Bodywork == Debugging Code

When I tell potential employers I also do massage, they always seem to highlight that it is so divergent from coding. Personally, I have never felt that the two are that different. Here is why:

Most people have an idea of what they perceive to be "massage". What that is, I can not control. It's pretty much based on what they have experienced previously. Usually however, their idea of what it is...is simply not what I do.

While I am intuitive and do practice compassion and holding space for my clients to simply be for a short time, I do not and never have considered myself a "spiritual healer", nor do I intentionally manipulate their energy. That is just not my realm. 

The body work I do is very technical and is like solving a puzzle. I work with muscle relationships. I talk to clients about their activities and injury history, do some movement assessment, look at the kinetic chain, possible Trigger Point referral patterns, observe compensation patterns, misalignments and imbalances, then address--not necessarily the muscles that the client complains hurt, which could actually exacerbate the problem they are having--but often the muscles that are opposing the strained tissue. It is often confusing to the client ("Can you please spend more time on my back? That's where it hurts."). It's not always pleasant--and it's not for everyone. But with clear communication, and a collaborative process, it works. Together, my clients and I have many times discovered the root cause of an issue that they have been trying to resolve for years. It demands a passion and a curiosity for the structure of the body and a desire to enable it to function optimally.

I bring that same curiosity and passion to a body of code.

I was explaining this the other day to a small group of Ruby developers, and someone made the connection I have been trying to articulate for so long: "It's like debugging code!" YES! FINALLY! Someone gets it! Thank you Zassmin.

Yes, I am excited and proud to say: "I am a bodyworker AND a coder, and they are not that different, regardless of what your preconceived notions are!"

I'm completing the new Intermediate RailsBridge Curriculum as laid out and posted here, including nested resources, partials, multiple associations, bootstrap css, and more!

Everything you need to know?

I guess I already know everything I need to know! I was disappointed that I would not be able to attend, but not so much now that I see the presenters and topics.

I already know pretty much all of it! If you're a total newbie, it might be helpful.

.CSV => Rails

Working on a small app to import a .csv file to a Rails Database. Check out my progress on github.

Setting Up a Chat Server Using Goliath

more later...

It's 8 am on Saturday Morning...

...and I've already been working for 3 hours. Is this going to get me anywhere? Let's hope so.

Reading About Cucumber Today

A great list of cucumber articles, courtesy of Engine Yard.

"You Were the Hardest Working Coder in My Class..."

"...while everyone else did virtually nothing on the project you were all supposed to contribute to". That's what an instructor during college said to me more than once. I wish I could carry her around to interviews with me.

Twisting Tweets for fun!

Playing around with APIs to translate random tweets to pig latin and other languages @railsschool tonight Totally fun! #piglatin #sfruby

Coding Philosophising...

It always feels great to a newb to find a bug and  fix it without using any references! As I have been emphasizing with other developers that are more junior than I am: "Read the errors--they will tell you what you need to do. They are not failure. We must :::be the code!:::"

Dont Like the Way Rails Pluralizes?

If you don't like the way rails handles the word 'foot' or 'tooth'? You can change it in your app. David Celis on the Rails Inflector.

More on Blocks, Procs, and Lambdas -- Finding the Square Root of Numbers in an Array

1.9.3p194 :091?>class Array
1.9.3p194 :092?>   def iterate!
1.9.3p194 :093?>     self.each_with_index do |n,i|
1.9.3p194 :094 >         self[i] = yield(n)
1.9.3p194 :095?>       end
1.9.3p194 :096?>     end
1.9.3p194 :097?>   end
 => nil

1.9.3p194 :128 > array = [1,4,9,16]
 => [1, 4, 9, 16]
1.9.3p194 :129 > array.iterate! do |n|
1.9.3p194 :130 >     Math.sqrt(n)
1.9.3p194 :131?>   end
 => [1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0]

Yes, I opened the class and altered it.

There is a Difference Between Learning and Regurgitating Information

Which are you doing? Give it some thought, it's important to understand it.

Alan Skorkin on Blocks Procs and Lambdas.

Alan Skorkin Discusses Blocks, Procs and Lambdas.

WAIT Blocks are not Objects? How can that be??

Working with Enumerables Today.

An Exercise from chapter 10 of David Black's The Well Grounded Rubyist:

1.9.3p194 :001 > class Rainbow
1.9.3p194 :002?>   include Enumerable
1.9.3p194 :003?>   def each
1.9.3p194 :004?>     yield "red"
1.9.3p194 :005?>     yield "orange"
1.9.3p194 :006?>     yield "yellow"
1.9.3p194 :007?>     yield "green"
1.9.3p194 :008?>     yield "green"
1.9.3p194 :009?>     yield "blue"
1.9.3p194 :010?>     yield "indigo"
1.9.3p194 :011?>     yield "violet"
1.9.3p194 :012?>     end
1.9.3p194 :013?>   end
 => nil

then...

1.9.3p194 :025 > r = Rainbow.new

 => #<Rainbow:0x007f8bea15d0d8> 

1.9.3p194 :026 > r.each do |color|

1.9.3p194 :027 >     puts "Next color: #{color}" 

1.9.3p194 :028?>   end

Next color: red

Next color: orange

Next color: yellow

Next color: green

Next color: green

Next color: blue

Next color: indigo

Next color: violet

 => nil 

This is just the beginning, but a key part of what I need to know to be an effective developer.

and more...


1.9.3p194 :029 > r = Rainbow.new
 => #<Rainbow:0x007f8bea148fe8>
1.9.3p194 :032 > y_color = r.find {|color| color.start_with?('y') }
 => "yellow"
1.9.3p194 :033 > puts "The first color staring with 'y' is #{y_color}."
The first color staring with 'y' is yellow.
 => nil

Woot! On to more....

Hartl Tutorial: Finished Ch 6!

Modeling Users Woo!

Hartl Tutorial, Chapter 6...again!

I've pretty much been blowing through the chapters at a pace of about 1 per day including the exercises. The problem with that? When I realize everything is broken, so I go back further and further until I get to near the beginning, then discover the problem is a missing 'e' in the word 'presence'! Gah! Such is the life of a developing developer...

Working with Bootstrap CSS Framework Today

So far, so good! Let's see how editable it is! I will now be able to spot a basic Bootstrap-styled app whenever I see one.

Guard testing? Has anyone ever heard of it?

I've discovered it from the Hartl tutorial and I'm considering skipping that part. Has any one ever used Guard in a professional context?

A List of Ruby and Rails Tutorials

I'm building a list of tutorials. Some emphasize Ruby, some Rails. I'll add them as I find them, so stay tuned.

RAILS

• Rails Guides, beginner. You build a blog. You can build it out or try to adopt the format to building your own app. 
• Michael Hartl's tutorial.  Considered by most of the people in my community to be the most comprehensive online tutorial out there. 

RUBY

• Robert Sosinski's higher level tutorials. GOOD stuff. 

What I'm working on today...

Writing tests in Rspec in the Hartl tutorial, now on to refactoring...

gotta love the RSpec green, ok and the red too. ;)

How Does One Demonstrate a "Passion" for Coding?

I had a potential employer tell me a few months back that I was "not passionate" about writing code. What they didn't know is that:

1) I also need to keep working in my current field (which I also love doing, but happens to not be coding) to support myself.
2) I have actually been working on learning for a year with minimal paid work so that I can make time to code and become proficient.
3) I have been working on sharpening coding skills other than just Ruby. It is my belief that diversity in knowledge and skills is a strength, not a clear indication of a lack of passion.
4) I lead two co-working study group meetups per week to surround myself with other coders who have similar goals and want to focus on social coding, sometimes we focus on RoR, sometimes we are language agnostic.

If this doesn't prove otherwise -- at least a little -- I don't know what will. Oh, except writing my own app, which I am also doing. ;)

Stepping Back into the Hartl Turtorial

Nearly Everyone I know in The Ruby on Rails Community I am involved with recommends Michael Hartl's tutorial. Many of them get hung up on chapter 3, as I did. Time to go back and pick it up again, to muck my way through it...while I am also working on updating my CSS skills by doing some of the exercises in CSS: the Missing Manual. An excellent book by the way.

a very simple app.

The beginnings of a very simple booking app I am building. Someone told me that going from tutorials to building your own app is the biggest step. http://vivid-day-9010.herokuapp.com

Gathering User Input in Ruby

http://www.maryfjenn.com/samples/userinput.html