100 Days of code – 35% complete

Day 35, and still going strong! I’m still programming every day, and I still feel challenged every day, but I feel like I’m at a plateau. I’m inclined to treat learning Python as a checklist – learn this concept, get comfortable with it, then move on to the next thing. Instead, I’ve been struggling with the logic behind the programs. This is a little frustrating, but I think it’s probably more important. Thinking through things logically isn’t really something I can check a box on, like I can with lambdas, list comprehensions, or classes. Also, it’s important to remember that simply showing up and putting in an hour a day is the point of this challenge.

My whole experience with programming has been peppered with frustrations, starting when I was about 12 or 13 years old. I found a book about how to make games in BASIC at the local library, checked it out, and took it home. After a couple hours trying to get a BASIC interpreter set up, I gave up. The one thing that the BASIC book didn’t cover was how to start programming as a complete beginner!

On Saturday, I helped some new coders with that critical step. I helped out with a Her Spark Ignite event where we taught girls how to program in Python. We started with an introduction to Python, then let the girls work on building a rock-paper-scissors game. Most of them were able to build a working program in about 90 minutes! After lunch, they split into groups and worked on using that Python knowledge to program a line-following robot. Every single group was able to get their robot to follow the line by the end of the day!

I always enjoy teaching and coaching people wherever I can, but it was especially rewarding to help teach concepts that I remember struggling with very recently. At one point, a group ran into a Python exception that I had debugged the day before on another program! I found that helping these girls with their programming issues forced me to consider how I approach those same problems, and I feel like I’m a better programmer because of this event.

If you know someone who would be interested in Her Spark, check it out at https://www.herspark.org/

Thanks to Her Spark for letting me be a part of this awesome event!