Education & Reference Learn a new skill in 2013

[BACCS]

i've been teaching myself to program in C. man my head can hurt after a few hours of it. long terms benefits will be good though.

Had to do a course on this first year of Uni, man it's boring. C programming just seems so useless these days.

 

[Caesar]

Bill Gates still codes in C in his spare time. It can't be that useless.

 

[Gough]

Aside from being the third letter of the alphabet, what is C?

 

[Colin D'Cops]

Getting back into playing guitar very soon, on the hunt for a new electric acoustic.

Other than that, just aiming to solidify and hopefully improve a lot of my current skill-set.

 

[BotsMaster]

Aside from being the third letter of the alphabet, what is C?

A low level programming language. Unix was developed using C.

 

[Kcrack]

I want to learn Spanish. Started it like 2 years ago, but dropped off. Thinking of doing a Spanish course for a month or 2 over in Sth America. Apparently total immersion makes it like 10 times easier.

 

[The Passenger]

Aside from being the third letter of the alphabet, what is C?

It took over from the B programming Language.

 

[The Passenger]

C programming just seems so useless these days.

Given the main underlying source code for PHP and the Apache Server (which runs about three quarters of web-sites, including this) is written in C i'd say it's anything but useless.

But your sentiment is correct. One would think we'd have long moved on from a language that was first written 41 years ago.

 

[Caesar]

I have heard a few people say that they think C Sharp is the bandwagon to get on. I just nod politely and pretend I understand what they are talking about.

 

[BotsMaster]

Given the main underlying source code for PHP and the Apache Server (which runs about three quarters of web-sites, including this) is written in C i'd say it's anything but useless.

But your sentiment is correct. One would think we'd have long moved on from a language that was first written 41 years ago.

C is just much quicker to compile than other languages that support garbage collection and dynamic typing and has much less overhead.

 

[Simple Jack]

C is just much quicker to compile than other languages that support garbage collection and dynamic typing and has much less overhead.

It's also much more error prone if you don't live in a perfect world and have programmers who aren't careful.

I finally learned how to use chopsticks properly. I can now confidently pick up all manner of slippery items with ease. I proclaim 2013 a success!

 

[Smiling Buddha]

I'm in as of July 1.

I've bought a harmonica (and a book about how to learn it) and had the guitar I never learnt how to play restrung (and set aside some cash for lessons). I have promised myself I will spend an average of one hour per day trying to learn how to play these instruments over the next 12 months.

I have reenrolled in Chinese and also begun an informal German language group with a couple of friends...

So I thought it was time for an update, about two months into the journey.

I've been keeping tabs on my efforts with a spreadsheet in which I record time spent on each activity per day. Nerdy, I know. But I can't recommend this method highly enough. It is eyeopening.

By the end of the weekend just gone, I ought to have put in at least 1900 minutes of undistracted practice into each of the four pursuits I have set myself to improve in. Here is the actual breakdown according to my LibreCalc spreadsheet:

Chinese: 2475 (+575)
German: 635 (-1265)
Guitar: 1700 (-200)
Harmonica: 30 (-1870)

I'm now at the point where practicing guitar is pretty fun (currently trying to learn Cat Steven's Father and Son, **** it feels good to nail the chord progression on that one. I'm still a shitn00b, but slowly getting there) so I'll make up the differential soon enough. Chinese is going really well but I have the added motivation of having to actually pass tests for that one, so it isn't quite as much of an achievement as far as self-motivation goes. German I am struggling to put time into but still confident of coming back from a long way behind over the summer. The harmonica is gathering dust.

Anybody else have updates to share?

I am still plugging along with karate. It is tough going. I can only make one session a week on my current schedule, of the two nights the dojo trains, and I am progressing very slowly. On the plus side I have lost weight.

Did you stick with the karate? I'm no expert but I would have thought one night per week would still be enough to see real improvements in technique and confidence.

 

[Caesar]

I am getting there, slowly. I have passed one grading. I shouldn't bitch, my expectations going in were probably a little unrealistic. Going back to basics is always a tough thing to get your head around. Everyone assures me the progress speeds up after the first year.

It doesn't help that my fitness still isn't fantastic. I hadn't realised quite how much conditioning I'd lost since I stopped playing sport a few years ago. I should be down to my target weight by Christmas, which will help. I am also about 100% more flexible than I was when I started, which has helped with my back problems. Those are probably the main benefits at this point, rather than the actual skills.

Reading back to the beginning of this thread makes me glad I've done it.

 

[Smiling Buddha]

So how'd we all go?

I succeeded at Chinese, but failed to meet my goals (in terms of time put in) regarding German, guitar and harmonica.

Sad face.

But I'm back on the bandwagon for 2014 and so far, so good.

Happy face.

 

[Quivorir]

I would like to learn the banjo. Then I would put a rocking chair out the front of my house, and play that tune from Deliverance.
Plus I like the sound of them anyway, so it would be fun to learn.

Upload please.

 

[Caesar]

I didn't come anywhere near meeting my goals with regard to karate, but I have stuck with it and in retrospect I was being kind of unrealistic with what I was aiming for. I am basically happy with my progress - at any rate, I am well ahead of where I started 12 months ago - and I will be continuing with it this year.

Struggled to drop weight for most of the year, and was having real issues with my back, but a couple of months ago I cleaned up my diet and started taking exercise seriously. Free weights three times a week, cardio/core work on the off days and stretching every night in front of the TV. Dropped from 87kgs to 79kgs so far, and my body fat %, strength and posture have improved out of sight. Don't really have a goal weight in mind, but would like to drop another couple of inches round the waist and get my body fat down well below 15%. I have a checkup next week, keen to see what my blood pressure and cholesterol numbers are doing.

My skill for 2014 will be German. Five years ago I was conversational but I'd probably be embarrassed to try and talk to a native-speaker now. I am pretty sure the local WEA runs courses so I will pick up a brochure this week.

 

[Igloo]

Upload please.

I failed . I did learn a few chords, and played a tiny bit, but didn't get close to the tune from Deliverance, haha.

Must think of a new skill for this year.

 

[nicky]

hoola hoop dancing
lotus pose
piano
splits

to name a few hobbies. As for work - def want to sort something out with that too My job is ok but it might be time for me to move on i think.

 

[clogged]

Indian kids have been programming C since birth. Sorry mate, but you're on a hiding to none

What a silly thing to say.

 

[The Passenger]

i've been teaching myself to program in C. man my head can hurt after a few hours of it. long terms benefits will be good though.

Stalled from mid September to mid November due to being on holidays, but tracking along reasonably well. Nearly finished this book (will start exercise 36 this week out of 47 exercises the guy has written). The problem is when I don't hit it for a few weeks I need to go back and redo a couple of exercises to refresh. Have never had that experience with scripting languages like PHP or Perl where I could always just pick up where I left off when I was learning them. Once finished this - hopefully by the end of the month - I'll move on to C++

Signed up for a coursera course on Crytopgraphy which actually starts today.

Life is good at work at the moment - Finish this contract January 23 and for the last couple of weeks I have been moving on my responsibilities to a new guy. The last two weeks should just be me needing to be here for emergencies only and I can work my way through a few of these things at work which will be good.

 

[clogged]

I wouldn't recommend C++ unless you are seriously considering doing it as a career, and even then, that's where you really are competing with Indians who have been doing it since birth. It is a pain in the arse as a language.

Instead I would recommend looking at writing C extensions for the interpreted languages you know - PHP, Perl, even Ruby (which has excellent documentation on how to do so).

 

[Stratton_Gun]

I learnt how to do "The Stranger"


......kiddding


umm I really don't know. Sure there are a few but nothing springs to mind

 

[Quivorir]

Always wanted to do that, never remember...

Maybe tonight.

 

[Gough]

I always say I'm going to learn a new skill and never do, maybe this year I should decide not to, and then do something just to spite myself.

 

[Mofra]

I want to learn Spanish. Started it like 2 years ago, but dropped off. Thinking of doing a Spanish course for a month or 2 over in Sth America. Apparently total immersion makes it like 10 times easier.

I actually reserched this year before last, found Guatemala (Central not South America) was a great choice, wanted to spend a few weeks in Antigua then some time in Lake Tikal. Being emersed definately helped - from learning most of a phrasebook in 2009 I was able to hold stilted conversations during the 3 weeks I spent in South America, anecdotally Sapnish is the easiest language to learn and one of the most widely spoken as well.

Unfortunately I work full time, have a casual job some weekends and am studying part time so time off and/or spare time to learn new skills is at a premium for at least one more year.