J. R. Swab

Blog


How To Get Your First Programming Job


Categories: [Technology], [How To]

Most coding programs are great at getting people started coding, but leave the new programmer without the path to actually getting their first job.

Here's a great approach to having recruiters come to you and have the best chance at getting interviews.

First, only focus on what you can prove you...

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Here’s Eric Raymond’s Secret to Be a Better Coder


Categories: [Technology]

"Computer science education cannot make anybody an expert programmer any more than studying brushes and pigment can make somebody an expert painter." Eric Raymond

Who is Eric Raymond?

He is an American software developer, open-source software advocate, and author of the 1997 essay and 1999 b...

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Top 10 Keys To Being A Superior Programmer


Categories: [Technology]

Over the years of making content online in one form or another I've come across many questions by people that are just starting out on their coding journey.

Here is a list of the ten things I wish I knew from day one.

Don't learn a language

In the start of your programming journey it is good t...

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Create A Quick and Easy Caesar Cipher


Categories: [Technology]

... a Caesar cipher ... is one of the simplest and most widely known encryption techniques. It is a type of substitution cipher in which each letter in the plaintext is replaced by a letter some fixed number of positions down the alphabet. For example, with a left shift of 3, D would be replaced b...

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You Need To Stop Using HTML Email


Categories: [Technology]

HTML email is bad and should be considered harmful.

HTML Email Makes Phishing Attempts Easier

HTML emails allow you to make links which hide the URL behind some user-friendly text. However, this is an extremely common vector for phishing attacks, where a malicious sender makes a misleading lin...

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Email Lists To The Rescue!


Categories: [Content Creation], [Technology]

I use email lists to send updates on new videos, blog posts, and other things. This way I don’t have to play to the algorithms on the platforms I create within. (This is not really an issue on Hive mind you; but other places love to give your followers what "they" think your followers want to see.)

...

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How to Write an ISO to USB on Linux with DD


Categories: [Technology]

DD(1) is a progam used to convert and copy a file to a desired location.

Usage: sudo dd status=progress if=name-of.iso of=/dev/sdx bs=1M; sudo sync

status=LEVEL The LEVEL of information to print to stderr; 'none' suppresses everything but error messages, 'noxfer' suppresses the final transfer...

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Moving To Sourcehut


Categories: [Technology]

Pulled the trigger.

Now supporting Sourcehut financially because this is exactly the kind of source control I want.

$2/month is a great price to support the crew working on this Github alternative for hackers.

I know the claim is that Github makes our repos more easily discovered but after yea...

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How To Create a Linked List Using Golang


Categories: [Technology]

Lately I started to practice my data structures to get a better grasp of programming. Today I chose to tackle the Linked List from scratch using Go. I have not had to write a linked list in forever which made this a great mental exercise.

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Peer-To-Peer: Our Only Hope


Categories: [Technology]

Peer-to-peer has been around a long time and is decentralized in nature. Yes, this is decentralized without the need for a blockchain. Cryptocurrencies and blockchains are awesome but not everything needs to use that technology to be decentralized. All cryptocurrencies are peer-to-peer but not all peer-to-peer decentralization has to be on a blockchain.

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