https://bphogan.com/2013/Recent content in 2013 on Brian P. HoganHugo -- gohugo.ioen-usWed, 03 Jul 2013 01:46:37 +0000https://bphogan.com/2013/07/02/in-teaching-context-is-key/Wed, 03 Jul 2013 01:46:37 +0000https://bphogan.com/2013/07/02/in-teaching-context-is-key/When you were three years old, you asked “why” an awful lot. If you have kids you’re probably sick and tired of hearing that question. But it is a fundamental question; it’s how we learn. We have a need to understand. Some things are learned over time, like “We need to eat so we don’t die.” But some things are not easily understood. Like Pointers in C. Recently I came across an exercise that was designed to help the student understand the use of pointers in C.https://bphogan.com/2013/06/09/how-to-derail-your-readers-and-students/Sun, 09 Jun 2013 22:17:50 +0000https://bphogan.com/2013/06/09/how-to-derail-your-readers-and-students/There’s no shortage of software developers who are eager to share their passion with others through writing and teaching. It’s an amazing time, and it’s great to have all these resources out there for us to all get better at what we do. If you’re a software developer who wants to teach others how to do things, listen up, because there’s a chance you’re derailing your students and undermining their confidence before they even get started.https://bphogan.com/2013/03/25/things-every-web-developer-should-know/Mon, 25 Mar 2013 13:44:28 +0000https://bphogan.com/2013/03/25/things-every-web-developer-should-know/I believe that web developer should have a command of a few simple things in order to tackle the random craziness that web development entails. This isn’t, by any means, a comprehensive list. It is opinionated, but also based on things I see other people I respect demonstrate in their daily work. JavaScript It’s everywhere and you can’t avoid it. You also can’t afford to continue the copy-and-paste approaches of the last 15 years.https://bphogan.com/2013/03/05/unfinished/Tue, 05 Mar 2013 16:05:28 +0000https://bphogan.com/2013/03/05/unfinished/Being pulled in a lot of directions at once means you don’t get to finish some things. I didn’t get my RPM Challenge stuff done, although I did produce one track. You can listen to “The Letdown” here. I’m actually pretty happy with this song. I did a lot of it on the iPhone while waiting for meetings, waiting for things to build, or as a distraction for those times when my brain was starting to get fried.https://bphogan.com/2013/02/12/rpmchallenge-201/Tue, 12 Feb 2013 14:10:03 +0000https://bphogan.com/2013/02/12/rpmchallenge-201/I’m working a lot these days. I’m editing a couple of really cool books, I’m working very hard on getting one of my best-selling books updated with fresh content, and on top of that I’m teaching full-time. That doesn’t leave me much time to work on music. So against my better judgement, I’m doing the 2013 RPM Challenge, where you have just 28 days to write and record an album of music.