This made me chuckle.
These slides capture what we worked on Tuesday night’s “Think Like a Coder” meetup: coming up with a first attempt at a “Wordle” function. Given a guess word and a goal word, it should output a Wordle-style score.
We came up with a solution that I like to call the “close enough” algorithm. It goes through the guess word one character at a time, comparing the current guess word character with the goal word character in the same position.
When making those character-by-character comparisons, the function follows the rules:
Here’s the “close enough” algorithm, implemented in Python…
def wordle(guess_word, goal_word):
# Go through the guess word one character at a time, getting...
#
# 1. index: The position of the character
# 2. character: The character at that position
for index, character in enumerate(guess_word):
# Compare the current character in the guess word
# to the goal word character at the same position
if character == goal_word[index]:
# Current character in the guess word
# matches its counterpart in the goal word
print("green")
elif character in goal_word:
# Current character in the guess word
# DOESN’T match its counterpart in the goal word,
# but DOES appear in the goal word
print("yellow")
else:
# Current character DOESN’T appear in the goal word
print("gray")…and here’s the JavaScript implementation:
function wordle(guessWord, goalWord) {
// Go through the guess word one character at a time
for (let index in guessWord) {
// Compare the current character in the guess word
// to the goal word character at the same position
if (guessWord[index] == goalWord[index]) {
// Current character in the guess word
// matches its counterpart in the goal word
console.log('green')
} else if (goalWord.includes(guessWord[index])) {
// Current character in the guess word
// DOESN’T match its counterpart in the goal word,
// but DOES appear in the goal word
console.log('yellow')
} else {
// Current character DOESN’T appear in the goal word
console.log('gray')
}
}
} 
I call the solution “close enough” because yellow is a special case in Wordle. If the guess word is ATOLL and the goal word is ALOFT, the first L in ATOLL should be yellow and the second should be gray because there’s only one L in ALOFT.
We didn’t settle on the “close enough” algorithm — it was just enough for that night’s session. In the next session, we’ll refine the algorithm so that it matches Wordle’s!
Want to become a better programmer? Join us at the next Think Like a Coder meetup!
Here’s the list of tech, entrepreneur, and nerd events for Tampa Bay and surrounding areas for the week of Monday, February 14 through Sunday, February 20, 2022. Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone!
This list is a weekly service from Tampa Bay’s tech blog, Global Nerdy! For almost five years, I’ve been compiling a list of tech, entrepreneur, and nerd events happening in Tampa Bay and surrounding areas. There’s a lot going on in our scene here in “The Other Bay Area, on the Other West Coast”!
As far as event types go, this list casts a rather wide net. It includes events that would be of interest to techies, nerds, and entrepreneurs. It includes (but isn’t limited to) events that fall under the category of:
- Programming, DevOps, systems administration, and testing
- Tech project management / agile processes
- Video, board, and role-playing games
- Book, philosophy, and discussion clubs
- Tech, business, and entrepreneur networking events
- Toastmasters (because nerds really need to up their presentation game)
- Sci-fi, fantasy, and other genre fandoms
- Anything I deem geeky
By “Tampa Bay and surrounding areas”, this list covers events that originate or are aimed at the area within 100 miles of the Port of Tampa. At the very least, that includes the cities of Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Clearwater, but as far north as Ocala, as far south as Fort Myers, and includes Orlando and its surrounding cities.
The mandatory omicron variant announcement
Prior to the omicron variant, there was still a pretty good chance that you didn’t personally know someone who’d caught COVID. Today, thanks to its contagiousness, omicron has made it so much more likely that someone you personally know has caught it — and probably has it now.
Omicron’s out there, and it’s not as “mild” as some people have described it. Be smart and responsible — get your booster, mask up in crowds, favor outdoor and online events, and we can get back to what passes for normal sooner!
This week’s events
I try to keep this list up-to-date. I add new events as soon as I hear about them, so be sure to check this page often!
Monday, February 14
| Group | Event Name | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Rafael Stuchiner | Blockchain, Bitcoin, Crypto! What’s all the Fuss?~~~Tampa, FL | |
| RGANetwork.net | South Tampa Professionals Networking Lunch Wrights Deli | |
| Thinkful Tampa | Thinkful Webinar || Intro to JavaScript: Build a Virtual Pet | 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM EST |
| Thinkful Tampa | Thinkful Webinar || Learn Data Analytics With Thinkful | 5:00 PM to 6:30 PM EST |
| Thinkful Tampa | Thinkful Webinar || Data Science vs. Data Analytics | 8:00 PM to 9:30 PM EST |
| Tampa Cybersecurity Training | Tampa Bay’s Job Seeker Coffee Talks | 9:00 AM |
| Tampa / St Pete Business Connections | South Tampa Professional Networking Lunch | 11:30 AM |
| Young Professionals of Tampa Bay Networking Group | South Tampa Referrals | 11:30 AM |
| Wesley Chapel, Trinity, New Tampa Business Professionals | Lutz, Wesley Chapel, New Port Richey Networking Lunch | 11:30 AM |
| Christian Professionals Network Tampa Bay | Live Online Connection Meeting- Monday | 11:30 AM |
| Professional Business Networking with RGAnetwork.net | St. Pete Networking Lunch! Fords Garage! Monday’s | 11:30 AM |
| Entrepreneurs & Business Owners of Sarasota & Bradenton | Virtual Networking Lunch Monday | 11:30 AM |
| Entrepreneurs Empower Empire | Office Hour | 12:00 PM |
| West Orange Comics & Video Games | Magic Mondays | 5:00 PM |
| The Tampa Chapter of the Society for the Exploration of Play | Critical Hit Games: Board Game Night | 5:30 PM |
| Board Game Meetup: Board Game Boxcar | Weekly Game Night! (Lazy Moon Location) | 6:00 PM |
| Tampa Bay Tabletoppers | Monday Feast & Game Night | 6:00 PM |
| Critical Hit Games | MTG: Commander Open Play | 6:00 PM |
| Toastmasters Division G | Triple Crown Toastmasters Club 4147 (Virtual) | 6:30 PM |
| Tampa – Sarasota – Venice Trivia & Quiz Meetup | Trivia Night – Off the Wagon Kitchen & Brewery Smartphone Trivia Game Show | 6:30 PM |
| Toastmasters District 48 | North Port Toastmasters Meets Online!! | 6:30 PM |
| Tampa Flutter Meetup Group | In-Person Meetup | 7:00 PM |
| Library Book Clubs – OCLS | Virtual Event: Southeast Book Club | 7:00 PM |
| South Florida Poker, Music & Entertainment Group | FREE Texas Holdem Poker Tournaments at Fireside Lounge & Billiards 7 PM Start | 7:00 PM |
| Tampa Bay Gaming: RPG’s, Board Games & more! | Board Game Night at Armada Games | 7:00 PM |
| Toastmasters District 48 | Sharpen Your Presentations at South Tampa TM Before Going Live! | 7:00 PM |
| Florida Center for Creative Photography | FREE Lightroom Study Group | 7:00 PM |
| Toastmasters District 48 | Time to Take Speaking Your Passion to the Next Level at South Tampa TM! | 7:00 PM |
| Brandon WordPress Meetup | TBA: Regular WordPress Meeting | 7:00 PM |
| Learn-To-Trade Cryptocurrency (as seen on Orlando Sentinel) | Learn-To-Trade Q&A (0NLINE) | 7:00 PM |
| Orlando Stoics | ONLINE: “3 Major Stoics + 4 Virtues” | 7:00 PM |
| Central Florida AD&D (1st ed.) Grognards Guild | World of Greyhawk: 1E One-Shots | 7:30 PM |
| Beginning Web Development | Intro to Git: What You Need to do Your Job | 9:00 AM |
Tuesday, February 15
Wednesday, February 16
Thursday, February 17
Tampa Bay’s big tech and business conference, Synapse Summit 2022, takes place today.
Friday, February 18
Saturday, February 19
Sunday, February 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!
If you read today’s Washington Post article about the couple charged with conspiring to launder 120,000 Bitcoin (almost $5.3 billion at today’s prices), you may have noticed an odd phrase in its second-last paragraph:
Officials said tech entrepreneur Ilya Lichtenstein, 34, and his rapper wife, Heather Morgan, 31, were charged with conspiring to launder money. They are accused of trying to launder 119,754 bitcoin that were stolen after a hacker breached the cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex and initiated more than 2,000 unauthorized transactions. Prosecutors said the bitcoin was sent to a digital wallet controlled by Lichtenstein.
from “Feds arrest married couple, seize $3.6 billion in hacked bitcoin funds”, Washington Post, February 9, 2022.
“Rapper” is just one of the occupations that Heather Rhiannon Morgan claims. She’s also a tech entrepreneur, as well as a contributor to Forbes and Inc., both of whom I’m sure have already booked editorial meetings to discuss what to do about their articles with her byline.
But when she’s spittin’ mad rhymes, she prefers to go by her nom du guerre, Razzlekhan. She describes her rap persona on her YouTube’s channel’s About page as follows:
- Razzlekhan is a surrealist artist & shameless rapper. Her genre is horror-comedy, with a splash of weird allure.
- She has a rare type of synesthesia, so her senses are “crossed,” giving her “phantom tastes and smells,” and more.
- Razz is all about authenticity, misfits, self-love, and social commentary. Her experiences living in the Middle East (Turkey & North Africa) and Asia (Japan, Korea, Hong Kong) influence her art.
- WHAT GETS POSTED:
- Razz’s weird art projects (fashion design, sculpture, collage, painting, and music videos from her rap songs)
- inspirational content to help you become your best self (which is always your REAL SELF)
- DIY art tutorials (“Berazzling” old clothes to create your own streetwear fashion )
- unusual fashion ideas
- wild stories from around the world (Vietnam, Egypt, Ukraine, Turkey, Kazakhstan, etc)
- unusual life hacks -ideas to optimize your home, life, and career
- synesthesia-inspired recipes
- women’s health issues and female empowerment
In short, imagine Gwyneth Paltrow in full Goop mode, but with a heavy dose of “Crypto Bro”.
You may have tried to find her videos to see what they were like, only to find that someone (probably her) has pulled them from YouTube.
Luckily for you, I found duplicates on Vimeo, and present them to you below. I’m posting them here on my tech blog (as opposed to my general blog) as a warning to techies: unless you actually have a sense of rhythm and music, the ability to rap, and some taste, please don’t do this.
The video
Versace Bedouin
This is really bad. Really, really bad. I had low expectations before watching the video, and it’s worse than I thought it would be. And now, I present it to you.
The album tracks
The other two videos posted to Vimeo are really audio files with a still photo “album cover” for the video section. At least with Versace Bedouin, you had visuals to watch. With these two tracks, all you really have is the audio, which forces you to endure the rap in its full horror, without anything to distract you.
California Rollz
Please Go Fund Yourself
Here are the first 15 slides from the upcoming Think Like a Coder! meetup, which happens ONLINE on Tuesday, Feb. 8 at 7 p.m. EST! The first slide summarizes what we’re going to be doing in JavaScript and Python.
The mission of Think Like a Coder! is to turn Tampa Bay into a place packed with skilled, successful coders.
And no, you don’t have live in Tampa Bay or anywhere nearby to participate in this meetup — I just happen to live in the Tampa Bay area.
One of the biggest challenges in coding is making the leap from knowing the theory — if statements, for and while loops, functions, classes, and so on — and the actual practice of using those things to make working applications.
Many jobs involve following the same procedure every day. The steps are laid out for you, and are often documented in a 3-ring binder (Neal Stephenson talks about 3-ring binders in his cyberpunk novel, Snow Crash). You don’t have to think about them. You succeed when you follow procedure, and you excel when you can follow procedure quickly.
Coding falls into that category of jobs where there isn’t a clearly documented procedure for every little thing. You have to figure out how to accomplish the goal.
This photo in the slide above from the film Apollo 13, where engineers had to figure out how to improvise a way to remove excess carbon dioxide from the ship’s air, using only the stuff that the astronauts had on hand. You can read more about it in the article The Greatest Space Hack Ever.
Yes, you need to know your programming language keywords. Sometimes, it even helps to know what’s happening at the processor level.
See that diagram on the left of the slide above? That’s what your computer is actually doing, under the hood. If you like, I can talk about it at an upcoming meetup.
You need to know how to apply those fundamentals, and that comes with practice.
You also need to learn how to see patterns and similarities, which will help you come up with solutions. For instance, did you know that Mortal Kombat is essentially a fancier version of Rock-Paper-Scissors?
With all that preamble out of the way, it’s time to tell you what we’re doing Tuesday evening at the meetup.
In case you haven’t yet played “Wordle”, here it is, summarized on a single slide, including a screenshot of the game I played on Saturday.
Sure, it’s a hot topic right now because everyone’s posting their Wordle scores on social media and because its developer just sold it to the New York Times in a “low seven-figures” deal, but it’s also good coding practice.
The meetup will run from 7:00 p.m. EST (UTC-5) to 9:00 p.m., so we’re NOT going to build a complete Wordle game. There just won’t be time, once you factor in introductions, setup, and Murphy’s Law.
What we WILL build — or more accurately, we’ll ***figure out how to build it*** — is the “referee”, or the thing that takes the player’s guess, compares it to the actual word, and provides the feedback.
That thing will be a function that takes two inputs — a guess word and a goal word — and outputs a value that represents those colored blocks. It’s a little trickier than you might think, and you’ll find out why…
Here’s the list of tech, entrepreneur, and nerd events for Tampa Bay and surrounding areas for the week of Monday, February 7 through Sunday, February 13, 2022.
This list is a weekly service from Tampa Bay’s tech blog, Global Nerdy! For almost five years, I’ve been compiling a list of tech, entrepreneur, and nerd events happening in Tampa Bay and surrounding areas. There’s a lot going on in our scene here in “The Other Bay Area, on the Other West Coast”!
As far as event types go, this list casts a rather wide net. It includes events that would be of interest to techies, nerds, and entrepreneurs. It includes (but isn’t limited to) events that fall under the category of:
- Programming, DevOps, systems administration, and testing
- Tech project management / agile processes
- Video, board, and role-playing games
- Book, philosophy, and discussion clubs
- Tech, business, and entrepreneur networking events
- Toastmasters (because nerds really need to up their presentation game)
- Sci-fi, fantasy, and other genre fandoms
- Anything I deem geeky
By “Tampa Bay and surrounding areas”, this list covers events that originate or are aimed at the area within 100 miles of the Port of Tampa. At the very least, that includes the cities of Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Clearwater, but as far north as Ocala, as far south as Fort Myers, and includes Orlando and its surrounding cities.
The mandatory omicron variant announcement
Prior to the omicron variant, there was still a pretty good chance that you didn’t personally know someone who’d caught COVID. Today, thanks to its contagiousness, omicron has made it so much more likely that someone you personally know has caught it — and probably has it now.
Omicron’s out there, and it’s not as “mild” as some people have described it. Be smart and responsible — get your booster, mask up in crowds, favor outdoor and online events, and we can get back to what passes for normal sooner!
This week’s events
I try to keep this list up-to-date. I add new events as soon as I hear about them, so be sure to check this page often!
Monday, February 7
| Group | Event Name | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Thinkful Tampa | Thinkful Webinar || What is UX/UI Design? | 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM EST |
| Thinkful Tampa | Thinkful Webinar || Bootcamp Alumni Success Secrets | 5:00 PM to 6:30 PM EST |
| Thinkful Tampa | Thinkful Webinar || UX/UI Design: Wireframes and Prototypes | 8:00 PM to 9:30 PM EST |
| Financially Free Forever | Free OPEN Passes to DeveloperWeek 2022 (Feb 7-9) | 7:00 AM |
| Tampa Bay Azure User Group | Free OPEN Passes to DeveloperWeek 2022 (Feb 7-9) | 8:00 AM |
| Tampa Cybersecurity Training | Tampa Bay’s Job Seeker Coffee Talks | 9:00 AM |
| Option Trading Strategies (Tampa Bay area) Meetup Group | Option Trading Strategies Meetup (Online) | 11:00 AM |
| Christian Professionals Network Tampa Bay | Live Online Connection Meeting- Monday | 11:30 AM |
| Professional Business Networking with RGAnetwork.net | St. Pete Networking Lunch! Fords Garage! Monday’s | 11:30 AM |
| Tampa / St Pete Business Connections | South Tampa Professional Networking Lunch | 11:30 AM |
| Entrepreneurs & Business Owners of Sarasota & Bradenton | Virtual Networking Lunch Monday | 11:30 AM |
| Wesley Chapel, Trinity, New Tampa Business Professionals | Lutz, Wesley Chapel, New Tampa Virtual Networking Lunch | 11:30 AM |
| Young Professionals of Tampa Bay Networking Group | South Tampa Referrals | 11:30 AM |
| Tampa St Pete Stocks and Options Trading Group | Vantage Point – Weekly Market Recap & Outlook of Future Market Conditions | 2:00 PM |
| SCIPS, a 50+ Tampa Bay Singles Club | EUCHRE, Rummy Q and other Board Games for ENTHUSIASTIC GAME PLAYERS | 4:00 PM |
| West Orange Comics & Video Games | Magic Mondays | 5:00 PM |
| The Remote Work Collective | Sarasota | 20s/30s/40s/ | Happy Hour @ Daquiri Deck Siesta Key Village | 5:30 PM |
| The Tampa Chapter of the Society for the Exploration of Play | Critical Hit Games: Board Game Night | 5:30 PM |
| Entrepreneurs & Startups – Bradenton Networking & Education | Network & Learn with Founder of Bugz Rule | 5:30 PM |
| Critical Hit Games | MTG: Commander Open Play | 6:00 PM |
| Orlando Adventurer’s Guild | [FR] Waterdeep: Dragon Heist – DM Carson (Tier 1) | 6:00 PM |
| Tampa Bay Tabletoppers | Monday Feast & Game Night | 6:00 PM |
| Beginning Web Development | Weekly Learning Session | 6:00 PM |
| Tampa Bay Gaming: RPG’s, Board Games & more! | Open Painting at Warehouse 51 | 6:00 PM |
| Magic the Gathering Tampa/Brandon/St Pete | Commander Night | 6:00 PM |
| Board Game Meetup: Board Game Boxcar | Weekly Game Night! (Lazy Moon Location) | 6:00 PM |
| Tampa – Sarasota – Venice Trivia & Quiz Meetup | Trivia Night – Off the Wagon Kitchen & Brewery Smartphone Trivia Game Show | 6:30 PM |
| New Wealth CoLab | How to Manage: Non Fungible Tokens | 6:30 PM |
| New Wealth CoLab | Tampa Real Estate Investing Club WEEKLY Introduction | 6:30 PM |
| Toastmasters District 48 | North Port Toastmasters Meets Online!! | 6:30 PM |
| Florida Center for Creative Photography | FREE Lightroom Study Group | 7:00 PM |
| Toastmasters District 48 | Time to Take Speaking Your Passion to the Next Level at South Tampa TM! | 7:00 PM |
| Tampa Flutter Meetup Group | In-Person Meetup | 7:00 PM |
| Nerd Night Out | NB Online Anime Watch Party | 7:00 PM |
| Orlando Stoics | ONLINE: “Momento Mori & Its History” | 7:00 PM |
| Tampa Hackerspace | Intro to the Babylock Embroidery Machine (Members Only) | 7:00 PM |
| South Florida Poker, Music & Entertainment Group | FREE Texas Holdem Poker Tournaments at Fireside Lounge & Billiards 7 PM Start | 7:00 PM |
| Toastmasters Division E | Lakeland (FL) Toastmasters Club #2262 | 7:00 PM |
| Central Florida AD&D (1st ed.) Grognards Guild | World of Greyhawk: 1E One-Shots | 7:30 PM |
| North Florida Stock Investing Education | North Florida Chapter Model Investment Club | 7:30 PM |
Tuesday, February 8
Wednesday, February 9
Thursday, February 10
Friday, February 11
Saturday, February 12
Sunday, February 13
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!
In case you hadn’t heard yet, Wordle, that game that’s cause everyone to post their score tables all over social media…
…has been bought by the New York Times. For “an undisclosed price in the low-seven figures.”
Now I can’t promise that my upcoming Meetup will carve a direct path to your becoming a millionaire, but what it will do is help you sharpen those programming skills that could help you build career and financial security.
You may have memorized the bits and pieces of programming from your university, high school, boot camp, online class, or book. But there’s a difference between that knowledge and applying it to turn those bits and pieces into actual working programs.
- What goes into building Wordle?
- How do you break down a problem like programming Wordle into smaller easier-to-handle problems?
- How do you tell the player which letters are “right letter, right place,” “right letter, wrong place,” and “completely wrong letter”?
Here’s the fun part: I haven’t completely written a working Wordle program yet. That’s because we’re going to figure it out as a group, just like you’d have to figure out how to turn an idea for an application into that application, which is something you’ll have to do in a developer job.
If you’re looking to get into coding or sharpen your coding skills, you’ll want to catch this session. It’ll be beginner friendly, but there will be some challenges if you’re more experienced (basic scoring is simple, but Wordle scoring has some interesting challenges). Join us at “Think Like a Coder” and learn how to think like a coder!