I thought I would have tons for time and energy for reading, writing to this blog and getting my website brainycode.com together. I did not do the reading I planned in fact I have decided not to plan so much on what I should read and when, etc. Since I wrote my initial reading list I only read one book in one week and that was such an effort that I strained my eyes and could not read anything for two weeks afterwards. Moreover, the book I read was NOT EVEN on the original list of books to read!
I did love the accomplishment – reading a 400 page technical book in one week. The book was “Modern Full-Stack Development – Using TypeScript, React, Node.js, Webpack, and Docker” by Frank Zammetti. Since I don’t own the book and was following along as I read from OReilly Learning I managed to take over 164 pages of notes. The book was 12 chapters covering setting up Node.js, using npm, React, TypeScript, using Webpack, and Docker. There are two applications that are built – MailBag and BattleJong. The book would have been better if the reader was given step-by-step instructions and a deep-dive into every module used. I do realize that would require a 1000-page book.
I understood the MailBag application more but I felt there were so many things I would have liked to explore in more depth, SMTP and IMAP protocols and how to set it up using something like gmail (since anyone can get an e-mail address). The UI looked terrible so a bit more time with maybe material design or some cool UI tool would have been nice. I was able to build this application was not happy with the many modules we used with no real understanding. The second application BattleJong was a version of Mahjong which I did not know how to play. I could not get my personal version of the project to build I had to resort to using the book’s version in github. The book is dated now with React having moved to using Hooks rather than cluttering a project with functional and class-based components. I will be honest – I rushed the second project since it would have required more time and energy than I could spare by the end for the week to understand how everything was working and my eyes were failing. I am sure I could figure it all out. Again the book used modules it did not get into much discussion on how to really use. I am thinking of re-doing a version of the approach minus the TypeScript and taking into consideration that gmail will no longer access from remote apps using just login and password so an alternative approach should be explored.
In so far as writing this blog – as you can see I took several months off due to completing a Coursera course on React, learning Bitcoin, etc. It has been a disappointing three month of retirement. So what’s next for me? I actually get out of retirement some day this week. I am returning to my old job but now as a contractor. I am looking forward to it actually. Hopefully, I will find time to write a bit more and share what I am learning here or at brainycode.com.
