How Coding Can Make Your Life Better

Jamshid Hashimi

@jamshidhashimi

@CodeWeekend

Agenda

• Code? What is that?

• Why Coding?

• Coder, Hacker, Programmer, Engineer?

• How to Learn Coding?

• Success Stories

• Inspirations

Code? What is that?

• Code is a set of instructions that directs a computer (desktop, smartphone, tablet, etc.) to perform specific operations.

• The complete set of code

instructions is called software.

– Word on your desktop,

Angry Birds on your phone, and

Gmail in your browser.

Why Coding?

• Creativity (Experiment, Whole Brain Thinking, Creator)• It helps us automate tasks and make them faster• Breaking down problems become a habit• It teaches that you get out of life in proportion to what you

put in.• Confidence• Dedication• Patience• Knowledge• Research• “If computers are at all a part of your life, then learning to

program is going to improve your life.”

Who Are You?

• Coder?

• Hacker?

• Programmer?

• Engineer?

Who Are You?

• Coder? You're a shut-in who spends most of his (yes, statistically, you're probably a dude) hunched over a laptop and rarely see the light of day.

• Hacker? You're a bit dangerous (or at least you imagine you are).

• Programmer? You're proud to be a nerd.

• Engineer? You're filling in your Match.comprofile.

How to Learn Coding?

• Start Small

• Try Different Approaches

• Find a community to support you

• Side Effects: You'll hit walls sometimes!

• Inspiration: but don’t give up! Take a break, eat, sleep, try again tomorrow.

Success Stories

This 12-year-old kid learned to code on Codecademy, built 5 apps, and is speaking at SXSW

Success Stories

• Name: Ethan Duggan

• Age: 11

• Live in: Las Vegas

• Apps: Lazy Husband, Lazy Kid

• Frameworks using: Phonegap, AppGyver

• Learn coding from: Codecademy

Success Stories

Success Stories

• Henry D’Andrea – Secret Menu for Starbucks

• How: AppCoda (Learn iOS Programming from Scratch)

• Advice: Never. Ever. Ever. Give Up.

Success Stories

Instagram Founder!

Success Stories

• Instagram’s founder had no programming training.

• He was a marketer who learned to code by night

• Sold Instagram to Facebook $1 billion.

• His first idea: Connecting Foursquare with Mafia Wars. Raised $500K.

Success Stories

Success Stories

• Nathan: Made $19,000 on the App StoreWhile Learning To Code

• OneVoice: Gives voice for those who cannotspeak.

Success Stories

Success Stories

• App Name: Ishoot ($1.99)

• Ethan Nicholas

• Age: 31

• Country: US

• $1 Million in less than 7 months

• He had difficulty to pay his medical bills and need to earn more money. Start learning Objective-C and how to develop iPhone Apps.

Success Stories

Success Stories

• App Name: Rolly Candy

• Developer: Baptiste Greve

• Budget: $20

• 500 downloads in first two weeks. Played in 37 different countries by 6,800 people

Success Stories

Success Stories

• 17-year-old British high schooler Nick D'Aloisio

• The Justin Bieber of iPhone app development.

• He sold his iPhone app Summly, which he started when he was 15, to Yahoo for $30 million

• How it works: The app uses an algorithm to automatically create 400-character summaries of news articles and deliver them to your phone.

Success Stories

• Jamie Zawinski was one of the founders of Netscape and Mozilla.org, was the primary developer of Lucid Emacs, and wrote most of your screen savers.

• Has only a high school degree!

Success Stories: Do We Have?

How to Learn Coding?

• Codecademy.com• KhanAcademy.org/cs• Code.org• learncodethehardway.org• TreeHouse• Udacity• CodeSchool• Harvard's CS50x at edX• CoderByte• CodeWeekend! (Seriously)

Inspired? Think Again!

Questions?

Thank You!