Iron Man Inspired Me to Become a Programmer

What's your current role and what do you like about it?

I don’t currently have a role in a company. I’m an undergraduate student studying computer science and computer engineering. But I do love being a student because I get to play around with a lot of theoretical and conceptual types of programming that I wouldn’t be able to if I was working for a living.

How did you get into Programming?

I watched Iron Man 2008, ironically. I fell in love with J.A.R.V.I.S. the second I saw him on screen and decided that I wanted my computer to talk to me the way that J.A.R.V.I.S talks to Tony.

How did you get into writing about Programming?

This is actually my first time writing about programming! I’ve spent years studying it but I’ve never had the chance to write about it before now.

What's your earliest memory of you learning to code?

I started programming by working with Python when I was 11 years old. I had just graduated the 6th grade and I begged my parents to let me have my own computer to be able to write programs on instead of having to share the family computer. I was so thrilled when I got “Hello World!” to display for the first time!

When Elon Musk achieves his dream of getting us to Mars, what technology do you think would be important on Mars and why?

Hydroponics systems will be the most important piece of tech on mars. Contrary to popular belief, hydroponics isn’t just something in Star Trek. They’re a core part of being able to grow and harvest plants and crops, especially in desert environments, or environments where crops don’t grow very easily. On Mars, people will need a way to be able to grow food sustainably and reliably and hydroponics will make that happen.

What's a programming language that you would build EVERYTHING and ANYTHING in and why?

I’d build everything and anything in Python because of its ease of use. I’ve worked with a number of languages, Python, C++, C#, HTML, and a few others, and Python has a level of simplicity to it because of its syntax. If you’re working with C++ and even one small thing is off, your entire code will crash and burn. It’s much easier to make mistakes in Python but still have your code work, or be able to correct them.

What's something you think Software developers do not do enough of?

In the tech world we have a saying: “RTFSM” it stands for “read the freakin’ manual” and that is the one thing software developers don’t do enough of. Many of us have gone to school for years and have developed a good amount of skill doing whatever it is that we’re doing. The problem with that is that arrogance can set in and we can start tackling problems without doing the requisite research and doing more harm than good. Reading the manual basically means to sit down and do the research necessary to become knowledgeable enough about whatever you’re working on to contribute to it positively.

What is your least favorite thing about programming?

My least favorite thing about programming is the headache that staring at a screen for hours on end trying to decipher what’s wrong with your code can bring. Sometimes you’ll have a great idea and you’ll think you executed it well, but there will be one little error that’s often something punctuation, or syntax related that’ll hold you up, and that’ll bring a major headache.

What’s a technology you’re currently learning or excited to learn?

I’m currently learning how to use PyTorch! I’m actually really excited to learn about it because I love deep learning, and machine learning, and PyTorch is an extremely flexible programming framework that gives me the tools to interact with them in new ways.

What’s your favorite Programming story of all-time on HackerNoon?

My favorite HackerNoon programming story is Welcome to the World of Artificial Intelligence Programming. It gives a wonderful look into what it actually takes to build an AI! Most people don’t understand what things like neural networks are and the article gives a great overview of them by describing them as a computer model that’s just like the human brain.

Time travel 10 years into the past or 10 years into the future? What does technology look like? Give reasons for your answer.

Technology in the future looks eerily similar to what it looks like today. Technological innovations have come at a rapid pace over the last few decades, and they’ll continue to do so, but over the years we’ve settled into certain form factors and frameworks for what we’ve deemed acceptable with technology. Some people like large pieces of tech like massive tablets such as the Samsung Galaxy S8 ultra, and some people like smaller pieces of tech like handheld phones.

But when it comes to things like robotics and cybernetics, while advancements will be made, we still don’t have enough of an understanding of the human body to be able to create tech that will be mimicking human behavior, and I can’t see that changing much in the next ten years. There’s still so much more to be learned medically before we can turn that into technological advancement!