It’s the end of my first week at The Iron Yard code school. The first week was learning and applying code in HTML and CSS, as well as acquiring and learning to use a set of programming tools. Jim (@JimTheDev) is an excellent instructor: knowledgeable, patient, and upbeat. The environment is fast-paced without being frantic, though the result has been that when I turn in my work for evaluation, I tend to think that I could have done better if I had more time. However, Jim said, and I agree, that in real-world programming, one has to do one’s best in the time frame one has.

Another point Jim made was the value of repetition: performing tasks often until they become second nature. In this way, I’ve managed to learn the basics of the command line fairly well.

Manuals are great for reference, and I prefer to have one around—although, for me, lasting learning has come from applying the code, and to that end, we (the entire class) are getting lots of practice. In my experience, this is the fun of coding, and the time passes pleasantly. However, I’m learning the code and the essentials on how to operate a MacBook Pro and how to inspect a website and so forth, at the same time, which makes the process more time-consuming. I expect that learning the tools and the hardware will take proportionally less time as the course continues.

GitHub was introduced to me as a way to collaborate on code. Right now, though, I’m appreciating it as a way to back up and preserve my code for my own reference.

Overall, it’s been a fun and challenging week.