DEV Community: Randi Schreiner

When did time get so complex?

Randi Schreiner — Fri, 14 May 2021 23:05:27 +0000

So, like all normal people, I hated math in high school. (Just kidding, I know somebody somewhere liked math. I just never knew them.) So when I started learning about Big O and time and space complexity it all seemed WAAAY to complex for me to understand. I vaguely remember words like logrithmic and factorial from years ago but I couldn't have begun to explain what they all meant.

Fortunately, there are lots of people who are way smarter than me who also are really good at teaching! I have now spent hours watching videos and solving problems and I can safely say that I'm starting to understand it! Shout out to smart, patient people!

Really, when it comes down to it, time complexity in most cases (that I've gotten through, I'm sure it gets far more complex) is just a matter of counting. How many things are you asking your function or program or whatnot to do? If it is just making a variable and that's it - woohoo, that's constant! If you are looping through an array, that's going to take as long as the array length, right? So that would be called linear or O(n) if n is the number of items you are looping through.

Now that's really way oversimplifying everything. There are obviously complexities that come with all of that and nothing is ever that simple, but it really does help to think about it in simple terms - break it down first. Sometimes that's the best and only way to solve a problem, make it smaller more manageable problems. Figuring out how to always spot two time complexities makes finding the rest that much easier.

Now I'm on to those more mathy terms like logrithmic ( O(log n) ) and polynomial ( O(n^2) ). But now that I've started learning this stuff, I know I can pick up the rest no problem. Just gotta keep breaking it down until it all makes a little more sense!

Working toward imperfection: tips I could still use

Randi Schreiner — Tue, 09 Mar 2021 20:51:08 +0000

Today I passed my final project review for Flatiron School and I feel more like a software engineer than ever! But there are still a boatload of things I need to learn and even more I don't even know exist yet. That's what is so exciting for me, that there will always be something new to learn and I will never be bored!

There are a few tips I think I would have benefitted from getting (or listening to) when I was starting out so I'm going to share those with you. Feel free to let me know if you have any to add!

Git Commit more often
This is still an issue for me and I have it on a post it note on my monitor. It is easy to get caught up in the coding and forget to do this, but don't! Just do it!

Don't copy/paste, type it yourself
Even if you type it word for word, it will help you understand it better if you type it. Think through what you are typing while you do it. It really helps!

Comment your code as you write it
This is still a pipe dream for me, but it sounds like a great idea! And I find myself wishing I would have commented things when I look at my code later so I'm working on it!

Google is your new best friend
There were lots of times during bootcamp when I felt like something just wasn't making sense. I wasn't understanding the way it was being taught. So I googled the hell out of it until I found someone who explained it in a way that I understood. The probability of an explanation better suited to you being out there is pretty high, so just keep looking.

VS Code has some awesome tools, USE THEM!
My son and I spent hours one night watching videos on the best tools for VS Code and it was time well spent! There are some pretty amazing tools out there to help with anything from formatting to debugging to beautifying. Take the time to find some that work for you and implement them. It's worth it!

Just Keep Swimming
Even when you feel overwhelmed or frustrated, just remember to keep going! Everybody feels that way sometimes. Reach out to someone in the community, read some blogs or listen to some podcasts but don't give up. It can be a long, difficult road sometimes but it's going to be worth it - I just know it!

Thanks for reading, hope you all keep swimming along in this journey! Let me know what tips help you or what things you need to work on. Reach out if you are struggling and I'll remind you just how awesome you are!

Going flippy for React

Randi Schreiner — Mon, 08 Mar 2021 20:30:14 +0000

I just completed my final project for Flatiron School (that's a scary and exciting sentence!). This project used a Ruby/Rails API and React/Redux. I was really nervous going into this after the bad blood JavaScript and I had, but React was considerably easier for me to work with.

My project required the use of a flash card and after searching, I found react-flippy. These flippy cards turned out to be just what I needed and were easy to use. Once you have installed react-flippy, you just import it where you need like this:

The flip cards themselves are also quite simple to create. You simply use , and inside your JSX and place your information right inside. These are also customizable so you can have them flip horizontally or vertically for a little added adventure! You also determine if you want them to flip on hover or flip on click.

Really quite a helpful tool and very easy to use. I loved how simple and customizable they were. My project benefitted greatly from react-flippy and I recommend it to anyone in need of a flippy card in the future!

Check out my project on Heroku.
Learn more about react-flippy.

The beginning of a beautiful friendship with Javascript... hopefully

Randi Schreiner — Wed, 03 Feb 2021 18:34:38 +0000

Hi, again! Just finished phase 4 at Flatiron and learned some Javascript and built a single-page application using Javascript front-end and Ruby/Rails back-end. I can officially say that Javascript and I have some more work to do on our relationship! It feels like a language you can never fully understand - but maybe that's just me! Either way, Javascript and I teamed up and completed our goal so it all worked out in the end!

There were a few key things I struggled with in the beginning and still probably need a little work on.

this

I found myself losing track of what this was going to be in any place. Console.log became my savior! After awhile, I found myself getting better at figuring this out, but execution context is a difficult concept to master when your program starts getting bigger and bigger!

event listeners

Sometimes I struggled with getting the information I needed out of an event listener. Again, console.log came in handy here as well as just plain old guess work! Sometimes to get to the specific areas I needed, it took a little manipulation but I usually got there eventually!

organization

This one I'm sure I still haven't mastered! I definitely need to read up on this!

Take a look at my Travel Tips App on my GitHub and give me suggestions and advice!
Live on GitHub Pages Link

front-end Link
back-end Link

Thanks to anyone following me on this journey and good luck and all my support to anyone embarking on their own! Reach out if you need support, I'm here :)

One does not simply build a rails project...

Randi Schreiner — Thu, 31 Dec 2020 00:03:43 +0000

Just in time for the end of this apocolyptic year, I have completed my third project for Flatiron School. We were given additional time to work on this project, partly due to the holidays, and that was a great thing for me because I found myself running into multitudes of problems on this one.

My first tip here is this: Never underestimate how much you can use an API.

My first version of this project was making a database for my movies. I wanted to pull information from an API and be able to sort by actor, director, year... Using an API is a wonderful resource and I very much recommend it - if you are able to work within any restrictions they might have. Alas, I was not.
Next, I found a TSV file with all the information I needed! Awesome! Except the file was way too big to use and keep the information on GitHub.

So my final project, and solution to my problems, was a scaled back version of what I originally intended - a Lord of the Rings movie database. Honestly, it was really fun to build and allowed me to get a little more creative than I likely would have been with the original idea.

I still used a TSV file and used this to seed the databases. I found this an easy and useful way to get initial information into my project. It's really pretty easy for anyone who is able to find or create one.

I just created a TSV folder in db/seeds. I placed all the needed TSV files in this folder. This ended up looking like this:

Next, add the handy gem 'tsv' in your Gemfile, bundle install and then we need to write some code in our seed.rb file. This will be individualized for everyone and you can always refer to the TSV gem page for pointers.
Link

Since I created my own TSV file, my code here was pretty straightforward this time around. But the previous version of the project was a different story so I could see how this could get pretty complicated. Just keep in mind, the information likely is coming over in hashes and the first line is your key. This will help you figure out what you need. Also, use byebug or whatever debugger you prefer! That's what they are there for!

Here's what I ended up with:

 require 'tsv'

    TSV_ROOT = Rails.root.join('db', 'seeds', 'tsv')
    file_name = "lotr-films.tsv"
    file_path = File.join(TSV_ROOT, file_name)

    TSV.parse_file(file_path).each do |line|

                Movie.create(line.to_h)

    end

Now, just run rails db:seed and we're all set!

This project was quite a challenge, but I feel like every challenge is just more opportunity to learn something else... so I must be learning tons! Check it out and let me know what you think!

Link

Buttons, Buttons and more Buttons

Randi Schreiner — Fri, 20 Nov 2020 20:42:07 +0000

So this week was project week for phase 2 of my time at Flatiron school. I was a little flustered coming into the week - more because of technical difficulties than anything - but once I got started on this project, I really enjoyed it.

This project was essentially about using Sinatra and the basic CRUD actions. Setting up the initial base of this project was super easy and I need to give some serious props to the Corneal gem and its creator. This gem is a serious time-saver and this guy is a genius.

During the creation of my project, I learned so much about everything from Flexbox Link to color schemes Link, but the one thing I really found myself spending WAY too much time on were the buttons! Now, I know this is just a styling thing and possibly not critical in the grand scheme of things but I will say I learned a TON while trying to make these darn buttons work (thanks Google!).

Just some quick advice to anyone on a similar journey with buttons, don't go it alone. There are tons of websites out there to help you create a button Link. Once you get the general idea, copy the code they give you. It will look something like this:
.myButton { background-color:#44c767; border-radius:28px; border:1px solid #18ab29; display:inline-block; cursor:pointer; color:#ffffff; font-family:Arial; font-size:17px; padding:16px 31px; text-decoration:none; text-shadow:0px 1px 0px #2f6627; } .myButton:hover { background-color:#5cbf2a; } .myButton:active { position:relative; top:1px; }
Once you get this into your program, you can mess around with the background-color to change the color of your button, color to change the text color, padding to change size relative to the text - just play around until you love it!

During one of my arguements with buttons, I found myself in a loop with Google continually telling me I needed Javascript to do what I wanted. The problem with this - I don't know Javascript! But, try as I might, I couldn't find a satisfactory alternative. So, Javascript it was. Needless to say, I know 2 lines of Javascript now, just enough to get through exactly what I wanted. But sometimes that's enough for now. And everything worked out in the end.

Check it out if you would like and give me ideas on how to make it better!
Link

TTY::Prompt, TTY not!

Randi Schreiner — Fri, 23 Oct 2020 15:16:01 +0000

I am just finishing up building my first project for Flatiron School this week and of all the new things I learned - which there were A LOT! - I think TTY::Prompt was the most useful and absolutely wonderful! Now, I want to also take a second to give props to Colorize, Lolize and Rainbow because life is better more colorful! These gems are also excellent and I recommend each of them.

But TTY::Prompt has been a life-changer for me. I used this in so many places throughout my project, in many different forms. This project would have never been the same without it. And it is so easy to use! There are tons of options but I will show you a few of the ones I found most useful.

Prompt.select

Prompt.select was my go to and so versatile. I used this in so many different ways. My absolute favorite thing about it was that I could pull in an array from my program to use as the selection options - amazing! This kept my program fluid and was so easy to write.

Prompt.ask

Probably the most straightforward and often needed use would be the Prompt.ask function. It's simple but it has a ton of additional options if you need them. You can simply take input from the user, but you can also use this to validate the information given or capitalize it. Again, it was so easy to use and allows so much flexibility.

So much more

There were so many other options available that I didn't have reason to use with this program but I can assure you, I will be using TTY::Prompt again. I can't wait to have reason to use TTY::Mask and change the image used to mask the input! What an exciting and fun idea for the right website.

Be sure to check it out. https://github.com/piotrmurach/tty-prompt#ttyprompt

If anyone has any other suggestions of gems I should try out, let me know. I am always excited to learn new things and keep expanding my grab bag of fun tricks and treats!

Sea Anemone

Randi Schreiner — Mon, 05 Oct 2020 22:56:54 +0000

As part of my bootcamp assignments we are writing a blog post about why we decided to study Software Engineering. So here is a rambling, slightly morose and possibly illogical post with my thoughts on this.

So I had my first child fairly young after years of not really having set a clear path for my future. So that basically set one for me - I was a single mother. And honestly, I loved it. But that also meant finding a job that could support us regardless of how much I enjoyed the work.

Jump forward to 2 months ago. Still at the same company. Still don't really love my job but I am pretty good at it (I should be after almost 20 years!). But now I have older kids, a husband and maybe a chance to find an actual career - like be a real person! So I start seriously considering what I enjoy, what I want to do. I throw out a few things because they just don't seem right.

When my son brings up coding as an option I think - no way. In fact, the first question I asked him was "Do you think I'm smart enough for that?" to which he rolled his eyes. So he helps me get started learning - I write a program to help me catalog my movies. I love it. It's like problem solving. This is perfect!

The name of the post is a song by Jets to Brazil. So it's a dark and beautiful song and Blake Schwarzenbach writes these lyrics that are so powerful. Now, I am totally biased. Jawbreaker was my favorite band and its unlikely I wouldn't like anything Blake writes... regardless, this song in particular speaks to me during this time because this was the most difficult decision I have ever made. My success in this program is not only about me. My entire family is putting life on hold to allow me to have this opportunity.

Also, I had to leave a job I was comfortable in and extremely knowledgeable at to pursue something new and not exactly guaranteed. So the lyrics, especially the last verse are everything I feel. This really is the first day of my second life. And when he says, "You can even keep the name, it never suited me" I feel like he's saying - I'm moving on to a different place, who I was before isn't who I am anymore and not really who I was meant to be.

So hopefully this is where I am meant to be.

First day of school

Randi Schreiner — Mon, 28 Sep 2020 22:13:10 +0000

Today was the first day of school for me and let me tell you it was just as overwhelming as expected! Everyone seems supportive and wonderful but I have heard from previous graduates as well as the teaching team and coaches that the program is harder than you think it's going to be... and I am already expecting it to be pretty hard! So today I am keeping my focus, trying to build good habits and most importantly a positive attitude!

Where's the disconnect?

Randi Schreiner — Mon, 21 Sep 2020 01:29:31 +0000

Today's struggle: I totally understand everything as i learn it - I swear. But somehow I can't quite manage to transfer that knowledge into active problem solving. Or at least not in timed situations. Maybe I'm a bad test taker, I honestly don't remember it's been so long since I was in school.

I comfort myself with the knowledge that I can and have written functional programs so I must be retaining something... but it's still frustrating.

Just the beginning...

Randi Schreiner — Sat, 12 Sep 2020 23:38:52 +0000

Today is the first day of the rest of my life. It sounds so dramatic, right?!? But maybe it really is. And it's about damn time. I'm 41 years old and finally deciding what I want to be when I grow up. I know there were reasons, my kids were worth every moment in a job I didn't love, but I am ready to take these steps.
So flash forward to now. I start a bootcamp in two weeks. I am unemployed for the first time in my adult life. My family is beyond supportive and I am blessed beyond compare. So I need to make sure I got this. So I'm preparing. Every damn day. Watching videos and doing classes and using apps on my phone. I've got notebooks filled with notes about everything I think I might forget, things I have already forgotten and things I'm not even sure I understand! I've watched video after video of advice, ideas, study guides... anything I think might help.
So today I'm here, asking for advice, support, really just needing to cement my dedication to myself, even if only to me.

Here we go! Let's get this done!