Status Report: Python course preview
My daughter turned 5 in the last two weeks, It was nice to be able to celebrate her birthday during the day when I would normally have been working. The flexibility of not having a job was also helpful while my wife was sick this last week and when the car needed repairs. The new laptop came in handy while waiting for those repairs and it's been great not having to deal with crashes.
What went well?
I made some decent progress on starting the python course. Here is a preview of the first lesson: Python Basics. Most of the effort was in getting the python editors to behave just right. There is also a nice confetti effect when you finish an exercise! 🎊 The editor runs setup, validation, and text code checks. That way I can provide feedback on what ran during the program. I am working through the rest of the “basics” course content which should be available by the next status update.
Emery Development LLC. is now set up, including banking!
I did some game engine research and found a few promising options. I am looking forward to working on some coding games using them in the future.
What did I struggle with?
I was initially using PyScript for my python editor but found using Pyodide, which powers PyScript, much easier to work with. PyScript has been somewhat disappointing, but I am glad it is bringing more attention to Pyodide and WASM which are exciting tools.
I have been trying to post more on Twitter. Social media is not my strong suit, but I am trying to get better at it.
Health insurance continues to be annoying to deal with.
Things I used and discovered
- Virginia Registered Agent Services - Used to set up my LLC.
- Novo - Banking for small businesses.
- Github Sponsors - I set up my Github sponsors page so that people can support my work. Ko-fi also looks like a good option for donations. I haven't looked into Patrion yet either.
- react-confetti - A react component for confetti. I used this for the confetti effect in my python course.
- carbon - I noticed some people using a tool like carbon on Twitter to make their code look nice.
- PixiJs - One of the graphics libraries I am looking into, and likely the one I will use since they have react integration. Some other interesting options for graphics, games engines, and physics engines are: Phaser, stage.js, planck.js, React Game Engine, Omino, three.js.
How am I feeling?
It's great to see the progress that I have made since I started thinking about starting my own business. There is still a lot of work to do, but I am still doing it. I have enjoyed the flexibility of not having a job and being able to work on projects that I am excited about. I hope that what I am working on is helpful and valuable to others because laptops and car repairs aren't free, but it sure would be nice to make a living and enjoy it at the same time.