Dreaming of code
I dream in code.
Over the past few weeks, I have noticed this more and more. Last night was especially vivid as I was dreaming about the specific bug in the project code that I was working on at Hack Reactor yesterday.
It is a strange feeling. I feel like I have some measure of control over what I am dreaming about and focusing my mind on the code where I got stuck.
I am not sure how restful this sleep is, but I feel like it is providing me a clarity that I wouldn’t otherwise have.
I am a little worried that I am thinking about code too much, all through the work day (13 hours) and then when I am sleeping as well. We shall see if this catches up to me.
Highlights of the day:
- Express Sessions
- Conjurer vs. Scribe
Express Sessions
Express is a server framework that hides and handles a lot of the intricacies of setting up a node server. Express Sessions is a module for Express that helps with user authentication and session management.
Sessions are how computers talk to one another in a validated way. The validation is essentially the login, i.e. you are who you say you are, so you can see your items or profile or the like. So when you login (validate), a session is created that stores your credentials so that you can interact with the server without logging in to each page you go to.
Express sessions handles the creation and destruction of these validated states for you.
The more I use Express, the more I like it.
Conjurer vs. Scribe
In computer programming, there is a paradigm about the style of programmer of Conjurer or Scribe.
A conjurer is a programmer who can piece together different technologies and use them to create a final product without fully understanding the different components.
A scribe, on the other hand, is a programmer who must understand all the different components before putting them together in a final product.
At Hack Reactor we pair with another person every 2 days. One benefit is this gives you plenty of time and opportunity to learn your programming style.
This has shown me that I am very much in the conjurer camp. I am quick to recongize a pattern, write my code in a similar fashion, and then run it to check for success. Often, I read code and based on variable and method names, I infer what I think the code is doing, then test it by breaking it or writing similar code.
Additonally, when I do actually check through documentation, I am usually not looking for a full explanation as to how something works. I just want to see the pattern or an example to give me enough to go on.
I think this will be a useful skill as we move forward to the project portion of Hack Reactor, as we will be under significant time crunches to get the projects done.
Tweet Follow @zdlopez