This is Metis

Last post I said what a crazy week it's been, this week is still crazy.

So I'm part of Metis, a ruby-on-rails webdev/programming bootcamp. I didn't know what to expect when I first put in my application months ago; someone had recommended to me following my degree I try programming, and then I got forwarded the application website.

That's what started this entire trip, and now I'm in Boston, MA. This is my 2nd week in the States, and I've just gone through the first week of classes.

I'm not new to programming. I think my earliest programming history -truly- started when I fiddled around with my computer's ins and outs. The idea was that I understood how a computer would think. I started modding games, understanding the ways how programs, or maybe even just how windows parses information. Very simple, very outside stuff, no real coding yet.

Then I started to play with my first 'code', which is event-based scripting in RPG Maker 2000. It was a program of sorts, easy to use, intuitive UI. Confusing at first, but to simplify the software to those who aren't familiar with it, it essentially lets you script out processes in an old-school-esque game (2D, top down, sprite RPGs) on events (which are kind of like objects), using predefined methods (such as moving the event, opening a chat box on interacting with the event in game, altering game parameters such as character levels or items after interacting) that can be chained in a sequence. This is essentially programming - sequencing a bunch of code to make something happen.

It's in a nice little package, but several RPG Makers later till RMXP, I've been fiddling on and off, trying out freely available games on the web, editing them and adding onto them as I saw fit, playing with the tools, creating my own projects and expressing my (then-very-cheesy-plots-based) creativity. I even beta-tested and contributed to Solest Games' Master of the Wind - a huge project that was 7 years in the making by 2 guys; and even today I am helping where I can with their latest venture (after they had just released another game commercially on Steam). Using the maker's built in RGSS system which is based on Ruby, people can significantly alter the games with scripts that override the default systems or even create new systems. I didn't code too much but this was when I started reading parameters and elements, and changing a few things where I could to fit custom-scripts made by people to my needs for any sandbox game I was trying out or debugging.

Following and around this I looked into modding Bethesda Games' Fallout and The Elder Scrolls games, and debugging is a huge process for anyone trying to load 100+ mods into their game. When TESV: Skyrim's Creation Kit came out in 2011/2012, I jumped on the ship and tried to make my functioning, but incomplete mod during University. The CK used Papyrus, which I believe is a modified version of Java or JavaScript. It was probably the first time I seriously tried to write real code - and as clunky of a software as it was, there were many good 'eureka' moments when something went right. I really enjoyed spending nights coding instead of actually studying when I was on a high - it felt good to create something.

That summed up the programming experience I had, besides coding few scripts and lines in R and SAS for statistics analysis in University for my science degrees (By that point, code syntax had become pretty familiar to me, no matter the language). Months after the application, a few codeacademy lessons later, I've finally arrived to the course.

The first week was -great-. It's a small class, less than 15 people, with 2 fantastic and patient instructors. The course is aimed at people with little to no background in programming, and while I feel that I and a few others have a bit of a leg up in the first week, I think everyone else is catching up to where I am. Even though I think I grasped everything fairly well, I still make mistakes, and I still get baffled by programming challenges - which is fair, considering how I've never done any kind of proper code. I -can- write some code, but the cool thing at Metis is how they teach me how to do things efficiently and properly, which is really important in the world where things are mostly open-source and people code together.

It's a fantastic place to be, and week 1 is coming to a close. I'll be putting up some code on some of the challenges I've bee doing, including the challenges I've been facing. Here's to a good 12 weeks!