tips menjadi programmer from yours truly

assalamualaikum

hai! hari ni i nak share again and again about programming sebab oh well, i spent 1/3 of my day coding duh hahaha. tapi asbab yang lebih membawa kepada penulisan ini ialah sebab i nak cerita yg oh how little i know about programming when i was in college in contrast to actually programming as a job. so disebabkan i rasa expectations perkerjaan programmer masa di university agak berbeza dengan the actuality of being in the industry, i think i would love to share some tips that helps me drive through my day to day job. but u know what, this entry is very specific to my job so it might not pique your interest tapi ambillah intipati entry ini sebagai perkongsian ilmu okie.

picking your go-to programming language

i think it's already a well-known fact yang dekat dunia ni ada banyak programming languages dan semestinya macam rambang mata nak pilih nak master language mana satu. ada sesetengah orang stick dengan language yang belajar dekat uni, ada sesetengah minta advise daripada lecturers, ada yang lagi best sampai bertapa dekat stackoverflow untuk tahu language mana senang and susah and ada juga yang literally search kat google "what is the top programming language in world 2022". exactly my keyword years ago hahaha.

tapi the secret to picking your go-to language should not be based on these searches, your interest/opinion atau the reputation alone. my tip is, do your research on LinkedIn. caranya, search guna keyword macam "web developer jobs" dan cuba tengok company dkt malaysia ni banyak cari programmer untuk language apa. my advise is to kaji the market-- then choose your language. minat tak minat letak tepi sebab all languages have the same challenges. kalau minat programming tu, tak kisah language apa tetap akan minat.

however, kalau u dah ada niche sendiri, don't worry too much. you can always search for a job with more specific keywords contohnya macam PHP Developer, .Net Developer -- mesti ada company yang nak pakai expertise in other languages than the so-called popular ones sebab setiap language ada specialty dia sendiri. and like i said before, switching language is always possible if your heart's in it.

real job description from 3 big companies in Malaysia. all looking for programmers experienced in angular or javascript.

keeping up with technology stacks

i pernah ketengahkan topic ni dekat entry yang lepas tapi benda ni penting so kena repeat lagi. ketahuilah yang technology is progressing very fast. nanti di masa depan kita cakap psl github co-pilot pula mesti korang akan amazed dengan technology ni. so disamping jadi expert dalam certain certain programming languages, korang juga kena bersedia untuk adapt and utilize the frameworks and libraries that come with them. 

contoh, python ada framework macam django dan flask. javascript ada node.js. C# ada ASP.net dan sebagainya. framework ni memudahkan urusan kita nak coding tapi dia ada more rules and syntax yang differs from the other. so kena sentiasa keep up and tahu tentang bila orang sebut technology stack ni, org selalunya tak refer pada language-- tapi refer kepada framework yg digunakan.

sample of technology stacks that you can mix and match

git

topic git ni pun pernah i ceritakan dekat entry lama. basically git ni digunakan untuk jaga code versions. code version ni termasuklah kalau 2-3 orang sedang coding dkt file yang sama, mcm mana nak pastikan code tu tak overwritten by each other adalah dengan menggunakan git.

aku rasa antara kesalahan besar university adalah tak introduce git ni dalam syllabus (or at least my uni). git ni ended up jadi skill yang memang disebut sebut dalam semua JD bila cari kerja. semua nak programmer tu ada kepakaran menggunakan git. so silalah biasakan diri guna git walaupun untuk personal projects disamping mastering any programming languages ya.

my project's git. nampak tak a few programmers collaborate on the same project and we can merge our codes together. this is how git works

Read more about git for beginners

1. https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/git-and-github-for-beginners/

ide and extensions

topic ni i tak terlalu mahir tapi for my current ide (visual studio code), ada extensions yang kita boleh install. nampak mcm extras and bonuses je extensions ni tapi sebenarnya kalau kita guna extensions yang betul, ia boleh improve efficiency of coding. contohnya mcm untuk mark indentation, untuk highlight syntax errors, untuk launch live server dan sbgnya. nanti di lain article i boleh share some of my favorite extensions for vscode.

rainbow indentation untuk tau which code belongs to which nest

code linter helps explain what is unnecessary/false/redundant in codes

some of my favorite vscode extensions

coding conventions

rasanya semua student computer science tahu tentang coding conventions termasuk naming conventions mcm camel case (camelCase), pascal case (PascalCase), snake case (snake_case), kebab case (kebab-case) dll. sebenarnya naming styles ni bukan saja saja boleh pilih nak pakai yang mana. how we usually roll is we follow our team. mcm my team, kalau css akan pakai kebab case untuk css, dan camel case untuk logical programming tapi depends. malah, ada juga yang memang follow convention yang digunakan kat seluruh dunia. sometimes dkt documentation for each framework pun ada bagi suggestions. 

some tips to follow:

#1 use verbs to describe method names

contoh ~ calculateTime(), sendAddress()

#2 append verb to be untuk namakan boolean variables

contoh ~ isSelected, isDirty, isCalculated

#3 give meaningful names

contoh salah ~ a = b + c

contoh betul ~ sum = num1 + num2

#4 gunakan uppercase untuk constants

contoh ~ PI (pi value yg untuk kira bulatan tu, kan constant, kita tak ubah value dia)

dan banyak lagi boleh study sendiri yer hehe.

notes from Devopedia

Read more about coding naming conventions

1. https://devopedia.org/naming-conventions

2. https://medium.com/wix-engineering/naming-convention-8-basic-rules-for-any-piece-of-code-c4c5f65b0c09

akhir sekali adalah

project framework

selalunya dalam project kita akan follow set of rules untuk memastikan tak huru hara team kita. antara rules yang digunakan selalu kita belajar dlm kelas software engineering, ada Scrum Methodologies, Waterfall Programming, Extreme Development dsb. kalau dekat etiqa kita pakai scrum methodologies. ini pun nak tahu nak kena faham konsep yang mana, kena tengok company kat linkedin selalunya akan bagitahu mereka pakai project framework yang mana.

bunyi mcm remeh, tapi important untuk faham sebab barulah korang tak confuse mcm mana deadline ditetapkan, macam mana pembahagian task, siapa nak refer kalau nak negotiate impediments dan sebagainya.

   

the same 3 major companies utilizes the agile scrum methodology

to end this entry, i think that almost 70% of what i experience at work were never told in college classes, may be sbb setting berbeza or it's just syllabus at my college tapi banyak juga yang belajar dekat uni, i couldn't complain. tapi if you are interested in the field, please take my tips as a part of your learning process sbb trust me, these tips really helped me get through my days.

Thank you for reading this entry :D

bagaimana saya merancang hari hari saya?

assalamualaikum

i am a person yang paling anti dengan kalimat "just go with the flow". obsession i terhadap having a plan before doing anything is critical to the point yg kalau husband i ajak dating makan kat luar esok, malam ni i paksa dia sebut kedai apa dia nak makan. kalau dia sebut beberapa, i akan tonyoh tonyoh juga soalan dekat dia sampai dia shortlist kan lagi list yang dah sedia pendek itu dan kalau ada 2-3 list kedai i akan google menu kedai tu and terus fikir apa nak order. and those things are done for an activity to be executed the next day tau. next day tu bukan lepas subuh terus nak pergi pun, tapi kecoh dia mmg tak boleh bawa bincang.

the whole paragraph was just about having a lunch date outside. can u imagine what i do the night before a work day?

i love to wake up with a structure. lepas bangun tidur nak buat apa, apa yang nak kena siap harini, siapa yang nak kena contact hari ni yada yada. i need to know what i'm gonna be doing. bukan setakat waking up and know i have to work tapi wake up and know yang harini akan buat task A dekat project B to achieve 50% of the task. sangat detailed to the dot. 

thus, every monday i will access my work email and masukkan all scheduled meetings for the whole week. tapi i will also check every morning untuk pastikan ad-hoc meetings also masuk. walaupun meeting tu dah lepas tapi i terlupa nak masukkan in my calendar, i will masukkan juga sebab senang nak backtrack kalau kenapa certain2 hari tu i busy. then i will also put in my personal planned activities mcm nak pergi clinic ke, nak pergi dating ke, masuk juga dalam calendar tu. for this, my favorite calendar app to utilize is Fantastical.

kenapa Fantastical? kenapa bukan google cal atau apple cal atau lain lain? okay so cerita dia, i mmg sgt particular dgn my planning tools. bila i pilih calendar app apa nak guna, notetaking app apa nak guna, bujo mcm mana nak beli, i did a lot of researches and trial and error. i gave each one of my shortlisted tools a good amount of time untuk cuba dan experience sendiri. sama la mcm mana i jumpa fantastical and notion are through trying multiple apps and concluding which one that fits my style. what i'm saying is i tried google cal, apple cal, iCal and all. fantastical is best for me sbb i can combine my to-do-list with my calendar, i can integrate it with all my other calendars, it creates a CTA to join online meetings and much more. that's why i choose it as my main calendar app. i love it so much that i literally pay to subscribe it.

then the next step is moving all of these into my bullet journal. this is only for self satisfaction. i love the feeling of crossing off my tasks. so what i did is mark my bujo calendar as well, tapi mostly for big events. tapi my bullet journal is updated daily rather than weekly. setiap hari akan bangun pagi, buka bujo, journal some stuffs and plan my day. list out task yg specific nak buat on that day, mark done tasks yg tak sempat siap and postponed to whatever date. i also park my future tasks awal awal kalau ada yg urgent. 

i also am committed with one-line journaling sebab i nak remember significant things that happen in my life. kalau tak ada apa apa menarik, i'll just write down "normal day". tp most of the time when you journal, you will realize yang there are interesting things that happen in a day, you might miss it sebab you tak jot it down. this is why i love gratitude journaling. one line only, sebab nak tulis panjang panjang tu yang buat malas. so keep it one line. kalau ada lebih panjang cerita i will write down in notion.

a line a day journal

longer write up for more impactful stories in notion

then i step into my notion. mostly here i track my professional job only, personal stuff jarang guna notion. mmg notetaking la function dia. from here i will break down my big tasks into small chunks in its individual cards. dalam setiap card tu akan break down lagi into much smaller to-do lists. tapi setiap task ni tak target siap in one day, yg how much progress i want to achieve on a specific day i break down lagi dalam bujo. this is more to an overall view. 

then i will also take note of the important meetings yg help me break down my task even more. from here i also take note of the ticket numbers berkaitan dengan each task.

the way i explain things, might make it seem like banyaknya steps. well, there are, cannot deny la this one haha. tapi i become restless bila i tak tahu nak buat apa. duduk depan laptop tapi every single day kena pilih balik task apa nak buat. i suka start something and know where to continue the next day if i stop today. tak semua orang rasa mcm i thus this much detailed planning tak applicable to everyone. some people are carefree and that's amazing! what i'm sharing is just to shed a light for people who also indulge in planning. the impact it has on my life is it totally subtracting the need for me untuk risau risau pasal what's gonna happen today which is a 100% improvement on my life.

Thank you for reading this entry :D

skincare dump part 3: moisturizers

assalamualaikum

i selalu belajar pasal skincare daripada iman abdul rahim, nabila supina skin politic dan kawan i si era. ada tiga orang ni je i refer dan percaya sebab lepas ikut tips diorang la kulit i improve.

tiga tiga orang ni ada pendapat yang sama, bahawa hydration penting untuk kulit so carilah serum atau toner untuk improve hydration kulit. tapi bila dah apply hydrating products tu, kita kena kunci dan perangkap hydration itu agar ia tak meninggalkan kulit. macam mana nak kunci? haa itu bakalan dibincangkan pada hari ini. i akan bentangkan beberapa moisturizers yang i dah pernah cuba dan pendapat i mengenainya teehee!

1. apieu madecassoside cream

apieu madecassoside cream ni adalah moisturiser pertama yang i guna. ni macam titik tolak permulaan nak start repair kulit tu. okay, rasa sangat moisturized, bila bangun pagi kulit kurang berminyak then before guna, and also mmg rasa moisturized lama sebab i rasa yang kulit i tak kering walaupun duduk dalam lecture hall yang sejuk beku for 3 hours. all and all, i rasa bagus moisturizer ni, except dia agak kecil so walaupun harga dia tak mahal sangat, rasa macam kena beli kerap kerap.

texture dia agak smooth sebab dia ada silicone which feels good on the skin masa applying, i love the experience of using this mousturizer. tapi dia ada hint of citrus so watch out for this ingredient kalau kulit korang sensitif dengan fragrance. ada banyak key ingredients untuk moisturize kulit contohnya centella asiatica (also untuk calming), glycerin, niacinamide yang juga membantu untuk brightens skin, allantoin dan panthenol. selain itu ada juga green tea extract. dalam list ingredient dia ada juga lactic acid tapi tak ada purging masa i guna.

tahap kepuasan tu, puas sebab tu repeat 2 kali hehehe.

apieu madecassoside cream

brand: apieu

price: rm25 on shopee

size: 50ml (2-3 months)

read more

2. muji moisturizing milk (light)

muji moisturizing ni ada 3 level, light, moisture and high moisture. masa ni i try light punya sebab kulit i agak ke arah oily.

for me yang light version ni mcm tak cukup kaww la hehe. i rasa throughout pakai yang light ni, kena reapply banyak kali baru rasa moisturizing effect tu. and most of the times i apply up to 4 layers untuk get the feel especially for night routine maybe because emollient ingredients dia semua kat bawah2. the main star is squalane. emollients lain termasuk glycerin ada kat bawah bawah sikit. ia also mengandungi allantoin as a soothing ingredient. ingredient list dia simple so there's really not much to worry about, tapi for me, yg ada oily skin ni macam tak cukup umphh gitu. kalau u guys pernah pakai moisturizer yang rasa lemas sbb tebal sangat, this might be good for you.

muji moisturizing milk (light)

brand: muji

price:  rm43.90 on shopee

size: 200ml (3-4 months)

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3. muji moisturizing milk (moisture)

the moisture one is much better for me. yang ini i boleh rasa moisturizing effect dia in just 1-2 layers. pakai pagi bersama bb cream cuma agak rasa melekit tapi smooth je. slow sikit serap, thus the melekit part and but it glides my skin softly. texture dia pun tak berat, just the right amount expected untuk moisturizer. dia tak creamy or tebal, mmg mcm nama dia la, milk, so dia more liquid than solid. yang ini emollients dia very early in the ingredient list, glycerin being the third ingredient and squalane being the sixth so itulah yang menyebabkan ia rasa lebih moisturizing berbanding yang light tadi. despite my oily skin, this one feels much better than the light one so kalau kulit korang oily juga boleh try light dulu, kalau tak rasa cukup, this one is not too much also.

muji moisturizing milk (moisture)

brand: muji

price: rm33.90 on shopee

size: 200ml (3-4 months)

read more

4. etude house soon jung 10 free moist emulsion

macam biasa my style is saving the best for the last. this one is my definite go-to kalau bab bab moisturizer ni. dah repeat 3 kali sebab best sangat! very lightweight. mcm nama dia, emulsion, texture dia pun bukan creamy tebal mcm apieu tadi tapi mcm tengah tengah, lebih lembut and kental sikit drpd muji moisture tadi. even kakak i pun pernah pakai and ckp dia cepat soothe redness. pun cepat menyerap kecuali on top of my current toner mcm lambat sikit tapi pakai night routine okay lah. utk morning bila nak letak sunscreen and bb cream, pun tak melekit. 10/10 for me! 2 pumps je for the whole face, one layer only needed untuk rasa chok chok kat kulit sampai pagi!

ingredient list dia mmg sgt promising, dlm emulsion ni ada glycerin, propanediol, panthenol, squalane, madecassoside. soothing ingredient mcm camellia sinensis pun ada. all and all, this one is definitely my favorite lah.

etude house soon jung 10 free emulsion

brand: etude house

price: rm35 on shopee

size: 120ml (3 months)

read more

do you have your favorites for me to try? 

Thank you for reading this entry :D