Android and iPhone Programming Training in Honolulu, Hawaii

Checking to see if a directory exists and then creating it if it is not present requires a few lines of code. Isn't Python great. Begin by importing the os module and use the exists and makedirs functions.

import os

if os.path.exists(somedirectory):
   os.makedirs(somedirectory)

3 Most Important Things Non-Programmers Should Know About Programming?

[May, 11, 2018] |
Tags:

What are the three most important things non-programmers should know about programming?

Written by Brian Knapp, credit and reprint CodeCareerGenius

Since you asked for the three most important things that non-programmers should know about, and I’ve spent most of my career working with more non-programmers than programmers, I have a few interesting things that would help.

Number One - It Is Impossible To Accurately Estimate Software Projects

No matter what is tried. No matter what tool, agile approach, or magic fairy dust people try to apply to creating software… accurately predicting software project timelines is basically impossible.

There are many good reasons for this. Usually, requirements and feature ideas change on a daily/weekly basis. Often it is impossible to know what needs to be done without actually digging into the code itself. Debugging and QA can take an extraordinary amount of time.

And worst of all…

Project Managers are always pushing for shorter timelines. They largely have no respect for reality. So, at some point they are given estimates just to make them feel better about planning.

No matter how much planning and estimation you do, it will be wrong. At best it will be directionally correct +/- 300% of what you estimated. So, a one year project could actually take anywhere between 0 and 5 years, maybe even 10 years.

If you think I’m joking, look at how many major ERP projects that go over time and over budget by many years and many hundreds of millions of dollars. Look at the F-35 fighter jet software issues.

Or in the small, you can find many cases where a “simple bug fix” can take days when you thought it was hours.

All estimates are lies made up to make everyone feel better. I’ve never met a developer or manager who could accurately estimate software projects even as well as the local weatherman(or woman) predicts the weather.

Number Two - Productivity Is Unevenly Distributed

What if I told you that in the average eight hour work day the majority of the work will get done in a 30 minute timeframe? Sound crazy?

Well, for most programmers there is a 30–90 minute window where you are extraordinarily productive. We call this the flow state.

Being in the flow state is wonderful and amazing. It often is where the “magic” of building software happens.

Getting into flow can be difficult. It’s akin to meditation in that you have to have a period of uninterrupted focus of say 30 minutes to “get in” the flow, but a tiny interruption can pull you right out.

Now consider the modern workplace environment. Programmers work in open office environments where they are invited to distract each other constantly.

Most people need a 1–2 hour uninterrupted block to get 30–90 minutes of flow.

Take the 8 hour day and break it in half with a lunch break, and then pile in a few meetings and all of a sudden you are lucky to get one decent flow state session in place.

That is why I say that most of the work that gets done happens in a 30 minute timeframe. The other 7–8 hours are spent being distracted, answering email, going to meetings, hanging around the water cooler, going to the bathroom, and trying to remember what you were working on before all these distractions.

Ironically, writers, musicians, and other creative professionals have their own version of this problem and largely work alone and away from other people when they are creating new things.

Someday the programming world might catch on, but I doubt it.

Even if this became obvious, it doesn’t sit well with most companies to think that programmers would be paid for an 8 hour day and only be cranking out code for a few hours on a good day. Some corporate middle manager would probably get the bright idea to have mandatory flow state training where a guru came in and then there would be a corporate policy from a pointy haired boss mandating that programmers are now required to spend 8 hours a day in flow state and they must fill out forms to track their time and notify their superiors of their flow state activities, otherwise there would be more meetings about the current flow state reports not being filed correctly and that programmers were spending too much time “zoning out” instead of being in flow.

Thus, programmers would spent 7–8 hours a day pretending to be in flow state, reporting on their progress, and getting all their work done in 30 minutes of accidental flow state somewhere in the middle of all that flow state reporting.

If you think I’m joking about this, I’m not. I promise you this is what would happen to any company of more than 2 employees. (Even the ones run by programmers.)

Number Three - It Will Cost 10x What You Think

Being a programmer, I get a lot of non-programmers telling me about their brilliant app ideas. Usually they want me to build something for free and are so generous as to pay me up to 5% of the profits for doing 100% of the work.

Their ideas are just that good.

Now, I gently tell them that I’m not interested in building anything for free.

At that point they get angry, but a few ask how much it will cost. I give them a reasonable (and very incorrect) estimate of what it would cost to create the incredibly simple version of their app idea.

Let’s say it’s some number like $25,000.

They look at me like I’m a lunatic, and so I explain how much it costs to hire a contract programmer and how long it will actually take. For example’s sake let’s say it is $100/hr for 250 hours.

To be clear, these are made up numbers and bad estimates (See Number One for details…)

In actuality, to build the actual thing they want might cost $250,000, or even $2,500,000 when it’s all said and done.

Building software can be incredibly complex and expensive. What most people can’t wrap their head around is the fact that a company like Google, Apple, or Microsoft has spent BILLIONS of dollars to create something that looks so simple to the end user.

Somehow, the assumption is that something that looks simple is cheap and fast to build.

Building something simple and easy for the end user is time consuming and expensive. Most people just can’t do it.

So, the average person with a brilliant app idea thinks it will cost a few hundred or maybe a few thousand dollars to make and it will be done in a weekend is so off the mark it’s not worth considering their ideas.

And programmers are too eager to play along with these bad ideas (by making bad estimates and under charging for their time) that this notion is perpetuated to the average non-programmer.

So, a good rule of thumb is that software will cost 10 times as much as you think and take 10 times as long to finish.

And that leads to a bonus point…

BONUS - Software Is Never Done

Programmers never complete a software project, they only stop working on it. Software is never done.

I’ve worked at many software companies and I’ve never seen a software project “completed”.

Sure, software gets released and used. But, it is always changing, being updated, bugs get fixed, and there are always new customer requests for features.

Look at your favorite software and you’ll quickly realize how true this is. Facebook, Instagram, Google Search, Google Maps, GMail, iOS, Android, Windows, and now even most video games are never done.

There are small armies of developers just trying to keep all the software you use every day stable and bug free. Add on the fact that there are always feature requests, small changes, and new platforms to deal with, it’s a treadmill.

So, the only way out of the game is to stop working on software. At that point, the software begins to decay until it is no longer secure or supported.

Think about old Windows 3.1 software or maybe old Nintendo Cartridge video games. The current computers and video game consoles don’t even attempt to run that software anymore.

You can’t put an old video game in your new Nintendo Switch and have it “just work”. That is what happens when you think software is done.

When programmers stop working on software the software starts to die. The code itself is probably fine, but all the other software keeps moving forward until your software is no longer compatible with the current technology.

So, those are the four most important things that non-programmers should know about programming. I know you asked for only three, so I hope the bonus was valuable to you as well.

How to add an item to a dictionary

[Mar, 29, 2014] |
Tags:

To add to a python dictionary is very easy. First create a dictionary, and then associate a key with a value.

a = {'cat',"furry thing"}
a['dog']="typically likes to run and is very loyal"
print a

Here is what is printed:

{'cat':'furry thing', 'dog':'typically likes to run and is very loyal'}


                
                    
                        
                            Java is #1
                            [Mar, 12, 2013]       |
      Tags:  
                            

	 Once again Java tops C as the number one sought after programming language on the internet.  According TIOBE Programming Community Index for February 2013 and five search engines: Google, Bing, Yahoo!, Wikipedia, Amazon, YouTube and Baidu, Java regained its position after being bumped by C in May 2012.

	Despite the recent urging by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security of computer users to disable or uninstall Java due to a flaw in Runtime Environment (JRE) 7, Java, has increased its market share of all languages by (+2.03%) in the past six months. The jump in Java’s popularity does not come as a surprise as the Android OS claims massive success in the mobile space.  The top twelve programming languages listed in the index are:

	
		 Java
	
		 C
	
		 Objective-C 
	
		 C++
	
		 C#
	
		 PHP
	
		 Python
	
		 (Visual) Basic
	
		 Perl
	
		 Ruby
	
		Java Script
	
		Visual Basic.NET


	Also rising, Python and PHP which are competing to becoming the most popular interpreted language.


    
        
            
                
                    Tech Life in  Hawaii
                     
Learning complicated languages such as java, C++, and Linux becomes a bit of a challenge when your every-day life constitutes living in paradise! However, Hawaiian consumers ultimately bear huge expenses when transporting goods to the island.  Deliveries of consumer goods to Hawaii are subject to the extremely high operating costs imposed by the Jones Act. This also makes Hawaii less competitive with West Coast ports as a shopping destination for tourists from home countries with much higher taxes (like Japan).  Alas, for those that want to catch up on the latest technologies, the University of Hawaii sports a Center for Cultural and Technical Interchange between East and West on the Manoa campus. The university maintains institutes of astronomy, geophysics, marine biology, and biomedical research and the Lyon Arboretum in Manoa Valley. 

                    
                            
                
                         The men who have succeeded are men who have chosen one line and stuck to it. Andrew Carnegie 
                     
                other Learning Options   

            
                Software developers near Honolulu have ample opportunities to meet like minded techie individuals, 
                collaborate and expend their career choices by participating in Meet-Up Groups.  The following is a list of 
                Technology Groups in the area.
            
             
                 HNL Continuous Learning Group for Software Developers ·
                 Organization for the Understanding of Dynamic Languages ·
                   
             
                
            
        
    
    
    
        
            
                training details locations, tags and why hsg
            
            
                
                    
                    
                        the hartmann software group advantage
                        why take 
                        Android and iPhone Programming Training 

                        with the hartmann software group?
                    
                    
                        A successful career as a software developer or other IT professional requires a solid 
                        understanding of software development processes, design patterns, enterprise application architectures, 
                        web services, security, networking and much more.  The progression from novice to expert can be a  
                        daunting endeavor; this is especially true when traversing the learning curve without expert guidance.  A
                        common experience is that too much time and money is wasted on a career plan or application due to misinformation. 
                    
                    
                        
                            The Hartmann Software Group understands these issues and addresses them and others during any 
                            training engagement.  Although no IT educational institution can guarantee career or application development success, 
                            HSG can get you closer to your goals at a far faster rate than self paced learning and, arguably, than the competition. 
                            Here are the reasons why we are so successful at teaching:
                            
                            
                            Learn from the experts.  
                                
                                    We have provided software development and other IT related training 
                                        to many major corporations in  Hawaii since 2002.
                                    Our educators have years of consulting and training 
                            experience; moreover, we require each trainer to have cross-discipline expertise i.e. be Java and .NET experts so 
                            that you get a broad understanding of how industry wide experts work and think.
                                   
                            
                            
                                    Discover tips and tricks about Android and iPhone Programming  programming
                            
                                    Get your questions answered by easy to follow, organized Android and iPhone Programming  experts
                            
                                    Get up to speed with vital Android and iPhone Programming  programming tools
                            
                                    Save on travel expenses by learning right from your desk or home office.  Enroll in an online instructor led class.  Nearly 
                            all of our classes are offered in this way.
                            
                                    Prepare to hit the ground running for a new job or a new position
                            
                                    See the big picture and have the instructor fill in the gaps
                            
                                    We teach with sophisticated learning tools and provide excellent supporting course material
                            
                                    Books and course material are provided in advance
                            
                                    Get a book of your choice from the HSG Store as a gift from us when you register for a class
                            
                                    Gain a lot of practical skills in a short amount of time
                            
                                    We teach what we know…software
                            
                                    We care…
                             
                    
                    learn more
                
                
                    
                    
                        page tags 
                        what brought you to visit us
                    
                    
                        Honolulu,  Hawaii Android and iPhone Programming Training , 
                        Honolulu,  Hawaii Android and iPhone Programming Training Classes, 
                        Honolulu,  Hawaii Android and iPhone Programming Training Courses, 
                        Honolulu,  Hawaii Android and iPhone Programming Training Course, 
                        Honolulu,  Hawaii Android and iPhone Programming Training Seminar 
                    
                
                
                            
                            
                                training locations 
                                 Hawaii cities where we offer Android and iPhone Programming Training Classes
                            
                                                    
                            
                                        
                                            
                                                        ·Honolulu,  Hawaii
                                                                                  
                                    
                                
                        
                    
        
    
    
        
            
                Interesting Reads Take a class with us and receive a book of your choosing for 50% off MSRP.