These past three weeks building my CLI have been so great. This was the first time I actually started feeling like a real developer. Making something of my own, born of my own mind and whim, it really was the feeling I was hoping to get on this journey. Anyway, here are three things I found out were helpful over the course of the project.
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Think out loud- This really helped me. Talking out my code with friends, even ones that had no idea how to code enabled me to really see my logic and let me think past hurdles I was facing. Even thinking out loud to yourself can help! When I was filming the 30 min coding session (ended up being an hour), I narrated my thought process and problems and I ended figuring out my issue just from that!
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Test your program in different environments- I used atom text editor and my mac’s terminal for most of my project. When I finally got everything working I was so excited that I wanted to show all my friends. So when I was hanging out with them I borrowed a computer and pulled up the learn IDE to clone it there. Lo and behold, one the coolest features of the CLI broke. Turns out it doesn’t work in sandbox environments like the one I was using. I spent the next couple of days trying to fix it, but had to settle on a workaround instead.Afterwards I thought: “If this had been a presentation or something, it would have been a disaster.” Test your code everywhere!!!
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Give up- Okay sort of joking, but hear me out. This was another bit of wisdom I picked up during the 30 min coding session. It was 50 minutes in and I was grasping at straws. I was trying to get a new class I created to only be loaded when necessary. Throughout the video you hear me say things like “Okay, if this doesn’t work I’m done” or “I have no idea what the !@#$% is happening.” Then finally I just gave up. At that moment, I realized I was experiencing tunnel vision and “giving up” let me step outside of that box and solve the problem creatively, and I was more relaxed to. You hear me go “Okay, now I’m just f@#$in’ around” then boosh. It worked. I freaked out, it was awesome. We all cried. Don’t be afraid to give up!
So that’s it! I hope this can help someone on their journey to become a developer!