10 ms·

My GF learned to code in 3 months. This is what she came up with.

309 points by mntmn 14y ago

ZephyrP 14y ago
I'll just come out and say it - I'm jealous of you.
zitterbewegung 14y ago
This is a good example of how people should learn coding. Not doing examples but doing something that is very goal directed (for her doing a website). Exercises should help you understand how to do a final goal. This is pretty impressive for only 3 months of study also.
- sreyaNotfilc 14y ago
  I've been bugging my friend that he should learn to code a website for the past few years. And for the past few years, he's been stating that "its not for me" or that "I'm not the techie type". I hear this all the time from people who don't know anything about coding. A few months ago I showed him a demo of my website (artJutsu.com WIP) and showed him the basics behind the code. I also showed him how to create a simple site. The dev site (on my laptop) has many different concepts that I'm still hammering out. To him it looks complex, so I told him that it doesn't have to be. I gave him the following advice for why one does create a program. "Just think of a "simple" problem that you'd like to fix. It doesn't have to be super robust, or super smart, or super technical. Just try to solve this problem through an elegant interface." For me, artJutsu (once I get the main part completed) will solve a variety of small problems. Yes, there are things in it that is very complicated, but that comes from research. We're in an amazing time as developers where we can access a rich array of resources just with a simple Google search. The great thing is, the simplest solution usually solves the problem just as well. I always was the type of person that hated reading those coding books and doing lesson after lesson with very little getting done. For the most part, you don't really know WHY you need to know techniques and theory. Its just way too confusing. I find getting down and dirty building something teaches you a lot more. Theory is great, but what good is it if you don't know that you need to know it? I believe that getting your feet wet will enhance the traditional learning experience. Anyway, after a month of coding, my friend has created a pretty good "list" site for his wife. He's at the point where its getting tough to maintain his code, but he loves it. The joy of creating a useful tool to solve a problem is what we thrive on.
DavidSch 14y ago
She has a lot of skills for 3 months.
voodoochilo 14y ago
keep her!
iveney 14y ago
Seriously? 3 months to know so many things including what Richard Stallman says ... admire.
feverishaaron 14y ago
Can you ask her to outline the process she used to learn to code this tool?
- mntmn 14y ago
  Basically, for ruby and javascript we had (very informal) coaching sessions together roughly once a week (around 2 hours each). I would walk her through core syntax problems (how to use functions, objects, arrays) and give her some hints of what APIs to look for. And then she went and researched and tried a lot of stuff (sometimes more than 8 hours a day) and would ask me when she got totally stuck. I would then try to not give direct answers but hint at where to look for or how to develop some sort of divide-and-conquer strategies. And then I was kinda amazed at the results ;)
  - acoyfellow 14y ago
    I wish I had a buddy like you!
yesimahuman 14y ago
Great execution, that's what it's really all about!
brianmckenzie 14y ago
This is really impressive for three months, and the little charts on her skills page are funny!
Homunculiheaded 14y ago
I really like the skills section http://nukaco.la/skills.html http://nukaco.la/skills.html I wish this was standard practice for resumes, even though it's subjective assessment it's really easy to compare relative strengths and weaknesses, for example it's very easy to see "dabbled in haskell, very proficient in garage band" just by glancing
- famousactress 14y ago
  Came here to say the same thing. I think it's an incredibly effective visualization.
- oacgnol 14y ago
  I typically just list things I've worked with, no matter the experience level. I like to do so because then the interviewer has to ask about them in an interview, where I'd then get a chance to (subtly) showcase my knowledge and enthusiasm. From my own anecdote: I had an interviewer ask me about something I had listed in my resume (but not related to the job position). It made for good conversation and allowed them insight that they otherwise wouldn't have seen with a straight technical question. Edit: Hopefully I didn't go off topic with my comment, but I also think the graphic indicator was a clever and very straightforward way of expressing experience level. It just doesn't seem very space efficient if on a paper resume.
- nwienert 14y ago
  I like it, but in 3 months she got 2/5 in rails, 2/5 in javascript and 2/5 in git? I doubt thats even possible... I've been working with each of those for ~6 years and I'd still only put myself at a 4 and if I was being generous. It's funny the longer you work with something the more you realize how little you understand it. I probably would have put myself at a 2/5 in those categories 5 years ago, but looking back, I'd rate myself at 1/5 instead.
  - xxpor 14y ago
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
cjbprime 14y ago
Awesome work!
gourneau 14y ago
Wow she is awesome. This music hack day project is intensely beautiful http://nukaco.la/projects.html http://nukaco.la/projects.html It is a musical umbrella! That synths sound as it is hit by water!
verganileonardo 14y ago
She learned all by herself?
rmoriz 14y ago
Actually she might learned to code in 3 months, but shes coding much longer I guess. e.g She wrote in her XING profile that she started studying informatics in 10/2010. Despite that, consider marrying her :)
- aliz 14y ago
  Yup, I started studying bioinformatics in 2010. I chose bioinformatics, because I was interested in biochemistry and biology and wanted to learn how to code. To my disappointment uni did not teach me much practical things and programming courses (Haskell) were really boring. I would find myself sitting over a really dull homework in the middle of the night thinking "It's so stupid and boring. I really don't want to do this. I want to do more fun stuff... like coding a game or so.". Well trying to code a game in Haskell turned out to not be the best idea. Especially if you don't know how to code yet... and then I just stopped going to classes. 3-4 months ago I wanted to make a band, but had a hard time finding musicians. So I decided to learn Rails and HTML etc to build a web application which could help me (and others) find some musicians. In the end I never really officially launched it but learned a lot and found that I enjoy coding. :)
  - ysangkok 14y ago
    Don't blame it on Haskell. Everyone has to learn the fundamentals. Haskell is suited for making games, it's just not the mainstream language for that. See http://www.haskell.org/haskellwiki/Frag http://www.haskell.org/haskellwiki/Frag . Yes, 3D games have lots of tricky state handling and OpenGL doesn't map well to Haskell. But doing a point-and-click adventure in Haskell is not harder than doing it in C++. I really doubt your classes were stupid and boring. Maybe you were the one who was stupid and boring :P
    - aliz 14y ago
      I have to say I like Haskell and I don't think it's boring at all. I just wanted to learn more than they were teaching us in uni. :) Haha, I even played around with HOpenGL...
  - 14y ago
adviceonly 14y ago
Very, very cool stuff. Haveband is also a good idea, but I think the interface could be improved by using a dropdown/select for the values- having each of those side by side with the grey background made me think they were tags. Other than that and the Stallman reference, all is great. Stallman is a great guy (imo), but I think her work should be the central focus. The skills page also shows smart design.
mntmn 14y ago
Thank you all for being so nice! :')
TazeTSchnitzel 14y ago
I liked some of her other projects more, like the little Maniac Mansion thing, or her Rails app haveband.
pyre 14y ago
I think this might be a one-off case, as she mentions RMS as a reason for not being on Facebook or Twitter.
mikecane 14y ago
Turn On -> Nyan Cat. LMAO! Edit: I should have included the URL for context: http://nukaco.la/maniac.html http://nukaco.la/maniac.html
- ph0rque 14y ago
  I personally like how nyan cat becomes vampire cat when you turn off the light...
  - petitmiam 14y ago
    I can't find the key to the safe edit: I'm having too much fun.
    - aliz 14y ago
      Talk to one of the pictures. :)
    - xxdiamondxx 14y ago
      and the javascript is unminified hacked!
    - AsylumWarden 14y ago
      spoiler!! 3 1 4 1
henryboston 14y ago
Care to share how she learned so quickly?
brianlovin 14y ago
I'm most impressed with the 8-bit sound umbrella.
- ezhux 14y ago
  I saw that umbrella in Amsterdam @ MHD. Sadly, they just showed how it worked but not how it was made.
raverbashing 14y ago
Really, really? Congrats to her I remember doing "something similar" in MSX Basic about 20 years ago =)
mxfh 14y ago
hach lukas. sweet.
fooooobar 14y ago
Is that a turd owl in the upper right? Nice work!
SquareWheel 14y ago
That's really incredible. I love the Skills page, very creative. The only thing that bothers me is that I can't select text... A little unnerving, actually.
weslly 14y ago
Hard to believe, i'm really impressed.
martindale 14y ago
You have an awesome and intelligent girlfriend. Congratulations.
dmor 14y ago
Aliz, this is awesome and your bf is awesome for supporting you in learning to code. Also - speaking ANY Icelandic is kind of a big deal! Hope I'll meet you sometime
- arnarbi 14y ago
  > speaking Icelandic is a big deal Only if you are not Icelandic. :)
donnawarellp 14y ago
More proof that ycombinator is a bunch of misogynists, of course you need a man to submit the link for her since she would instantly be shadowbanned for being female.
xiaoma 14y ago
Daniel Tammet learned to speak Icelandic in a single week. Unfortunately, like your girlfriend, he didn't share much of a guideline for others working towards similar goals. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMz3gjl9x-M http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMz3gjl9x-M
mattchew 14y ago
Great work. Also, nice site name. :)
ziggrat 14y ago
I think your gf is your hand. However, very nice work.
tlrobinson 14y ago
Can you tell us how she/you went about learning to code?
prophetjohn 14y ago
Almost invariably when we see posts like these on Hacker News, the person actually had prior programming experience, but just happened to start taking it serious for the last [small number] [unit of time]. Thus is the case here. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4050952 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4050952 However, it's impressive for a first project. I hope you stick with it.
scotty79 14y ago
Title is misleading because your GF was utterly awesome before that.
leke 14y ago
I'm insanely jealous of your gf. I've been doing programming as a hobby for nearly 10 years and haven't knocked out anything as cool at that. Nice skills section too. I might make that as an extra attachment page to my CV. Ask her, Python or Ruby and why for me.
fadliawan 14y ago
In 3 months I've only got how to create data types, functions, and conditionals. Haha.
krzyk 14y ago
3 months of programming and already had a glimpse of Haskell, I'm really impressed. I'm struggling to find time to learn it a little, and during the last 10 years since I first heard about it I hadn't had enought time (the only haskell code I "do" is xmonad.hs :)
angry-hacker 14y ago
Well she is clearly tech savvy lady: http://nukaco.la/projects.html http://nukaco.la/projects.html So probably it was not very hard for her =)
teatang 14y ago
Nice! The skills section is really nice! And please take care of your gf, she's awesome! :')
lwhi 14y ago
I think it's great work - but why does the developer need to be introduced as 'my GF'. She's clearly very technically capable - why not introduce the site on it's own merits?
joesunga 14y ago
It's amazing how much folks can learn in such a short amount of time. I wonder if she was learning full-time or on the side.

309 points by mntmn 14y ago

I'll just come out and say it - I'm jealous of you.

This is a good example of how people should learn coding. Not doing examples but doing something that is very goal directed (for her doing a website). Exercises should help you understand how to do a final goal. This is pretty impressive for only 3 months of study also.

sreyaNotfilc 14y ago
I've been bugging my friend that he should learn to code a website for the past few years. And for the past few years, he's been stating that "its not for me" or that "I'm not the techie type". I hear this all the time from people who don't know anything about coding. A few months ago I showed him a demo of my website (artJutsu.com WIP) and showed him the basics behind the code. I also showed him how to create a simple site. The dev site (on my laptop) has many different concepts that I'm still hammering out. To him it looks complex, so I told him that it doesn't have to be. I gave him the following advice for why one does create a program. "Just think of a "simple" problem that you'd like to fix. It doesn't have to be super robust, or super smart, or super technical. Just try to solve this problem through an elegant interface." For me, artJutsu (once I get the main part completed) will solve a variety of small problems. Yes, there are things in it that is very complicated, but that comes from research. We're in an amazing time as developers where we can access a rich array of resources just with a simple Google search. The great thing is, the simplest solution usually solves the problem just as well. I always was the type of person that hated reading those coding books and doing lesson after lesson with very little getting done. For the most part, you don't really know WHY you need to know techniques and theory. Its just way too confusing. I find getting down and dirty building something teaches you a lot more. Theory is great, but what good is it if you don't know that you need to know it? I believe that getting your feet wet will enhance the traditional learning experience. Anyway, after a month of coding, my friend has created a pretty good "list" site for his wife. He's at the point where its getting tough to maintain his code, but he loves it. The joy of creating a useful tool to solve a problem is what we thrive on.

DavidSch 14y ago

She has a lot of skills for 3 months.

voodoochilo 14y ago

keep her!

iveney 14y ago

Seriously? 3 months to know so many things including what Richard Stallman says ... admire.

feverishaaron 14y ago

Can you ask her to outline the process she used to learn to code this tool?

mntmn 14y ago
Basically, for ruby and javascript we had (very informal) coaching sessions together roughly once a week (around 2 hours each). I would walk her through core syntax problems (how to use functions, objects, arrays) and give her some hints of what APIs to look for. And then she went and researched and tried a lot of stuff (sometimes more than 8 hours a day) and would ask me when she got totally stuck. I would then try to not give direct answers but hint at where to look for or how to develop some sort of divide-and-conquer strategies. And then I was kinda amazed at the results ;)
- acoyfellow 14y ago
  I wish I had a buddy like you!

yesimahuman 14y ago

Great execution, that's what it's really all about!

brianmckenzie 14y ago

This is really impressive for three months, and the little charts on her skills page are funny!

Homunculiheaded 14y ago

I really like the skills section http://nukaco.la/skills.html http://nukaco.la/skills.html I wish this was standard practice for resumes, even though it's subjective assessment it's really easy to compare relative strengths and weaknesses, for example it's very easy to see "dabbled in haskell, very proficient in garage band" just by glancing

famousactress 14y ago
Came here to say the same thing. I think it's an incredibly effective visualization.
oacgnol 14y ago
I typically just list things I've worked with, no matter the experience level. I like to do so because then the interviewer has to ask about them in an interview, where I'd then get a chance to (subtly) showcase my knowledge and enthusiasm. From my own anecdote: I had an interviewer ask me about something I had listed in my resume (but not related to the job position). It made for good conversation and allowed them insight that they otherwise wouldn't have seen with a straight technical question. Edit: Hopefully I didn't go off topic with my comment, but I also think the graphic indicator was a clever and very straightforward way of expressing experience level. It just doesn't seem very space efficient if on a paper resume.
nwienert 14y ago
I like it, but in 3 months she got 2/5 in rails, 2/5 in javascript and 2/5 in git? I doubt thats even possible... I've been working with each of those for ~6 years and I'd still only put myself at a 4 and if I was being generous. It's funny the longer you work with something the more you realize how little you understand it. I probably would have put myself at a 2/5 in those categories 5 years ago, but looking back, I'd rate myself at 1/5 instead.
- xxpor 14y ago
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect

cjbprime 14y ago

Awesome work!

gourneau 14y ago

Wow she is awesome. This music hack day project is intensely beautiful http://nukaco.la/projects.html http://nukaco.la/projects.html It is a musical umbrella! That synths sound as it is hit by water!

verganileonardo 14y ago

She learned all by herself?

rmoriz 14y ago

Actually she might learned to code in 3 months, but shes coding much longer I guess. e.g She wrote in her XING profile that she started studying informatics in 10/2010. Despite that, consider marrying her :)

aliz 14y ago
Yup, I started studying bioinformatics in 2010. I chose bioinformatics, because I was interested in biochemistry and biology and wanted to learn how to code. To my disappointment uni did not teach me much practical things and programming courses (Haskell) were really boring. I would find myself sitting over a really dull homework in the middle of the night thinking "It's so stupid and boring. I really don't want to do this. I want to do more fun stuff... like coding a game or so.". Well trying to code a game in Haskell turned out to not be the best idea. Especially if you don't know how to code yet... and then I just stopped going to classes. 3-4 months ago I wanted to make a band, but had a hard time finding musicians. So I decided to learn Rails and HTML etc to build a web application which could help me (and others) find some musicians. In the end I never really officially launched it but learned a lot and found that I enjoy coding. :)
- ysangkok 14y ago
  Don't blame it on Haskell. Everyone has to learn the fundamentals. Haskell is suited for making games, it's just not the mainstream language for that. See http://www.haskell.org/haskellwiki/Frag http://www.haskell.org/haskellwiki/Frag . Yes, 3D games have lots of tricky state handling and OpenGL doesn't map well to Haskell. But doing a point-and-click adventure in Haskell is not harder than doing it in C++. I really doubt your classes were stupid and boring. Maybe you were the one who was stupid and boring :P
  - aliz 14y ago
    I have to say I like Haskell and I don't think it's boring at all. I just wanted to learn more than they were teaching us in uni. :) Haha, I even played around with HOpenGL...
- 14y ago

adviceonly 14y ago

Very, very cool stuff. Haveband is also a good idea, but I think the interface could be improved by using a dropdown/select for the values- having each of those side by side with the grey background made me think they were tags. Other than that and the Stallman reference, all is great. Stallman is a great guy (imo), but I think her work should be the central focus. The skills page also shows smart design.

mntmn 14y ago

Thank you all for being so nice! :')

TazeTSchnitzel 14y ago

I liked some of her other projects more, like the little Maniac Mansion thing, or her Rails app haveband.

pyre 14y ago

I think this might be a one-off case, as she mentions RMS as a reason for not being on Facebook or Twitter.

mikecane 14y ago

Turn On -> Nyan Cat. LMAO! Edit: I should have included the URL for context: http://nukaco.la/maniac.html http://nukaco.la/maniac.html

ph0rque 14y ago
I personally like how nyan cat becomes vampire cat when you turn off the light...
- petitmiam 14y ago
  I can't find the key to the safe edit: I'm having too much fun.
  - aliz 14y ago
    Talk to one of the pictures. :)
  - xxdiamondxx 14y ago
    and the javascript is unminified hacked!
  - AsylumWarden 14y ago
    spoiler!! 3 1 4 1

henryboston 14y ago

Care to share how she learned so quickly?

brianlovin 14y ago

I'm most impressed with the 8-bit sound umbrella.

ezhux 14y ago
I saw that umbrella in Amsterdam @ MHD. Sadly, they just showed how it worked but not how it was made.

raverbashing 14y ago

Really, really? Congrats to her I remember doing "something similar" in MSX Basic about 20 years ago =)

mxfh 14y ago

hach lukas. sweet.

fooooobar 14y ago

Is that a turd owl in the upper right? Nice work!

SquareWheel 14y ago

That's really incredible. I love the Skills page, very creative. The only thing that bothers me is that I can't select text... A little unnerving, actually.

weslly 14y ago

Hard to believe, i'm really impressed.

martindale 14y ago

You have an awesome and intelligent girlfriend. Congratulations.

dmor 14y ago

Aliz, this is awesome and your bf is awesome for supporting you in learning to code. Also - speaking ANY Icelandic is kind of a big deal! Hope I'll meet you sometime

arnarbi 14y ago
> speaking Icelandic is a big deal Only if you are not Icelandic. :)

donnawarellp 14y ago

More proof that ycombinator is a bunch of misogynists, of course you need a man to submit the link for her since she would instantly be shadowbanned for being female.

xiaoma 14y ago

Daniel Tammet learned to speak Icelandic in a single week. Unfortunately, like your girlfriend, he didn't share much of a guideline for others working towards similar goals. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMz3gjl9x-M http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMz3gjl9x-M

mattchew 14y ago

Great work. Also, nice site name. :)

ziggrat 14y ago

I think your gf is your hand. However, very nice work.

tlrobinson 14y ago

Can you tell us how she/you went about learning to code?

prophetjohn 14y ago

Almost invariably when we see posts like these on Hacker News, the person actually had prior programming experience, but just happened to start taking it serious for the last [small number] [unit of time]. Thus is the case here. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4050952 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4050952 However, it's impressive for a first project. I hope you stick with it.

scotty79 14y ago

Title is misleading because your GF was utterly awesome before that.

leke 14y ago

I'm insanely jealous of your gf. I've been doing programming as a hobby for nearly 10 years and haven't knocked out anything as cool at that. Nice skills section too. I might make that as an extra attachment page to my CV. Ask her, Python or Ruby and why for me.

fadliawan 14y ago

In 3 months I've only got how to create data types, functions, and conditionals. Haha.

krzyk 14y ago

3 months of programming and already had a glimpse of Haskell, I'm really impressed. I'm struggling to find time to learn it a little, and during the last 10 years since I first heard about it I hadn't had enought time (the only haskell code I "do" is xmonad.hs :)

angry-hacker 14y ago

Well she is clearly tech savvy lady: http://nukaco.la/projects.html http://nukaco.la/projects.html So probably it was not very hard for her =)

teatang 14y ago

Nice! The skills section is really nice! And please take care of your gf, she's awesome! :')

lwhi 14y ago

I think it's great work - but why does the developer need to be introduced as 'my GF'. She's clearly very technically capable - why not introduce the site on it's own merits?

joesunga 14y ago

It's amazing how much folks can learn in such a short amount of time. I wonder if she was learning full-time or on the side.