There's no silver bullet

Victor Rizzo — Mon, 06 Mar 2023 18:53:00 +0000

I have some years in programming, and often I see some people being a fanboy of their favorite language/framework and forgetting how they should look at the problem they are trying to solve.

I was a big fanboy, Javascript was the savior salvation to all problems in the world for me, but that's not the truth.

Back in the day, I thought that JS could do everything, from webpages and backend to machine learning, and I was right JS still can do these things, but it is not the better tool for all that stuff.

If the only thing you know how to use is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail

It's essential to understand that there's no one-size-fits-all solution in programming. Each language or framework has its strengths and weaknesses, and it's important to choose the appropriate tool for each task.

For example, Golang is a great tool for low-latency projects, but it might not be the best choice for machine learning. Similarly, Python is excellent for data analysis and machine learning, but it might not be the best option for mobile development.

Conclusion

We must have an open mind to use different tools and languages to solve problems effectively. And we must be willing to learn new languages and frameworks as they emerge, rather than sticking to what we already know.

In summary, there's no silver bullet in programming. Instead, we must have a diverse toolkit and the ability to choose the right tool for each job.

How to start in IT, specially programming

Victor Rizzo — Sat, 18 Feb 2023 01:05:06 +0000

I often see people asking me in forums, groups, and even onsite what they should do to start programming, so I resolved to write this post. Before anything, I like to say clearly that the tips/information here may not match your reality, and they are based on some research that I made and on my experiences.

That being said, in programming, we have many areas that we can follow, such as:

Frontend: build website interfaces using HTML, CSS, and Javascript;
Backend: work on the server side ensuring the system/website works the way it should, saving, updating, deleting, and getting the data from the database or another server. Many tools can be used to do that like PHP, Java, C#, Node.js, Ruby, Go, etc;
Mobile: build apps for cellphones, can be a specialist on Android with Java/Kotlin, IOs with Swift, or with hybrid platforms like Flutter and React Native;
Fullstack: Frontend + Backend, in some cases +Mobile too;
DevOps: make scripts to deliver mobile apps (PlayStore/AppleStore) or the Backend/Frontend;
Fullcycle: Fullstack + DevOps;
Data analyst: interpret the data, analyse the results, and use statistics methods;
Data scientist: collects, organizes, and analyzes the data to get insights and information for the company;
Machine/Deep learning: research, develop, and model the artificial intelligence responsible for machine learning;
Big Data: model, build, test, and maintain the data processing systems that work with a big amount of data;

For the areas of Data analysis, Data Science, Machine/Deep learning, and Big data the most used technology is Python.

Common items to study

To start in any of these areas you should learn these topics:

Logic programming
Algorithms
Data structures
Analytic thought

Good and free/cheap to study

Udemy (there are cheap and some free content)
Youtube (free)
CodeAcademy (free)

Some good channels on YT

ThePrimeagen
Fireship
Stefan Mischook
Computerphile
Coding with John
Matt Pocock
Nick Chapsas

Don`t know where to start still?

If you are having trouble defining a step-by-step to start to learn something in programming you should access here to get it for free