ForeverGeek » Programming

Learning to Program

Kevin — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 10:02:57 +0000

A few years back, I was working for my father at his software company, running the shipping department. It got boring over the slow season, so I started asking around about learning how to program. I had dabbled in programming when I was a kid, but now I was in my 20s and more geared towards writing than mathematics. Nonetheless, I decided to give it a shot and tried to learn Visual Basic. How’d it turn out? Well I’m a writer now, if that tells you anything. But that doesn’t mean that my interest in programming has stopped. In fact, I’m thinking about getting back into it, so I figured I’d pose the question to you – the readers – because you know better than me.

I’ve got a lot of ideas for programs for the iPad and iPhone. Problem is, I have no way to get them out there. I do have a friend who programs for both, but he now lives in San Francisco and that’s not as much help. What I’d like to do is develop these applications myself and get them out there, if for no other reason than to help with my own productivity (most of the apps I’m looking at are geared towards freelancing productivity).

But I’ve never learned how to program for a Mac, much less anything for the iPad and iPhone. I know that the SDK is pretty cheap, but I don’t want to buy it if it doesn’t do anything for me. I feel like I’d do best with a WYSISYG editor similar to Dreamweaver, but I’m not sure if that’s how it works.

So I ask you – the smartest people I know – your thoughts. What would I need to do to get into programming for the iPhone? How much does it take and where’s the best place to start? Let me know in the comments and we’ll hash it out there.

How Geeks Propose

Noemi Twigg — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 05:34:45 +0000

Listen up all of you – you just might learn a thing or two about romance from geeks! In keeping with the theme of the season – it’s the love month, in case you’ve overlooked that tiny fact – let’s take a look at some of the geekiest marriage proposals ever. Never mind that they’re geeky – they worked!
Wired.com recently did their own feature with 5 Geeky Marriage Proposals That Worked. This one’s my favorite: the hacked version of Bejeweled. Bernie programmed his own version of Bejeweled, which was his girlfriend’s favorite game. What happens in this game was that when a player reaches a certain score, the screen clears up and the ring comes down instead – obviously a marriage proposal. Whether Tammy, the girlfriend, was impressed with Bernie’s programming skills or the idea of marriage, she said YES.

For Twitter fanatics, here is another great proposal by Sean Bonner to Tara Brown. Take a look at the screenshot to see for yourself. I don’t know about you guys but this is awfully cute, isn’t it?

Here’s another one on Twitter. The proposal:

The reply:

Ahuh – and who said that only men give proposals?

Last, but not the least, is the proposal to Kathleen Fent. This one took all of 15 minutes to get a yes, but get a yes it did!

And who said geeks were boring? Eat your words, people. These geeks have proven that proposing marriage the good old fashioned way doesn’t come close to what they can come up with with a little help from their friends (Twitter, Nintendo DS, and whatever other gadget or technology you prefer.)

9-year-old Creates Hit iPhone App

Noemi Twigg — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 11:53:28 +0000

Who would have thought that a kid as young as 9 years old could create an application for the iPhone, much less create one that would be an instant hit? Well this little boy from Singapore did just that!

Lim Ding Wen is of Malaysian descent and is definitely a prodigy by his own right. At the age of 2, he started using the computer (I think I was only starting to recognise letters at that age!). He was 7 when he first started programming. By the time he turned 9, he was already fluent in no less than 6 programming languages! How many do you know?

Anyhow, his iPhone app is dubbed Doodle Kids and allows iPhone users to draw using their fingers. Finger painting, if you wish to call it.

So how did he come up with the idea for the app? He says that he created Doodle Kids for his sisters who love to draw. He also says that he “is happy that people like it.” Well, with more than 4,000 downloads from the iTunes store in less than 2 weeks, it does seem that people really like Doodle Kids.

On the technical side, Lim Ding Wen created the program using Pascal. And how long did it take him? Oh, I don’t know, just a few days.