DEV Community: salcasta

My Mini Project

salcasta — Tue, 08 Aug 2023 22:19:02 +0000

It has been an insightful, fun, challenging road through DPI's Tech Prep course. I have finally made it and completed the last section, which is the mini project section. I wanted to write about my thoughts while completing the mini project.

My first idea

My first idea for my API web application was to create a page that used a U.S. state data API. It would be a fun site with useless facts about any state the user entered. Unfortunately the JSON file I wanted would cost me $20/month. To avoid any hassles with canceling my plan at the end of the month and giving a company I do not know about my credit card information I pivoted and went with a free lorem ipsum API.

My lorem ipsum idea

Now that I had access to a free working API, it was time to get to work. The lorem ipsum API I was using had a lot of options for the user. The user could decide between the length of the paragraphs, headers, unordered/ordered list, description list, and block quotes. While working through that I found out that there was a bacon ipsum API as well and a hipster ipsum API. I decided I would have all 3 options available for my user.

My first hiccup

I was progressing through my form section with little problems. I decided to use checkboxes instead of text boxes, it would be easier for the user and look better. Unfortunately when I switched the text boxes to checkboxes it broke my app. When the checkbox was clicked everything went well. The problem was when the user was selective with the options. A "key not found" error would appear. I tried everything, from adding a value attribute to the input tag to using if statements with a nil option when not selected. Nothing seemed to work and since I did not know how to properly write my problem down in google. I could not successfully troubleshoot through my problem. Luckily text boxes worked perfectly fine so I decided to move forward with them. Once the main page was completed with the regular lorem ipsum, the two other ipsum pages were very identical.

Overall

Overall I am happy with my web app and when I styled the app it solidified my feelings. I would have liked to work with an API that required a private key and had layers in the JSON file to really understand what it is like working with API's. As a result I have reviewed the API material and taken detailed notes so, that when I have to work with a more complicated API I will be prepared.

Here is a link to my mini project

Please allow ~30 seconds for render to kick start and host my site

My Initial Thoughts On Sinatra

salcasta — Wed, 02 Aug 2023 06:21:46 +0000

As of this writing I have completed the Omnicalc1 assignment and wanted to share my initial thoughts on Sinatra.

Before DPI's Tech Prep began I was hoping the programming language used in the course was going to be JavaScript. I am familiar with JavaScript and knew it was the most popular language and was the most in demand language for job seekers.

Much to my dismay once I found out it was going to be Ruby I was upset. I felt it was better to stick to one programming language.

Boy was I wrong!!!

Ruby has been a blessing in disguise. Ruby makes a lot of things way easier than JavaScript like looping through arrays. Once I began the Sinatra module I saw the true power of Ruby.

Gems

I have only scratched the surface with the gems available, but I am already impressed with the BetterError gem. It makes coding a lot easier when an error is displayed in an easy to understand message.

The ease of downloading a gem as well as all the dependencies it requires with the command bundle install is truly amazing!

Routing and Layouts

Sinatra truly makes routing your website an effortless process. That is not even factoring the fact that dynamic routing is easy to do with Sinatra. A general layout is so simple to implement with a views folder and layout.erb file. Separating the HTML and Ruby and linking them together with erb files is done with ease.

I can't wait to learn more about Sinatra and the other gems available. Moving forward I am going to continue with Ruby and seek jobs that require Ruby experience. Hopefully I will be admitted to the apprenticeship program and be paid to learn Ruby. I am extremely excited for that opportunity.

My Time in the Ruby Gym

salcasta — Tue, 01 Aug 2023 05:30:29 +0000

I completed the ruby gym over the weekend and wanted to document my thoughts on the challenges. Some were easy, others were hard, but fun. So, let us begin...

Think fast

At first glance I thought it was going to be easy, but I did run into a lot of syntax errors. Once they were resolved the rest fell into place. Overall it was a fun challenge.

Twofer

This was the easiest of all the challenges. Once I went with .length to determine if the array gave a name or an empty string the rest was standard.

Dice Roll

Another straight forward challenge, but when trying to pass the test an error kept coming up. I had to switch the placement of my guess and roll variables. Once I did that, the last test passed.

Leap Year

This was the hardest of all the challenges. I took a simple approach, but once I accepted that a more complex approach was needed I finally started to make some progress. I needed to do some more research on how leap years are calculated. Google was a big help in solving this challenge.

Secret Encoder & Secret Decoder

These two challenges are pretty much the same. Looking back I could have made things a lot easier using .each to loop through the array created by using .split("") Through trial and error I was able to solve this challenge.

Sum Odd Integers

This was a fun challenge that required a game plan to solve. Similar to the encoder and decoder challenges I should have used .each to loop through the array to make things easier.

Raindrops

This challenge required a lot of thinking before actually writing any code. My biggest time waster was trying to solve this challenge using one if statement. Once I abandoned that idea and went with 3 separate if statements I was able to solve it quickly.

Character Types

For this challenge I needed to read more about regexp and how to use it. Scanning the string if 0-9 is present to differentiate between a word character and a number character.

Count "the"

Similar to the last challenge, my success depended on my knowledge of regexp. Once I was able to use the right notation to scan for all the "the"s without triggering "the" inside of words like "them" or "they" I was able to solve it. Regexp is a powerful tool so, I was happy to read up on it and expand my knowledge.

Final Thoughts

It felt good to solve coding challenges again. I look forward to solving more ruby challenges to expand my ruby knowledge in the future. If I make the final cut into the DPI program I hope to do one ruby challenge a day during the 3 month training. Become a lean mean problem solving machine!

Ruby Class Review

salcasta — Mon, 31 Jul 2023 00:38:02 +0000

Here I will talk about some of the new things I learned and key takeaways while completing the Ruby class section.

String Class

.gsub("", "") replace any occurrence in a string with the first argument with the second argument.

Integer Class & Float Class

When working with large numbers you can use an underscore as a comma for better readability.

ex. 1_000_000

.odd? and even? will come in useful when solving if conditionals.

Using rand() will give you a number from 0 to one less designated number.

Using rand(1..6) will replicate a die roll

Only one number in your equation needs to be a float number for your output to be a float.

Date Class

To use the built-in date methods in ruby you must first place require "date" above your code

Date.today gives you current date YYYY-MM-DD

To extract the year, month, or day use .year, .month, .day This will only give you the numerical value back.

Finding the number of days between two dates can be helpful and with ruby it is easy...

require "date"
number_of_days = Date.today - Date.parse("July 4, 1776")

pp number_of_days

Getting back the weekday, month, AM/PM uses .strftime with special notation

# weekday
pp Time.now.strftime("%A")

# month
pp Time.now.strftime("%B")

# month abbreviated
pp Time.now.strftime("%b")

# weekday abbreviated, day of month, time and minutes with AM/PM
pp Time.now.strftime("%a %e, %R %p")

Array Class

Using .split("") to convert a string into an array is required to solve many ruby coding problems.

An easy way to get a sum of numbers is to put them in an array and use .sum

If Statement Class

REMEMBER - When using an if statement, it must end with the word end. Make it a habit to start an if statement with both keywords.

if
end

When two conditions need to be checked use && for "and"

When more than one condition needs to be checked, but only one needs to be satisfied use || fir "or"

Loop Class

Different looping blocks that can be used are...

10.times do |variable|
  pp 2 * variable

#the loop block will begin 2 * 1... 2 * 2...... 2 * 10
end

0.upto(arr.length) do |index|
  if arr[index] == "b"
    arr[index] = "2"
  end
end

Each Class

My last example could be done with the .each method. .each is meant to loop over an array with ease.

arr.each do |index|
  if arr[index] == "b"
    arr[index] == "2"
  end
end

Hash Class

A hash is similar to an array except it can hold a key with a corresponding value. Organizes info better than an array.

Use .store to add a key and value to a hash

person1 = Hash.new

person1.store(:first_name, "Sal")
person1.store(:role, "Student")

.fetch will catch the value associated with a certain key

person1.fetch(:first_name)
person1.fetch(:role, "None provided")

Using a second argument for your fetch will stop your program from crashing when a value doesn't exist.

Displaying all the keys in a hash can be done using the .keys method.

Creating your own Class

You can create your own class that can be recycled as many times as you want.

class Person
  attr_accessor :first_name
  attr_accessor :last_name
  attr_accessor :role
end

pp Person.new

It is very important to capitalize the word you are using as a class.

Ruby Basics - Methods and Sorting

salcasta — Thu, 27 Jul 2023 06:00:02 +0000

Methods

A method is very similar to a function in JavaScript. You start off by using def and then the name of the method.
Parentheses follow the method name is it requires a parameter. Then you insert your reusable code and end it with the word 'end'.

It should look like this...

def cubertino(n)
  puts n ** 3
end

To call it (use it) just use the name of the method with an argument in parentheses

cubertino(8)

# 512

To make multiple arguments just put an asterisk in front of the parameter

def what_up(greeting, *friends)
  friends.each { |friend| puts "#{greeting}, #{friend}!" }
end

what_up("What up", "Ian", "Zoe", "Zenas", "Eleanor")

Output: 
What up, Ian!
What up, Zoe!
What up, Zenas!
What up, Eleanor!

Using return inside your method will give you back a value, this value can be used for another method.

Sorting

Using sort will reorganize your string data from A-Z or your numerical data from 1-n.

To get the opposite order, use arrow notation to set which order you would like.

books = ["Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", "War and Peace", "Utopia", "A Brief History of Time", "A Wrinkle in Time"]

# To sort our books in ascending order, in-place
books.sort! { |firstBook, secondBook| firstBook <=> secondBook }

# Sort your books in descending order, in-place below

books.sort! { |firstBook, secondBook| secondBook <=> firstBook }

Ruby Basics - Arrays & Intro to Hashes

salcasta — Thu, 27 Jul 2023 04:20:03 +0000

An array is an object that can hold multiple items (pieces of info, including other arrays).

To access the array use its index starting from 0 (use -1 to get the last item).

array | 5 | 7 | 9 | 2 | 0 |

index 0 1 2 3 4

A hash is an object similar to an array, but a hash as both a key and a value.

When creating a hash, use Hash.new and then add to it by using the hash name next to brackets with the key equal to the value.

pets = Hash.new

pets['Cash'] = 'cat'

puts pets['Cash']

To iterate over a hash, it is the same as an array except add a second parameter to get the value of the key

lunch_order = {
  "Ryan" => "wonton soup",
  "Eric" => "hamburger",
  "Jimmy" => "sandwich",
  "Sasha" => "salad",
  "Cole" => "taco"
}

lunch_order.each { |x, y| puts y }


Output:
wonton soup
hamburger
sandwich
salad
taco

Mini Project

Creating a program that will analyze how many words are used in a block of text and the frequency.

puts = 'Analyze this phrase'
text = gets.chomp

words = text.split

frequencies = Hash.new(0)

words.each { |word| frequencies[word] += 1}

frequencies = frequencies.sort_by do |word, count|
  count
end
frequencies.reverse!

frequencies.each do |word, count|
  puts "#{word} #{count.to_s}"
end

 He walked down the steps from the train station in a bit of a hurry knowing the secrets in the briefcase must be secured as quickly as possible. Bounding down the steps, he heard something behind him and quickly turned in a panic. There was nobody there but a pair of old worn-out shoes were placed neatly on the steps he had just come down. Had he past them without seeing them? It didn't seem possible. He was about to turn and be on his way when a deep chill filled his body.Then came the night of the first falling star. It was seen early in the morning, rushing over Winchester eastward, a line of flame high in the atmosphere. Hundreds must have seen it and taken it for an ordinary falling star. It seemed that it fell to earth about one hundred miles east of him.

the 6
a 5
he 3
in 3
his 2
on 2
was 2
and 2
possible. 2
quickly 2
as 2
be 2
of 2
steps 2
down 2
He 2
body. 1
filled 1
chill 1
deep 1
when 1
way 1
turn 1
to 1
about 1
seem 1
didn't 1
It 1
them? 1
seeing 1
without 1
them 1
past 1
Had 1
down. 1
come 1
just 1
had 1
neatly 1
placed 1
were 1
shoes 1
worn-out 1
old 1
pair 1
but 1
there 1
nobody 1
There 1
panic. 1
turned 1
him 1
behind 1
something 1
heard 1
steps, 1
Bounding 1
secured 1
must 1
briefcase 1
secrets 1
knowing 1
hurry 1
bit 1
station 1
train 1
from 1
walked 1

Ruby Basics - Loops & Iterators

salcasta — Fri, 21 Jul 2023 04:21:10 +0000

Let's jump into loops!

Incremental Change

instead of writing

score = score + 1

use the += notation accomplishes the same task

+=
-=
*=
/=
all work

counter += 1

Loops

While loop - while a certain condition is true, it will continue to loop through your code until the condition is false

counter = 1
while counter < 11
  puts counter
  counter = counter + 1
end

Until loop - very similar to the while loop it runs your code until a certain condition is met

counter = 1
until counter > 10
  puts counter
  # Add code to update 'counter' here!
  counter +=1
end

For loop - used when you know an exact number of times you want to run a loop. This is the most commonly used of all the loops

for i in 1..20
  puts i
end

Iterators

.each - will run some code for each item in an array

array = [1,2,3,4,5]

array.each do |x|
  x += 10
  print "#{x}"
end

.times - good for repeating a piece of code a certain amount of times

5.times {print 'Hello World '}

These are just a taste of many iterators available in ruby!

Mini Project

A fun small project is to redact a certain word from a group of text

puts "Enter some text: "
text = gets.chomp

puts "Enter words to redact: "
redact = gets.chomp

words = text.split(" ")
words.each { |word| 
  if word == redact
    print "REDACTED "
  else
        print word + " "
  end }

=begin
Output:
Enter some text: 

Patrick didn't want to go. The fact that she was insisting they must go made him want to go even less. He had no desire to make small talk with strangers he would never again see just to be polite. But she insisted that Patrick go, and she would soon find out that this would be the biggest mistake she could make in their relationship.

Enter words to redact: to

Patrick didn't want REDACTED go. The fact that she was insisting they must go made him want REDACTED go even less. He had no desire REDACTED make small talk with strangers he would never again see just REDACTED be polite. But she insisted that Patrick go, and she would soon find out that this would be the biggest mistake she could make in their relationship.
=end

Ruby Basics - Control Flow

salcasta — Thu, 20 Jul 2023 04:24:24 +0000

if statement

if is used to see if something is either true or false

if 1 < 2
  print "I'm getting printed because one is less than two!"
end

if the 1 was changed to 3, nothing would be printed

else statement

Using else after if checks for one condition, if that condition is not met then the else condition will run automatically

if 1 > 2
  print "I won't get printed because one is less than two."
else
  print "That means I'll get printed!"
end

elsif statement

Using elsif allows you to add more conditions before the else condition is used

if x < y  # Assumes x and y are defined
  puts "x is less than y!"
elsif x > y
  puts "x is greater than y!"
else
  puts "x equals y!"
end

Unless

Using unless checks to see if a statement is false instead of true

hungry = true

unless hungry
  puts "I'm writing Ruby programs!"
else
  puts "Time to eat!"
end

Equal signs

Using = sets a variable
Using == compares to variables to see if they are equal
Using != compares to variables to see if they are not equal

is_true = 2 != 3

is_false = 2 == 3

Greater than and Less than

Compare number variables to see if one variable is greater than > or less than < another number variable

test_1 = 17 > 16

test_2 = 21 < 30

test_3 = 9 >= 9

test_4 = -11 <= 4

Using logical operators

Ruby allows you to use logical or boolean operators such as AND && OR || NOT !

boolean_1 = (3 < 4 || false) && (false || true)
boolean_1 = true

boolean_2 = !true && (!true || 100 != 5**2)
boolean_2 = false

boolean_3 = true || !(true || false)
boolean_3 = true

Project

The mini project for this section showed you how to take an letter from a user's input and switch it to something else!

print "Print your name:"
user_input = gets.chomp
user_input.downcase!

if user_input.include? "s"
   user_input.gsub!(/s/, "th")
else puts "Name can not be changed :/ " 
end

puts "Your name is #{user_input}!"

#Salvador => Your name is thalvador!

Ruby Basics - Intro

salcasta — Thu, 20 Jul 2023 03:59:01 +0000

Let us recap the basics of Ruby in Codecademy!

Ruby takes strings, booleans, and numbers as variables

my_num =  25  
my_boolean = true   
my_string = "Ruby"

Variables are declared as with a variable name and equal sign

my_num = 100

Ruby allows for all mathematical symbols ...
Addition (+)
Subtraction (-)
Multiplication ()
Division (/)
Exponentiation (*)
Modulo (%) => remainder

Puts and Print

Print - prints it to the screen
puts - adds a blank line and then puts the variable

Popular Methods

.length => number of characters in a string
.reverse
.upcase
.downcase

How to comment

single line comment uses => #

multi line comment ...

#
=begin
hello
this 
is
just
comments
=end

Multiple words in a variable name is ok as long as you use an underscore in between words

this_is_my_long_variable =

Getting an input from the user

Ask a question and then set a prompt using gets.chomp

print "What is your last name? "
last_name = gets.chomp

#Use methods to get the the user input in the correct format 

ex. last_name.capitalize!

My Link Tree

salcasta — Wed, 19 Jul 2023 00:38:28 +0000

My Link Tree

I just completed my link tree assignment and I am very happy with it. I decided to dedicate my link tree to my favorite free resources that I have used on my journey to becoming a software developer. A mini roadmap for beginners wondering where to start. So, here are my thoughts on every link.

CodePen

My go to place when I want to start on a rough draft for a project. It allows you to add HTML, CSS, and JavaScript on one screen. Everything is stored in your account so, it can be accessed anywhere.

Glitch

Very similar to CodePen, it has a more traditional interface for an IDE. It handles public assets a little better than CodePen.

Codespaces

Just started using Codespaces with Tech Prep and I am loving it. An exact clone of the Visual Studio Code text editor, but runs in the browser already linked to your Github. Had I known about Codespaces earlier in my journey I for sure would have used it from the beginning.

Codecademy

A lot of free tutorials available with multiple 50% off deals throughout the year to unlock the premium tutorials. Great for beginners, but don't get to comfortable as it tends to hold your hand a little too much in my opinion. Overall still a great place to start.

W3Schools

A more direct approach than Codecademy, a great quick way to learn while on the go with a few questions at the end of each section to make sure you understand the material.

Scrimba

A new addition in my journey, Scrimba does a better job than Codecademy in teaching the basics. A great place to learn HTML/CSS as well as React. Not as many tutorials as Codecademy.

JavaScript.info

A one stop shop for learning JavaScript. No videos and all text, it can be a little tough to understand concepts, but it offers plenty of examples and explanations. A truly great resource for free!

JavaScript30

A free course with signup, it offers a project a day for 30 days. Although the projects can be difficult, I strongly recommend learners to still go through the solution video and code along. You will be exposed to all the great things you can do with the power of JavaScript.

Codewars

A great place to practice your JavaScript on a daily basis. This will get you ready for interview problems.

Tailwindcss

My favorite framework for CSS, it handles all styling with classes in your HTML. All class names are straight forward and easy to read.

React

They recently updated their free tutorial on their website. A great place to get your feet wet when it's time to learn a JavaScript framework.

100devs

The absolute best place to start when learning how to code. An amazing instructor who truly cares if you are understanding the material. It is essential a free bootcamp without the $15,000 price tag. A very active Discord with people willing and able to help you at every stage of your journey. All the classes are on Youtube so go at your own pace.

freeCodeCamp & The Odin Project

Just as good as 100devs, but without video tutorials and powerful encouragement speeches the instructor provides.

Final Thoughts

If you know someone who wants to become a developer, please feel free to use my link tree as a guide. Less time researching on places to start and more time learning!

My Link Tree

Enjoy your progress

salcasta — Tue, 18 Jul 2023 01:53:21 +0000

Learning to become a developer is a long road and a road that does not have an end. Developers are always learning something new whether it be a new language, framework or software. I can confidently say that most beginners start off feeling good and then quickly get checked into reality and this pattern continues for months even years.

I completed Raghu's HTML Review today and had no problems while answering the review questions. Once I got to the Flex Froggy game I remembered playing that game almost a year ago and even though I did get to level 24 I had to trial and error my way there. Once on level 24 I tried, but had no idea how to complete it so I looked up the answer. This time around I understood everything and without errors completed levels 1-23. Level 24 was once again a challenge, but I was able to to have everything in the correct place except reversed. I tried and tried to get it to work, but decided to look at the answer. Without spoiling it for other students I forgot about flex wrap-reverse!

Still a major improvement from my first time taking on Flex Froggy. Even though this is nothing I can boast about in an interview or put on my resume. It feels good to see something I had trouble with (html, css, flex froggy) and have it come to me with ease. These small victories are what keep me motivated to keep pushing forward.

So, congrats on your improvements and enjoy your progress!

Using a Pomodoro Timer

salcasta — Sat, 15 Jul 2023 18:55:51 +0000

Didn't have much time today to dive into the curriculum, so I decided to write on something I learned while taking the free 100devs bootcamp online. There I was introduced to the Pomodoro Timer. A very useful tool to keep your mind fresh while learning or studying for anything in life.

It is simple, you set a timer for 25 min and once the timer goes off you take a 5 minute break. Don't look at your screen anymore or even your cell phone. Walk around, talk to someone anything to give your mind a break.

Doing so, allows the brain to soak in all the information you just learned/reviewed. Studies have been conducted that people who utilize a Pomodoro timer retain information better than people who do not take breaks.

As an added bonus, utilizing a Pomodoro timer gives your eyes a much needed break especially if you are learning on a computer. Eye strain is a real thing and can inhibit your learning if you try to just 'get through' the material as fast as possible.

So, say goodbye to long uninterrupted study sessions and give Pomodoro a try. I guarantee you will see better results in a short amount of time.

Here is a free Pomodoro timer that I use...

Pomodoro Timer

Good luck and happy learning!