DEV Community: devtox

What can Ruby be used for?

devtox — Sun, 10 Mar 2019 14:00:41 +0000

Ruby is one of the most simple programming languages to learn. One of the key areas is readability. However as your code-base increases, so will the complexity.

So what do you use Ruby for anyway?

These are some common use cases:

Web Apps with Rails (Ruby on Rails)
System utilities
Libraries
Servers

Ruby has matured quite a bit. It's already over 2 decades in development and will continue to do so. These days Ruby is used by Twitter, Airbnb, Shopify and others.

Rails remains one of the most popular use cases.

k-nearest neighbors algorithm

devtox — Sun, 10 Mar 2019 13:51:12 +0000

"tell me who your friends are and ill tell you who you are". That's the idea of which the k-nearest neighbor algorithm is based.

You can represent data in a vector space. This could be length (x) and weight (y), size(x) and price(y) or whatever you want.

Given a 2 dimensional space, it looks for the k nearest neighbors. Any point in the space can be part of a group/class. Meaning the closest points are likely to tell the class of a new point.

In the image above there is a red and blue group. The new black point is most likely to belong to the red group, as it is surrounded by red neighbors.

Deep Learning, AI and Machine Learning

devtox — Sat, 09 Mar 2019 13:27:47 +0000

Artificial intelligence (AI) is that a machine can perform complex tasks.

The 2 best-known sub fields are: machine learning and deep learning.

Machine Learning: algorithms that analyze and learn from the data. They can do predictive tasks like regression and classification.

Deep learning is a set of machine learning algorithms that use complex neural networks capable of learning from experience.

Machine Learning is a brand of AI, deep learning is a branch of Machine Learning.

Is Golang ready for business?

devtox — Sat, 09 Mar 2019 13:16:11 +0000

Yes! Golang is ready for bussiness. Its used by Google, Docker, Dropbox, Heroku, Medium, Lyft, Uber and others.

Go will be an important server side language. Go runs on Linux, MacOS and FreeBSD platforms.

Go is open source and has many features:

Fast results
Safe
Easy to work with
Modern

Want to learn Golang? Checkout golangr.com

Web Apps with Python

devtox — Fri, 08 Mar 2019 19:14:08 +0000

Web applications can be made with Python. You need a Web Framework to create web apps. A Web Framework is a module that makes web development much easier.

Python Frameworks are used for the backend.
Popular Frameworks include:

Django a large framework that comes with ORM and many features. Hard to setup but stable and scalable
Flask a micro framework that often needs other modules to make your complete web app

For the UI you can use a template engine with appropriate JavaScript frameworks like Angular or Vue.

Flask is the easiest to get started. You only need a few lines of code to setup and run the web app. For Django it may take half an hour just to setup the Framework the first time.

Ruby Programmer Salary

devtox — Fri, 08 Mar 2019 16:38:16 +0000

In the US, a Ruby programmer can earn up to $160.000 (senior). A junior typically earns $90.000

In Europe the salaries are much lower. The lowest is Portugal, where a senior earns max $26.000 and a junior earns $16.000.

In general a junior earns rougly $50.000 in Europe and a senior $80.0000. Salaries depend on country (as well as cost of living and taxes).

What is Data Science?

devtox — Fri, 08 Mar 2019 16:31:59 +0000

Data science is about extracting knowledge from all types of data using science. It's a very big field inside Computer Science and very popular.

Data science has several sub fields:

Exploring Data: Investigate the data. This is often the first step with a new data set, exploration and analysis.
Visualization of Data: Present the data in different ways, plotting with matplotlib and others.
Classical Machine Learning: Algorithms that use data and statistics. Instead of traditional artificial intelligence where you rely on preprogrammed rules, machine learning algorithms use the data itself. Meaning that for a new problem, new data can be used.
Deep Learning: Using neural networks to solve problems. Neural networks are modeled after the human brain and sometimes referred to as Artificial Neural Networks.
Data Storage and Big Data Framework: There's more data created now than any other time in history

What is Machine Learning?

devtox — Fri, 08 Mar 2019 16:22:09 +0000

Machine Learning is a sub field of Artificial Intelligence. In Machine Learning, Algorithms are used that use data as starting point.

Algorithms are said to "learn from data". By learning, they are effectively just using numeric data. After the learning phase, these algorithms make predictions.

Example

What does learn from data mean? Basically to apply statistical models to the data.

A basic example would be linear regression, if a person is 1 meter at 12 year and 1 meter 50 at 15 years, how long would the person be at 20 years old?

You could use a simple model based on Y=ax+b to find out and then use it to make predictions.

The danger here is that it doesn't completely capture reality, after 20 years the growth stops while the model continous.

Why do startups use Ruby?

devtox — Fri, 08 Mar 2019 16:11:02 +0000

Ruby is often used with Rails, to make web apps. By using Rails you can create minimum viable products (mvp) quiclky.

But besides Rails there are several other reasons:

Lаrgе and grоwіng соmmunіtу оf dеvеlореrѕ
Emрhаѕіѕ On Productivity
Huge ecosystem
Suрроrtеd by multірlе PaaS рrоvіdеrѕ
Ruby іѕ dеѕіgnеd tо mаkе рrоgrаmmеrѕ hарру

Why Python is Awesome

devtox — Fri, 08 Mar 2019 15:59:51 +0000

Python is an awesome programming language. It's recently gained more popularity and it's the defacto language for Machine Learning and Deep Learning problems.

Here are the reasons why Python is awesome:

General purpose programming language: You can make any kind of software in Python. Desktop, Web applications or even electronic software with Micropython.
Beginner friendly: its easy to get started as the syntax is straightforward.
Community: One of the biggest communities on stackoverflow. Unlike some other languages, with Python you know it will be around for a while.
Career: Great for employment, salaries in range $40.000 to over $100.000 annually

7 reasons to learn Python

devtox — Fri, 08 Mar 2019 15:52:49 +0000

Are you planning to learn Python or not sure yet why?
Here are 7 reasons to learn Python

Data Science & Machine Learning: The default choice for Machine Learning and Data Science these days.
Main applications & more: As a general purpose language, you can use it for lots of domains.
Extensive Libraries & Framework: Lots of building blocks
Open Source No single owner of Python
Can work with other programming languages Java version (Jython) or Iron Python for net
Improving productivity Because of its clear syntax, the code becomes very clear to read
Jobs & Careers Start as a Python developer and earn high income

Why Learn C# Programming?

devtox — Fri, 08 Mar 2019 15:41:48 +0000

Why Learn C# programming?

Besides the large job market, there are quite a few reasons:

C# is a modern language.
C# is an object-oriented language.
C# is highly versatile
C# is safe
C# is evolving (Microsoft invests in it)
C# supports web browser and mobile apps
C# can be used for Machine Learning