A New Year — Some New Goals

It is hard to believe that 2014 has already come upon us. Every year it seems we make comments about how time flies. Indeed it does. Last year was a fantastic year for me. January 2013 was the month I started to code. Since then, I've coded up a few projects since then. But alas, I still have so much more to learn. I'd like to begin this year by setting some goals that I would like to accomplish in 2014.

Technology Goals

  1. I want to really understand the fundamentals of the C programming language.

    C was the first language I learned. I only learned the basics of it at the time, but I really want to dive in more. There are a lot of things to learn from a low level programming langauge.

  2. I want to become fluent in Javascript. Note: Javascript not jQuery.

    This one is long overdue. I've been hacking around on different websites for a couple years now. I've just recently gotten to a point where I feel fully comfortable developing HTML/CSS sites from scratch. Javascript is the obvious next move.

  3. Setup a dualboot arch linux install on my MacBook Pro.

    At our small computer lab here in Cambodia, I loaded up arch linux on four ancient dells. I had ubuntu running on them before and the difference is night and day. The pacman package manager has been such a joy to work with; I'd really like to run in on my daily development machine. There is something so elegant about arch. This is a must for this year.

  4. Build at least 3 solid side projects with the intent of learning new technologies.

    I recently picked up Sass and frameworks such as Bourbon Neat when designing my website. I found it such a joy to use. I'd like to continue branching out with new technologies and building things along the way.

  5. Finally, I'd like to contribute to open source.

    This one has been on the list for a long time, but I have always been too scared to do it. One thing that I am realizing though is that no matter how small the contribution, it makes a difference. I want to start being active in the community and giving back.

These are just some thoughts I had as I was reflecting on what this year will look like. I hope to learn so much more. I'm going to start by taking edx's CS50 course taught by David Malan. I'll be posting about it here soon, so keep checking in.

comments powered by Disqus