7 ms·

seconded. day 46 you wrote a snake game using canvas manipulation? i call shenanigans.

apalmer 13y ago
I definitely see your point, but from her description she spends 10 hours a day on this excersize. I could see that level of progress given those constraints, 10 hours a day every days for a month and a half is insane dedication. On the other hand that level of dedication seems to indicate that apparently she has some kind of OCD, no disrespect just wild speculation.
- ultimatedelman 13y ago
  i'm not saying that this feat of creating 180 websites in 180 days is impossible. it's highly improbable and takes a very unique mix of dedication, intellect, funding, and, well, nothing better to do for half a year, but that's for someone with a background in coding. my beef is that this person is claiming to come from a completely non-programming background and has not read any books or taken any courses. i don't care if you spend 24 hours a day coding, you can't write a program as complex as MS Paint in canvas in a month if you've never written a line of code in your life. There are just too many intermediate steps missing and progress is just too fast. I would love to be wrong about this, but seeing as I've been doing this for a really long time, this just smells funny to me.
  - ehmuidifici 13y ago
    +1 ultimatedelman, I've got your point. This kind of "effort" is very rare and in most cases smells like copy-paste from somewhere. Look, I'm not saying that jenniferDewalt is a fraud (and I'm not calling shenanigans), but she must keep in mind that some people will say that her work is just a copycat and she must deal with it. IMHO, she did a very good job! I really liked it.
  - JackFr 13y ago
    Indeed -- I find it kind of hard to believe that someone with truly zero programming experience knows what github or even knows what source control is. I have no doubts about the main thrust, just some details seem as if they are embellished.
    - wicker 13y ago
      Github and source control are the very first things out of my mouth when someone expresses interest in programming. They were the first things that were recommended to me. I basically say to go get set up on github and walk through the tutorials, and 'follow' me while you're at it. Instant community feeling and the new programmer can always Stack Overflow 'how to revert my last commit'. It's low-hanging fruit to get set up. Next, I usually suggest grabbing an introductory reference and a bunch of small projects (usually my go-to is Project Euler) in the language of their choice. What she's doing is exactly what I'd recommend if you were brand new and wanted to get a feel for the landscape.
  - mynameishere 13y ago
    well, nothing better to do for half a year Yeah, this is the real fishy part. Sure, it seems like she has some previous programming experience, at minimum. Using "public" and "private" in javascript having no previous Java/C++/C# experience, or without having copied-and-pasted it from somewhere is odd. Big deal, though. She's promoting herself. But why? If I had that kind of dedication, it wouldn't be on a tedious gimmick. It's much more sane to have one or two big ideas. She's fighting chicken-sized horses that's for sure.
  - JamesArgo 13y ago
    Perhaps she's just really, really smart.
- jenniferDewalt 13y ago
  I've never been diagnosed :)
  - future_grad 13y ago
    yet?
- thenomad 13y ago
  Erm, isn't 10 hours a day approximately one full-time job? If she's, say, taken a six-month sabbatical to learn to make websites, this seems eminently reasonable and doable without speculation about mental illness.
  - yaddayadda 13y ago
    10 hours a day, 7 days a week, for almost 6 months While it is far from a definitive diagnosis, it isn't 'normal'. Without a doubt it is ambitious, and her progress thus far impressive! If only we all had 10 hours a day for a full 6 month period to spend pursuing ambitious goals ...
    - thenomad 13y ago
      Shrug. Maybe it depends on whom you hang out with. Personally I spend a lot of time with successful entrepreneur and creative types. This sort of focus and commitment, whilst it's definitely laudable, isn't abnormal amongst that crowd.
      - yaddayadda 13y ago
        "Maybe it depends on whom you hang out with." ...and your existing bills and how you are able to pay for them. I've got a 1 hour commute each direction, and an 8 hour a day, soul-sucking, brain-energy-sucking job. (HN is sanity retention medicine for me.) By the time I get home in the evening, fix dinner for the kids and me, eat, catch up with the family, etc. I don't have a lot of time or energy for anything else.
        ShirtlessRod 13y ago
        Well, obviously you don't hang around with the cool kids, then. :)
  - bencollier49 13y ago
    Also doing it out of a paid-for shared workspace. I mean, I love the stuff she's doing, it makes sense that she'd be able to do it working full time, but she must be independently wealthy to be able to afford it.
- sukuriant 13y ago
  Every artist I've met and respected has been very dedicated to their craft and efforts to make many things right in every one of their many, many works. If you go to a college like DigiPen or Fullsail, or any of the other gaming arts/engineering institutes, you'd see a similar workload, maybe even higher.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
kurrent 13y ago
view the source for her snake game you'll see it's actually not that unlikely: http://jenniferdewalt.com/js/snake_game.js http://jenniferdewalt.com/js/snake_game.js following a few tutorials after a google search for "create snake game canvas javascript", it actually seems very likely: http://css-tricks.com/learn-canvas-snake-game/ http://css-tricks.com/learn-canvas-snake-game/ http://thecodeplayer.com/walkthrough/html5-game-tutorial-make-a-snake-game-using-html5-canvas-jquery http://thecodeplayer.com/walkthrough/html5-game-tutorial-mak...
- nawitus 13y ago
  The snake code looks very similar to this tutorial[1]. 1. http://cssdeck.com/labs/classic-snake-game-with-html5-canvas http://cssdeck.com/labs/classic-snake-game-with-html5-canvas Tutorial: //Get the directions document.onkeydown = function(e) { var key = e.keyCode; //console.log(key); if(key == 37 && dir != "right") setTimeout(function() {dir = "left"; }, 30); else if(key == 38 && dir != "down") setTimeout(function() {dir = "up"; }, 30); else if(key == 39 && dir != "left") setTimeout(function() {dir = "right"; }, 30); else if(key == 40 && dir != "up") setTimeout(function() {dir = "down"; }, 30); if(key) e.preventDefault(); } Jennifer's code: $(document).on('keydown', function (e) { var key = e.keyCode; if (key == 37 && snake.dir != 'right') { setTimeout(function () { snake.dir = 'left'; }, 30); } else if (key == 38 && snake.dir != 'down') { setTimeout(function () { snake.dir = 'up'; }, 30); } else if (key == 39 && snake.dir != 'left') { setTimeout(function () { snake.dir = 'right'; }, 30); } else if (key == 40 && snake.dir != 'up') { setTimeout(function () { snake.dir = 'down'; }, 30); } e.preventDefault();
franze 13y ago
if she follows a tutorial it's quite simple https://www.google.com/search?q=snake+game+js+tutorial&pws=0&hl=en https://www.google.com/search?q=snake+game+js+tutorial&pws=0...
kylelibra 13y ago
I'd be interested in a breakdown of how long each page took to build.
babuskov 13y ago
Did you look at the source? It's like 160 lines of code. Experienced programmer could do this in one hour, and I'm sure someone with 1.5 months of javascripting could do it in a day.
- Domenic_S 13y ago
  You can't be serious. Take a good look at that code. Public and private vars and methods, proper indentation, proper variable scoping, pretty and readable (the cleanliness is the least believable part, does that like a noob's code to you?) Have you ever worked with someone who has no programming background whatsoever and taught them programming? I have, and this kind of progress is insanity after 1.5 months. 10 hours/day or not, this kind of knowledge doesn't get uploaded to your brain Matrix-style.
  - frossie 13y ago
    Yes, it takes just years of practice to achieve proper indentation, or, you know, one key press in emacs. I was a TA for an introductory computer class and yes, some people do write clean code within days. There are people who naturally get the how and the why of it.
    - Domenic_S 13y ago
      What, you're saying that because it's easy everyone will do it? That's funny. The percentage of folks who started coding a month ago (and have 0 CS background) that format their admittedly-rushed one-day project properly is so low it's a rounding error. The number of them that indent properly and understand scoping is effectively 0. Look at her background. This is an art project, not a coding project. The code could come from RAC for all it matters, this is a performance piece.
      - freyr 13y ago
        > What, you're saying that because it's easy everyone will do it? That's funny. No, he said it's easy and some people will do it from the start. You're saying it's easy but nobody will do it. Yours is the outlandish claim. Whether or not she really began programming 114 days ago, her use of indentation is a really weak argument. Even if she wasn't focused on indentation, there are editors that make it an afterthought.
nahumfarchi 13y ago
Back in school I had two friends who programmed a snake game in c, using asci characters for the snake. This was while we were taking an introductory programming class.
shubb 13y ago
I'd guess she reused code from previous sites. Lately, I've been dumping heavily into a wiki while I work. Every command line snippet or reusable looking piece of code gets dumped in there. After about a week, it became really useful, and a month on it's amazing. But yeah, if you write a site that uses canvas manipulation to draw a bouncing ball, all that work is already done when you want to use it for snake. I like this story, because people do end up in situations where they have a lot of time (students on holiday, unemployed people, maybe stay home parents), but few use it in such an inspiring productive way
Kiro 13y ago
"canvas manipulation". You make it sound like it some kind of strange hack. How else would you use a canvas element? People highly overestimate the complexity of making HTML5 games.
kazagistar 13y ago
460 hours of practice seems like PLENTY of time to learn to do that.

I definitely see your point, but from her description she spends 10 hours a day on this excersize. I could see that level of progress given those constraints, 10 hours a day every days for a month and a half is insane dedication. On the other hand that level of dedication seems to indicate that apparently she has some kind of OCD, no disrespect just wild speculation.

ultimatedelman 13y ago
i'm not saying that this feat of creating 180 websites in 180 days is impossible. it's highly improbable and takes a very unique mix of dedication, intellect, funding, and, well, nothing better to do for half a year, but that's for someone with a background in coding. my beef is that this person is claiming to come from a completely non-programming background and has not read any books or taken any courses. i don't care if you spend 24 hours a day coding, you can't write a program as complex as MS Paint in canvas in a month if you've never written a line of code in your life. There are just too many intermediate steps missing and progress is just too fast. I would love to be wrong about this, but seeing as I've been doing this for a really long time, this just smells funny to me.
- ehmuidifici 13y ago
  +1 ultimatedelman, I've got your point. This kind of "effort" is very rare and in most cases smells like copy-paste from somewhere. Look, I'm not saying that jenniferDewalt is a fraud (and I'm not calling shenanigans), but she must keep in mind that some people will say that her work is just a copycat and she must deal with it. IMHO, she did a very good job! I really liked it.
- JackFr 13y ago
  Indeed -- I find it kind of hard to believe that someone with truly zero programming experience knows what github or even knows what source control is. I have no doubts about the main thrust, just some details seem as if they are embellished.
  - wicker 13y ago
    Github and source control are the very first things out of my mouth when someone expresses interest in programming. They were the first things that were recommended to me. I basically say to go get set up on github and walk through the tutorials, and 'follow' me while you're at it. Instant community feeling and the new programmer can always Stack Overflow 'how to revert my last commit'. It's low-hanging fruit to get set up. Next, I usually suggest grabbing an introductory reference and a bunch of small projects (usually my go-to is Project Euler) in the language of their choice. What she's doing is exactly what I'd recommend if you were brand new and wanted to get a feel for the landscape.
- mynameishere 13y ago
  well, nothing better to do for half a year Yeah, this is the real fishy part. Sure, it seems like she has some previous programming experience, at minimum. Using "public" and "private" in javascript having no previous Java/C++/C# experience, or without having copied-and-pasted it from somewhere is odd. Big deal, though. She's promoting herself. But why? If I had that kind of dedication, it wouldn't be on a tedious gimmick. It's much more sane to have one or two big ideas. She's fighting chicken-sized horses that's for sure.
- JamesArgo 13y ago
  Perhaps she's just really, really smart.
jenniferDewalt 13y ago
I've never been diagnosed :)
- future_grad 13y ago
  yet?
thenomad 13y ago
Erm, isn't 10 hours a day approximately one full-time job? If she's, say, taken a six-month sabbatical to learn to make websites, this seems eminently reasonable and doable without speculation about mental illness.
- yaddayadda 13y ago
  10 hours a day, 7 days a week, for almost 6 months While it is far from a definitive diagnosis, it isn't 'normal'. Without a doubt it is ambitious, and her progress thus far impressive! If only we all had 10 hours a day for a full 6 month period to spend pursuing ambitious goals ...
  - thenomad 13y ago
    Shrug. Maybe it depends on whom you hang out with. Personally I spend a lot of time with successful entrepreneur and creative types. This sort of focus and commitment, whilst it's definitely laudable, isn't abnormal amongst that crowd.
    - yaddayadda 13y ago
      "Maybe it depends on whom you hang out with." ...and your existing bills and how you are able to pay for them. I've got a 1 hour commute each direction, and an 8 hour a day, soul-sucking, brain-energy-sucking job. (HN is sanity retention medicine for me.) By the time I get home in the evening, fix dinner for the kids and me, eat, catch up with the family, etc. I don't have a lot of time or energy for anything else.
      - ShirtlessRod 13y ago
        Well, obviously you don't hang around with the cool kids, then. :)
- bencollier49 13y ago
  Also doing it out of a paid-for shared workspace. I mean, I love the stuff she's doing, it makes sense that she'd be able to do it working full time, but she must be independently wealthy to be able to afford it.
sukuriant 13y ago
Every artist I've met and respected has been very dedicated to their craft and efforts to make many things right in every one of their many, many works. If you go to a college like DigiPen or Fullsail, or any of the other gaming arts/engineering institutes, you'd see a similar workload, maybe even higher.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

kurrent 13y ago

view the source for her snake game you'll see it's actually not that unlikely: http://jenniferdewalt.com/js/snake_game.js http://jenniferdewalt.com/js/snake_game.js following a few tutorials after a google search for "create snake game canvas javascript", it actually seems very likely: http://css-tricks.com/learn-canvas-snake-game/ http://css-tricks.com/learn-canvas-snake-game/ http://thecodeplayer.com/walkthrough/html5-game-tutorial-make-a-snake-game-using-html5-canvas-jquery http://thecodeplayer.com/walkthrough/html5-game-tutorial-mak...

nawitus 13y ago
The snake code looks very similar to this tutorial[1]. 1. http://cssdeck.com/labs/classic-snake-game-with-html5-canvas http://cssdeck.com/labs/classic-snake-game-with-html5-canvas Tutorial: //Get the directions document.onkeydown = function(e) { var key = e.keyCode; //console.log(key); if(key == 37 && dir != "right") setTimeout(function() {dir = "left"; }, 30); else if(key == 38 && dir != "down") setTimeout(function() {dir = "up"; }, 30); else if(key == 39 && dir != "left") setTimeout(function() {dir = "right"; }, 30); else if(key == 40 && dir != "up") setTimeout(function() {dir = "down"; }, 30); if(key) e.preventDefault(); } Jennifer's code: $(document).on('keydown', function (e) { var key = e.keyCode; if (key == 37 && snake.dir != 'right') { setTimeout(function () { snake.dir = 'left'; }, 30); } else if (key == 38 && snake.dir != 'down') { setTimeout(function () { snake.dir = 'up'; }, 30); } else if (key == 39 && snake.dir != 'left') { setTimeout(function () { snake.dir = 'right'; }, 30); } else if (key == 40 && snake.dir != 'up') { setTimeout(function () { snake.dir = 'down'; }, 30); } e.preventDefault();

franze 13y ago

if she follows a tutorial it's quite simple https://www.google.com/search?q=snake+game+js+tutorial&pws=0&hl=en https://www.google.com/search?q=snake+game+js+tutorial&pws=0...

kylelibra 13y ago

I'd be interested in a breakdown of how long each page took to build.

babuskov 13y ago

Did you look at the source? It's like 160 lines of code. Experienced programmer could do this in one hour, and I'm sure someone with 1.5 months of javascripting could do it in a day.

Domenic_S 13y ago
You can't be serious. Take a good look at that code. Public and private vars and methods, proper indentation, proper variable scoping, pretty and readable (the cleanliness is the least believable part, does that like a noob's code to you?) Have you ever worked with someone who has no programming background whatsoever and taught them programming? I have, and this kind of progress is insanity after 1.5 months. 10 hours/day or not, this kind of knowledge doesn't get uploaded to your brain Matrix-style.
- frossie 13y ago
  Yes, it takes just years of practice to achieve proper indentation, or, you know, one key press in emacs. I was a TA for an introductory computer class and yes, some people do write clean code within days. There are people who naturally get the how and the why of it.
  - Domenic_S 13y ago
    What, you're saying that because it's easy everyone will do it? That's funny. The percentage of folks who started coding a month ago (and have 0 CS background) that format their admittedly-rushed one-day project properly is so low it's a rounding error. The number of them that indent properly and understand scoping is effectively 0. Look at her background. This is an art project, not a coding project. The code could come from RAC for all it matters, this is a performance piece.
    - freyr 13y ago
      > What, you're saying that because it's easy everyone will do it? That's funny. No, he said it's easy and some people will do it from the start. You're saying it's easy but nobody will do it. Yours is the outlandish claim. Whether or not she really began programming 114 days ago, her use of indentation is a really weak argument. Even if she wasn't focused on indentation, there are editors that make it an afterthought.

nahumfarchi 13y ago

Back in school I had two friends who programmed a snake game in c, using asci characters for the snake. This was while we were taking an introductory programming class.

shubb 13y ago

I'd guess she reused code from previous sites. Lately, I've been dumping heavily into a wiki while I work. Every command line snippet or reusable looking piece of code gets dumped in there. After about a week, it became really useful, and a month on it's amazing. But yeah, if you write a site that uses canvas manipulation to draw a bouncing ball, all that work is already done when you want to use it for snake. I like this story, because people do end up in situations where they have a lot of time (students on holiday, unemployed people, maybe stay home parents), but few use it in such an inspiring productive way

Kiro 13y ago

"canvas manipulation". You make it sound like it some kind of strange hack. How else would you use a canvas element? People highly overestimate the complexity of making HTML5 games.

kazagistar 13y ago

460 hours of practice seems like PLENTY of time to learn to do that.