DEV Community: seun

How to Get Better at a New Skill

seun — Sun, 03 Dec 2023 19:51:13 +0000

One way or the other we always have this eagerness to get better when learning something new and wish we could do it just like others who have also replicated the result we are looking for. It could be a skill, habit or eve a particular talent we are trying to develop.
So many times we find it hard to learn something new right from dedication to repetition and then hopefully result. As humans it can be disturbing when you try to do something and then you find out you couldn’t deliver the way you would have wanted. These obstacles are normal for humans and shouldn’t be seen as a major problem rather as an opportunity to grow.
Let's take for example, when babies are in their walking stage, they fall countless times trying to master this act and yet they don’t give up till they reach their desired goal which walking properly. At this stage they have just one thing on their mind which is to be better at that particular thing. The most beautiful part is that they are not being taught how to walk yet they develop this habit themselves. They take the first step and rinse and repeat till there is perfection.
I use this analogy a lot to simplify things for myself and this has help lessen the pressure on me when I try to do something new.
I will share a few tips of what has worked for me all through the years of my life and I hope this will also help someone going through the same situation as well.

1.Discipline yourself

for you to go far when doing something new you need to be disciplined. This is one of the hardest rule to follow because it can be very tasking to adhere to most times. It involves sticking to an uncomfortable pattern of doing something just to achieve a desired result. Having a well structured plan without being disciplined won’t let you achieve much. Discipline is different from motivation, although they might be similar but they aren’t the same. Motivation makes you stick to the pattern only when you feel hyped in your spirit but discipline lets you do it even when you don’t feel the drive to do it. Discipline is what makes you keep up with the tasks concerning the skill according to the desired plan given whether you are being hyped or not, you just keep showing up every day even when you don’t see any improvement up on till results can be seen.

2.Reshape your mindset

when learning a new skill there is need to have a strong-willed mindset because truly the body might not be willing to go through the stress of learning some new or even try to pick up the old skill we dropped due to the fact that it couldn’t be developed.
Having a well-structured mindset is a bedrock to achieving a lot in life as it keeps maintaining and reassuring the body that it can achieve the desired goal. The first quote that should come to your mind when doing something new is “I can do it”. There are some skills that take months, years to master. How do you expect yourself to pull through those years without having a well-grounded mindset that all things can be achievable so far as it is within the human power. Have a little time with yourself and filter the doubts and worries from your mind.

3. Research about what you want to do

In most cases there is high probability that someone has successfully learnt the skill you are trying learn. So all you just have to is make a research on what you want you are trying to learn and you will get enough materials to work with and all that is left is too filter the needed ones from everything that is being gathered. You can also achieve this by reaching out to people that have achieved this feet by asking questions, following their steps so you can get the same result as them.
Enjoy the research journey and never feel shy about reaching out to people who are better than you at that skill you are trying to develop.

4.Seek assistance

In the society today it seems like a taboo to seek help on what you don’t know. We will rather battle with the difficulties which makes it seem like, what we want to do can’t be achieved. There is need to breakout of the shell of “not wanting to seek help when it’s needed” all because we don’t want to be turned down and also want to praise ourselves for having done everything ourselves. Seeking help makes the goal less stressful to achieve and also gives the ability to speak up when there are goals that seem to be unachievable.
Seeking help also makes the journey easy to document so that people can see through the struggles and accept the fact that we can’t know it all. It is never a crime to ask for an advice, assistance from people who are better than you at what you are learning.

5. Embrace your learning process

All humans fall under the category of being a fast learner or a slow learner but the end goal is to achieve the desired result. So there is no need to feel bad for being a slow learner rather focus on the other strength you possess which is having a strong mindset and discipline because this is what helps you pull through when going through this phase. Go with the flow of being slow and enjoy the rhythm rather than complaining. The fact is you might be slow during learning but you can never be slow after mastery.
It might take a longtime just because you are slow at learning things but do not focus on the time it is taking you to reach the goal rather focus on the goal itself because in the end it doesn’t matter if you are a fast or slow learner, what matters is that both parties have achieved the same goal regardless of the time it took them to get the result.

6. Be teachable

quite a number of people find it difficult to take correction or accept being corrected. When learning a new skill there will be mistakes and you can’t just go with what you think will work rather you go with what has proven to have worked.
Sometimes it might be difficult to accept correction even though you know that the person correcting you has a better solution to what you are encountering at the moment.
In some cases your solution might work but should in case it doesn’t work take the proven solution and accept that no one knows it all. Being teachable saves time when facing difficulties while learning a skill because it allows you to pick up an already made solution.

7. Make room for failure

Making mistakes while learning is inevitable and it needs to be accepted. There is no need feeling bad for making mistakes as it is part of the learning process. Be willing to stand up no matter the number of times you fail. Embrace your mistakes, love the fact that you failed because it shows there is room for improvement and never complain. Try your hands at it again even though you might fail but surely you will get better so far as you don’t give up and you seek knowledge to correct the mistake.

8. Do not compare

Make no room for comparison. Accept everything about you without comparing yourself to others. When learning a new skill you can’t compare yourselves with people who have achieved the feet you are looking for, It will surely break you. Accept the fact that those who you are looking up to having been there before you and it took them years to get to where you are admiring now. You can’t compare yourself with someone who has 7years experience in a field you are about starting at, to you who is just 7months old. This kind of comparison isn’t healthy as it will mess you up totally. You can feel motivated through the person’s achievement but ‘’No‘’ to comparison.

9. Set realistic goals

While engaging in this process you can breakdown the skill into small parts and follow through the tasks bit by bit till you get to the mastery stage. Do not try to over test yourself by setting unrealistic period for achieving the goal when you know deep down it will take time to achieve mastery. If not there will be pressure along the way which may bring doubt and worries. Set achievable goals and watch yourself grow from the beginning till the end. It even gives you a full detail of the learning process to mastery and this might help someone who is new to the skill, should in case you decide to document the learning process.

10. Challenge yourself

In the process of learning a new skill there is need to put one’s self through challenges after learning for a while just to see the level of growth you have acquired so far. This will help you pin point the aspect where you need to improve on and will also boost your confidence a bit. As you take on challenges in regards to that skills you tend to become better and see so far all that you can do by yourself. Though it might be demanding because you may come across new difficulties you don’t have answers to and this will make you seek solution to such situation. One way or the other you would learnt something new in regards to the skill.

11. Embrace the little progress

Be comfortable with what you have achieved so far while learning. Celebrate the little task in which you completed all by yourself. This will make you appreciate yourself a lot more and make the learning journey enjoyable for you.

Note:

Ensure to put God first in everything. That’s the main key.

Conclusion

These tips that I have stated are not the only way to achieve the desired goal when learning a new skill rather it is what has worked for me anytime I am new to a skill. I just hope this helps someone out there to get better at a particular skill of their choice and refocus their mind to getting the best results for themselves. Thank you for riding with me till the end, see you next time!!!

Python Data Structures: A Comprehensive Guide

seun — Tue, 28 Nov 2023 10:16:43 +0000

What is Python Data Structures?

This can be defined as a unique way of storing and arranging data. They are data types in which data is represented and it ensures access to the data as well.
There are 4 types of data structure in pyhton namely:
1) List
2) Dictionary
3) Tuple
4) Sets

List

Python list can be used to store many items in one variable. A square bracket “[ ]” is used to create a list in python. List allows you to store items of any type and also allows a combination of different data types such as string, float, Boolean and an object.

Examples on list

marks =  [10, 26, 24]

print(marks)

# Output: [10, 26, 24]

Characteristics of a List

It is mutable; it allows changes or modification after being created.
It is ordered; it maintains the order of element as it is been added.
It can be combined with other list.
It allows duplication.
it allows a list inside another list which means nestable.
It allows you to store items of various types.
It allows removal and addition of elements.
It accepts iteration.
Elements access can be done in the list using indices.
Elements can be splitted from a list.

Methods used in a List

clear( ): It removes every element on the list
copy( ): It duplicates the list
count( ): It gives back the number of elements present in a list
append( ): It adds an element to the end of a list
index( ): It gives back the specified value through the chosen index
insert( ): It adds an element at the specified position
pop( ): It erases an element of the specified position in the list
sort( ): It helps sort the list
remove( ): It subtracts an element from the list using the specified value
reverse( ): It reverses the order of the list

Tuple

It is used for storing all kinds of values attached to a variable. This is done by putting the items in a bracket( ). It cannot be modified after being created and new items cannot be added upon creation. It can be used to store different data type for items.

Examples on Tuple

# Different types of tuples

# Empty tuple
my_cranes = ()
print(my_cranes)

# Tuple having integers
my_cranes = (4, 5, 9)
print(my_cranes)

# tuple with mixed datatypes
my_cranes = (1, "Hi", 8.4)
print(my_cranes)

# nested tuple
my_cranes = ("dog", [6, 4, 3], (5, 7, 9))
print(my_cranes)

output

()
(4, 5, 9)
(1, 'Hi', 8.4)
('dog', [6, 4, 3], (5, 7, 9))

Characteristics of Tuple

It is ordered; it follows a sequence as each element is added to the tuple.
It allow indexing; ability to access the elements using an index which can either be positive or negative. This index shows the position of each element in a tuple.
It is immutable; which means the element created cannot be modified or changed upon creation
It accepts duplication of items

Methods used in Tuples

count( ): it displays the specific number of time a value occurred in tuple
index( ): it returns the position of a specific value in a tuple

Dictionary

This is a type of data structure that stores its items in key-value pairs. It is represented using a curly braces ”{ }” along with a colon “ : ” that separates the key from the value that is attached to it. A key is what identifies the item, while the value is what is attached to the key.

Examples on Dictionary

# creating a dictionary
name_remarks = {
  "Halima": "Awesome", 
  "John": "Good", 
  "Ella": "Excellent"
}

# printing the dictionary
print(name_remarks)

output

{'Halima': 'Awesome', 'John': 'Good', 'Ella': 'Excellent'}

Characteristics of a Dictionary

It is unordered; it doesn’t follow a sequence as the key-values pairs are created
It doesn’t support duplication keys
The identifiers which is known as the key must be special.
It is mutable; it accepts modification or change of data upon creation

Methods used in Dictionary

get( ): It gives the specified key value
clear( ): It removes all elements in the dictionary
copy( ): It duplicates the dictionary
items( ): This returns an index in a tuple form that shows every key-value pair
keys( ): This returns a list containing the dictionary keys
pop( ): It get rid of the element with the specified key
pop item( ): It removes the last inserted key-value
formkeys( ): It returns a dictionary with the specified keys and values
update( ): It updates the dictionary with the specified key-value pairs
setdefault( ): It returns the value of the specified key.
values( ): It returns the list of all values in the dictionary

Set

This is a type of data structure that is used to store many items in a variable. It can be created using curly braces “{ }” or using the set( ) method to as well.

Examples on Sets

# create a set of integer type
seat_id = {100, 145, 190, 124, 119}
print('Seat ID:', seat_id)

# create a set of string type
small_letters = {'a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e'}
print('small Letters:', small_letters)

# create a set of mixed data types
mixed_kind = {'Hi', 100, -8, 'better'}
print('mixed kind:', mixed_kind)

output

seat ID: {100, 145, 190, 124, 119}
small Letters: {'a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e'}
mixed_kind : {'Hi', 'better', 100, -8}

Characteristics of Set

It is mutable
They are unordered
A set element must be unique
It doesn’t allow the use of index

Methods used in Set

copy( ): It helps duplicate the set
add( ): It helps add an element to a set
difference( ): It gives back a set containing the difference between two or more sets
difference update( ): It eliminates the items in the set that are also included in another, particular set
clear( ): It eliminates all the elements in a set
intersection( ): It gives back a set, that is the intersection of two or more sets
discard( ): It eliminates the specified item.
intersection update( ): It eliminates items in a set that are not in another specified set(s)
isdisjoint( ): It shows whether two sets have an intersection or not
issubset( ): It shows whether another set contains a set or not
pop( ): It eliminates an element from a set
remove( ): It eliminates the specified element
symmetric difference( ): It gives back a set with the symmetric difference of two sets
symmetric difference update( ): It gives back the symmetric difference of one set and another
union( ): It gives back a set that entails the union of sets
update( ): It helps to update a set with another set, or any other iterable

Conclusion

Congratulations on a hanging around from the beginning to the end. I hope this article has been able to simplify data structures in python and enjoyed reading article as well. I wish you good luck in tech journey.

Web Development fundamentals: A Comprehensive Guide for Beginners

seun — Fri, 24 Nov 2023 06:29:09 +0000

What is Web Development?

This is an important role in the technology world as it involves website creation, building and maintenance. It is the practice of how websites are designed, how it works and the tools needed to make them function. It entails creating a website for usage on the internet from scratch.

Categories of Web Development

Web development can be categorized into two main categories which are as follows;

Front-end development
Back-end development

1). Front-end Development

It involves the fundamentals of bringing a website to life. It deals with the look of a website, how it's meant to be, and what the users are supposed to see when they first interact with the website.

Technologies used for Front-end Development

HTML: it is also known as the hypertext markup language. It is not a programming language rather it’s a markup language used to create the basic structure for a website. It dictates what is to be seen on the user's screen and also gives arrangement to specific elements such as paragraphs, images and lists.

It is known as the baby steps taken by newbies in front-end development because it is very easy to learn and comprehend. It is an important toolkit for web developers as it is the skeleton of every website created. It is a must for first-time programmers in the front development section yet it’s not a difficult hurdle to cross because of its accessibility and also gives the best start for newbies in this field.

CSS: it is also known as cascading style sheets. It is a language that beautifies a website. It makes it attractive to the user. it gives a better beautification to the HTML elements and it defines how the HTML is being shown on the user’s device. Having a deep knowledge of CSS allows you to give your website the best taste of display. Through CSS you can change a lot of things such as colors, font, and web page layout and also add other nice effects to the website if you need be. Web developers use both CSS and HTML to create stylish and awesome web pages that look appealing to the users. It is quite simple to learn and understand yet broad in content. Acquiring knowledge in CSS is important to people who are looking forward to building very awesome, responsive and eye-catching websites

JavaScript: it is a client-side language. This is a programming language used for web development, applications and many more. This programming language is widely used and this has made it gain immense popularity globally. Learning JavaScript is important for people who desire to become front-end developers.

JavaScript is used with HTML and CSS to build responsive websites. It is widely used because of its versatility in all sections of web development. It allows web developers to have full access to the functionality of a website.

Bootstrap: it is an open source software that contains already existing design templates that can be re-modified by the user to their preferred

Front-end Libraries and Framework

1). HTML

2). CSS

Framework:

Bootstrap
Tailwind CSS

3). Javascript

Framework:

Angular.js
Veu.js
React

2). Back-end Development

It is one of the most important sections of web development. It includes working on the server side of a website. It deals with data arrangement and storage. In this aspect, the users are unaware of the interaction when they are on a website.

Technologies used for Back-end Development

There are many back-end technologies, below are some of the most popular ones;

1). Python: this is a programming language used for website creation and software development, machine learning, artificial intelligence etc. it is also an indentation language and one of the most popular languages. It is beginner-friendly due to its simplicity, flexibility and versatility in the technology world.

2). Php: it is a language used for web development, especially server-side technologies.

3). Java: it’s a programming language used across all variations of technology such as web development, software creation as well as applications and data using applications.

4). Node.js: it’s a javascript framework used for web development and applications. It helps web developers run codes and scripts in JavaScript on web servers to build responsive web pages.

5). Ruby: this programming language serves a lot of purposes in the programming world such as creating applications for desktops, web crawling, creating web servers, etc.

6). C#: this programming language is also one of the top dogs because of its versatility. It is widely used as well to create applications for both mobile and desktop, build games and software, website creations and many more.

NOTE:

There are other back-end programming languages that were not mentioned above but this doesn’t downplay their existence as they are unique and awesome in their own ways. These languages include C++, kotlin, scala, Perl, Go, etc.

Back-end Libraries, Frameworks and Databases

1). Php

Framework:

Laravel

2). Java

Framework:

Spring
Hibernate

3). Node.js

Framework:

Express.js

4). Python

Framework:

Django
Flask

5). Ruby

Framework:

Ruby on nails

6). C#

Framework:

Databases used for Back-end Development

Nosql
Mysql
Sql
Postgresql

Important Notes to Define your Path in any of these Field's

Have a well defined reason: web development can be a little handy and that why you create a well-structured plan so as to help you achieve your goals.
Do not limit yourself to tutorials alone: Watching tutorials won’t make the path smooth, you have get your hands dirty by practilising what you have learnt.
Learning never stops: The field keeps evolving which means what you know now might be of less importance in years to come. So you have to move with the trend to remain relevant in any of these fields.
Build projects and create a portfolio: This gives opportunity to showcase yourself to employers during job search. The world needs to see what you can build.

Conclusion

Web development might seem a bit complex but putting the hard work and consistency makes the difference. Continue the drive and never give up, the end result is always massive. I wish you good luck in your tech journey.