In the spirit of giving.

Its the that time of the year when giving is encouraged . In that spirit I have made  my first official contribution to open source - ANDRE(Android Resizer). I have been developing for android, and  resizing individual images has been a mission. So with java I have made a program that resizes as many images as you want for android drawables specifications. I came along Fred but for some reason didn't serve the purpose. 

If you are developing for android and are facing the same problem feel free to try it.

Check it out from here. Right click on ANDRE.jar and save link as.

In other news, I have written something about Artificial intelligence on a collaborative blog here. Please do check it out and leave your comments. Once again Happy holidays!

Hour of code in Tanzania.

75,277, 536 have tried the hour of code so far this year. I tried it too. Infact I took the seat of a Computer Science teacher. Considering that Tanzanian syllabus doesn't include CS in lower levels below University. Through projekt inspire I took the initiative to teach a couple of high schoolers some basics of programming. I taught them a bit of python to get them started. I aimed to get girls but I got none(there's still time for that  .:)) In three days we were to make programs that simulate a doctor, marks grader and ATM machine, proving the fact that computer science can do anything.

[What you missed out on] Hack.summit()

Hack.summit() happened last week from 1st to 4th December. You may be wondering hack.summit() ,as the nerdy suggests it is a conference for programmers. No, I didn't travel to another conference, this one was done the programmer's way, virtually. The first of its kind, and quite a success I must point. Normal conferences require a lot of effort and expenses to organise but this simply required internet access therefore it was easier for everyone to participate.   I was among the 50,000 attendees who grabbed this opportunity and listened to some speakers that caught my interest. Here is a little summary.

The Organisers:
The chief organiser of this summit was Ed Roman who is the co-founder of hackhands, a company that provides programmers with real time help online, which brought him to start hack.summit(), as might you guess, to help programmers be more productive as well help non profits orgnisations such as Black Girls Code and code.org through donations. The productivity gap between the good programmers and the bad ones is way too huge. Great idea it is. There were more than 20 speakers , big names in the programming world , some wrote programming languages, others created the Google Glass, each one of them is worth your time. Ed Roman shared some productivity tips and books( adding to my to read list), mostly common sense which is usually lost once you start coding.

Scott hanselman:
You don't exactly think free when you think Microsoft; a Microsoft engineer surprised with how much Microsoft is contributing to open source through azure.net  and other free products like asp.net.
I quote , "I will make Microsoft free until they fire me". The motive being to give as much choices to developers as possible. His presentation also included the amazingness of Visual Studio as well as tips on productivity emphasizing using the appropriate technology for the right job.

Floyd Marinescu:
Floyd is the CEO of InfoQ: an online news website for developers as well QCon: a conference for developers as well. He talked about culture and happiness considering that he runs his teams virtually. A lot of teams run virtually including ibm and wordpress  proving that virtual teams do work if there is the right culture in the team, which can be consciously built. They suceed by metrics, daily stand ups, dashboards, yammer social network , weekly video meetings and an annual face to face summit. He gave  examples of core values that are crucial and should be emphasized, these include transparency, service, accountability and delegation of responsibilities rather than tasks. He also gave advice for tech enterprenuers starting out to learn the business side and not to avoid failure.

John Skeet:
John Skeet is an interesting character. He is the number one answerer on stack overflow. All programmers owe him, a lot, precisely he has answered over 30,500 questions on stackoverflow.He has written a book on C#, can recite all digits of pi backwards and his code doesn't need git revisions. Its no surprise that he is an engineer at Google. He gave his presentation with a sock puppet  which made it even more interesting. He identifies the root causes of errors is having 10 fingers. Hard to believe but its sort of true, having 10 fingers forced us to use the decimal numbering system, while the computer still understands binary. Its the cause of misunderstanding between users, developers and architects. Users don't consider the needs of others, developers need to understand both architects and users, and architects face the decimal - binary challenge. He gave a lot of examples where this comes to play including formatting errors, discrete v continuous numbers, different date and time systems and to a small extent , relativity (Yes, Einstein's theory of relativity affects you). His advice included to keep it simple and only use stack overflow when necessary( He doesn't answer documentation questions on stack overflow).

Tom Chi:
The summit also included Tom Chi, the creator of Google Glass. He joined the GoogleX team from Yahoo and this is the team behind Google Self driving car, project loon, Contact lenses for sugar detection along side the Google Glass, accomplished in 2 years (speaking of innovation). Tom gave useful hints for successful innovation, tips he gathered from the making of the Google Glass. He pointed out how important it is to differentiate between guess and direct experience, how  I got a couple of innovation goes from research to development and how to master these processes well. He also talked about how making something 10% better everyday results into miracles in the long run. We got some questions answered like why it was created,  the future of Google Glass which is augmented reality and so much more and if the Google Glasses are really harmful to the eyes. He assured us even though he wasn't wearing his at the moment, there are not harmful as thought to be.

Janet Weiner:
Janet Weiner is a facebook engineer who has had 10 patents, she specialises in Big Data, specifically how facebook is being used to generate elections data. They use Chorus (a program) to quantify statuses and give clear statistics of people's inclination towards elections. It makes a lot of sense considering Facebook has become a source of everything. She attributes its success to the facebook culture, there quote I would like to requote, "Move fast and build things", "Done is better than perfect, Release the iterate", "Orville Wright didn't have a pilot's license". In short find your passion and build things.

Hadi Partovi:
This past week (8th to 12 December) was Computer Science Education week. Children were encouraged to try the hour of code. The man behind this is Hadi Partovi, the founder of Code.org. I also participated in this campaign(new blogpost coming) as I agree with his mission, to raise of awareness of computer science to young folks, why? Well computer science opens opportunities irrespective of background. His story is rather inspiring, a story of an Iran immigrant to the US who made it to Harvard, Microsoft and tech startups, all through computer science. Why then is Computer Science not as compulsory as Math? The Hour of Code has had much success, last year it had a reach of about 50 million, this year it aims reach 100 million. It has clearly been successful considering all major companies including Apple, Microsoft and Google are endorsing it as well as  President Obama. The tutorials use javascript because it runs everywhere. He talked about unconscious bias, a rather sensitive and important issue in hiring as well as advised startup founders to let go of not only underperformers but also mediocre employees.

Scott chacon:
Speaking of open source, lets talk about the guy who founded Github, Scott Chacon. It was interesting to learn that Github started from a Ruby meeting and the first 'office' was a coffee shop and that it runs without managers. Scott talked about Open Source, its history, why companies endorse it and its future. Grace Hopper wrote the first compiler which was then open sourced, others joined such as the linux kernel and open source became the norm with few exceptions. Companies like Google , Facebook among others encourage open source because they use it, Github itself uses Git, some companies survive entirely by Open Source, they also use it to attract and find the best developers and also because open source products allow working across fields. He gave a few pointers to start contributing to open source, here and starting with your favourite products. As much as open source is fun, don't forget to license it appropriately, only lawyers will benefit.

Jennifer Pahlka:
Government Innovation. Not exactly the right combination of words, most of us think our governments are not innovative enough,but they are. Jennifer Pahlka is the Founder and Executive Director of Code for America and is the Deputy Chief Technology Officer for the government. Government plays a huge role in technology including generating weather data, honolulu.gov and so forth. She emphasized on how important user experience research is important for innovative technology as well as the downsides of the waterfall method in design.


Hack.Summit() was filled with all sorts of high profile people in the programming world including Tim Oreilly(the fonder of OReilly media), Ryan Rubinski(founder of codeacademy) among others. It was definitely worth the time.  Well, the title of this post is what you missed out on but you didn't miss much because you can still watch the videos at www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Smi8vrRC0U&list=PLerTgBTG9TVxwl2VonZ--LGiu9ZBGbsQ8&spfreload=10
 If you are thinking of achievable new years resolution Hack pledge might be a good place to start at. Until next time, keep hacking.

What's with women in tech.

Seriously though, are they that special? All around the world you find women heading a revolution to get even more women in tech leadership positions. They  have all sorts of conferences and programs to mentor their juniors. They even have code camps  just for them. Technology is male oriented field you may think, women should just go do what they do best, play with barbie dolls, raise families and so forth. And thats where we go wrong. A little ride through history reveals something else.  


Ada Lovelace.(English mathematician)
 Ada Lovelace was the first computer programmer. She wrote notes on Charles Babbage's engine which is synonymous to saying she wrote the first algorithm to be carried by a machine. 

Grace Hopper.(American computer  scientist)
Every women in tech revolution knows about Grace Hopper. She knew all about women in tech applications. She was a curious one, she dismantled 7 alarm clocks when she was 7. She was the third programmer of the Harvard Mark I. She coined the term "bug" that no programmer is unfamiliar with. She died with awards from 30 different universities and of course the Grace Hopper conference.

Hedy Lamar(Austrian actress)
She invented a device that led to the development of bluetooth and wifi, which for some reason was ignored for the next 40 years. Long story short we owe her big time. 


Human computers.(American mathematicians)
During world war II ,a computer was not machine but a profession. Mostly women with degrees in Math did it because as you might guess, they were good at it. They solved equations to produce tables that were used by gunnery officers to produce machines . Wen the ENIAC computer was made , women from this group were the first ones to programme it. 

Lise Meitner:(an Austrian physicist) 
Lise was on the team that discovered nuclear fission. Clearly she was a good physicsit even though the Nobel prize committee skipped her due to negative personal opinions. Well , even so we still have the element Meitnerium named after her. 



Henrietta Swan Leavitt(American astronomer)
Without Henrietta's contribution we wouldn't be able to determine the distance of distant galaxies from us. She discovered the relationship between the luminosity and period of Cepheid variable stars. If you've come across Hubble's law that states that the universe is expanding then you should also know that it wouldn't materialise without Henrietta's contribution.


Jocelyn Bell Burnell:( Irish Astrophysicist)
Jocelyn discovered the first radio pulsars. Even though her thesis adviser took credit for it, We'll still applaud for her contribution to astrophysics. 


Emmy Noether(German mathematician)
Newton once wrote , "If I have seen further, it is from sitting on the shoulders of giants." Well, Emmy was one of the giants that Albert Einstein, Hermann Weyl and Norbert Wiener stood on. She made groundbreaking contributions to abstract algebra and theoretical physics. Her theorem has been able to explain the connection between symmetry and conservation law. 


Martha Cortson:(American inventor)
Martha simply took off where her husband left off. She then came up with signal flares that are used in the military today. When her husband she finished off his work on signal flares, acquired patents for it and even started a company out of it. And that was in the 1870's , before women empowerment was spoken of. 



So what's this buzz around women in tech? Well, we invented technology, technology defines our future and we can't leave half of the world's population from it. We are as good in technology as our male counterparts, We have to suffer from society's bias against us so if a revolution is needed to turn things around, let it be! Long before men declared tech their field, we invented it. 

Grace Hopper Celebration of women in computing ... what you missed out on

If you are a woman in any technical field be it Computer Science, IT or Computer Engineering, Congratulations! you stand out. You probably feel lonely in class or at work if you have done some sort of internship or job, Welcome to my world. Here is some good news. There is a place where you can meet 8000 women in technical fields. Nowhere else but the Grace Hopper Conference of women in computing.

Who is Grace Hopper? She is just a phenomenal woman. You know how programmers complain about bugs in their code, that was her idea. She was one of the first programmers of the Harvard Mark I and she invented the first compiler. She was just that awesome that a whole conference had to named after her.

Another awesome woman was touched by her greatness that in she (Anita Borg) together with Telle Whitney and Maria Klawe committed to bringing more girls into computer science, through the Anita Borg Institute and the Grace Hopper Conference to honor women's contribution to computer science. 

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Enough history, now lets get to the fun part. So the Grace Hopper conference happened in Phoenix Arizona this year from the 8th to 10th October. Nothing beats the inspiration from such strong ladies, not even travelling for 33 hours or luggage delay at the airport for 3 days. You know,  Megan Smith the Chief Technology Officer of the US, Maria Klawe the president of the Harvey Mudd College, Telle Whitney, the co founder of the Anita Borg Institute.  Pictures tell a 1000 words so here we go.


Barbara Baitungi is a Ugandan lady who the change agent award. She is really passionate about getting girls into tech. I wont forget her advice, "get the skills first, employers are not looking for women in tech, they are looking for skills".

Barbara Baitungi - change agent award winner

Check this out , Megan Smith, the Chief Technology Officer of the United States of America. 

Megan Smith - The Chief Technology Officer of the US, 

And Shafi Goldwasser , an MIT proffesor who has won all the awards you could dream of. She spoke about cryptography. I didn't understand everything she said, but I googled everything afterwards, which only means one thing, I'm interested.

Shafi - Goldwasser, my role model, when I grow up, I'll be just like you...:)

I'm interested in open-source projects so the talks on open source projects and chromium (chrome)were really useful. There was also the career fair where I got a chance to network with employers ,get cool swag, and marvel at the Google Self Driving Car as well.

Lots of swag from the career fair

New friends from Zambia

Friends , friends

'Facebook wall'

And more friends

Getting googly with the self driving car

Phoenix

Friends

Funny thing about Grace Hopper is that you meet with interesting people everywhere, from the elevator to the coffee line.I applied to attend the GHC to be inspired and that is exactly what happened. Well, they say be careful what you wish for. I'm actually so energised right now that I feel like I'm going to lead a revolution of women in tech, literally.

I forgot to mention that it was Facebook that sponsored me to go there.Thanks Facebook! 

Just three things!

"An amount of 7000 Euros has been paid to your account". A couple of days ago I received this email from Google. Its still on my mind, that's why a writing about it. Even though I has already been notified that I'm a scholarship recipient, even though I have been to the scholars retreat in Zurich. Am writing about it because its one of those magical things that happen in your life; Because a year or so ago it was my dream, I was literally living to earn that scholarship. Here's the full story.

It all started with getting accepted to the University of Cape town (UCT), great, but without a sponsor, not so great. UCT fees are too high for any Tanzanian company to sponsor you and South African companies offer bursaries to South African citizens only. Well, that only leaves one option for international students, to afford the best education in Africa , your parents should either very rich or very giving. I searched for bursaries and sponsorships and just none of them seemed to suit me. Well, until I googled 'scholarships for women'. At the top of the list was the 'Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship'. That was the beginning of this journey. 

To get the scholarship you have to be a woman who has excelled in Computer Science. And I was far from it, at least not then. I struggled, I struggled with Computer Science ever since the first day I step foot into the Computer Science classroom. I had no background in Computer Science or IT and everyone else just seemed to understand what a variable is and how a loop works. I know these concepts seem trivial right now but then it was kept me up at night. I didn't give up, I couldn't afford to because I had to get that scholarship. I had to excel in Computer Science just so that my parents could have a peace of mind (at least for a year). Eventually, I started enjoying Computer Science (even did an intern ship at a place where I was the only female in the office). The rest is just history.

So yeah , that email from Google, isn't just a random notification, it has a story in it. A story with 3 lessons I'd like to share

1) Dreams do come true( I surely wont forget that)

2) Women make good computer scientists , its time we started believing that.

3)Google saves lives. Yes, Google saved my life. Even though I don't know how I'll pay for my studies the following year, I' just glad my parents can relax for a year. In short, thanks Google!

More information about the scholarship can be found at http://www.google.com/anitaborg/emea/

In the shoes of a programmer.

            Programmers have the reputation of being weird. That's probably because we speak Java, C#, python and all those other “foreign” languages and the fact that coffee is our water. But beneath that surface, programmers are not that weird, we are actually normal people with a different standard of normal. If you are interested in programming, here's a list of attributes you must have or at least learn. 

Patience

           You will probably spend hours looking for that one bug. Sometimes a day, sometimes 3 days. Dont be alarmed, be patient and believe that that's how you learn. As a matter of fact, you will start coding before you figure out everything, so leave room for mistakes. They are bound to happen.

Problem solver:
As a programmer you will write code, that code won't always run the first time you run it. This could be caused by as many reasons as syntax, wrong logic, typos, or your computer could just be messing with your head. You are gonna have to figure out where the problem is, probably through sleep-less nights and frustrating days. That's how you earn the title of a problem solver.

Attention to detail:
Every little detail matters and sometimes its what makes all the difference. You could create an infinite loop just by typing i instead of j. A single bracket could mess up your entire day. In short you have to able to notice things. 

Seeing opportunity in problems.
Well, in this century its a trend to make businesses out of problems. Facebook was born out of a problem, and so was whatsapp, and android, and everything else that is made with code. Maybe you won't create all the stuff your head thinks of but the fact that you have ideas is a good symptom of a programmer.


If you have all the above symptoms then you are a full accredited programmer.  You don't need any certificate to prove that. After going through the list, I have realised we are not just weird, Programmers are actually smart. 

Tis Espresso that we need...

The world needs peace, it also needs more food , water, health facilities, education or at least efficient distribution of these resources. In other words, this world needs more computer scientists. The world needs more problem solvers and this consequently raises the demand for good old JAVA.

Just in case you ever wondered what happens inside a computer scientists head, I've been in one and I'll give you a clue. I'm gonna use the pronoun she not because I'm feminist, but because, am actually feminist and I like the idea of 'she' referring to both male and female for a change, particularly in computer science. 

So, she writes code (a couple of statements only another computer scientist will understand) , normally at this stage she's in the zone. The zone is simply a place where only gibberish makes sense. The only means of communication between this zone and the real world is through coffee. The zone will then be sustained at the expense of the coffee machine. 

 She then tests the code, it will most likely not work the first around. Thats a coffee refill.

Then she goes into a loop; another piece of code doesn't work, another cup of coffee, the piece of code works, another cup of coffee.

The sentinel is reached when the whole code works. Well, guess how that is celebrated? Espresso!

A programmer on average spends  1 hour debugging for every hour of coding. Assuming that's a cup of coffee for every half an hour, that's 4 cups of coffee per programmer per hour of coding. Up to the moment there are about 18 million software developers world wide. This boils to 72 million cups per hour of code. This is a pretty serious demand which can not be ignored.

At the end of the day, coffee, through the mind of a programmer(Another way to think of it) has made a program or at least part of a program that you among thousands of people will use. You will use it to keep track of something or manage something or treat some disease or organise some data that should be organised , either way the world is then definitely a happier place.  

 

I understand that not all programmers run on the coffee magic (I prefer tea) . But banking on average statistics, there is a serious demand for coffee.So yes, the world has got problems of its own. Bigger problems than some person's leisure drink. We can't solve them all in one day, but we can  make coffee, in all flavours and tastes. It won't relieve the world of hunger or poverty, but trust me its one step closer to solving all these problems. If you ask me, cascaded in all these demands,  tis espresso that we really need.