I felt similar at your age when reading through Popular Electronics. I'd think to myself "this soldering is FRUSTRATING - how can these guys KNOW so much stuff".
It's not important to be the best. Trying to beat everyone else in the entire world is really pretty silly when you think about it.
Follow the boyscout motto and do YOUR best. That's something achievable. Given your circumstances, find some passions, consider how you should prioritize them, and just keep learning about them and practicing.
Life is relatively long. You don't need to be an expert, just have a passion for it. That passion over time will FORCE you into becoming an expert in whatever it is you love.
But it's important to identify what it is you love early on so time can work it's magic on ya. And keep the passions list short to concentrate the buildup.
It doesn't need to be computer programming. It is for me, of course :)
yeah, I'm trying to get into robotics cuz it reminds me of my electronics past. but my prio is pianocheetah and i'm kinda outa time. But I plan on teachin it to my grandson if he shows interest. Next to my c64, that's probably the most time I've spent on anything.
Hmmm, I don't use assembly any more. I've settled on c++ (and java when forced into it). It's nice to know especially in that you get a real tight handle on what a CPU actually is. But I'm not sure how to go about learning it these days. The only thing I did on my ZX81 was use it's so called graphics mode to plot successive shrinking squares (using "fast mode" where it turned the graphics off for speed)
assembly was the only way to do anything on the XZ81,C64. You needed it a little on the Amiga and MS/DOS graphics (with C doing most the work). On Win95 I used it for a hi res timer (only a couple lines). But haven't used it since. If I were to dig in now, I miiiight start with the C++ compiler's assembly listings. Look at your C++, look at the unoptimized assembly the compiler generates and see how they equate. Google will find quite a few sites of people still using 80x86 assembly I think. Good luck to ya.
ha ha. good advice in general. but you never can tell... i'd probably do it all over again even knowing what i do now. Hey, I might not be with her, but I have 2 fantastic kids and a grandson as a result. I know a =LOT= about girls now. Life is weird and you don't need to follow ALL the rules...
It was more the nack of seating the floppys on the erlier drives 3000 and 4000 starting the drive running before closing the door and a sharp tap in the right place.
side note: if anyone has any ideas about finding beta testers for my baby (erm, pianocheetah) I'd be glad hear em. can't find beta testers to save my life.
Overall, I'd say I'm pretty freakin lucky. Spoiled even. Thanks for the nice replies.
This is where my mind usually lands when the symbol meets the semantics and the hardware. But there's usually another world in what 'is' is.
I look up to people like you, and aspire to compose a similar list. It looks like you always chased your interest, no matter where it took you. Luck can be a huge part of it, and it can make you feel spoiled. But on the other hand, I always looked at it as being a bit optimistic and maybe a having a mind that is both opportunistic and capable of winging it on a connection. When it seems like there's nothing there to learn about, there's usually something there. That's a bit of luck though. Some people think having the opportunity to be in the right place to be educated is the gift; I tend to think the stable, persistent interest deserves more credit than it's been given. It's hard venturing into unknown territory. Sometimes it can make me feel like I can only look back at a distant point where everything seemed to make sense and I had it all understood, and the adventure itself has gotten me so lost, that I'm not sure I know less or more than I did before.
I have been playing the piano as a hobbyist for at least a decade (some lessons as a kid), and have an m-audio midi controller 88 key in storage that should get some use. If you are looking for a tester, that's one of my leading interests. Email at petitecomputer[AT]gmail.com if you would like to get in touch. You'd also probably do well looking/posting here: http://www.reddit.com/r/WeAreTheMusicMakers/
If you're interested in beta testin (helpin me find n swat the GOD DAMN bugs in this thing and givin me "clean up that GUI" tips, etc) please email me. I can explain the program better for ya and help you along with piano a BIT. (But, really, you'll want a piano teacher.) I want to keep the source to myself (sorry!). Some day, if enough people bother to use it (not so far), I may start chargin'. That's my dream. But I would not be chargin' any beta testers of course ever.
My android port is a long ways off. I'm juuuuuust starting it. Planning on using java for GUI only and NDK beneath. But it's going to take a long time.
oh, err, stephen.hazel@gmail.com (it's on the site, but, ya know)
I love the idea of PianoCheetah, when I get my piano out of storage will definitely give it a whirl.
I tried looking at the demo video to get an idea of what it does, but (almost literally) couldn't follow along to save my life!
To get more testers etc I would 100% focus getting really good youtube videos out there. You don't even have to make them!
When I hear about a program like this, all I really want to know immediately is what it feels like to play with it. Do a couple of "Let's Play" style videos, show us how much fun you have playing piano with this tool. It will sell itself after that :)
those are some great ideas. The video I have is old as the hills. So my goals for this week(or 2):
- a decent modern video of just practicing a song
- a page of the "why" of pianocheetah
Hey, I might be interested : I'm considering learning to play the piano in order to help me transcribe some songs (I currently doing it using my trumpet but it's pretty tiring). I'll take a look if I finally decide to buy a M-audio.
Will have to have a look at home - you have made me feel guilty about not geting on with learning keyboard. I amasuing it will work with VST'is running in live or cubase.
I'm interested. I already have everything necessary and I've been learning by myself since few months. Should I contact you through the email on the website?
It's not important to be the best. Trying to beat everyone else in the entire world is really pretty silly when you think about it.
Follow the boyscout motto and do YOUR best. That's something achievable. Given your circumstances, find some passions, consider how you should prioritize them, and just keep learning about them and practicing.
Life is relatively long. You don't need to be an expert, just have a passion for it. That passion over time will FORCE you into becoming an expert in whatever it is you love.
But it's important to identify what it is you love early on so time can work it's magic on ya. And keep the passions list short to concentrate the buildup.
It doesn't need to be computer programming. It is for me, of course :)