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Patience Wellington
Patience Wellington

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First Beginner Update.

I’d really like to thank everyone who reached out to me on my previous post (https://dev.to/prettygirlscode/am-i-in-the-right-place-2c7i)
I had no expectations but I was glad I published that first post.

My Journey So Far

A big part of any notable achievement involves the mindset. The first thing I had to work on was my mindset. Why was this step so important?
Usually, achieving notable success is difficult, it requires moving forward despite unavoidable roadblocks and hardships. The natural response to difficult situations is to give up and stay where you’re comfortable. I’ve had to continually tell myself;

“ It’s going to get harder with time, keep going anyways”

Linux or Windows

What’s the best operating system to use when learning software engineering?
There is Windows, Mac and Linux. I’ve not used the Mac operating system before so I had to choose either Windows or Linux.
After much contemplation, I came to the following conclusions;

  • Windows is proprietary and does not let you look deeper but Linux operating systems does not only encourage you to look deeper, it actually expects you to.
    Currently, I’m using the Linux operating system because it gives me deeper insight into every action I take, consequently increasing my understanding.

  • This decision boils down to what you actually want to do and the tool best suited for the task. I believe there are tasks best suited to Windows and tasks best suited Linux. After making the decision to use Linux primarily, I had to learn the Linux commands, shell navigation etc.

Flowcharts, Pseudocodes and Algorithms

I cannot emphasize enough how getting knowledge and understanding of these concepts is helping me get better at problem solving. It might not seem important at the beginning, but with time and as you start working on bigger projects you’ll begin to see their importance. A flowchart is simply a graphical representation of steps involved in a task, project or program. Algorithms are step by step procedures carried out to solve problems. Pseudocodes are false codes, codes written in plain English and they’re not language specific. Why did I find these concepts important?
Because they improves problem solving, break down complex problems, they give a clearer picture of the solution and they help non programmers understand your program or solution.

Git and GitHub

I’m also getting familiar with Git and GitHub. If you’re a beginner, please sign up with GitHub and learn how to use it. It is super important and there are many resources for learning.

What are your thoughts on this post?
Please comment any advice, addition, subtraction and constructive criticism. If you found this post useful, kindly share.

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