DEV Community: Bejan Gonsalves

3 Books That I Found Helpful During My Programming Journey

Bejan Gonsalves — Tue, 16 Feb 2021 19:35:06 +0000

There are plenty of books out there that involve programming, some helpful, others not so helpful.

These are some books that I have personally found helpful, but it is by no means an exhaustive list of topics.

I hope that you are able to find some use from these, and if you have any books that were helpful to you in any way feel free to share those with me in the comments!

Grokking Algorithms

If you're having any trouble understanding algorithms and data structures, put this book next on your list. Grokking Algorithms breaks down the large complex topics into pieces that are much easier to understand, complete with pictures!

Code

This book doesn't really teach you how to program, but it does something that lots of people miss when trying to learn how to program. This book attempts to teach you how a computer actually works, from the electricity that goes in it to the tweets and cat videos that you see on your screen, in a way that is both readable and digestible.

Cracking The Coding Interview

I know this one probably gets recommended a lot, but it truly is a good resource for practicing the type of questions that you would get during a technical interview. There's also a pretty decent explanation of time complexity and Big O notation in general in the beginning of the book. You don't have to read this book front to back, and you can combine it with other resources such as LeetCode or CodeWars.

Honorable Mention: Peak

This book doesn't really have anything to do with coding or programming at all, but I still found it an important read. What it does do is shed light on the mystique of human ability, and it shows you that with the proper tools and the right frame of mind, you can achieve what you thought you once could not.

7 of the Most Helpful React Videos I've Found

Bejan Gonsalves — Mon, 01 Feb 2021 21:56:12 +0000

So you've learned HTML, CSS, and some vanilla JavaScript, and you've decided that its finally time to get your feet wet with React.

It can be a pretty confusing place out there with all the resources available, many helpful and others not so helpful.

I've gone ahead and compiled a list of some of the most useful React videos that I have found. Each one of these videos has helped immensely with my understanding of React, and I hope that you will share a similar sentiment.

Don't be put off by some of the clickbait titles, there is some real gold here!

Learn REACT JS in just 5 MINUTES (2020)

Learn React In 30 Minutes

React Tutorial for Beginners [React js]

Learn React JS - Full Course for Beginners - Tutorial 2019

React JS Crash Course (2019)

React + Material UI #1: Introduction - 2020 Edition

React Tutorial For Beginners

I've watched all of these videos, and there is a decent amount of content overlap between them. However the more times you learn a concept, the more it gets cemented into your brain.

You don't have to build all of the projects in the videos, you don't even have to watch every video. However simply watching some of these videos and seeing how different people build React apps from start to finish can really shed some light on the mystique of building React apps.

After these you won't be a React master, but surely you'll be well on your way!

I hope that you were able to take away something useful from here!

Useful AI Resources — Behavior Trees

Bejan Gonsalves — Wed, 27 Jan 2021 08:12:25 +0000

Behavior Trees are an incredibly powerful tool that can be used for building game AIs, but it can be daunting at first trying to learn how it all works.

Here are some resources that I have found very helpful in aiding my understanding of behavior trees.

Behavior Tree Introduction
This is an incredibly handy introduction video by the AI and Games YouTube channel that gives a nice overview of what a behavior tree actually is, how they work, and why you probably want to use them.

Chris Simpson's blog post on Behavior Trees
Chris Simpson, developer of Project Zomboid, has a really good blog post that will add on to the previous introductory video and really help cement in your mind the concepts that drive behavior trees.

Behavior Tree Lecture
If you are more of a visual/auditory learner, here is a great lecture that goes more into depth than the first video about behavior trees.

GameAIPro's Behavior Tree Starter Kit
This is a great document from GameAIPro that gets into how behavior trees work and also comes alongside solid code examples. This gives you some insight about how you might actually implement a behavior tree.

Behavior Tree Book
This is an extremely detailed book about behavior trees by Michele Colledanchise and Petter Ogren. If there are any gaps in your knowledge left from the previous resources, this resource should fill those gaps.

I hope these resources will help all of you out as much as they have helped me, not only have I learned a lot about behavior trees from them, but also AI in general.