In retirement, I want to keep my mind sharp, and to do that, I have to challenge myself. My latest adventure is learning Python coding.
A little history about Python coding: the founder, Guido van Rossum, a Dutch programmer, came from the Netherlands. His goal was to birth a code that was easy to read general purpose programming language. Why the name Python and not Rossum, you ask? The name came from Monty Python, and he felt that gave it a light-hearted name. In the Zen of Python, this phrase sums up the code experience: "Simple is better than complex." Oh, and those who code in Python are known as Pythonista's and I am striving to become just that.
So why all of a sudden my interest in coding......well, it has to do with my son Ben, who is a whiz kid at this stuff. Funny story.....Ben went to the University of Toronto and majored in cyber security. He wanted to get into a top tier program and had to have some interviews. He was given a few exams and then called in for an interview. The interview was conducted by the department head, the lead professor and the admin for the program. The main purpose he was called in was because the most complex question and the main question on the exam he left blank. When asked, he told them the question had incorrect coding and he was not going to waste time on it! He was asked to explain, and he did, and was told Thank you for coming in. Ben called me after the interview and told me the story. I could not believe what he did and was about to give him a piece of my mind. Before that could happen, he told me the professor called later in the day and told he was accepted, no more interviews or exams were required, and they were changing the question as he was correct.
In a phone conversation with Ben, he challenged me to pass some of my time learning Python coding. He said it was very user friendly and it could really help with my ham radio adventure. I took him up on the offer, and now I am in the process of coding to make ham radio at VE9KK a little more automated. More on how that is coming very soon, as I have already produced some coding that has shocked me and is helping VE9KK's CW contesting station become a “Geek shack”
2 comments:
Wow, I respect that Mike. You're never too old to learn. It will be great to read your story as your progressing in learning this. I remember I learned some Pascal programming back at school. That was about 35 years ago. And of course I did some basic when the homecomputers came up. But I was not really good at it. One of my sisters is, she was working for the government testing software. Well good look on your new journey. 73, Bas
Thanks so much Bas but it really comes down to my son Ben who has encouraged me to move in to space that challenges me. At this point I have come up with some very cool ways to make things "geek" here at the radio. I am shocked how Python works with many areas of ham radio. Will update the blog soon with the adventure.
Keeping my brain young
73,
Mike
VE9KK
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