Why everyone should learn to code
If you’re planning on creating an Android app, then you should of course learn to code. While it is possible to create apps using other means, building it yourself will give you by far the most flexibility and control over the finished product.
But that is only one of many scenarios where learning to program is hugely beneficial. App or no, it is my belief that everyone can benefit from learning to code. Programming is like a superpower that allows you to do all kinds of amazing things, while simultaneously being highly rewarding and great for your brain. Allow me to try and persuade you…
See also: Writing your first Android app – everything you need to know
Learning to code lets you build tools
The first thing I’m going to do to try and convince you that coding is worth your while, is to show you this other guy telling you why coding is worth your while…
In this TEDx talk, Christian Genco explains his views on why you should learn to program. The main argument he puts forward is that you can use coding to do anything better. He recounts a story from Reddit about a guy who was hired to do some large data entry task. What did the guy do? He wrote a script that would handle the data entry for him and thereby save him countless hours. He was in a room with a team of other guys who were also employed to do the very same thing and in a matter of hours he had rendered their jobs obsolete.
Okay, so that story didn’t end well for his new colleagues but the guy undoubtedly would have been able to sell that piece of code to the company for a rather princely sum!
And this isn’t all that rare either – I’ve actually used similar strategies in my own coding career. As a freelance writer, I was once hired to write titles and descriptions for hundreds of web pages selling different products. For each page, I had to create a title and a description that would include the product name, the quantity and the price. So again, I wrote a program to do it for me. The script took about an hour to write but it completed more than 20 hours of work. I earned several hundred GBP in the space of an hour, all thanks to programming!
And once you learn to code you’ll find there are tons of situations just like these. Countless times I’ve written programs to carry out little random jobs for me (like sorting numbers or lists), a friend even made an app for their Christmas quiz! We’re all different and we all find ourselves in unique situations where we could use a tool that no one else would ever find useful. As a programmer, you can build that tool and complete all kinds of work more quickly and efficiently.
Think about your own career. What part of your work flow could be made faster and more efficient with the right piece of software? Could you make your own job obsolete? As Christian suggests, we need more coders in other lines of work to help streamline and automate other industries.
Don’t assume that coding means making an app for other people – sometimes it means building something you need. Of course sometimes that does mean you accidentally create the next YouTube or Feedly…
It’s good for your brain
Programming is also good for your brain. In this study programmers scored an average of 16% higher across a number of different cognitive tests as compared with non-programmers. There are plenty more examples of studies with similar results.
Programmers scored an average of 16% higher across a number of different of different cognitive tests.
There is some dispute over precisely which parts of the brain are used most during programming. Some theories say that it is more similar to using languages, whereas others liken it to using math. Recent brain imaging scans of programmers meanwhile, suggest that the areas used are those associated with language processing, working memory and attention, including the ventral lateral prefrontal cortex.
(What’s often missed out in these studies though is just how varied programming tasks can be. Working on a huge project as part of a team trying to find bugs is very different from being a solo app developer.)
See also: I want to develop Android Apps – What languages should I learn?
Either way, this is highly challenging work that really requires you to think abstractly, solve problems and concentrate for extended periods. As ‘brain plasticity’ dictates, the more you use specific areas of the brain and specific skills, the more those areas develop and our skills improve. Conversely, if your work requires you to carry out the exact same actions day in and day out, then those abilities not being used will wane and the related brain areas will atrophy. Coding is generally agreed to be good for the cognitive development of children and it’s probably safe to presume it has neuroprotective properties as we get older too. If your job no longer challenges or stimulates you cognitively, then programming is an excellent pastime to keep your mind limber!
Leaving the neuroscience aside for one moment, programming also simply teaches you to think in a different manner. Programming requires you to be resourceful, to handle abstract concepts and to apply ‘systems thinking’. It presents the kinds of problems that we rarely face otherwise and prepares us to approach challenges in all walks of life in a far more efficient manner.
Or as Steve Jobs put it: “Everyone should know how to program a computer, because it teaches you how to think”
It’s highly rewarding
This one you’re really going to have to experience for yourself… but another amazing thing about programming is how rewarding it is.
Coding allows you to imagine something you want to create and then see it slowly emerge in-front of you as a result of your own ingenuity and problem solving skills. Every time you fix a bug or add a new function, you get a real sense of accomplishment and a rush of dopamine. Likewise, there’s nothing quite like seeing your friends playing the game you made, or better yet, seeing someone on the train using the app you released!
And it’s not just the results that are rewarding either. Coding is actually rather addictive in itself once you get into the flow because it has such a tight ‘feedback loop’. Each time you make a change you can test your code and see how it affected it and this makes it very hard to switch off at the end of the evening. You’ll always want to get one more thing working or fix one more bug.
Believe it or not then, programming is fun once you get the hang of it in the same way that playing games is fun. And it kind of feels… futuristic, too. Add a cool keyboard, caffeine, a pair of headphones and some really awesome music and you’ll be ‘wired in’ in no time.
It’s a great career move
And finally, let’s not dance around the fact that learning to code is an excellent career move. Not only is there the possibility of creating that world-changing app as an entrepreneur; you’ll also find it helps you to land any job you can think of (near enough).
A lot of people in their mid-twenties are whining at the moment about being born ‘too late’ for the digital revolution. Saying that they missed the opportunity the younger generation had by being raised around tablets and smartphones and thus are being overlooked for all the best jobs.
The number of jobs that require basic programming abilities will only increase
But there’s nothing stopping you from learning to code right now (and actually, being brought up in a time of ZX Spectrums and Tatung Einsteins was far more conducive to learning to program). The number of jobs that require basic programming abilities will only increase and even jobs that don’t directly require programming skills will benefit from the ability. Tell your potential employer that you’re also capable of creating a web app for them and you probably just put yourself ahead of the competition. If you want to progress your career and turn yourself into a viable candidate for a raise, learn to program. And if you want to avoid your job being taken by a robot in ten years? Learn to program!
So there are tons of reasons that learning to code is an excellent idea… pick one! Even if you don’t have an idea for the next big mobile app, just have a play with it and you might be surprised by how rewarding and enjoyable it is. And once you know how to code, a ton of uses will present themselves. Guaranteed.
How about starting here?
At least six vendors to release Cyanogen powered phones in India next year
Cyanogen Inc is still dreaming of big things for its unique take on the Android operating system and is planning an aggressive expansion strategy in India next year, which is one of if not the world’s fastest growing mobile market.
In order to help grab itself a notable foothold in the Indian market, the company is teaming up a number of mobile manufacturers that are planning to launch phones in the country. Building on its early partnership with Micromax’s Yu brand, Cyanogen OS will be powering smartphones from at least six domestic and international handset suppliers next year. Although no names have been mentioned just yet.
“One of the reasons we partnered with Micromax because they understand the market and consumers in India… It’s really important for Cyanogen to go beyond the enthusiasts’ community. We want to take the value of this community to mass market,” – Kirt McMaster, Cyanogen
Furthermore, Cyanogen’s Bengaluru team in the country is expanding. There are currently 11 employees on site, but this will grow to 60 people by the end of 2016. Much of the company’s $80 million investor financing is being spent on expanding into the Indian market and the company is also apparently mulling over potential acquisitions of a number of other businesses in the country.
See also: Cyanogen teases multiple cheap devices for next year, CM13, and maybe a flagship
Looking further ahead, the company also seems to have plans for some bigger products over the next 12 to 18 months. The company is looking into new platforms such as machine intelligence and plans to make an announcement about one of its ventures at the 2016 Mobile World Congress. There are certainly interesting times ahead for Cyanogen.
Buy a Champagne OnePlus X without an invite today, in some countries
OnePlus recently announced that it was ditching invites for its OnePlus X smartphone every Tuesday and also unveiled its Champagne color variant of the handset just last week. Well, the two have now crossed paths, for today you can grab a Champagne version of the handset without the need for an invite, but only in select countries and at specific times.
A limited amount of stock will go up for open sale at 4pm local time in Hong Kong, Europe and North America. European and Hong Kong customers will have their pick of Onyx, Champagne and Ceramic models. However, North American customers will only be able to buy the Onyx version and will have to wait until January before the Champagne model becomes available.
Click the button below at the designated to time grab yourself a Champagne OnePlus X. If you miss out this time, don’t forget to check back every Tuesday for your chance to purchase a handset without having to bother with those pesky invites.
Oculus begins shipping the finished Rift to developers
Oculus has announced that it’s shipping “early builds” of its Rift VR headset to developers, along with the developer kit SDK 1.0. According to the company’s blog, “the Rift SDK 1.0 and runtime include features tied to the consumer product, so we’ve currently limited the release to developers putting final touches on launch titles.” Companies now getting the much-anticipated headset are technically not the first to have received it, since Oculus has already delivered engineering samples to privileged developers. It promised to ship more developer headsets “every week in the run up to the launch.”
As for that launch, so far Oculus has so far stuck to its line that the headsets will ship to the public sometime before April 2016 at a price north of $350. The competitor to the PC-driven Rift will be HTC and Steam’s Vive, but those companies recently said it would be delayed until April 2016. In exchange for the delay, however, HTC’s Cher Wang promised a “a very, very big technological breakthrough” on the hardware.
Via: Road to VR
Source: Oculus
ZTE launches Axon Max with 6-inch FHD display and USB Type C in China
As the year draws to a close, ZTE is launching its latest Axon flagship device – the Axon Max – in China. ZTE is also launching its Global VIP passport service, which will provide after sales assistance to Chinese globe-trotting Axon users.
The ZTE Axon Max features a 6-inch full-HD AMOLED display, an octa-core Snapdragon 617 SoC with Adreno 405 GPU, 3 GB of RAM and 32 GB of internal storage. On the imaging front, the handset is equipped with a 16-megapixel primary camera with phase detection autofocus and an f/1.9 aperture. It also sports a 13-megapixel selfie camera with f/2.2 aperture.
The post ZTE launches Axon Max with 6-inch FHD display and USB Type C in China appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Last-gen systems aren’t getting new ‘Call of Duty’ maps
If you’re still feeling salty over Activision nixing Call of Duty: Black Ops III‘s campaign mode on last-gen systems the next bit of news won’t do much to make the situation any better. In an announcement about the latest set of downloadable content, the “Awakening” pack which includes a quartet of adversarial multiplayer maps and the first episode of a new “zombies” tale, the company writes that the DLC will launch next February 2nd on PlayStation 4 first with “other next-gen platforms to follow.”
Semantics aside (“next-gen” is a misnomer here as the PS4 and Xbox One just celebrated their second birthdays), what we’ve left is that Activision is leaving folks who haven’t upgraded to new gaming consoles pretty far behind.
To be fair, even the official E3 announcement from Sony that PlayStation would get future map packs first didn’t specify which PlayStation they’d appear on. After Activision and developer Treyarch announced that the last-gen version Black Ops III would ship sans its slightly unorthodox campaign, I guess this isn’t all too surprising but it’s no less disappointing. Especially considering that earlier this year, Activision announced that on a monthly basis nearly 12 million people were still actively playing the three year-old Black Ops II — the game sitting at the top of the heap for Xbox One backwards compatibility requests by fans.
Via: Kotaku
Source: Businesswire
A second Android-powered BlackBerry smartphone could be on the cards in 2016
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If BlackBerry is to survive in the smartphone hardware space, it’s clear some things have to change and the release of the BlackBerry Priv was a good first step. While we still don’t really know how well it’s done for the Canadian manufacturer, BlackBerry CEO John Chen has hinted in an interview with Bloomberg that if the Priv does well, that could mean a second Android-powered BlackBerry smartphone would be released in 2016. This device is said to carry the codename “Vienna”, following the theme set by the Priv which was codenamed “Venice”.
http://www.bloomberg.com/api/embed/iframe?id=IzWxAdmjQxqi~4u~S5uSqQNaturally, Chen is still keeping his cards close to his chest so didn’t give us any more detail. A second Android-powered BlackBerry smartphone does seem pretty likely, however, as the Priv is yet to complete its global release, and presumably this will result in even more sales. Of course, only time will tell whether BlackBerry’s gamble to join the Android mainstream has paid off, especially with its claims of privacy and premium pricing – perhaps a lower cost model would be able to help it break into the other sectors of the market.
What do you think about a second Android-powered BlackBerry smartphone? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Source: Bloomberg via TalkAndroid
The post A second Android-powered BlackBerry smartphone could be on the cards in 2016 appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
Rogers to distribute Marshmallow update for the LG G4 in late January
Canadian carrier Rogers Wireless has today announced that it will initiate the rollout of the long-awaited Marshmallow update for the LG G4 in late January. In addition to bringing the latest build of the open-source operating system to the handset, the upgrade will also transport Google’s latest security patches which fix any critical issues that may otherwise have put user data at risk.
As always, be sure to keep your browser pointed to Talk Android as we’ll let you know as and when the OTA starts rolling out to the handset, along with any details you may need to be aware of in order to make the updating process as smooth as possible.
Source: Rogers
Come comment on this article: Rogers to distribute Marshmallow update for the LG G4 in late January
Google and Ford rumored to announce partnership at CES; yes, it’s about self-driving cars
Google’s self-driving car systems are said to hit the public relatively soon, but so far the specifics have been vague. Google has said it will partner with other manufacturers, allowing them to use their systems. The Search Giant has also mentioned a taxi-like service that would have you thoughtlessly zipping through the city. What gives? Despite government (and public) concerns, the company has been pushing forward and it seems an important milestone is to be reached at CES 2016, this January.
A trio of anonymous internal sources are claiming Google and Ford have a partnership to announce in Las Vegas, next month. This is said to be a joint venture to work on self-driving cars, and it will come in the form of an independent company.
Google is great at creating smart systems, but people have been worried about the company’s ability to manufacture vehicles. After all, you would be trusting your life to Google every time you hop on one of their automated automobiles. And as cute as their little cars are, we would rather have a renown car maker in the labs.
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- “Google Auto” is the official name for Google’s self-driving car company
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This gives us a certain level of reassurance. In addition, companies like Google, Mercedes Benz and Volvo have promised to take responsibility for accidents caused by their self-driving systems. Google has also pledged to release information on whatever accidents their driver-less cars get into. It’s important to keep people informed, and Google is certainly not falling behind in this sense.
Also, this deal is said to be non-exclusive, which makes us wonder what the plan really is. Other companies will be able to jump in on the deal? Will they have to go through both Google and Ford to join the fun? We are not quite sure, but you can bet we will find out all the details during CES. In the meantime, hit the comments and let us know if you are ready for the driver-less car revolution.
Moto X Pure Edition (2014) now updating to Android 6.0 Marshmallow
As 2015 prepares to finish up and the next new year begin, owners of last year’s Moto X Pure Edition are inevitably wondering if Motorola will release Android 6.0 Marshmallow before January arrives. Whereas last year the company was quick to update the device for the release of Lollipop, things haven’t been going so smoothly this year. Thankfully, reports from users in various countries around the world indicate that the roll-out has begun formally, though some territories were early to the party.
The Android 6.0 update is around 884MB and can be manually checked for those who don’t want to wait for a notification to appear. To do so, hit the Settings menu, scroll to the bottom and find “About Phone” the select “System Updates” and see if the magic of Marshmallow is ready to go.
Please be aware that often times OEMs will issue “staged” roll-outs that see devices gradually having update access over the course of several days or even weeks in an attempt to minimize potential server traffic problems. If the prompt to download the new OS version is not appearing, prepare to wait a bit longer. Also be aware this update is for the 2014 (“2nd Gen”) Pure Edition -unlocked/SIM-free – variant and thus carriers will inevitably be on their own set schedule.
Android 6.0 brings with it Doze, a new feature that optimizes battery life by more aggressively managing the way in which apps behave when a device is in sleep mode and undisturbed. Now on Tap is another key addition: by holding down the “Home” button the OS will take a snapshot of the screen and analyze the content on it to allow direct access or usage of the information such as making an appointment. The last primary new feature is “App permissions” which give users more control over what any given app can do or have access to.
Android 6.0.1 has already been released earlier this month however, which brought with it new Emoji and bug fixes. It is unknown as to when or if Motorola plans to include it at a later date.
Are you the owner of a Moto X Pure Edition (2014)? Have you received the OTA yet? Drop us a line in the comments section and share your thoughts and machinations on the minutia of Marshmallow!
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