The readings and responses listed here should take you approximately 65 minutes total.
To start this assignment:
- Click the button in the upper right-hand corner that says Fork. This is now your copy of this document.
- Click the Edit button when you're ready to start adding your answers.
- To save your work, click the green button in the bottom right-hand corner. You can always come back and re-edit your gist.
Learning Fluency by Turing alum Sara Simon (35 min)
- Your key take-aways OR how you're going to implement specific points (minimum 3):
- Sara’s diverse experiences illustrate how all disciplines are interrelated. Many of Sara’s experiences also resonate with me. I too was an English Major, I have previous experience in the field of journalism and when it comes to language I’ve studied French while also dabbling in Afrikaans and Russian. In many ways, learning to code seems like a natural extension of my education which has been largely focussed on language. Sara’s article highlights the importance of leveraging past experiences when learning a new skill.
- The article also made me think of the Sapir Whorf hypothesis. The implications of learning a new language are not only neurological, but philosophical as well. Language provides the fundamental basis for understanding reality, so therefore learning a new language fundamentally alters our understanding of reality. It will be interesting to observe this as I gain fluency in different programming languages.
- Fluency comes with repeated independent practice in a structured way. I must develop a concrete strategy to practice in the same way that Sara prepared for her dictation lessons. She approached her learning granularly, breaking it down into manageable chunks. At first the focus should be understanding and fluency. This will provide the foundation for creativity and innovation later on. Patience is necessary.
Use Google to go find at least one online resource detailing keyboard shortcuts and/or features that are built into Slack.
- What resource(s) did you find? Paste them below:
- https://slack.com/help/articles/201374536-Slack-keyboard-shortcuts
What better place to get information on Slack shortcuts that the platform's own website? I didn't even have to read too much. According to that webpage,
Command + /gives you a list of all shortcuts within Slack.
- What are three Slack shortcuts and/or features that stood out? How will each contribute to your productivity?
Command + Fsearch current conversation. If I have a question about something I can search various channels for keywords to see if someone else has had the same question in the past. I've already used this to answer questions about Mod 0 homework assignments.Command + [ or ]Easily navigate forward or back through history to quickly find conversations, channels that I was looking at previously.Command + JJump to unread messages. Quickly get caught up on everything that's happened on Slack since my last session. New annoucements, questions from cohorts etc.
What's the use of the staging area in git? on Stackoverflow (15 min)
The idea of the staging area is frequently one of the trickiest concepts to wrap your head around when you're first learning git. Read the question and answers (or do your own Googling on the git staging area). Then, create your own metaphor comparing the staging area to something in real life.
- Type your metaphor below:
If you have any questions, comments, or confusions that you would like an instructor to address, list them below:
- You go to the greenhouse to purchase a plant for your apartment. The greenhouse is like a staging area for plants.
You don’t want to purchase (commit) all the plants, you only want one.
You purchase one plant and take it home with you. Periodically, you take photos of the plant so you can keep track of its growth and eventually revisit a time when your plant was smaller.
All those other plants remained at the store. You can come back and commit another one some other time if you like.