Categories
Programming Reading Material What I’m Up To

JavaScript books that you can read online for FREE

My actual setup at my old office (February 3, 2020), where I coded in JavaScript all day.

If…

  1. You’ve decided to learn JavaScript (or just need a refresher), and
  2. you’re short on cash due to the current economic situation

…you’re in luck! There are a couple of good books on JavaScript whose contents are available to read online, free of charge!

The first of these books is Eloquent JavaScript, Third Edition, written by Marijn Haverbeke and published by No Starch Press. It’s not just an introduction to JavaScript, but an introduction to programming in general. It’s beginner-friendly, which is one of the reasons why it’s the main book for the first part of the JavaScript/React course that I’m teaching.

You can Eloquent JavaScript, Third Edition online here.

The second book is JavaScript for Impatient Programmers, ECMAScript 2020 edition, written by Dr. Alex Rauschmeyer. Its coverage of JavaScript is more complete, but it’s a little less beginner-friendly, which is why it’s the backup book for my course. I’m going to incorporate some of its content into the course, and point students to the online edition if they’d like some additional reading material.

You can read JavaScript for Impatient Programmers, ECMAScript 2020 edition online here.

Categories
Current Events Programming Tampa Bay What I’m Up To

I’m teaching an online JavaScript/React programming course!

The folks at Computer Coach Training Center must like my work, because they have me teaching another course — a 12-week, 3-times-a-week, 4-hours-per-session Intro to JavaScript and React programming!

I taught the Intro to Python Coding course on Computer Coach’s behalf in July and August. That one took place twice a week over 6 weeks, with each session lasting 4 hours.

The Intro to JavaScript and React Programming course starts next Tuesday evening, and happens Tuesday and Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings for 12 weeks.

The first six weeks of the course will be dedicated to gaining a solid understanding of JavaScript programming. During that part of the course, the text will be Eloquent JavaScript, Third Edition, which remains one of the most-recommended books for beginners. I’ll use it as a basis, but also add some additional material and cover changes in the 2019 and 2020 versions of JavaScript.

The second six weeks of the course will be all about React.js — and nothing but React. Yes, people use React in combination with all sorts of other technologies, but in order to get a solid grounding in React, it’s helpful to start by working purely in React. Hence Pure React, May 2020 Edition (which includes the newly-introduced feature of hooks) is the text for this section of the course.

If you’ve ever been in any of my Tampa iOS Meetup sessions, you’ve seen my teaching technique — you’re not passively watching slides, but coding along with me, and even experimenting, just to see what happens. That’s I what I did with the Python class, and it’s what I’m going to do with the JavaScript/React class — enter code, see what happens, and gain experience along the way. It’s learning by doing.

If this course interests you, it starts next Tuesday, and you can sign up by contacting Computer Coach.

 

Categories
Current Events Tampa Bay

What’s happening in the Tampa Bay tech/entrepreneur/nerd scene (Week of Monday, September 21, 2020)

Once again, here’s the weekly list of events for events for Tampa Bay techies, entrepreneurs, and nerds. Every week, on GlobalNerdy.com and on the mailing list, I scour the announcements for events that are interesting to or useful for those of you who are building the future here in “The Other Bay Area, on The Other West Coast”.

This list covers events from Monday, September 21 through Sunday, September 27, 2020.

I’ve opted to list only those events that I can confirm are happening online. I’m not yet listing in-person events, as we’re still in the middle of a pandemic in one of the hardest-hit states in one of the hardest-hit countries in the world, and we’ve passed 200,000 deaths, which is over 20% of COVID-19 detahs worldwide.

Events — especially virtual, online ones — can pop up at the last minute. I add them to the list as I find out about them. Come back and check this article from time to time, as you might find a new listing that wasn’t there before!

The 2020 Florida Entrepreneur Community Survey needs your input!

Hey, Florida-based founders, startup talent, investors, students, educators, ESOs (entrepreneur support organizations), and professionals — your input is needed! 

It’s a quick survey (I know, because I took it), but the information you provide will help inform Florida stakeholders on how they can make the Sunshine State a better place for entrepreneurs to build thriving companies.

The survey is produced by Embarc Collective, a combination tech accelerator, innovation hub, coworking and gathering space, and all-round contributor to Tampa Bay’s tech and entrepreneur scene.

They’ve expanded the scope of this year’s survey to cover not just Tampa Bay, but all of Florida to better determine how they can identify and improve opportunities to help Florida’s regional entrepreneur community thrive.

This week’s events

Monday, September 21

Tuesday, September 22

Wednesday, September 23

Thursday, September 24

Friday, September 25

Saturday, September 26

Sunday, September 27

Do you have any events or announcements that you’d like to see on this list?

Let me know at joey@joeydevilla.com!

Join the mailing list!

If you’d like to get this list in your email inbox every week, enter your email address below. You’ll only be emailed once a week, and the email will contain this list, plus links to any interesting news, upcoming events, and tech articles.

Join the Tampa Bay Tech Events list and always be informed of what’s coming up in Tampa Bay!


Categories
Current Events Florida Tampa Bay

The 2020 Florida Entrepreneur Community Survey needs your input!

Hey, Florida-based founders, startup talent, investors, students, educators, ESOs (entrepreneur support organizations), and professionals — your input is needed!

It’s a quick survey (I know, because I took it), but the information you provide will help inform Florida stakeholders on how they can make the Sunshine State a better place for entrepreneurs to build thriving companies.

The survey is produced by Embarc Collective, a combination tech accelerator, innovation hub, coworking and gathering space, and all-round contributor to Tampa Bay’s tech and entrepreneur scene.

They’ve expanded the scope of this year’s survey to cover not just Tampa Bay, but all of Florida to better determine how they can identify and improve opportunities to help Florida’s regional entrepreneur community thrive.

They’ve told me that they need more techies to respond. If your work involves making stuff out of programming languages, pixels, or project/product management, you’re a techie, and they want to hear from you!

Again, I ask you —

Categories
Current Events Deals Programming Reading Material

Happy Programmer’s Day! / Fanatical’s deal on FREE programming books

The origin of Programmer’s Day

The 256th day of the year (the 100th day in hexadecimal) is known as the Day of the Programmer. On most years, it’s September 13th, but on leap years — which includes this one — it’s September 12th.

The day was proposed by two Russian programmers, Valentin Balt and Michael Cherviakov, who petitioned their government to recognize this day. The recognition came on September 11, 2009 when Russian president Dmitry Medvedev signed the decree, making it official.

The deal

Whenever an “official unofficial” day like this happens, there’s always at least one vendor offering a deal. Day of the Programmer is no exception, and Fanatical are offering a bundle of three books from Packt for free in its honor!

Yes, I know that Packt is almost industry shorthand for “Not necessarily good, but not necessarily bad,” but at this price, you can’t say that these books aren’t worth every penny.

Here’s a video that goes a little deeper into deal, and a little deeper into poking a little fun at Packt:

Categories
Current Events Tampa Bay

What’s happening in the Tampa Bay tech/entrepreneur/nerd scene (Week of Monday, September 14, 2020)

Once again, here’s the weekly list of events for events for Tampa Bay techies, entrepreneurs, and nerds. Every week, on GlobalNerdy.com and on the mailing list, I scour the announcements for events that are interesting to or useful for those of you who are building the future here in “The Other Bay Area, on The Other West Coast”.

This list covers events from Monday, September 14 through Sunday, September 20, 2020.

I’ve opted to list only those events that I can confirm are happening online. I’m not yet listing in-person events, as we’re still in the middle of a pandemic in one of the hardest-hit states in one of the hardest-hit countries in the world, and we’re closing in on 200,000 deaths.

Events — especially virtual, online ones — can pop up at the last minute. I add them to the list as I find out about them. Come back and check this article from time to time, as you might find a new listing that wasn’t there before!

Monday, September 14

Tuesday, September 15

Wednesday, September 16

Thursday, September 17

Friday, September 18

Saturday, September 19

Sunday, September 20

Do you have any events or announcements that you’d like to see on this list?

Let me know at joey@joeydevilla.com!

Join the mailing list!

If you’d like to get this list in your email inbox every week, enter your email address below. You’ll only be emailed once a week, and the email will contain this list, plus links to any interesting news, upcoming events, and tech articles.

Join the Tampa Bay Tech Events list and always be informed of what’s coming up in Tampa Bay!


Categories
Humor

The general idea behind VPNs

Unfortunately, VPNs don’t finish their tasks with a great song-and-dance scene.