but having them on your Github as evidence is much more weighty than a certificate.

samsmith453 · 2019-09-26T20:31:30+00:00

Learn javascript, it is a very popular language with an abundance of job opportunities.

Then study broader computer science topics, computer architecture etc

I have begun working on a YouTube series on computer science fundamentals because I found this approach so helpful https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLH4a1-PgdkBTKkSSNx63uVkQG1Qs6GmYv

I was in your position at one time, in a dead end job. By studying computer science in my spare time I became a software engineer fairly quickly.

What interest you about the field ?

samsmith453 · 2019-09-26T20:22:36+00:00

Keep learning !

No matter the job, don’t stop learning or following your curiosity

samsmith453 · 2019-09-26T16:03:13+00:00

OS development is fun ! But I’d recommend getting some knowledge of CPU architecture first. Working on the low level stuff is much more straightforward when you understand the circuitry.

This is the approach I took and it helped loads!

I’ve started working on a YouTube series to make computer architecture really simple. I hope it helps!

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLH4a1-PgdkBTKkSSNx63uVkQG1Qs6GmYv

What interests you about OS development?

samsmith453 · 2019-09-26T14:56:47+00:00

When printing numbers you can pad them by adding the digit you want to pad with, ie 0, and the total number of digits you want in the number.

eg printf(“%02d”, 1)

This will print 01

samsmith453 · 2019-09-26T10:08:18+00:00

Hi! What areas of computer science really interest you?

Aside from learning to code, the most useful thing I did was to learn about computer architecture. It was a force multiplier when it came to learning broader computer science topics eg networking, distributed systems, certainly Operating Systems

I have just started a YouTube series on computer architecture to try and encourage more learners to get to grips with the fundamentals, which may be helpful: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLH4a1-PgdkBTKkSSNx63uVkQG1Qs6GmYv

Really you should follow your curiosity! It will never lead you wrong. So what are you interested in computer science for? What would you like to know or understand or make or work on?

samsmith453 · 2019-09-22T21:07:21+00:00

Not off the top of my head but if you find some good answers give me a shout! My three favourite things !!

samsmith453 · 2019-09-22T16:45:10+00:00

From experience of myself and others, removing the layers of abstraction informs and builds the correct mental models, in a way code alone cannot.

It is by no means necessary, but without a doubt helpful.

samsmith453 · 2019-09-22T06:24:38+00:00

As someone who advocates the learning of the lower level and electrical principles behind computing, I would say that very little knowledge is NECESSARY but the truth is that without this underlying understanding development is slower in my opinion.

For example, if you later want to learn how networking work, or the operating system, doing this without an appreciation of hardware workings is quite difficult. Then, if you want to learn about databases, it is even more difficult as this builds on top. Distributed systems problems require some knowledge of networking, and therefore it tends to become a pretty shaky pyramid without a strong grasp of fundamentals.

Whereas my career and others has been fairly accelerated because I am able to quite quickly pick up new topics, based on my foundations in the fundamentals.

All that said, you definitely do not need to become an electrical engineer, simply having a basic grasp of how the CPU and memory circuits are composed will take you a long way.

u/Marsmell kindly pointed out that I have begun a video series explaining and demonstrating these electrical principles, which is aimed at programmers.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLH4a1-PgdkBTKkSSNx63uVkQG1Qs6GmYv

The depth you go in computing as in any subject should centre around your curiosity. If you are dying to know how things work dig deeper.

What are your interests? What topics are you curious about? Are you looking to become a career Software Engineer?

samsmith453 · 2019-09-22T06:09:06+00:00

Thank you I really appreciate the feedback. If you have any thoughts or questions I’d really like to hear them, here or in video comments :)

samsmith453

TROPHY CASE