DEV Community: jenniferfu0811

Hosting virtual events for developers pt.2: Structure, slide decks, and event flow

jenniferfu0811 — Tue, 26 Apr 2022 07:52:28 +0000

In the last two years, virtual events have gained a lot of traction and popularity. By removing the geographical constraints, developer virtual events are more accessible as anyone with access to the internet can attend or host their own events.

The second part of this three-part blog series will provide you with our recommendations on how to:

Prepare for your talk,
Create slide decks, and
Host engaging developer events.

For more guidance on finding the right topic, target audience, event title, and event description, check out the first article. In this post, we'll cover:

Pick a focused topic and virtual event format

The best virtual events for developers are well-planned and executed. But before you can think about hosting an event, there’s some groundwork to do. Two crucial aspects of planning out a well-structured talk: picking a focused topic and coming up with a high level structure.

Pick a narrow topic for your developer event

You probably already have some ideas about what you want to talk about for your virtual event. The key is to decide what angle you want to take.

For technical developer events, you can talk about tech stacks, libraries, tools, best practices, or even bad practices you’ve seen. Your talks can also be career-focused, where you share about non-technical skills that developers should have to further their career.

Whether it’s programming-focused or career-related events, there are endless topics you can speak on. The key is to narrow your topic down so you can:

Explain your point of view and/or technical concepts in depth.
Keep your audience engaged by sticking to the time.
Allow enough time for the attendees to ask questions.

When in doubt, a good place to start is with what you know — and what you’re comfortable talking about. As Veerle, Managing Direct and Head of Data Science at Analytic Health, shared:

If you choose a topic that you’re already busy with on a day-to-day basis you will be able to talk practical as well and give meaningful examples (and it requires less time preparing because you already know most of it 😉).

Select a virtual format

Next up is choosing the format that suits your online event. Some common formats for developer virtual events include:

Presentations
Interviews
Live coding sessions
Workshops (e.g. debugging, code review, etc.)
Discussions (e.g. two speakers sharing different sides of a topic)

This is linked to topic selection: as you’re narrowing down the focus of your talk, the format of your talk should become clearer as well.

To keep your audience interested and engaged, here are some common formats and how long online events should be:

Come up with a high level structure

Now that you’ve picked your event topic and format, you can start forming your event’s high level structure and some details. Make sure the talk includes:

One overarching idea you want to share
Three to four points to support the main idea
Real-world examples (for both technical and career-related topics)

Short stories and anecdotes can also help you convey your ideas better. One way to break the ice is to start your online events with a short story that demonstrates how you’ve experienced the problem you’ll address. You can also end with a story that sums up your talk. But remember: if the stories aren’t directly relevant, cut them out!

To help you get started, we’ll use two examples — one technical and one career-related — to demonstrate the process of developing a high level structure. Feel free to treat the following examples as your event program template or virtual event planner.

Virtual events structure example: Technical topic

Let’s say you’re a front-end developer who works with JavaScript. You have come across dependency injection a few times and think that it’s a bad practice. Your point of view might be:

“JavaScript is not a purely class based language and is flexible and dynamic. Dependency injection forces you to use a class in JavaScript when you don’t need to.”

To help your audience understand your point of view and find better alternatives to dependency injection, the 3-4 main sections of your talk could be:

Define: What is dependency injection
Use cases/examples: What are some examples of dependency injection
Argument: Why you shouldn’t use dependency injection
Solutions/conclusions: What are the alternatives to dependency injection

Online events structure example: Career-related topic

If you want to tackle a broad topic like “How to improve your programming skills,” you have to spend a bit more time deciding on what to focus on. For demonstration purposes, let’s say you want to focus on junior developers, and from what you’ve experienced and seen, you think:

“As junior developers, ramping up our programming skills to fit the company’s needs is crucial. In addition to traditional class-based learning, finding mentors can help us significantly in our learning journey.”

In this case, the title of your online event might be be “The fastest way to learn programming as a junior developer.” Once again, you want to provide some basic information before you jump in. You also want to make sure to use real-world examples and pull from your own experience to make your talk more relatable and authentic. Here’s how you might structure this talk:

Opinion/examples: Why you need to improve your programming skills as a junior developer
Status quo: Learning resources for junior developers
Experience: How mentors fast-tracked my learning experience
Conclusion: Mix and match learning methods to improve your programming skills

Regardless of the topic you choose, it’s crucial to flesh out your experience with tangible real-world examples. A clear structure helps your audience to follow along. With 3-4 key points, you should spend no more than 5 minutes on each. If you’re unable to keep it under 5 minutes, cut down on the number of points you address. You can always host multiple online events and turn them into a series.

Put together great slide decks for virtual events

Why do you need slide decks for developer online events?

Slide decks are the main content that guides your audience through your online event. They serve multiple purposes:

Helps you remember key points
Provides visual cues for your presentation
Keeps things concise and on schedule
Delivers (only the) necessary information

Additionally, developers who attend tech conferences and talks often ask for copies of speakers’ slide decks before or after the presentation. As the presenter, you can decide if you want to share your slide decks. We'll walk through how to create a slide deck for developer online events in this section.

How to organize your slides

If you’re a veteran speaker or have attended a lot of developer conferences and online events, you're probably already familiar with creating engaging slide decks. But if you’re not sure how to organize your slides, here’s a general guideline for how your slides can be organized:

Introduction slides

1st slide: Title of your talk
2nd slide: Short self-introduction
3rd slide: Agenda of the event

Main section slides

~3 slides for each main section
First slide: Title page for each section of your talk
The other 2~3 slides:
- Questions, statements, or definitions
- Technical concepts or supporting stats to build up your case
- Sample code with the important parts highlighted
- Memes, gifs, data visualizations, and illustrations that convey your point

Wrap up slides

~1-2 slides
Bullet point summary of what was covered in the talk
A list of resources for your audience
A meme or gif to close up the talk (if relevant)

Here’s a short list of some do’s and don’ts for building a great slide deck:

You can always find slide deck templates to help you spend less time on design and more on delivering quality content for your online events!

Create engaging online events experience

Now that you’re finished with all the prep work, it’s time to host your online event! Here are some tips for every step of your online event to help you succeed.

Before the virtual event starts

For your audience to be able to follow, see, and hear you throughout the entire duration of your event, make sure your environment is optimized for hosting online events:

Your Internet connection is stable
Your camera and mic work, and set at a suitable distance/angle
You’re at a spot that’s well-lit and quiet
Your background isn’t distracting

Before your online event officially starts, join the virtual event meeting room to test out the software to make sure everything runs smoothly. If possible, ask a friend to join you virtually to double check the video and sound quality. Additionally, feel free to share your slides with your audience ahead of time so they can familiarize themselves with your talk and come up with questions before the event.

Starting your online event

Before you officially start your talk, you might want to give the attendees 2-3 minutes to join. About half of the audience will join either early or on-time, while the other half will join within 3-5 minutes of the official start time. While you’re waiting for other attendees to join, here are some things you can do to keep your audience engaged:

Play some background music to lighten up the mood
Let your audience know you’ll start the event in 2-3 minutes
Ask the attendees a question or two verbally and in the chat, some examples include:
- Where is everyone joining from?
- What do you hope to learn from this event?
- What is the biggest challenge you’re currently facing at work?
Explain how you’ll run the event and Q&A to your attendees
Post important information and announcements in chat (e.g. code of conduct, Q&A format, GitHub repo, links, etc.)

Once you’re ready to start, turn off your background music and let the crowd know the online event will be starting soon.

During your virtual event

For the most part, you’ll be focused on presenting and speaking. But since you’ll also be answering questions and hosting the event, there are some additional things you want to keep in mind.

For presenting:

Be careful not to speak too fast
Make sure you’re engaged and excited
Avoid mic static but make sure your audience can hear you
Try not to read off of your screen
Speak to your audience like you would at in-person events

For hosting:

Admit attendees if your virtual meeting room is not public
Keep an eye on the chat for incoming comments and questions
Default your attendees to mute if you don’t want intrusions during your talk
Use your phone’s timer to pace yourself

For Q&A:

If you’d like all questions to be answered at the end of the talk, remind your audience that you’ll address the questions at the end and ask them to add their questions to chat if they’d like to. If you want your virtual event to be more interactive, pause at the end of each section to ask the attendees if they have any questions.

Regardless of the format you choose, when it’s time for the last question, remember to let the event attendees know.

Ending the online event

After you’ve answered the last question, you can naturally segue into the closing part of the virtual event.

Thank the audience for joining and send them important links in the chat (e.g. social media, GitHub repos, future online events, etc.). If there are any unanswered questions, remind the attendee to post their questions in the event page comment section. Before you officially end the meeting, make sure to let the crowd know that the event is over. Here are some friendly phrases you can use to end the talk:

That’s all for today, thanks for joining me and feel free to comment on the event page with any questions!
That’s it for our event today, feel free to message me on Twitter if you have any questions!
That’s a wrap for today! Thanks for joining and see you soon.

Once attendees start leaving the virtual meeting room, you can end the meeting for all. There are some other follow ups to do after you finish your online events, but for now, take a break, go on a jog, or celebrate a bit for successfully hosting a great online event!

Wrap up & next steps

We’ve just walked you through preparing for and hosting a developer online event. By narrowing down your topic and setting the high-level structure, you’re able to focus your talk so it conveys your knowledge and sharing in the most effective way. You can also share the event recordings so other developers can continue to learn and be inspired by the event.

In the next and last part of this three-part series, we’ll share more about promoting your online events and engaging with your audience after the event. If you’re not sure how you can promote your events to the right developers, the last blog post will provide you with some tips and walk you through how Codementor Events will help with that.

If you’re ready to share your experience with other developers, create events and become a Codementor Events speaker now!

15 technical and career developer events I loved in 2022

jenniferfu0811 — Wed, 23 Mar 2022 12:56:07 +0000

As developers (or...wannabe developers like me 😂), we're always learning something new. To be able to continue to learn and grow, we have to be able to ask questions and share knowledge.

I've found developer virtual events and conferences really useful because they allow me to actively engage by asking questions and interacting with the speaker and other developers. Here are the top 15 free on-demand virtual events I attended in 2022 so far. Hope some of these that will help you sharpen your technical skills and boost your career advancement.

I'll also be attending the Developer Growth Summit 2022 — I digress, we'll come back to this at the very end. Now, let's take a look at the web development, mobile development, career-growth, and workplace tips dev events I found helpful:

Web development tutorials & live coding virtual events

React with TypeScript: Build a React component together
When React developers first adopt TypeScript into their projects, it can feel overwhelming. Learn the fundamental concepts of TypeScript and work with TypeScript more confidently through the live coding session. Sylvana @ Codecademy also answered lots of detailed questions about the code and the project.
Intro to JavaScript Asynchronous Programming
JavaScript asynchronous programming is more than simply using async and await. The more we understand how JavaScript works under the hood, the better we can program and debug issues. Watch the recording and start working with functions, function execution, browser APIS, Web APIs, and more. The on-demand tutorial gives you what you need to start building.
Tools for web developers: Live coding and debugging
Tools are a developer's best friends. Nick @ Forem (That's dev.to! Right here!) shares about why knowing your tools is important as a web developer and demonstrates browser dev tools, in-browser JavaScript and Node.JS debugging tools, and Javascript debugging tools in VS Code. Pick up a few extra tricks for VS Code and GitHub CLI with this one.
Getting Started with Progressive Web Apps
This beginner-friendly virtual event focuses on why PWAs are great for building app-like, cross-platform projects, the advantages they bring to developers, users, and businesses, and how to start building your PWAs. With PWAs, you can bring native, app-like user experience to cross-platform web applications.
Live code React projects: Build a Twitter activity tracker
To build a good React app not only requires knowledge of syntax and components, but also workflows, data management, and even APIs of other apps. By building a Twitter activity tracker, you learn how to create new projects with Next.JS in React, work with various data sources and types, and use FaunaDB for data management. Follow along the React tutorial.

Mobile development tutorials & live coding

Functional programming in Kotlin
What is functional programming? What is a functional language? Whether you're new to Kotlin or want to deepen your knowledge on functional programming, deep dive into extension functions, lamdas, anonymous functions, functional types, trailing lambdas, and more with this on-demand tutorial.
Jetpack Compose: A new world of possibilities for Android
A well-rounded talk for Android developers, including the history of Android, Jetpack Compose toolkit, and more resources to build declarative UI with. This Android and Kotlin tutorial helps you increase efficiency when developing Android UI.

Career growth virtual events: finding a job

Get hired as a developer: Tips from a Technical Recruiter
Technical recruiters are trained to look at developer resumes like the way Google does with keywords. Jeff Lam will give you the right tech keywords to put on your resume, all the tools to structure and optimize your personal profile, and the ability to stand out from the crowd.
Tech interviews: Best practices from an Engineering Manager
Your resume got you in the door. Now comes the interviews. Barrett shares developer interview best-practices and answers questions like: "Does the approach work for self taught developers?", "Do engagements on social media and online community matter?" And even, "how do you leave a job in a tight developer community?"
Getting into tech without a Computer Science degree
The tech industry is no longer a siloed industry. “Tech” either plays the central role, a crucial supporting role, or a connecting role nowadays. Going from a microbiologist to a front-end developer & developer advocate, Anita inspires and provides tangible resources for self taught developers to make their first steps successful.

Career growth virtual events: advancing your career

What does an Engineering Manager do and is it for you?
While Engineering Managers in different organizations might have different responsibilities, the job usually includes people, project, and process management. Dhruv highlights the traits required for individual contributors and engineering managers to help you identify and match your strengths to the right career path.
Women In Tech: Establish and grow your developer career
How do you establish and grow your career as a woman in a male dominant industry? Before we get to career planning, Erica highlights the whys and hows of finding companies that value diversity and inclusion. The 40-minutes Q&A alone is packed with technical interview tips, industry trends, and career growth advice.

Cross-team collaboration & workplace challenges

How to overcome imposter syndrome in tech
Whether you've just joined a new company or have been in a company for years already, new challenges will continue to emerge. What if you just can't shake the feeling of being an imposter? Rahul talks about accepting it, reframing your attitude toward discomfort, and asking questions to counter imposter syndrome.
Communication mistakes I made at Google
Shunyao, a Software Engineer turned Product Manager, shares several anecdotes that made her realize she needed to rethink how she communicates. The interactive virtual event covered mistakes we can all avoid: (1) thinking it's our problem, (2) providing too much or too little relevant context, and (3) turning communications into debates.
Deadlines & estimations: What do I do with them?
Deadlines and estimations are one of the markers of developer life. But how beneficial are they and how strict should they be? And when we are not in the position to set them, how can we respond to them without sacrificing product quality and our own well-being? See if you agree with the rationale of estimations, common effects of poor estimations, and tips for upward management.

If these events sound interesting to you, subscribe to Codementor Events to get updates on the latest online events, hackathons, webinars, and meetups for developers.

Want more? Here's a free developer conference 💁🏻‍♀️

Developers often attend developer conferences to gain access to tech industry leaders, stay updated on the latest technologies and trends, and learn frameworks and tools to help us grow technically and professionally. Developer Growth Summit 2022 is hosted by Codementor Events. The speakers lineup includes senior developers, VP of engineering, CTOs, and technical CEOs from Netflix, Adobe, Microsoft, and more.

What's cool about DGS2022 is they also invited hosts of popular developer podcasts and YouTube channels. Some of them include Michael Kennedy @ Talk Python to Me, Alexey Grigorev @ DataTalks, and Julien Klepatch, who shares frequently about Web3 on his YouTube channel.

Check out the developer conference if you find it interesting! It's completely free too, so, why not snatch up every opportunity to learn and connect with the dev community?

Hope this article is helpful to you. If you're interested in seeing another round of great developer events and event summaries, let me know in the comment section 👇🏼

Happy learning folks!

Free curated developer virtual events platform with technical and career events

jenniferfu0811 — Fri, 18 Feb 2022 03:12:03 +0000

As someone learning programming, I'm always learning something new. I've realized the to be able to learn, I have to ask questions and share my understandings.

I've found developer virtual events helpful because I'm not passively soaking things up from YouTubers. I'm asking the speakers questions and having discussions with other attendees at the same time. While I'm not a speaker myself, I quite like the brand's tagline for speakers: "Host developer virtual events to help others learn, share your experience, practice your public speaking skills, and grow your personal brand."

What is Codementor Events?

Codementor Events is a developer community and virtual events platform. Codementor Events aims to help developpers learn remotely and grow professionally through attending and hosting events. You can be a Junior Frontend Developer, Data Scientist, Senior DevOps Engineer, or a CTO. Codementor Events has something for everyone.

They offer a wide range of developer-focused technical and career virtual events that are interactive and engaging. If you’re interested in sharing your knowledge, helping others learn, and growing your personal brand, they also make it easy for you to host your own event.

Why Codementor Events instead of other platforms?

Attend diverse developer-centered virtual events

Codementor Events saves me a lot of time trying to look for relevant and high quality dev events. The topics are all diverse and well-chosen. Some benefits of using Codementor Events as a dev, or someone in tech, include:

🔎 Find diverse dev-centered events: From live coding sessions to career-related talks, Codementor Events has a wide selection of events to choose from. Learn about languages and frameworks, databases and tools, and processes and technologies in tech events. Or tackle topics like imposter syndrome, engineering resources, and workplace communication in career events. (They're all free too!)

🆓 Learn from speakers all around the world: It's hard to attend conferences and events when they're half way around the globe. With virtual events, all you need is an internet connection to learn from speakers all around the world. When I can't attend live, I just watch the recordings afterwards.

💬 Interact with speakers and other developers: The Q&A sessions can sometimes be a bit short or I might have more questions after the event to share with the speaker. Codementor Events' attendees are engaged and happy to chat outside of the event too.

Present at developer virtual events hassle-free

While I personally haven't hosted any events, Codementor Events makes it easy for you to share your expertise with a global developer audience so you can grow your career while helping others. Whether you're a newbie or a veteran speaker, their services seem to allow you to focus on planning the talk:

⭐️ Bring the audience to you: Want to share your experience with more developers? Not sure who and where to share your events with? Codementor will promote your event to the 500K+ developers in the dev community.

🏃🏼 Handle event logistics: Don’t want to deal with creating event pages, sending reminder emails, and getting feedback from event attendees? Codementor takes care of all of that. All you have to do is to focus on giving the best talk. Not only that, your personal brand will continue to grow organically along with your event page.

💪🏼 Give you all the support you need: A little stuck on your event title? Never spoken at an event before? Worried that you won’t be able to reach someone for support? Their event support team will help you narrow in on a topic, discuss your event flow with you, and offer you all the support and assistance you need.

Learn remotely and grow professionally through virtual events with Codementor Events

From the past events I've attended, Codementor Events are very high quality, and are diverse enough for developers in different niches. Check out Codementor Events and here are some of their upcoming and past events.

Hope these developer virtual events will help you, wherever you are, to grow technically and professionally!

Hosting virtual events for developers pt.1: Audience, topic, event title, & event description

jenniferfu0811 — Tue, 11 Jan 2022 03:59:22 +0000

Most developers have attended at least a few tech events or virtual conferences. Some of you may have sat in your seats and thought to yourself “I have the expertise to talk about this as well.” With the rise of virtual events, you can share your knowledge and experience more easily with more developers.

Before you decide where to host the virtual events, make sure the platform has your target audience. For instance, Codementor Events has a vibrant developer community with 100K+ developers. If you’re looking for virtual events platform with developer audiences, this platform is suitable.

Before we dive into the details of planning your virtual event, let’s start by talking about why you may want to speak at virtual events. We’ll then walk through deciding on the right topic for the right audience and how you can make your event title and descriptions relatable and attention-grabbing.

Why should I speak at developer virtual events?

Similar to writing blog posts or contributing to open source, speaking at online events is a way for you to share knowledge. Not only are developer virtual events great for knowledge sharing, they’re also great for community building and personal growth.

Own and reinforce your knowledge

Regardless of seniority and years of experience, every developer has something unique to offer. Whether it’s how you found a job after finishing a coding bootcamp or how your team uses microservices for back- and front-end, you’ll have unique perspectives, knowledge, and tips to share. The best way for you to validate what you know is to teach it to someone else. Preparing and speaking at virtual events give you the opportunity to articulate and solidify your knowledge.

Practice sharing your experience and knowledge with others

Some dev teams have regular sharings, where every developer is encouraged to share something new they’ve learned. However, not every developer has built-in communities to do so. The process of prepping, speaking, and getting feedback at your own virtual events gives you the opportunity to refine your knowledge and practice sharing concisely and effectively.

Help others learn from your experience via virtual events

No matter where you are in your programming journey, there are developers who are either in the same place as you or want to be where you are. Sharing what you know about technical tools, libraries, languages, and best practices can help other developers ramp up their technical skills exponentially.
Sharing your career progression, blockers, and resources can help others grow in their careers and remove feelings of anxiety and uncertainty. Regardless of the nature of your virtual event topic, as long as you know who can benefit from your online event, there are no irrelevant experiences.

Build your personal brand and network

If you’re interested in broadening your network and building a more prominent online presence, hosting virtual events on reputable platforms can go a long way. You’re likely to gain a dozen or more LinkedIn, Twitter, and GitHub connections with other like-minded developers who have resources to share, common interests, or want to learn from you.

Developer virtual events are one of the most accessible ways for developers to connect, learn, and share knowledge and experience. To maximize the benefits of virtual events for both you and your virtual attendees, identifying the right audience, topic, event title, and event descriptions is crucial. We’ll address each of these aspects in the following sections.

How do I choose the right topic for my virtual events?

While all experiences are valuable, your experience may speak to some more than others. As such, it’s important to identify the kinds of developer you think would benefit from your virtual events sharing the most. By narrowing down on your target audience, virtual event ideas, and cadence, you’ll be able to share your knowledge with the right group of developers.

To help you narrow in on developers who will learn from your talk, here are some ways you can think about different groups of developers:

Career stage: aspiring, junior, mid-level, senior developers, tech leads, etc.
Types of developer: front-end, back-end, full stack, DevOps, Android, iOS, etc.
Industries & products: B2B, B2C, fintech, e-commerce, healthcare, etc.

Let’s say you want to take the technical route and share about Node.js. Front-end, back-end, and full stack developers can all benefit from this topic. With that said, it's too ambitious and ineffective to try to capture front-end, back-end, and full stack developers’ pain points in one talk.

We'll choose back-end developers as the focus for this topic. Here are some potential event topics that are focused:

7 Steps to learn Node.js as a beginner
Live coding: Build a chat app using Node.js
Scaling enterprise software with Node.js

The first topic can be helpful for aspiring and junior developers. The second and third topics can apply to junior, mid-level, or senior developers based on how you frame your talk. If you have more than one idea, try framing them into a series of talks rather than cramming it all into one. In the next section, we’ll talk about the steps to writing a clear and informative event title for event planning.

What does a good event title look like?

Depending on the nature of your topic, the title of your virtual events can vary widely. For instance, if you want to host a technical talk, your virtual event title should include:

the key technologies,
tech concepts,
or tech stacks you’ll share about. On the other hand, if you’re planning a more career-related talk, your title should address the issues, pain points, or challenges you’ll speak to.

We’ll use a career-focused topic to illustrate how you might go from a general topic to a specific title for your talk.

Let’s say you’re a tech lead and want to share insights on how to be a good tech lead. With “tech lead” as the central theme, here are a few virtual events titles that captures different facets of being a tech lead:

Effectively managing a 15+ people developer team
How to interview and find the right developers for your team
Personal time management for tech leads

While all three topics are relevant to tech leads and aspiring tech leads, focusing your talk on one specific topic will allow you to dig deeper into each pain point and deliver precise advice to your audience at virtual events.

Regardless of the topic you choose, here are some tips on coming up with a relevant and eye-catching virtual event title when you're doing event planning:

Clearly state the tech stacks (for technical events)
Highlight the problems you'll provide solutions for
Provide the concepts, tools, or solutions you’ll be sharing
Concisely summarize what the audience can expect
Google for title inspirations

Now that you’ve caught the attention of your audiences’ eyes with the right event title, the next thing is to write a compelling event description to encourage attendees to join your virtual event.

How to write an event description for developer virtual events

Not many virtual event platforms provide structures for writing event descriptions. We've created the following structure to help you attract attendees effectively. To make your event description more scannable and enticing to potential event attendees, here’s the structure we suggest:

About the talk:

The purpose of this section is to connect with potential virtual attendees by highlighting the problems they’re faced with and the solutions you’ll offer.

Present the problem you’ll address with a short anecdote in the first sentence.
Use another 1-2 sentences to expand on the pain points, how you can help your audience tackle them, and who would benefit from the event.

This talk will cover

Use 3-4 bullet points to list out the agenda of your talk.
Be specific about what each section will address
Highlight unique formats you'll use for your online event (e.g. live coding, code review, debugging, workshop)

About the speaker

Include your current role and company for your headline
Highlight relevant work experience or other projects in your bio (e.g. open source advocate, career counselor, lecturer, etc.)

From deciding your virtual events topic and target audience, to coming up with your event title and event description, the goal is to attract developers who would benefit from your knowledge and experience. The three different sections attract event attendees through stories and pain points, clear content of the talk, and the experience and passion you can bring them.

In the next section, we'll walk through two event description examples to help concretize event description writing more.

Event description examples for inspirations

To help you write the description for your talk, here are two virtual event description examples:

Tech talk event description example

Source: Codementor Events - Best Virtual Events for Developers

Sylvana’s virtual event description is a great example for a tech talk because it speaks to the challenges of adopting TypeScript as a React developer, flesh out the benefits of using TypeScript, and offers live coding as a solution to help React developers pick up TypeScript faster. Furthermore, the speaker’s bio makes her relatable and trustworthy.

Get some inspiration from Sylvana's event website here.

Career talk virtual event description example

Source: Codementor Events - Best Virtual Events for Developers

Rahul’s virtual event description is also a great example, especially for a career related talk. The “About the talk” section features anecdotes that speak to the challenges of imposter syndrome and ends with an encouragement. “The talk will cover” clearly presents what the audiences can expect. Rahul’s speaker bio also shows both his professional background and passion for helping people succeed in their careers.

Combined, the event description is effective, short, and sweet. Visit the event website to check out Rahul's event description.

Conclusion: What’s next?

There are many benefits to speaking at a developer virtual events, but the primary goal is to make programming knowledge more accessible to all. If you’ve never spoken at developer virtual conferences or virtual events before, the thought of public speaking may be a little daunting. However, with this blog series and some practice, you’ll be able to share your experience confidently and host successful online events in no time.

If you’re ready to share your experience with others, and speak at an event virtually, become a Codementor Events speaker now! If you’re not quite ready yet, we’ll walk you through preparing for your talk and hosting successful virtual events in the next part of this three-part series.

Submit your virtual event ideas to Codementor Events →

How To Improve Your Programming Skills As Developers and Non-Developers

jenniferfu0811 — Wed, 03 Nov 2021 09:13:09 +0000

Whether you’re a developer, designer, or even a marketing specialist, learning how to code and improving your programming skills can be critical to your career growth. With that said, the path you take to improve your technical knowledge will differ based on your background and familiarity with programming.

In this blog post, we'll dig into why people from all sorts of backgrounds—especially developers—want to get better at programming and what “getting better at programming” means. We’ll then outline the best ways to learn programming depending on your backgrounds and goals.

Why improve your programming skills? What does that mean?

From personal to work projects, from passion to career, from curiosity to practicality, there are many reasons why you may want to improve your programming skills. While a common reason people choose to learn programming is to become a developer, that is not the only reason. Non-developers, such as designers and business owners, might also want to learn programming to add to their skill set.

In this article, we’ll look at three groups of people who may want to improve their programming skills:

Developers from all levels of seniority
Students and aspiring developers
Non-developers (e.g. designers, marketers, business analysts, etc.).

To help you figure out how to improve your skills, we want to expand on what improving your programming skills might mean. We ran a survey to better understand what people mean when they say they want to “improve their programming skills” and will use that as a starting point.

As shown above, the top three scenarios people need help with to get better at programming are:

Get hands-on guidance to solve specific tasks or eliminate blockers
Learn basic programming skills
Deepen my understanding of technical concepts

The first scenario applies to both developers and non-developers, the second scenario to students, aspiring developers, and non-developers, and the third scenario to mid-level and senior developers.

Let's dig deeper into each scenario to see which scenario fits your needs best.

Get hands-on guidance to help me solve specific tasks or eliminate blockers

Developers, regardless of seniority, usually look for targeted learning that caters to specific problems or blockers they’re facing. They seek out coding mentors to show them how to identify and solve problems so that they can do it themselves in the future.

I can watch how they solve my issue and then when I have a similar issue I can solve it by myself. - Robert, bachelor’s student in Computer Science

What about non-developers? Their intentions are almost identical to that of developers, regardless of whether they’re business analysts, marketing specialists, UX designers, or even CEOs. They have specific projects they’re working on and the project requires programming skills that are beyond their current abilities. Rather than simply outsourcing their projects, these users want to learn programming languages that’ll give them more autonomy and power to deliver projects and strengthen their careers.

By working with my mentors I learned how to approach the problems and find solutions to them. - Philip, Founder and Product Manager

Learn basic coding skills

Another major user group is aspiring programmers who identify as students, at the beginning of their coding journey. Oftentimes, these are students who are:

getting a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science
taking online classes, or
in coding bootcamps.

All of the above provide coding lessons and coding training. However, many students still look for mentor, despite having professors, peers, and sometimes, even mentors to assist them in their coding bootcamps. Jared, a current coding bootcamp student, explained why he sought mentorship outside of his bootcamp:

We’re assigned a mentor but we’re usually only able to talk with them once a week. It’s hard to get help immediately when I’m stuck. Another thing is that my mentor doesn’t always know what I’m struggling with and they only assist with projects and concepts that are taught in the syllabus. I feel like mentors here can identify what I really really need to know to be able to become a good developer in the real world.

What 1-on-1 mentorships provide that other structured courses don’t provide include:

Personalized diagnoses from senior developers
Individualized coding training based on one’s existing knowledge
Track your progress, provide you with extra resources, and tailor your learning experience as you grow

In other words, students use mentorship as an additional resource to enhance their learning experience. The mentorship relationship often extends beyond their programs as students eventually become developers, and continue to grow and learn through long-term mentorships.

Deepen my understanding of technical concepts

Last but not least, a lot of developers want to deepen their understanding of technical concepts. Some of the questions and requests developers post include:

Would like to meet weekly to discuss process in iOS dev, clarifying principles in Swift
Help learning Vue.js and advanced JavaScript, also help with backend
Need someone to personally coach me DS Algorithms in Java

As you can see, many programmers in this category already have some understanding of the tech stacks and technology they’re working with but want to take their skills to the next level.

For mid-level developers, structured courses are unhelpful as they’re looking to dive deep into specific areas not typically covered by online classes or bootcamps. Through working directly with coding mentors, the learning process can be tailored to each developer’s needs.

With all that said, we want to highlight some ways to help you improve your programming skills, depending on which stage of the coding journey you’re at and what your goals are.

Overview of different ways to improve your programming skills

Different people learn differently. Depending on your skill level, goals, and availability, you may want to consider coding training that is structured, semi-structured, or unstructured. Generally speaking, structured learning is most suitable for aspiring developers, semi-structured learning is more fitting for non-developers, and unstructured learning is more effective for mid to senior level developers. We’ll talk more about which approach may fit you better and what resources are available to you.

Structured Learning

If you don’t have any coding foundation and want to become a developer, structured and comprehensive coding training that has dedicated instructors, detailed projects, and hard deadlines may be the most effective for you. These programs are highly intensive, require high levels of commitment, and can be quite pricey. Your options include:

Four-year or two-year degrees from universities and community colleges
Coding certification programs
Online or in-person coding bootcamps. Some examples include:
- Software Development (Web Development)
  - Codesmith: Full-time Software Engineering Immersive (USD $19,350)
  - Tech Elevator: Coding Bootcamp Program (USD $15,950)
  - Hack Reactor: Coding Bootcamp (USD $17,980)
- Mobile Applications Development
  - The Tech Academy: Mobile App Developer Bootcamp ($9,540 - $11,900)
  - Devmountain: iOS Development Course ($7,900)

If becoming a software developer and pursuing full-time programming careers are not your goals, a comprehensive bootcamp may be an overkill. Instead, you can choose semi-structured learning that aligns with your needs and goals.

Semi-Structured Learning

If you simply want to learn one or two programming languages or tech stacks, online courses are a good alternative as they often focus on specific topics and languages. Most online courses are semi-structured, meaning you will be given a syllabus and structured lessons, but no dedicated instructors, hard deadlines, and sometimes, not even hands-on projects. You’ll have more freedom but less guidance and built-in accountability. If this sounds like something you prefer, here are some examples:

Data Science

Harvard University’s online courses
Udacity
Datacamp

Frontend Development

Udemy
FreeCodeCamp
Khan Academy

Backend Development

FreeCodeCamp
University of Michigan’s online courses

Coding courses online are accessible and flexible. However, there are some possible downsides:

The courses can sometimes be outdated
There is little to no accountability
May be too theory-heavy with little focus on application
No available mentors to reach out to when questions arise

If you do choose semi-structured courses, we’d suggest finding a mentor to help guide you along the way. You can take full control over your learning by asking a coding mentor to explain concepts that are hard to grasp, keep you accountable, and provide you with hands-on guidance on how to apply the theories in real-world settings.

Unstructured Learning

If you’re starting from scratch, we wouldn’t suggest going the unstructured route. While there is a plethora of coding resources available, it can be hard to know where to start. Without a solid foundation or a good grasp of the help or answer you’re looking for, finding the right books, blog posts, and YouTube videos can be like searching for a needle in a haystack. Even worse, you could go down a rabbit hole that may be misleading.

With that said, unstructured learning is the most common way experienced developers continue to grow their programming skills. Developers are known to be resourceful, community-oriented, and driven learners. If you already have the foundations you need and know what you’re looking for, here are some generic resources you may find useful:

Stack Overflow
GitHub
- Awesome Learning Resources (lauragift21)
- Awesome Learning Resources (GDGAhmedabad)
- Learn to code (ashleymcnamara)
- ProjectLearn: Project Based Learning (Xtremilicious)
Reddit
- r/learnprogramming
- r/ProgrammingBuddies
- r/cscareerquestions
YouTube
Projects & games
- DevProjects
Conferences and webinars
Meetups
Book Clubs

With a solid enough foundation, you can find any resource that’ll help you learn. However, as you grow as a developer, you'll also have less time dedicated to learning new technologies. This is where coding mentors could be helpful.

Richa, a senior developer with 13+ years of experience said:

I am a developer and trying to learn more tech stacks. Now there's just not enough time to schedule a time for dedicated learning like I used to do during my learning days 13 years ago. Pair programming sessions at Codementor have reduced that learning time dramatically for me.

Communities like Stack Overflow, dev.to, and GitHub are crucial to the continuous growth of every developer and coding mentors can help you navigate through the programming knowledge shared in these communities.

Will working with a mentor help improve my programming skills?

We’ve briefly discussed the benefits of having a coding mentor in your coding journey throughout the process but what is coding mentorship? Coding mentors are senior developers who act as your advisor and coach to help you learn new technologies, personal skills, and career guidance.

Here are some hard and soft skills that coding mentors can provide:

Help kickstart your programming professional development
Understand your unique pain points and cater to your individual needs
Impart knowledge and wisdom through their working and coding experience
Hold you accountable to achieve your goals
Discover and hone your leadership skills
Boost your confidence and problem-solving abilities

Regardless of whether you decide to take the structured, semi-structured, or unstructured route to learn how to code and reach your goals, having a coding mentor (or two!) can help you grow technically, personally, and professionally.

Conclusion

There is no right way to go about learning how to code just as there is also no right track for those who choose to learn to code.

If you’re figuring out which learning style is the best for you, one of the most important things is to identify what your goal is. Once you’ve identified your short term and long term goals, you can mix and match the learning styles that fit your needs the best.

If you’re unsure what you need to achieve your goals, finding a mentor is a great place to start. Mentors can help you identify and clarify your goals. They would also provide you with the best resource to help you learn according to your skill level and learning style.

There is no cookie cutter approach and no shortcut to improve your programming skills. Getting the results and reaching the goals you have takes strategizing and the right kind of help. We hope this article will help you find what suits you best.

If you have any questions, thoughts, or experience to share about honing your programming skills, leave a comment below!

JavaScript Splice: What is JavaScript Splice and What Can It Do?

jenniferfu0811 — Tue, 03 Aug 2021 05:18:39 +0000

Imagine that you have a list of restaurants that you want to try out, and after finally getting dinner at one of them, you don’t just want to cross the restaurant off your list, but you want to remove it completely.

So you remove the restaurant that you’ve tried, and now your original list only has the restaurants you’ve yet to try. Right here, we’ve described one of the things JavaScript splice can do.

What is the JavaScript splice method and what can it do?

Okay, let’s back up a little bit. We’ve described what JavaScript splice can do, but what is it exactly?

The JavaScript splice() method is a built-in method for JavaScript array functions. Splice modifies the original array by removing, replacing, or adding elements. The return value is a new array containing the deleted elements. If no elements are removed, an empty array is returned. The basic syntax for JavaScript splice is:

Array.splice(start, removeCount, newItem, newItem, newItem, ...)

How to remove elements from an array with JavaScript splice

To simply remove an element from an array using JavaScript splice, you would need to know the index number of the element you would like to remove.

Going back to the example we brought up at the beginning of this tutorial. Say our restaurant bucket list consisted of A, B, C, and D, this would be the original array. The restaurant that we tried would be D. To remove D, we would need to know its index number. Since the array index starts at 0, the index would be (X-1). In this case, the index number would be 3.

Now, we can use the JavaScript slice method to remove the restaurant we’ve already visited from the original array:

const restaurants = [“A”, “B”, “C”, “D”]

console.log(restaurants.splice(3, 1)) // output: [“D”]
console.log(restaurants) // output: [“A”, “B”, “C”]

Here, we can see that the original array has been spliced into two: the original array with the remaining elements, and the return value is an array with the removed element(s).

To learn more about how to use JavaScript splice to remove elements from an array, check out this blog post.

How to add elements to an array with JavaScript splice

You can add new elements to an array using JavaScript splice as well. Keeping the full splice syntax in mind, you can add new elements by defining the number of elements you’d like to remove as “0” and before declaring the new elements.

For example, let’s add E to our array.

const restaurants = [“A”, “B”, “C”, “D”]

console.log(restaurants.splice(3, 0,”E”)) // output: []
console.log(restaurants) // output: [“A”, “B”, “C”, “E”, “D”]

This also works if you’d like to both remove and add elements to your array. For example, let’s remove D from the above array and add F and G in D’s location.

const restaurants = [“A”, “B”, “C”, “D”]

console.log(restaurants.splice(3, 0,”E”)) // output: [“D”]
console.log(restaurants) // output: ["A", "B", "C", "F", "G"]

Splice vs Slice: What is the difference between the two JavaScript methods?

One confusion that many JavaScript developers might have is splice vs slice: are they the same? If not, what is the difference? They sound awfully similar!

While both splice and slice are built-in JavaScript methods and sound very similar, they actually play different roles. Both JavaScript splice and slice can be used to manipulate items in an array.

However, as mentioned above, the JavaScript splice method directly modifies the original array, and, if there are any, returns an array of the removed elements. On the other hand, the JavaScript slice method does not modify the original array, but returns a new array that is a “section” of the original array. You can define the “start” and “end” of the selection that you want the slice method to return.

After reading this article, you should have a basic understanding of how to use JavaScript splice. While it looks simple, don’t underestimate all the magic that the splice method can do. If you want to learn more about what you can do with splice, find a mentor to help you master JavaScript step by step!

Python String Basics, Python String Methods, and Python String Conversions

jenniferfu0811 — Thu, 29 Jul 2021 08:06:38 +0000

In Python, a string refers to a sequence of characters. String is particularly useful when you’re dealing with textual data in Python.

In this tutorial, we’ll walk through some Python string basics, the most commonly used Python string methods, and a multitude of ways to convert Python methods into strings. We will specifically look at converting Python list to string, Python int to string, Python bytes to string, and finally, Python datetime to string.

Python String Overview
Python String Methods
Convert Python List to String
Convert Python int to String
Convert Python Bytes to String
Convert Python Datetime to String
Wrap Up
References

Python String Overview

Creating a Python string

To create a Python string, you can enclose characters with single quote, double quotes, or triple quotes. While triple quotes can be used for single line strings, it’s most useful for multiline strings and docstrings. Additionally, depending on the complexity of your code, you can name your strings according to best practices:

my_string = 'Codementor'
print(my_string)

my_string = "Codementor"
print(my_string)

my_string = '''Codementor'''
print(my_string)

# triple quotes string can extend multiple lines

my_string = """Welcome to Codementor,
           find a Python expert to help you learn Python!"""
print(my_string)

Output:

Codementor
Codementor
Codementor
Welcome to Codementor,
    find a Python expert to help you learn Python!

💡Tip: You can name your Python string anything! Instead of my_string, we’ll simply name our Python string s in the next section.

Accessing characters in a Python string

Each character in a Python string is assigned an index, and the index starts with 0 and must be an integer. There are two ways of accessing the characters: (1) using positive integers, and (2) using negative integers.

For negative indexes, the index of -1 refers to the last item, -2 to the second last item, and so on. If you want to access a range of items in a string, you can use the slicing operator, :.

Here’s an illustration to help you understand how the positive and negative indexes work in a Python String:

Once, again, using “Codementor” as an example:

s = 'Codementor'
print(s[0])
print(s[1])
print(s[2])
print(s[3])
print(s[4])
print(s[5])
print(s[6])
print(s[7])
print(s[8])
print(s[9])

Output:

C
o
d
e
m
e
n
t
o
r

To get the same output, you'd use negative integers this way:

s = 'Codementor'
print(s[-10])
print(s[-9])
print(s[-8])
print(s[-7])
print(s[-6])
print(s[-5])
print(s[-4])
print(s[-3])
print(s[-2])
print(s[-1])

You can also access multiple characters from the Python string. For instance:

s = 'Codementor'
print(s[:])
print(s[:4])
print(s[-6:])
print(s[2:5])

Output:

Codementor
Code
mentor
dem

Now you know the basics of how to work with Python strings, let's talk about some of the most widely used Python string methods.

Python String Methods

To allow developers to work with Python strings quicker, there are built-in shortcuts to manipulate the output of the string. These shortcuts are called Python string methods. A Python string method does not change the original string. Instead, it is used to return new values.

The most commonly used Python string methods include capitalize(), lower(), upper(), join(), split(), find(), and replace(). Python format() is another powerful and frequently used Python string method. However, due to its complexity, we will not cover it here. Feel free to learn more about format() from Python’s official documentation!

We'll run through the seven Python string methods and include a table of all the Python string methods at the end of the tutorial.

`capitalize()` Python string method

The capitalize() string method is used when you want to capitalize the first character of a string of text. Here’s an example:

s = "codementor speeds up your python learning process"
x = s.capitalize()
print (x)

Output:

Codementor speeds up your python learning process

`lower()` Python string method

lower() Python string method is the opposite of upper(). It turns all of the characters in a string into lowercase letters.

s = "CODEMENTOR HELPS solve your CODING problems!"
x = s.lower()
print(x)

Output:

codementor helps solve your coding problems!

`upper()` Python string method

upper() Python string method is the opposite of lower(). It turns all of the characters in a string into uppercase letters.

s = "codementor has the best python tutors!"
x = s.upper()
print(x)

Output:

CODEMENTOR HAS THE BEST PYTHON TUTORS!

(We really do have the best Python mentors and tutors!)

`join()` Python string method

The join()method takes all items in an iterable and joins them into one string. For example, you can join items in a tuple or in a dictionary. Let’s say you want to put all your party guests’ into a string, you can use the following code and join() method to combine and create the list.

PartyGuests = ("Anna", "Allie", "Joy", "Chloe", "Ellyn")
x = ", ".join(PartyGuests)
print(x)

Output:

Anna, Allie, Joy, Chloe, Ellyn

`split()` Python string method

The split() method splits a Python string into a list. You can specify the separator, but the default separator is any whitespace.

Here’s an easy example to help you understand how split() works:

txt = "Find Python Help on Codementor Today"
x = txt.split()
print(x)

Output:

['Find', 'Python', 'Help', 'on', 'Codementor', 'Today']

Usually, split() divides a Python string in a list into single items. However, you may split the string into a list with a maximum of 2 items. Here’s how that could work, using # as the separator:

txt = "best#way#to#learn#python#is#to#find#a#mentor"
x = txt.split("#", 5)
print(x)

The output would look something like this funny list:

['best', 'way', 'to', 'learn', 'python', 'is#to#find#a#mentor']

`find()` Python string method

The find() method is used to find a specified value’s first appearance in a string. It is almost identical to the index() method, except when a value cannot be found. Instead of displaying -1, the index() method displays ValueError: substring not found.

Let’s use “Codementor” for this one:

txt = "Codementor"
x = txt.find("e", 4, 8)
print(x)

When you run the code above, you’ll get the output 5. Normally, find() would find the first appearance of “e” in the string, which would be 3 in our example. However, in the example above, it asked for “e” between position 4 and 8, which is why our output is 5.

`replace()` Python string method

The replace() method is used to replace a specified phrase with another specified phrase. Unless otherwise specified, all specified phrases in the Python string will be replaced.

Let’s see a simple example of replace():

str = "I love office work because office work is the best."
x = str.replace("office", "remote")
print(x)

See what we did there? Instead of “I love office work”, we now have:

I love remote work because remote work is the best

I mean...who doesn’t love remote work?

Now, let’s see how we would work with replace() if we only want to replace one of the words in a Python string:

str = "I love office work but going into the office to bond with my colleagues can be fun!"
x = str.replace("office", "remote", 1)
print(x)

Output:

I love remote work but going into the office to bond with my colleagues can be fun!

There are two “office” in the string, but we only want to replace the first “office” with “remote”. By adding the 1, we’ve replaced the first occurrence of the word “office.”

Now, there are lots of Python string methods you can use to manipulate the outcome of any given Python string but we won’t cover all of them in depth in this article. As format() is an extremely important and super powerful Python string method, we will dedicate another article to format(). You can find a list of all the Python string methods in the reference section!

⚠️ Note: Make sure to check if the Python string methods listed below work with the Python version you’re working with!

Convert Python List to String

Before we jump into the different ways we can convert a Python list to string, let’s briefly run through what a list is and two different types of lists.

If you’re familiar with other programming languages, a list in Python is equivalent to an array. A Python list is encased by square brackets, while a comma(,) is used to separate objects in the list. The main difference between an array and a Python list is that arrays usually contain homogenous objects while Python lists can contain heterogeneous objects.

Homogenous list:

list=[‘a’,’b’,’c’]
list=[‘America’,’India’,’Taiwan’]
list=[1,2,3,4,5]

Heterogeneous list:

list=[2,"America",5.2,"b"]

There are four ways to convert Python list to string:

Using join() Python string method
Using List Comprehension along with join() Python string method
Using map() Python string method
Using iteration through for loop

We will go through each of these methods:

Python list to string using `join()` method

The join() method can create strings with iterable objects. The element of an iterable (i.e. list, string, and tuple) can be joined by a string separator to return a new concatenated string.

Syntax: string.join(iterable)

And here’s an example of turning a Python list to string:

inp_list = ['Coding', 'for', 'Everyone']
out_str = " " 

print(out_str.join(inp_list))

Output:

Coding for Everyone

Python list to string using list comprehension along with `join()`

Now, using the join() method to convert a Python list to string works as long as the passed iterable contains string elements. However, if the list contains both string and integer as its element, we’d need to convert elements to string while adding to string. This is where using list comprehension along with join() comes in handy.

from builtins import str

inp_list = ['There', 'are', 'more', 'than', 10000, 'mentors', 'who', 'can', 'help', 'you', 'learn', 'Python', 'on', 'Codementor']
listToStr = ' '.join([str(elem) for elem in inp_list])

print(listToStr)

Output:

There are more than 10000 mentors who can help you with Python on Codementor

Python list to string using `map()` function

Similar to the string() method, the map() function accepts functions and iterable objects, like lists, types, strings, etc. The map() function maps the elements of the iterable with the function provided.

Syntax for map(): map(function, iterable)

The iterables are seen as arguments in map() functions. With the map() function, every element of the iterable (list) is mapped onto a given function to generate a list of elements. We’ll then use the join() method to display the output in string form:

inp_list = ['Get', 'Python', 'help', 'in', 'less', 'than', 6, 'minutes', 'on', 'Codementor']
listToStr = ' '.join(map(str, inp_list))

print(listToStr)

Output:

Get Python help in less than 6 minutes on Codementor

Python list to string using iteration through for loop

To convert a Python list to string using for loop, the elements of the input list are iterated one by one and added to a new empty string.

Here’s how it’d work:

# Function to convert  
def listToString(s): 

    out_str = "" 

    # traverse in the string  
    for ele in inp_str: 
        out_str += ele  

    # return string  
    return out_str 

# Driver code    
inp_str = ['Codementor', 'is', 'AWESOME']
print(listToString(inp_str))

Output:

CodementorisAWESOME

Convert Python int to String

Converting Python int to string is a lot more straightforward than converting Python list to string: you just have to use the built-in str() function. With that said, there are four ways of converting Python int to string. The examples we provide below apply to Python 3.

Using the str() function
Using “%s” keyword
Using .format() function
Using f-string

Python int to string using the `str()` function

Syntax: str(integer_value)

The code is relatively simple and straightforward:

num = 100
print(type(num))
converted_num = str(num)
print(type(converted_num))

Python int to string using “%s” keyword

Syntax: “%s” % integer

num = 100
print(type(num))
converted_num = "% s" % num
print(type(converted_num))

Python int to string using `.format()` function

Syntax: ‘{}’.format(integer)

num = 100
print(type(num))
converted_num = "{}".format(num)
print(type(converted_num))

Python int to string using f-string

⚠️ Note: This method may not work for Python 2.

Syntax: f'{integer}’

num = 100
print(type(num))
converted_num = f'{num}'
print(type(converted_num))

Converting Python int to string is simple but it is extremely useful in a greater context. Here’s an example of how the above methods of converting Python int to string may appear in real-world scenarios. Let’s say you want to print an output of how many Python mentors you’ve worked with on Codementor:

mentor_count = 30
print(type(mentor_count))
converted_num = str(mentor_count)
print("The number of mentors I have worked with in the last month: " + str(mentor_count))

Output:

<class ‘int’>
The number of mentors I have worked with in the last month: 30

Convert Python Bytes to String

Converting Python bytes to string is really about decoding and reverting a set of bytes back into a Unicode string. For example, decoding the byte string "\x61\x62\x63" and reverting it back to UTF-8 will give you "abc".

There are 3 ways to convert Python bytes to string:

Using decode() method
Using str() function
Using codec.decode() method

Python bytes to string using `decode()` method

The decode() method allows developers to convert an argument string from one encoding scheme to another.

import string
data = b'Codementor'

print('\nInput:')
print(data)
print(type(data))

output = data.decode()

print('\nOutput:')
print(output)
print(type(output))

Output:

Input:
b'Codementor'
<class 'bytes'>

Output:

Codementor
<class 'str'>

Python bytes to string using `str()` function

The str() function of Python returns the string version of the object.

data = b'Codementor'

print('\nInput:')
print(data)
print(type(data))

output = str(data, 'UTF-8')
print('\nOutput:')
print(output)
print(type(output))

Output:

Input:
b'Codementor'
<class 'bytes'>

Output:
Codementor
<class 'str'>

Python bytes to string using `codec.decode()` method

import codecs

data = b'Codementor'

print('\nInput:')
print(data)
print(type(data))

output = codecs.decode(data)

print('\nOutput:')
print(output)
print(type(output))

Output:

Input:
b'Codementor'
<class 'bytes'>

Output:
Codementor
<class 'str'>

Convert Python Datetime to String

Converting datetime class objects to Python string is not difficult with the datetime.strftime() function. What is tricky is that there are many different ways to showcase datetime, thus presenting developers the challenge of knowing when to use what format code.

Python datetime to string for current time

Using the datetime.strftime() function, you can turn the current datetime object into different string formats:

from datetime import datetime

now = datetime.now() # current date and time

year = now.strftime("%Y")
print("year:", year)

month = now.strftime("%m")
print("month:", month)

day = now.strftime("%d")
print("day:", day)

time = now.strftime("%H:%M:%S")
print("time:", time)

date_time = now.strftime("%m/%d/%Y, %H:%M:%S")
print("date and time:",date_time)

At the time of writing, this is the output:

year: 2021
month: 07
day: 09
time: 05:22:21
date and time: 07/09/2021, 05:22:21

Python datetime to string from timestamp

Now, if you need to convert Python datetime to string based on a timestamp you’re given, the code would look different. Here’s an example of how a timestamp could be converted to different string formats.

from datetime import datetime

timestamp = 1625834088
date_time = datetime.fromtimestamp(timestamp)

print("Date time object:", date_time)

d = date_time.strftime("%m/%d/%Y, %H:%M:%S")
print("Date and time:", d)  

d = date_time.strftime("%d %b, %Y")
print("Shortened date:", d)

d = date_time.strftime("%d %B, %Y")
print("Full date:", d)

d = date_time.strftime("%I%p")
print("Hour of day:", d)

Output:

Date time object: 2021-07-09 12:34:48
Date and time: 07/09/2021, 12:34:48
Shortened date: 09 Jul, 2021
Full date: 09 July, 2021
Hour of day: 12PM

Python datetime to string format codes

In the example above, a lot of format codes were used to display datetime in different ways. Some of the format codes—%m, %d, %Y—are more intuitive than others. Don’t worry. Even the best Python developers have to look up format codes when they code! We’ve attached all the format codes in the references section.

With the format codes, you can manipulate your timestamp into any Python string format you’d like!

Wrap Up

Python String is a fundamental part of working with Python. While this tutorial covered some of the basics of Python String—including some Python string methods and different ways to convert Python list, int, bytes, and datetime to strings—there is a lot more to Python strings. Python is a relatively friendly language for beginners. However, if you want to lay a more solid foundation while speeding up your learning, working with a Python tutor would be key. Additionally, working on some Python projects to bridge the gap between theory and real-world application would help solidify the concepts we ran through in this tutorial!

If you found this tutorial helpful, like and share it with those you think would benefit from reading it! Comment below to let us know what you think about the tutorial 🤓

References

Table of Python String Methods

Python String Method	Description
casefold()	Similar to `lower()`, Converts string to lower cases.
center()	Centers the string output.
count()	Count how many times a variable appeared in a string.
encode()	Encodes the string, using the specified encoding. If unspecified, UTF-8 will be used.
endswith()	Returns true if the string ends with the specified value.
expandtabs()	Uses \t to create spaces between characters.
format()	Formats specified values in a string.
format_map()	Similar to `format()`
index()	Searches the string for a specified value and returns the position of where the value is. If the value is a word in a string of sentence, the index will be the number of the first character of the word.
isalnum()	Returns True if all characters in the string are alphabets and numeric. If there’s a space in the string, you’d get False.
isalpha()	Returns True if all the characters in the string are in the alphabet. Characters like ë are considered alphabets. Applies to all languages.
isdecimal()	Returns True if all characters in the string are decimals
isdigit()	Returns True if all characters in the string are digits
isidentifier()	Returns True if the string is an identifier. Identifiers can only contain alphanumeric letters or underscores. An identifier can’t start with a number, or contain any spaces.
islower()	Returns True if all characters are lowercase.
isnumeric()	Returns True if all characters are numeric.
isprintable()	Returns True if all characters in the string are printable.
isspace()	Returns True if all characters are whitespaces.
istitle()	Returns True if the string follows the rules of a title, which means all words start with an uppercase letter and the rest are lowercase letters.
isupper()	Returns True if all characters in the string are upper case.
ljust()	Left aligns the specified string characters and uses numbers to indicate the amount of space to separate specified variables from other characters or sentences.
maketrans()	Used to replace characters with specified characters.
partition()	Searches for a specified string, and splits the string into a tuple containing three elements. The specified element will be the second element, and the first and third will be what comes before and after the specified element.
replace()	Replaces the specified value in the string with another specified value in the new string.
rfind()	Searches the string for a specified value and returns the last position of where it was found. The index will be the number of the first character of the specified value.
rindex()	Searches the string for a specified variable and returns the last position of where it was found. The index will be the number of the first character of the specified variable.
rjust()	Returns a right justified version of the string. Opposite of `ljust()`.
rpartition()	Similar to `partition()`.
rsplit()	Splits a string into a list, starting from the right. If no "max" is specified, this method will return the same as the `split()` method.
rstrip()	Removes any spaces or trailing characters that are specified.
split()	Splits a string into a list. The default separator is any whitespace, but the separator can be specified (i.e. `,`).
splitlines()	Uses `\n` to split the string into a list.
startswith()	Returns True if the string starts with the specified value.
strip()	Removes any leading and trailing characters of the specified variables. Unless otherwise specified, the default trailing characters are whitespaces.
swapcase()	Swaps all the characters in a string. If the character is an uppercase letter, it’ll turn into a lowercase letter, and vice versa.
title()	Converts the first character of each word to uppercase.
translate()	Returns a string where some specified characters are replaced with the character described in a dictionary, or in a mapping table.
zfill()	Adds zeros (0) at the beginning of the string, until it reaches the specified length.

Table of Format Codes

Format Code	Description	Example
%d	Day of the month as zero-padded numbers	01, 02, 03, 04 …, 31
%a	Abbreviated weekday	Sun, Mon, Wed, ..., Sat
%A	Full weekday name	Sunday, Monday, …, Saturday
%m	Month as zero-padded numbers	01, 02, 03, …, 12
%b	Abbreviated month	Jan, Feb, … Dec
%B	Full month name	January, February, …, December
%y	Year without century	00, 01, 02, …, 99
%Y	Year with century	0001, …, 2021, …, 9999
%H	24-hr clock hour	01, 02, 03, …, 23
%M	Minute as zero-padded numbers	01, 02, …, 59
%S	Second as zero-passed numbers	01, 02, …, 59
%f	Microsecond, zero-padded on the left	000000, 000001, …, 999999
%l	12-hr clock hour	01, 02, …, 12
%p	Location’s AM or PM	AM, PM
%j	Day of the year	01, 02, 03, …, 366

How to Create An Array in Python and other things you need to know about Python Array

jenniferfu0811 — Thu, 29 Jul 2021 03:40:50 +0000

Arrays are a powerful and useful module. In Python, there are two ways you can create an array: using the Python Standard Library or the NymPy package.

If you’re just starting out or would simply like to create an array with simple data types, the array module from the Python standard library would suffice. However, as Python is being widely used for data science, num.py array can often be seen as the de facto standard as it’s more flexible and robust.

In this tutorial, we’ll focus on using the array module in the Python standard library.

What is a Python array and what can they do?

Python arrays are data structures that can store multiple items of the same type, for example, you can have an array of strings. When you’re working with multiple items of the same data type, arrays make it easy to store, organize, remove elements, and manipulate the values.

This can sound confusing if you’re just starting out with Python arrays. So here’s another way to think about it: say that you’re organizing your bookshelf and have a list of book titles. You might want to store this list in a place you can easily access should you ever want to organize the titles, remove, or retrieve certain information. In Python, this list of titles would be stored in an array.

A common confusion you might encounter is the difference between Python array vs list. The key difference is the types of values that the two can store. While arrays can only store items of the same data type, lists can store a variation of different data types. Taking the bookshelf example from above, if your bookshelf also contains decorative items, such as potted plants, your list of bookshelf items would need to be stored in a Python list.

How to create an array in Python

Now that you know what an array is, the next step is to create a Python array. Let’s start with a simple example: to create an array in Python, you’ll need two parameters: data type and value list. Data type is the type of value that you want to store. Continuing the previous book list example, the data type here would be books, while the values would be the book titles.

Your basic syntax would look like this:

a=array(data type,value list)`

Using the bookshelf example:

a=array(books, [Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, Narnia, The Hobbit, The Little Prince])

How do you access an element in a Python array?

Each element in the array has an index number, starting with 0. This allows you to access an element in an array. The basic syntax will look like this:

Array_name[index value]

Using the previous example, say you want to access the second element in the array.

a=array(books, [Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, Narnia, The Hobbit, The Little Prince]) 
a[1]=Game of Thrones

How can you know a Python array length?

By understanding how the index number works, you can also figure out the Python array length. As the index number starts from 0, the Python array length will be 1 more than the last index number. Another way is to use the len() function to figure out the Python array length:

a=array(books, [Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, Narnia, The Hobbit, The Little Prince])
len(a)=5

How to remove an element from a Python array?

There are quite a few ways to remove elements from a Python array.

If you would like to delete an element based on their index number, you can use Python's del statement:

a=array(books, [harry potter, game of thrones, narnia, the hobbit, the little prince])
del books[2]

In the above example, you are deleting the third element from the Python array, “Narnia”. To use this method, you need to know the index number of the element you’d like to remove.

But what if you’re not sure where the element you’d like to remove is? In this case, you can use Python’s remove() method:

a=array(books, [harry potter, game of thrones, narnia, the hobbit, the little prince])
del books[harry potter]

By using the remove() method, you’ll be able to locate and remove a specific element without needing to know its index number.

If you want to learn more about what you can do with Python arrays, you can check out this tutorial or find a senior developer to help you master Python step by step!

We covered the basics of Python arrays in this article, but this is just the tip of the iceberg. Once you’re familiar with the array module from the Python standard library, you can expand to learn more about using arrays with the NumPy package, which is often seen as the standard array function in Python and in data science nowadays.

More resources on Python arrays:

Free Real-World Web Development Projects for All Developers

jenniferfu0811 — Mon, 24 May 2021 10:54:35 +0000

Web development usually entails building websites on the internet. However, web development technologies can also be used to build mobile apps. Whether you’re an aspiring or junior front end, back end, or full stack developer, building real-world projects is not only one of the best ways to learn and improve your coding skills, but is also crucial for you to build an attractive portfolio to advance your career. But what projects can I work on? Will they be unique enough?

Here’s a list of uniquely designed web development projects for developers of all skill levels from DevProjects:

Beginner-level projects: You will need some basic

Link shortener website (front end): Learn how to use JavaScript, Vue, React, HTML/CSS, and Angular to build a website that shortens URLs.
Build a custom google maps theme (front end):By using JavaScript and HTML/CSS, as well as Google Cloud Platform and Google Maps JavaScript API, create your own custom Google map!
Weather forecast website (front end): Build a weather forecast React web app with basic user interactions! You’ll learn to use JavaScript, HTML/CSS, and Chart.js.
Personal website SEO setup (front end): Brand yourself by building your own website, get it SEO-ready, and let others discover you on Google by using JavaScript, HTML/CSS, and Google Analytics.
Temperature converter website (front end): Learn the foundations of web development by building a simple user interface with some mathematical calculations with JavaScript, Vue, React, HTML/CSS, Angular.
RSS feed reader in terminal (back end): Familiarize yourself with RSS feed using Node.js, Python, and Ruby. For extra challenge, implement the parser and practice parsing XML!
Random number generator (full stack): Generate random dice output using PHP and HTML/CSS. This is a great project that can be applied to many other products, like games, raffles, or even “quote of the day.”
Simple web contact form (full stack): Want someone to be able to contact you via a form? Use PHP and basic HTML/CSS to create your very own contact form!
RSS feed reader website (full stack): Familiarize yourself with RSS feed using Node.js, Python, and Ruby. For extra challenge, implement the parser and practice parsing XML!
Deploy your dev resume (full stack/dev ops): Interested in learning more about dev ops and cloud services? Deploy a static resume site and set it up with CDN and DNS! You’ll practice HTML/CSS, Azure Cloud Services, Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform

Medium-level projects:

Daily sleep tracker web app (full stack): Who’s not having sleeping problems these days? Show your full stack abilities by using JavaScript, Java, Node.js, MySQL, Vue, React, HTML/CSS. REST API, and databases to build a sleep tracker!
Medicine dose tracker web app (back end/full stack): Need more practice with HTTP methods, authentication and database setup, database connections, and querying databases? This one’s for you. Hone your JavaScript, PHP, Django, MySQL, Python, HTML/CSS, and PostgreSQL skills.
Vocabulary memorization website (front end): Help someone ace their GRE by practicing your front end skills, state management, and data comparison. You’ll be using JavaScript, Vue, React, and Angular for the project.
Image search gallery (front end): The main focus of this project is to help you get familiar with integrating third-party APIs with user interactions. You’ll be using JavaScript, Vue, React, HTML/CSS, and Angular.
Personal YouTube web player (front end): Ever wanted to personalize your YouTube playlist? Learn to capture user inputs, integrate with YouTube’s API, style the web page, and do some simple state management with JavaScript, Vue, React, HTML/CSS and Angular
Minimalist web analytics tool (full stack/dev ops): Use JavaScript and Amazon Web Services to build a simple web analytics tool. This will help you understand web analytics and impress your fellow marketing colleagues!
Your own personal CRM (full stack): Build a CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) app that is used for almost all SaaS applications. Not only will you practice Vue, Node.js, Express, and MongoDB for the project, you’ll also have a better shot at landing a job at any SaaS company!
Weekly newsletter summary email (full stack): Annoyed by all the newsletters you receive? Clean up your inbox and get a handle on the basics of serverless development with Python and AWS.
Personal website with randomly generated design (full stack/dev ops): Already mastered all the front-end basics? Challenge yourself by building a personal website with JavaScript, HTML/CSS, and Node.js and practice working with AWS.
Globe with rotating animation and country label (full stack): Create a rotating globe with JavaScript, HTML/CSS, and D3.js library to show off your animation skills. You’ll need some basic understanding of drawing on canvas or SVG to work on this project!

Hard projects: These are advanced projects that require knowledge of other languages

Favorite stocks watcher (full stack): Why rely on other platforms when you can build your own stocks watcher? This project will help you get familiar with Django and React frameworks and, subsequently, Python and JavaScript.

If you’re interested in mobile app developments or other tech stacks that are not found in this list, visit DevProjects, a free community where users can learn programming by building projects. All projects are uniquely written by senior developers and mentors from Codementor to help developers bridge the gap between theory and real-world coding.

Challenge yourself, have some fun, and become a better developer with DevProjects!

👇🏼 Share your favorite project from the list & what other projects you'd like to see in the comment section 👇🏼

DEV Community: jenniferfu0811

Hosting virtual events for developers pt.2: Structure, slide decks, and event flow

Pick a focused topic and virtual event format

Pick a narrow topic for your developer event

Select a virtual format

Come up with a high level structure

Virtual events structure example: Technical topic

Online events structure example: Career-related topic

Put together great slide decks for virtual events

Why do you need slide decks for developer online events?

How to organize your slides

Introduction slides

Main section slides

Wrap up slides

Create engaging online events experience

Before the virtual event starts

Starting your online event

During your virtual event

For presenting:

For hosting:

For Q&A:

Ending the online event

Wrap up & next steps

15 technical and career developer events I loved in 2022

Web development tutorials & live coding virtual events

Mobile development tutorials & live coding

Career growth virtual events: finding a job

Career growth virtual events: advancing your career

Cross-team collaboration & workplace challenges

Want more? Here's a free developer conference 💁🏻‍♀️

Free curated developer virtual events platform with technical and career events

What is Codementor Events?

Attend diverse developer-centered virtual events

Present at developer virtual events hassle-free

Learn remotely and grow professionally through virtual events with Codementor Events

Hosting virtual events for developers pt.1: Audience, topic, event title, & event description

Why should I speak at developer virtual events?

Own and reinforce your knowledge

Practice sharing your experience and knowledge with others

Help others learn from your experience via virtual events

Build your personal brand and network

How do I choose the right topic for my virtual events?

What does a good event title look like?

How to write an event description for developer virtual events

About the talk:

This talk will cover

About the speaker

Event description examples for inspirations

Tech talk event description example

Career talk virtual event description example

Conclusion: What’s next?

How To Improve Your Programming Skills As Developers and Non-Developers

Why improve your programming skills? What does that mean?

Get hands-on guidance to help me solve specific tasks or eliminate blockers

Learn basic coding skills

Deepen my understanding of technical concepts

Overview of different ways to improve your programming skills

Structured Learning

Semi-Structured Learning

Unstructured Learning

Will working with a mentor help improve my programming skills?

Conclusion

JavaScript Splice: What is JavaScript Splice and What Can It Do?

What is the JavaScript splice method and what can it do?

How to remove elements from an array with JavaScript splice

How to add elements to an array with JavaScript splice

Splice vs Slice: What is the difference between the two JavaScript methods?

Related links:

Python String Basics, Python String Methods, and Python String Conversions

Table of Contents

Python String Overview

Creating a Python string

Accessing characters in a Python string

Python String Methods

capitalize() Python string method

lower() Python string method

upper() Python string method

join() Python string method

split() Python string method

find() Python string method

`capitalize()` Python string method

`lower()` Python string method

`upper()` Python string method

`join()` Python string method

`split()` Python string method

`find()` Python string method

`replace()` Python string method

Python list to string using `join()` method

Python list to string using list comprehension along with `join()`

Python list to string using `map()` function

Python int to string using the `str()` function

Python int to string using `.format()` function

Python bytes to string using `decode()` method

Python bytes to string using `str()` function

Python bytes to string using `codec.decode()` method