Learning Elixir Better through Collaboration and Giving Back

Talk given at Code BEAM SF 2018 - https://codesync.global/speaker/mohnish-jadwani/

Abstract:
Learning a new programming language can be intimidating and it doesn’t take too long before impostor syndrome can kick in. Things can even get more challenging if you’re learning includes being exposed to a new programming paradigm. This talk discusses about ways through which the journey of learning Elixir can be made more fulfilling and worthwhile through collaboration. We will explore how the better usage of mediums like Exercism, Slack etc., not only help us identify different ways of getting unstuck as we work towards getting a clearer understanding of the functional concepts in Elixir but also how they empower us to be better programmers in general through thoughtful conversations about code. We will also see how this journey of learning Elixir gives us opportunities through which we can contribute back to the language and community.

Transcript

1. Learning Elixir Better Through Collaboration and Giving Back Mohnish G Jadwani 1
2. Many resources out there Learning a new language with so many resources out there can get overwhelming 2
3. Learning a new language can be challenging and fun The journey of learning a new language can be - thrilling and deeply uncomfortable 3
5. How I started learning Elixir? - Learning by Reading 5
6. How I started learning Elixir? - Learning by Reading Elixir Official Getting Started Guides 6
7. Posted by a user on elixirforum.com - This was me 7 A real world connect seemed missing in Learning by Reading
8. How I started learning Elixir better? - Learning by Doing 8
9. Why learn this way? ◦ Easier to understand ◦ Easier to see a real world connect ◦ Learn to apply multiple concepts at one time Learning by Doing - Why? 9
10. What were my learning goals? ◦ Get confident ◦ Make and Track regular progress as a beginner ◦ Compare my solutions to others Learning by Doing - What? 10
11. Learning By Doing - How? How can Exercism.io help you learn a new language better? Exercism 11
12. Learning By Doing - How? elixirforum.com elixir-lang slack - you can get your invite here 12
13. Exercism and ‘Hello World’ exercise in Elixir Sample Failing test case that we have to make pass 13
14. Exercism and ‘Hello World’ exercise in Elixir Sample script in which we write code to pass the failing ‘Hello World’ related test 14
15. Documentation was confusing wrt usage of Default Arguments The presence of IO.puts in the website documentation wrt usage of Default Arguments was confusing 15
16. Default arguments docs made more clear through a PR 16
17. Gigasecond Exercise ◦ Given a particular input date ◦ Calculate a date one billion seconds(Approx. 31.70 years) after an input date Solving the Gigasecond exercise on Exercism A sample test case wrt the Gigasecond exercise 17
18. My Initial Solution to the Gigasecond Exercise 18 My Initial Solution to the Gigasecond Exercise defmodule Gigasecond do @doc """ Calculate a date one billion seconds after an input date. """ @spec from({{pos_integer, pos_integer, pos_integer}, {pos_integer, pos_integer, pos_integer}}) :: :calendar.datetime @gigasecond 1000000000 def from(time_in_datetime) do given_time_in_seconds = :calendar.datetime_to_gregorian_seconds(time_in_datetime) new_time_in_seconds = given_time_in_seconds + @gigasecond :calendar.gregorian_seconds_to_datetime(new_time_in_seconds) end end
19. Unlearning imperative style of problem solving Feedback on my initial solution 19 Feedback on my initial solution
20. Unlearning imperative style of problem solving Assignments to a temporary variable can be replaced by the pipe operator in Elixir 20
21. Many Learnings from solving just one Gigasecond exercise Initial Solution to the Gigasecond exercise 21 defmodule Gigasecond do @doc """ Calculate a date one billion seconds after an input date. """ @spec from({{pos_integer, pos_integer, pos_integer}, {pos_integer, pos_integer, pos_integer}}) :: :calendar.datetime @gigasecond 1000000000 def from(time_in_datetime) do given_time_in_seconds = :calendar.datetime_to_gregorian_seconds(time_in_datetime) new_time_in_seconds = given_time_in_seconds + @gigasecond :calendar.gregorian_seconds_to_datetime(new_time_in_seconds) end end
22. Many Learnings from solving just one Gigasecond exercise Final Solution to the Gigasecond Exercise 22 defmodule Gigasecond do @doc """ Calculate a date one billion seconds after an input date. """ @spec from({{pos_integer, pos_integer, pos_integer}, {pos_integer, pos_integer, pos_integer}}) :: :calendar.datetime @gigasecond 1000000000 def from(time_in_datetime) do time_in_datetime |> :calendar.datetime_to_gregorian_seconds |> + @gigasecond |> :calendar.gregorian_seconds_to_datetime end end
23. ◦ Bob is a teenager whose his responses are very limited. ◦ Bob’s responses usually are: ▪ 'Sure.' if you ask him a question. ▪ 'Whoa, chill out!' if you yell at him. ▪ 'Fine. Be that way!' if you address him without actually saying anything. ▪ 'Whatever.' to anything else. Solving the Bob exercise on Exercism 23
24. . Solving the Bob exercise on Exercism 24 “shouting in Russian” - The test case where I got stuck wrt the Bob exercise
25. How different pieces fit together - Exercism & Elixir Forum Another user asking about a similar question for the Bob exercise on elixirforum.com 25
26. Applying the suggestion on Elixir Form to my solution Trying out the suggestion in IEx 26 iex(5)> input = "УХОДИ" "УХОДИ" iex(6)> String.upcase(input) "УХОДИ" iex(7)> String.downcase(input) "уходи" iex(8)> String.upcase(input) == input true iex(9)> String.downcase(input) != input true
27. Applying the suggestion on Elixir Form to my solution Applying the suggestion on elixirforum to my solution 27 defmodule Bob do def hey(input) do cond do String.ends_with? input, "?" -> "Sure." String.trim(input) == "" -> "Fine. Be that way!" String.upcase(input) == input && String.downcase(input) != input-> "Whoa, chill out!" true -> "Whatever." end end end
28. The suggestion on Elixir forum led to a simpler solution Applying the suggestions discussed on elixirforum to my solution 28
29. How different pieces fit together - Exercism, Elixir Slack Wrote a blog post based on the typespecs learnings discussed via slack 29 Discussed importance of typespecs in the #beginners channel
30. Final solution to the Bob exercise with Typespecs 30
31. Word Count Exercise ◦ Given a phrase, count the occurrences of each word in that phrase. ◦ Thought Process ◦ Approach Solving the Word count exercise on Exercism 31 One of the test cases as part of the word count exercise
32. Question asked on how to Enumerate effectively in Elixir? A Stackoverflow question asked on how to loop through a map in Elixir 32
33. Use Enum.reduce to enumerate effectively in Elixir The Stack Overflow question was answered by the creator of Elixir - José Valim 33
34. A Map Reduce Analogy A Map-Reduce Sandwich 34
35. ◦ Sent a PR to further clarify how to use Reduce in Elixir 35
36. Did you Know? - Bots can Collaborate too! Ebert Bot offers a valuable suggestion via Credo to help one write better Elixir code 36
37. Let’s take a step back 37
38. Number of problems on Exercism’s Elixir Track 38
39. 39 Not all Elixir track exercises seemed to be in increasing order of difficulty
40. Take up exercises that help you learn specific concepts 40
41. Solving the Sublist exercise on Exercism • Given two lists determine if ◦ The first list is contained within the second ◦ The second list is contained within the first list ◦ Both lists are contained within each other ◦ If none of these are true 41
42. Solving for Sublist exercise using the Subset approach • Approach 1 - Subsets ◦ MapSet.subset ▪ Limitations 42 The sublist exercise related test case for which Mapset’s subset function did not pass Mapset’s subset returns true but as per our test case what we require is false(or unequal)
43. 43 Huge sublist not in huge list related test case • Approach 2 - Difference between two lists ◦ Subtraction operator ▪ Limitations Solving for Sublist exercise using the Differences approach
44. 44 • Approach 2 - Difference between two lists ◦ Subtraction operator ▪ Limitations Complexity of the difference is proportional to list lengths This information about complexity was mentioned in the docs of the core elixir repo
45. • Approach 2 - Difference between two lists ◦ Subtraction operator ▪ Limitations Solving for Sublist exercise using the Differences approach 45 The sublist exercise related test case for which the difference operator usage did not work
46. The feeling of being stuck 46
47. Found a similar solution where somebody was stuck at the same place 47
48. The Hint on how to deal with the huge sublist test case 48
49. An example that applies the suggested hint 49
50. ` An example that applies the suggested hint(contd.) 50
51. The number of unnecessary tests you can avoid 51
52. Let’s take another step back 52
53. Did I honestly try fixing things myself? Looking Beyond Impostor Syndrome - Questions that I ended up asking myself 53
54. Did I find ways to get unstuck? Looking Beyond Impostor Syndrome - Questions that I ended up asking myself 54
55. Was I fast enough at getting unstuck so that you could keep moving forward? Looking Beyond Impostor Syndrome - Questions that I ended up asking myself 55
56. Have I attempted to identify the missing gaps between my thought process and that of others? Looking Beyond Impostor Syndrome - Questions that I ended up asking myself 56
57. It’s completely ok to go ahead and ask for hints on Exercism Looking Beyond Impostor Syndrome - Other Reflections 57
58. • Questions that I ended up asking myself a. Have you i. honestly tried fixing things yourself? ii. found ways to get unstuck? iii. fast enough at getting unstuck so that you could keep moving forward? iv. identified the missing gaps between your thought process and that of others? • It’s completely ok to go ahead and ask for hints on Exercism Looking Beyond Impostor Syndrome - To Sum up 58
59. Looking Beyond Impostor Syndrome - Lessons Learnt from the sublist exercise 59
60. Sublist exercise made me realize - A missing debugging chapter 60
61. Jose Valim welcomes improvements to the documentation 61
62. Sublist exercise made me realize - A missing debugging chapter 62
63. Sublist exercise on Exercism helped me to be better programmer 63
64. Comparing my solutions to others helped me write better Elixir code Other Exercism users discussing what their takeaways where from another user’s solution64
65. Sublist exercise - my final solution 65
66. Different Elixir forum categories under which you can ask questions 66
67. Different Elixir forum categories under which you can ask questions 67
68. Different Elixir forum categories under which you can ask questions 68
69. Different Elixir forum categories under which you can ask questions 69
70. Some other ways through which Elixir Forum can be helpful A glimpse of the different kind of questions asked around the topic of ‘Learning Elixir’ 70
71. Some of the useful Elixir Lang Slack Channels 71
72. Some of the useful Elixir Lang Slack Channels 72
73. Some of the useful Elixir Lang Slack Channels 73
74. Some of the useful Elixir Lang Slack Channels 74
75. Use Elixir Lang Slack Archive to see older conversations 75 One can also see older conversations on some channels via - http://elixir-lang.slackarchive.io
76. 3 Challenging FP concepts that people need to overcome 76
77. Elixir community is very approachable for beginners Takeaways - Elixir community is very supportive 77 A recent Elixirforum.com user appreciating the responsiveness in the community
78. • Platforms like Exercism provide ◦ Direct or Indirect Mentorship ◦ Provide countless small wins ◦ Help you become better problem solvers Takeaways - Use Collaboration platforms actively 78 A user who solved the Exercism problem cared to learn more about the underlying approach to it
79. Collaboration can be in the passive form as well Takeaways - Power of Collaborative Learning 79
80. Takeaways - You can contribute to Elixir even as a beginner 80 Give Back - You can contribute to Elixir’s & it’s adoption even as beginner to the language! The Bigger Picture - Why write good docs?
81. Takeaways - Keep Having a Beginner’s Mind! Benjamin Tan Wei Hao(An Elixir book author) wrote a post about Beginner Elixir Project Ideas 81
82. Takeaways - Keep Having a Beginner’s Mind! 82
83. Takeaways - Believe in Yourself and Don’t give up 83
84. • Image Credits ◦ Are your ramping up in a new langauge ◦ Many resources out there ◦ Being Stuck ◦ From Not Knowing to Knowing ◦ Confucius quote - Tim Fargo • Other Credits ◦ To all those people who’ve directly or indirectly inspired me to give this talk Credits 84
85. Thank You and Feel Free to Get in touch! Mohnish G Jadwani Twitter @mohnishgj Github boddhisattva Blog medium.com/@mohnishgj Site http://www.mohnishjadwani.com/ Gmail mohnishgj 85