Coding With Steem

If you follow me, you know that I write code. Sometimes, its to test something I just learned, other times it has an actual function and its there to save me some time.

I learned a ton from writing code for STEEM related things. I knew absolutely no python before I started doing stuff for Steem. I needed to write something to pay out a lot of people at once, and I saw that I could do that with python. With some trial and error, I managed to make a program where I just provide some data and the program automatically pays people out. After modifying it a bit I managed to get it to be used for Hive account@thesteemhouse's dream team payments. Rather than having Hive account@thatsweeneyguy spend a ton of time manually, I wrote something that would do the payments after I gave it the amount that needs to be paid and the memo. Pretty cool right? I think a lot of people can use this, and if I learn how to make a frontend for this, I would love to make it available for the general public to use it.

After I wrote that, I wrote some more python, a little bit for bitshares(which I had no clue about either). Its made people's lives easier. I admit, I don't write perfect code. I make things work. I've been revisiting some of my older code and I look at it now and wonder how stupid I was. I'm learning a lot every time I add a feature to one of my scripts. The code gets a little better every time I look at it. I find more efficient ways of doing things. Just today, I took a look at one of my older projects and was able to shrink down about 50 lines to about 10. 50 to 10, isn't that amazing? That was a something I was working on just 4-5 months ago. I learn so much in that short of a time.

I've been working on an app, Hive account@votefund. Just check my blog for more info on it, but a basic overview of it is an app to crowdfund using the Steem blockchain. Its currently just on iOS. Looking over the code for it, I realized one thing. Its ugly. I tried very hard to make it as good as I can so that way its easier for others to add to it, but its still ugly. Spacing is terrible. Some places have 4-5 empty lines for no reason and other places have no empty lines to separate blocks of code out, and a major focus for me now is going to be writing cleaner code thats better for others to read.

Steem has made me make major strides in my coding journey. I've learned another language(at least enough to do basic things) and have made advancements in the ones I currently know. I plan on learning more JavaScript when I have time so I can make web apps. I also hope to release my first app to the Appstore sometime this year.

The best way to learn is by actually doing things, and Steem has let me do that. I'd tried to learn python many times in the past, and it never went well. And the reason was because I had no reason to learn it. I find spending time on something that I'll never use worthless and needing to write something to make my and other people's life easier forced me to actually learn python. If you want to learn a programming language, I think the way to do is by writing code that you'll actually use. Don't just write test things and follow the videos or tutorials. Write something that you'll use in your everyday life. That forces you to spend the time actually wanting to learn. You'll have the desire to progress your knowledge. I'll leave you with this, build something that you'll actually use.