Learning how to program on your own

What does it take to become a programmer?

A really big theory is that only really smart people can program. Which this is not the case, anyone with a computer and access to the internet can learn how to program. But don't get me wrong it does take some intelligence to do it.  So you're wanting to learn how to program sounds somewhat simple.  Say you are wanting to get into game design programming, don't expect to learn how to do it in a few days it's a lot harder than that.  First things first you need to find out what field you are wanting to get into most. 

For me it was web development so I started by learning how to program in HTML(hyper text markup language) it took me a few weeks to get my head around what was going on.  And note I didn't learn it overnight, and I would suggest never trying to ever do that. Take your time with it to make sure you are learning everything you can about what your going over before you move on. It helps make it so you don't get more confused when you move onto something really difficult. When you are starting to program for the first time it takes a while but you have to stick with it or you're not going to make it.  

How do you get started in programming?

Well to start learning programming the first few simple steps is to decide what it is you want to be doing. And from there you can more forward. So lets say you want to get into web development(only because I know this subject the best). You first want to find a text editor either notepad, notepad++, sublime text 2, or any other such text editor. I would suggest either sublime text 2 or notepad++ I've had the best results with these two and note they are both free I will provide links so you can download them. 

The next step is go to w3schools.com and go over to there free HTML program to get started. Start by going over the basics. Use google and youtube to your advantage and learn everything about the basics that you can. Don't get distracted by the temptation of the more advanced subjects. This will only slow you down and make it harder to learn and understand what you are doing. 

And note if you are learning another language like java, c#, c++, javascript, php, ect.. there are more than enough tutorials on learning those.   

Always challenge yourself, I find that every time you challenge yourself you always learn so much more than you usually would. Never get discouraged keep working hard and push yourself. Stay motivated and keep your eye on the end goal. This will help keep you on a path that will get you to where you need to be.

Further you education 

Continuing you education is a very important aspect of getting a career in doing what you love.  Yes it may cost money but in the long run it is helps out more than you could imagine.  For someone like me it is a little harder to get into college because I never graduated high school. But don't give up if this is your case. Work hard at getting your GED and go to college. Yeah it will  be hard for a few years but in the end you will be glad you spent the time and energy into you education.

On that note it's time for me to go I have a lot of work that need to be done and very little time to do it in. Another thing I have been considering is making tutorials on web development if I can get enough of our readers to comment saying they could use it I will starting making tutorials and link those videos to this blog every week.
Download Links:
Sublime Text
Notepad++

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Never back down

Alrighty, this is Jacob again, because Ben's been busy with somethings. As the title suggests, this is a purely motivating blog post, because I believe everyone needs a little pick me up every now and again. The picture above is one that pushes me specifically, just one I found and I don't own it at all.

Lately has been an extremely trying time for my family, Ben and me. It's been wearing on every last part of our characters and souls, yet I've known for a fact that we're going to outlast all of the trials. I almost relish them, because things come out a lot better in the end and almost seem tripled to how much trouble we've gone through.

I just recently lost my car, as well as a list of other things that would make your head spin, but you won't see a frown on my face. Bravery Technologies & Innovations is just waiting for a contract to be signed for a customer that will bring in at least tens of thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands. We've been working with the customer for a while and this customer deserves it. This contract isn't ours, but the customer's to other major companies. The CEO has never given up and is a bottomless pit of sheer power, and someone we at B.T.I. look up to and respect.

If there's anything I've learned from that man it is to be an unstoppable force of awesome power. The only thing that makes this world better is to plow through all obstacles like they're paper walls. It proves to other people that see the feat that they too can do it, and follow in suit, chasing their own dreams. There's no purpose to the person who sits in the doldrums and isn't aggressive in their chase of a dream. No one sees results from that, they only see the lack thereof. Every person needs a purpose, even famous psychologist Abraham Maslow says that, right up at the top of this pyramid.

Without a purpose, nothing is created and everything is wasted. Creativity is in every single person, and that's where the problem lies. "Everyone has it, so why am I special?" Well, you aren't special. It's your ideas, your past, your story and your future that's one of a kind. The definition of special is: "Better, greater, or otherwise different from what is usual." It's the thought that "I'm special!" that's killing the creative process of other people. The people who think that they have the privilege of bragging and boasting with an ego the size of a skyscraper are the ones that make everyone else limited. They are the ones who actively try to make others miniscule to them in comparison and also, inadvertently or not, kill their creativity and their drive.

That's why I say never back down, it's not worth it! You have to keep pushing forward, no matter what! Never let a finger be pointed in your face, telling you you can't do it! Dreams aren't reality, yes, but that's where work and determination come into the equation! You can't stop other people, they let you stop them and vice-versa! No one can stop a force that's barreling through everything in it's path! They'll either move, or be ran over. Think of yourself as a Ferrari and everyone else as a distraction. Sure you can stop and waste your time or even your whole life on one distraction. IS IT WORTH IT?  NEVER! There comes a point in everyone's life when they either realize this or dilute themselves with negative answers and self-affirmations. Ben and I have realized this, and even though we've lost a lot due to external circumstances, we'll never back down. 

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Realistically comparing computers... on your own!

When it comes to comparing computers, it's gotten ridiculous.

You've got tons of different numbers and phrases being thrown at you, yet none of them are really making sense. That's why we've made this! The computer buyer's guide to computer specifications, or "specs," and what they mean. There's an insane amount of computer jargon out there, so we're going to go over some really important ones right now.

GHz

This is usually used in respect with the computer's speed, also referred to as Gigahertz. Speed and size with computers are actually based on the Greek measurement system, such as kilo, mega, giga, etc. So a gigahertz is actually a billion hertz, but that beckons the question, what exactly is a hertz? Well, that's actually one little charge going through the "brain" of the computer, otherwise known as the processor. Since computers can't measure different levels of charges very well, there's two different kinds of charges in computers. On, which is represented as a 1 in the computer, and off, which is represented by a 0. So a gigahertz processor can go through a billion 0's and 1's in a second! 

You usually want around 2 GHz or more and at least a dual-core. "Wait a sec, what's this dual-core bull?" I can hear everyone reading this saying that already. Well, the number of cores is the number of "brains" you have in your computer, so a dual-core can handle two major tasks at once! Quad-core can handle four, so on and so forth. Like I said earlier though, dual-core is probably the best way to go for the budget-minded computer user.

GB / TB

These usually refer to the hard drive space or memory, and both are really important. The hard drive stores all your videos and pictures, as well as any music or documents you accumulate over the life of your computer. The memory is basically what is sounds like, it stores the things you're actively using, like programs, documents, games, what have you. So the more of both you have, the better, especially memory. The more memory you have the more you can do at once without slowing down your computer. You want at least 4 or 6 gigabytes of memory or more and then about 500 gigabytes of hard drive space, but 1 terabyte is suggested very strongly. A single gigabyte is equal to 1,024 characters. For very lengthy reasons that I really don't want to go over, a gigabyte in space is just equal to 1,024 bytes, or characters. Sounds like a lot, huh? Well it's really not, because Windows 8 takes up 20 gigabytes of hard drive and 2 gigabytes of memory to run like a slug. You definitely do not want just 2 gigabytes of memory even if all you're doing is typing documents, the lag between typing and the text appearing will drive you nuts

So I guess a basic rule of thumb is the more, the better.What anyone will want to comfortably work or play facebook games as well as some less demanding games like Minecraft, is probably a dual-core 2.4 GHZ, 500 GB hard drive, 4 GB of DDR3 RAM (a.k.a. memory) and at least 1 GB memory for the graphics. This should be good enough for anyone to use a computer comfortably and without being held back by the computer lacking in any area.

Well, that's my post! Sorry it's a day late, I've been at the hospital with my wife a lot lately. By my next post, I'll introduce all of you to the new addition to the B.T.I. family! Anyways, I always like doing these posts because of some reason that I can't really decide right now, but that's all folks!

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The Effects of Computer Programming on the Brain

Well this week I have been really busy with different projects so I will be taking a slightly different direction. I will be giving you an article about the effects of programming on the human brain enjoy. And if you want to view the original article I will post a link at the bottom. And I do not own any of the following content.

Disclaimer

No illegal drugs were consumed in the research of this article.

Pavlov's Leaky Dog

I should have used the term Dopamine in the title of this article, but it would have been less intriguing, no? Anyhow, generally speaking, Dopamine is a substance occurring naturally in the brain that assists in the experience of human pleasure. Cocaine has such a dramatic effect on the brain because it causes a build-up of Dopamine which then leads to elevated levels of pleasure. But, you're smart, you probably already knew all that.

Like cocaine use, we can develop a Dopamine release from various kinds of behaviors. Computer programming is one such behavior. Consider this: you might imagine that a person would not want to spend hours on end staring at a computer screen, skipping meals, losing track of time, only using a text editor, making small changes to a text file, observing small results, over and over again - in other words, the experience of computer programming. Those who enjoy, or, dare I say, are addicted to computer programming - they spend their time in a trance, going through the motions, waiting for the moment when they have solved a problem and their code does what it was intended to do, akin to the pleasure a person might get from solving puzzles for leisure. To make things worse (from an addiction stand point) it's hard to know when the puzzle will be properly solved, so a degree of nervous anticipation builds up before each verification and when the puzzle is finally solved, there is a mild or often intense feeling of pleasure. Which then shortly subsides as the programmer then repeats the cycle, onto the next puzzle, onto the next fix.

Programmers may even display a degree of heightened irritability if a puzzle takes too long to solve, and a degree of reluctance to take on trivial tasks that are not suitably challenging; i.e., when the strain of the work involved outweighs the pleasure payout. This might just be a measure to separate the addicts from the team players: their willingness to do the "boring stuff" that gets the project done vs. their zeal for the "hard stuff" that makes it interesting. Obviously, few people like to do the "boring stuff" involved in any endeavor, but to the programming addict, it's almost unbearable.

Great Programmers: Sometimes Addicts

To get good at programming, or arguably any non-trivial challenging skill, you have to spend a lot of time doing it. Hundreds of hours, perhaps even thousands. There is an innate pleasure associated with learning. Some people experience it more than others. Programming is unique in a sense, in terms of how many opportunities it can present to solve a puzzle and how unpredictable puzzle resolution can be. I am not a neurologist, nor have I conducted any formal studies, but anecdotally and empirically, I've noticed that many great programmers may have become great because they experienced a pleasure incentive that got them so addicted to the activity, that they spent so much time doing it, that they just inevitably became quite good at it. Part of how they got so great is that they continually needed ever more complex and challenging puzzles to solve so they could go through the incentive cycle again and again as a person does not get the same (or any) pleasure experience from learning something they already know or solving a puzzle they have already solved.

The Dark Side: Going Off Script

As anyone who is an addict or has lived with one knows, an addict's main priority is getting their fix - not: taking the kids out to play and certainly not getting a programming project completed. I once worked with a brilliant programmer who I believe was so addicted, that he would create challenges where there were none to make his work more interesting - I think this made the work bearable for him. Usually, he could not complete a project, because once all the interesting stuff was done, he simply could not motivate himself to keep on working on it. Clearly this was extreme and unhealthy.

From a business perspective, addicted programmers are in themselves a kind of temptation to employers. They can do amazing things that others can not do and often in a much in shorter time span. They have no problem working for long hours and are intrinsically motivated to work. However, they can also be very dangerous, specifically because they frequently go off-script. They have their own agenda where they create challenges where there otherwise may not have needed to exist or they work on some minor tangential aspect of a project for hours on end, leaving the project plan behind to program what they feel that they need to, not what the project itself needs.

Remedies

If you are or a programmer you know is someone who may be suffering from what I can only really describe as coding addiction, the solution may be to find healthier rewards. Personally, I am sure that I fall into a trap of addictive computer programming binges at times. What I find most helpful is to focus on the end result: client satisfaction and high quality user experience. Also, having a good mechanism to track progress on projects can help a team realize when they have veered off track and what they can do to get back on track. Generally speaking, any activity that helps a person build personal will and discipline will help them overcome their habits and urges and get back on a more healthy and integrated track: team work, keeping their word and getting things done.

The Effects of Computer Programming on the Brain

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SEO, What is it?

Okay, since we are offering a free SEO assessment for the rest of the month of June, I thought it would be really fitting to go over what it is exactly. Google, Bing, Yahoo, any search engine for that matter is affected by the usage of SEO. Everyone should use it, yet very few people know how to use it. It's like walking on eggshells almost.

Search Engine Optimization, that's the full length version of the acronym SEO. SEO is where you make your site or blog as "commonly found" as possible without under-handed tricks, such as cloaking and tricks or link schemes. People don't like being cheated or deceived and neither do search engines. They'll drop you to the bottom of everyone's search results faster than you could imagine possible. It's also a lot more complicated to get higher rankings with these search engines now because of things like Google Panda and Google Penguin, which were updates to how their software goes through every major website. It's also critical for you to understand these things so if you ever do need to get a business to help you out with a website they can't scam you nearly as easily.

The software previously mentioned that goes through every major website actually has a very special name of something I absolutely despise. Spiders. I hate the things with a passion, the live ones anyway. I believe they got their name from a mixture of World Wide Web, and the fact that they're said to "crawl" through the interwebs. These things have had a lot of revisions done to their programming over the years, but I honestly believe to improve the results for the regular user, or in business' cases, the regular 'customer.'

Things that really annoy me are the web design companies, that don't offer SEO or don't understand it whatsoever. They deserve to be slapped. With a book about SEO, maybe they'll learn through osmosis or something. This is the part that is the most important though, so if you only learn one thing through this whole post, let it be this; Don't buy a web design if they don't also offer SEO. It's necessary for any website or blog to be successful. Also, if you get an offer for SEO that's less than $300 a month, you actually might need to want to take it. Bravery Technologies & Innovations actually does it from $175 a month and sometimes lower.

You might want to hire an external company or one sole person to do SEO for you if you don't have loads, and I mean LOADS of time on your hands. There's keyword research to do, which is looking at what keywords would be best for you to use to have your website be at the top of the results list. There's watching where your site traffic is coming from, as well as getting back-links to your site and having your site mentioned a lot. There's managing blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and YouTube accounts, like keeping them updated and having new content posted more than once a month.

 There is so much to do that it's ridiculous to try and do everything, except if you have a very good grasp on everything that SEO requires. Well, that's a very crude and basic crash course of what SEO is. Well, it's now 11 at night and this Jacob is tired. Ben will supply the next blog post and that will be Monday, the 16th of June. Until next Friday, goodbye and goodnight.

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Computer maintenance that doesn't require a degree

Well this is Ben and I got to be the lucky one to type this post. So in this post we will be going over some simple "Computer maintenance that doesn't require a degree". I'll be listing some personal software that I use and trust along with some preventative maintenance that will help save you issues down the road.

Software 

This awesome piece of software is called "avast anti-virus".  It's freeware for the most part you can pay for the full version of the software and it does do more in depth scans and such. But all you really need is the freeware version along with another free anti-virus software and it should cover most all your bases. The other free anti-virus software is called "Malwarebytes". I find that it has one of the better boot scans and can find most of, if any of the problems you may have.

Download Avast free antivirus





















Download MalwareBytes

Free Firewall 

This free firewall is called comodo it is a great firewall and does a great job at blocking links and downloads that could be bad for your computer.  Sorry but I don't have an image for this one but I will supply the download link for this one as well.

Comodo Firewall Download

Preventative Maintenance

There are a few tricks that you can use to help make your computer last longer.  Top of the list on being one of the most important things you should do on a regular basis is keep the inside of your computer clean and dust free. Dust has a way of getting into everything and messing things up. It's biggest problem is being an insulator and keeping heat inside of your computer witch can lead to your computer overheating and that can cause serious damage. It's super easy to keep it clean, just go to your local store and buy a can of air and use that to blow all of the dust out of your computer and keyboard. If you have a laptop make sure you keep your keyboard clean and make sure that nothing gets stuck under the keys. And if something does use a can of air and gently get it out making sure not to damage anything.

Another trick is buy a power strip that has a surge protector. This will help save the power supply and hardware on your computer from getting fried if there is a power surge and there not really that expensive either. 

Be very careful when moving your computer. Even if your just moving it into another room you can still do damage to it. Be very careful and take extra time when moving any computer equipment to any location. This will allow your computer to last longer and have less issues later down the road. 

There is so much more that you can do to prevent any damage that would shorten the life of your computer. All it requires is a quick google search and you should find a much larger list of things you can do. 

Well that's all I've got today. Jacob Should have the next post on Friday and he will choose the topic. Have a great day and keep your PC's alive.  Ben out!

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Time-saving tips and software anyone can use!

As this is Bravery Technologies & Innovations' (B.T.I.) first blog entry, I believe that we should address something we never seem to have enough of. Time. There's a reason why the over-repeated cry is "I wish there was (however many you need) hours in a day!" *facepalm* The issue isn't that you need more hours, you just need to utilize more of those hours. So without further ado, here is our top 4 list of time saving tips and programs!

Awesome Item #1: ManicTime

This program is what's called a "freemium," which is basically a budget-minded computer user's worst enemy. That isn't the case with this program though! I gave it a try and was blown away by how much time I spend on joke sites and Facebook in two days, even while I'm supposed to be working! It actually tracks your time on each application OR website, tells you when your computer isn't being actively used, and what documents you might be working on at the time. That's only the part that every version has!

It's also great for businesses that need to bill clients for each minute that they spend doing something. There's a server version that records the time spent on anything in a file or a folder, and then can create reports of that. So law firms, you might need to want this. Because of how epic this program is, I decided to put it at the top of the list. I also recommend it as the first thing to do because it's kind of really hard to change something if you don't know what's fully happening with it.

http://www.manictime.com/

Awesome Item #2: Sublime Text 2

This is one of our personal favorites here at B.T.I. specifically for our coding process. The ways it saves time are really out-of-the-box and unique. It has a default theme that's extremely comfortable for the eyes at night by having a dark background and bright text. This makes it less often that you need to look away from the screen and rub your eyes and possibly get distracted. It enables a person to totally immerse themselves in their work, which we tend to do not too often.

The second way it helps save time, which any programmer/designer will absolutely appreciate for it's full value, is auto-complete. Not the kind of auto-complete that's annoying and not related at all, but it takes the file type you're working on and suggests what you might be typing that is part of that file type. For example, if you're working in PHP, and you type date(, it pops up with the date function. When you accept what it suggests, it inserts the full line of code with all the parameters, but with generic names. All you need to do is change the names to what you're working with! We can't count how much time and money this invaluable program has saved us, but let's just suffice it at saying a lot.

http://www.sublimetext.com/2/

Awesome Item #3: Music!

For those who are music-oriented or have heard about the studies related with music and work, read this anyways. Everyone else, prepare to have your mind blown. Music that has little or no words in it is proven to improve productivity. For me personally, I like Dubstep and a modern classical symphony called Two Steps From Hell. Both genres have very little or no words when compared to all the other types of music out there. Still I think that modern classical is one of the best types of music out there for the workplace or to get you going on a project. Next time you're working, put your favorite artist on the computer and pop in those headphones. Just try it for an hour for two days and go back and forth between music and nothing, You'll notice a difference.
So this item, being that music has different effects on everyone and how they function with it, is basically immeasurable. Nonetheless, still worth a shot.

Awesome Item #4: Discipline

It does sound cliche, but it's true. I have learned that I have to set everything else on pause or schedule it for another day when I actually start working. It's a constant and never-ending exercise to make myself sit down and stay sat down for at least two to three hours and work just one thing. I've never met a person though that hasn't had that exact same issue. It is absolutely necessary though, and I'm sure freelancers in relationships can attest to this. I've had to (please don't kill me wife!) train my wife to leave me alone while I work late at home. 

If you ever have the same issue with your significant other or family, sit them down for about two to ten minutes and explain to the best of your ability that when you're working at your set time, you are only working and not taking care of the house. Even if there's garbage that's overflowed, you're working. If your roommate needs to tell you about a massive zit on his back that he just popped, you are working, and probably don't want to hear about it anyways. Trust me, those ten minutes you spend with them are worth at least thirty-fold more in the near future, and you won't be stuck either vomiting your brains out over horror stories or cleaning up a garbage bag that ripped. It might save your life one day.

Well, that's our list of four awesome items for the initial post of B.T.I. and expect another post on Monday, June 10th, 2013. The main focus will be on "computer maintenance that doesn't require a degree." Ben will be typing that one, if I have any luck. In the meantime, I'm Jake, your friendly PC repairman and web designer, and ... I'm out of here.

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