2018-03 on Funky Si's Test

Android Development Options

funkysi1701@gmail.com (funkysi1701) — Mon, 26 Mar 2018 00:00:00 +0000

A friend asked me how to get started in Android Development and I thought I might have a go at answering that question here.

I am by no means an expert in Android development, I do have an app in the play store so I know something.

Manifest File

This is probably the easiest option and also doesn’t actually create an android app so I am not sure if it should be included in this list of not.

If you have a website and you want to create an app for that you could just create a manifest file and add this to your website.

Once your website has a manifest file, if you visit your website using a mobile phone or tablet you will get the option to add a shortcut to the home screen. You then have an app like experience in that you can click an icon to launch your website.

A manifest file is a simple text file which specifies a few settings like the icon size, filename, what page loads when clicked and name of your “app”

More information

Visual Studio

This is the option I know most about as is what I have used.

If you are familiar with Visual Studio you can use the Xamarin Forms software to create your app in C#. Xamarin Forms allows you to easily create cross platform apps that run on Android, IOS and windows phone. So far I have only experimented with Android but it should be relatively easy to extend my code to run on other platforms.

Xamarin Forms allows you to write one a single codebase that can be compiled to run on the different platforms. Xamarin requires the use of XAML a XML like markup language for designing UI elements.

More Information on Visual Studio , Xamarin Forms

Android Studio

I don’t know much about this option so do correct me if I don’t get the details correct.

Android Studio can be downloaded from Google this allows you to create java code to run directly on an android device. From what I know this is fairly similar experience to Visual Studio but instead of writing your code in C# you use Android Studio and write it directly in java.

More information

Cordova

Cordova allows you to use HTML, CSS and javascript to create cross platform apps. I have no idea why I haven’t heard of this technology until today as it sounds very flexible especially if you know a little bit of javascript.

More information

To summarize there are lots of different options available to create an android app. What you choose depends on what you want to build, what language and experience you have and if your app needs to be cross platform.

Tips for Developing Yourself

funkysi1701@gmail.com (funkysi1701) — Mon, 19 Mar 2018 00:00:00 +0000

For a while I have been mentoring a friend and I thought I might share some top tips I have implemented in my career so far.

Hard Work

At school I was told: “Only in the dictionary does Success come before Work“. Yes it is a bit of a corny saying however it has stuck in my head and it’s true. If you want to get anywhere you need to work at it. For many years I just drifted along, but as soon as I knuckled down and worked hard my career started going somewhere.

Write a Blog

Writing is an important skill that you need to work at to improve. If you commit to writing one blog post a week this will help to improve this skill. Even after 150+ blog posts I still feel I need to improve. Not only that it will also help others learn something from you and shows a willingness to contribute to the community. If a Hiring Manager reads your blog he can see some of the stuff you know or care about and may help give you the edge over more experienced candidates.

Soft Skills

This is one I need to work on but you should concentrate on the so called “Soft Skills“. Soft Skills are the skills you have for dealing with others. Are you good at talking to people? Or good at getting requirements out of business owners? If so you have some soft skills, don’t underestimate the value that these bring to a team and keep developing them.

Build a Side Project

Start building a side project, it doesn’t matter what it is but start building something. I started building a Xamarin app but I have learnt loads of other connected things while doing this, ViewModels, APIs, Build and Deployment processes, Azure Functions. It also gives you ammunition for things to blog about. If you are short of ideas try solving a problem or rebuild something you use.

Use your spare time

During the day there are moments you can reclaim for learning stuff. There are lots of podcast which discuss useful development topics, listen to these while driving to work. Subscribe to pluralsight and listen to this while washing up. Don’t get too concerned with learning everything, however think how much more you are learning than not listening at all.

I’m not ready!

We are never ready to take that next step, it is so easy to make excuses like I need to learn x, or know y. The only way to know if you are ready is to try and to keep trying. Iterate as you go so you keep improving yourself. If you wait before you start trying you will end up waiting forever. If you start trying now you will make some small progress and have a better idea of what you need to do to achieve your goals.

Heroes

funkysi1701@gmail.com (funkysi1701) — Fri, 16 Mar 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Who was your hero growing up? Mine was Stephen Hawking.

What is a hero? A lot is said in the media about “Heroes”. Often the sportsperson of the hour is described as a hero. I don’t like this definition and I think there is far more to being a hero than that. One definition I saw describes a hero as A person who is admired for their courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities.

Why Hawking? As a kid I thought I was pretty smart (Not really just above average), I liked Star Trek and science so Hawking was a pretty obvious choice. I remember reading all about Hawking and his life fascinated me. A brilliant man was struck down by motor neurone disease in his early twenties, however this did not stop him and he completed his doctorate and became the famous physicist we all know and love.

My physics career was fairly short lived ending with an undergraduate course at University of York, however I really enjoyed learning the concepts that he described about space and time and was definitely a driving factor for me to learn as much as I did about Physics.

How heroic is it to be given 2 years to live and then not only survive but to expand our understanding of the universe without being able to speak or move without the aid of technology?

I can not imagine what it must be like to not be able to communicate without the use of a computer, but this has been Stephen Hawkings world for over 30 years. His computer system has undergone various upgrades over the years however his synthetic computer voice has continued as he identified with it and prefered it.

Stephen Hawking had an immense intellect, I would probably describe him as one of the cleverest people on the planet.

Who are your heroes? What kind of person is your hero, is it a scientist or engineer? The world contains some very clever people who will inspire and excite young people to strive towards something. I am hopeful that my sons can be inspired even if it’s only a small way by someone like Stephen Hawking.

New version of Pwned Pass

funkysi1701@gmail.com (funkysi1701) — Mon, 05 Mar 2018 00:00:00 +0000

A new version of Pwned Pass is available from Google Play.

A couple of weeks ago Troy Hunt released V2 of Pwned Pass onto his haveibeenpwned website. There are now over half a billion passwords that have appeared in data breaches for you to search.

This time Troy has included information about how many times a password has appeared in his data. So “password” returns a value of 3,303,003 so is a really, really bad choice of password to use. However the password “windows 10” has only appeared twice so is much better, however I would still recommend avoiding using it.

One of the great things about the internet is that on the day of release I was tweeting Troy so I could get my android app updated to take advantage of these new features. I even helped him identify an issue with the documentation on his site. He has also kindly add a link to my app onto his website.

That conversation and link has lead to a massive increase in app downloads. Before I was going steady on about 14 installs, now I have 86 active installs. I am not sure if this will increase anymore but if you are reading this because you downloaded my app, then thank you.

My app has four main features:

Password Check – this allows you to search a password and see if it has appeared in a data breach and also the number of times that password has appeared.

Email Check – this allows you to search your email address and see which data breach it has been involved in.

List of Data Breaches – this lists the data breaches from haveibeenpwned.com you can also sort by Date Added, Number of accounts and name.

Calendar of Breaches – this shows a github like chart of what days breaches are added

If you like my app do let me know. I have received a few ratings on google play it would be great to get a few more. If you want me to add a feature or have ideas of how I could improve it let me know as well.

To download take a look at https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=pwnedpasswords.pwnedpasswords