TheNewBoston – indiegogo

I have a thirst for knowledge. Ever since I can remember I have loved learning new things. I have two much older sisters, 5 and 8 years older to be exact. Growing up with them I remember coming home from school and watching them do their homework, asking them questions about what they’re doing, what they’ve learned. I was especially interested in math and science. As I grew up, I was always looking outside the normal means of learning to, well, anything I could get my hands on. Once I really got into the internet anything I wanted to learn was at my fingertips.

A couple of years ago, I decided I I finally wanted to get into programming. It had been something I was always interested in, really. Now that I was ready to start, I did what most people would do. I Googled programming tips and tutorials. As anyone would expect, thousands of  results popped up. I tried a few of them. I particularly liked Hackety Hack. It was set up in a side-by-side fashion teaching you Ruby. Someone suggested Codecademy.com. That went fairly well, but I have this issue with reading and retention and comprehension. Looking for an alternative to Ruby and and a more in depth look into Java, I turned to Youtube.

I figured I could have the videos up on a second monitor so I wouldn’t have to snap the video, allowing me to snap the code and terminal so I don’t have to tab back and forth on my main monitor. On Youtube, I found a great video tutorial on Java from a guy named Bucky. Later, I would realize that he had a full site devoted to tutorials at TheNewBoston.org. From there I got into Javascript, Visual Basic and PHP. The thing that I found most useful on his videos is that he starts from the ground up. He’ll explain how and where to get whatever resources needed to perform the coding including utilities and environments. He walks you through installing things like Apache for PHP and MySQL, Microsoft Framework 4.0 for Visual Basic and even things like Eclipse or Notepad++/Programmers Notepad for writing the code.

In every tutorial of his I’ve watched, you’re quickly taught basic code and eventually build up from there to create more complex, and useful, programs. You might be asking yourself why I’m talking about Bucky and TheNewBoston.org. Mainly I’d like to express my gratitude for all of his work. If you’ve thought about learning programming, or other things (the site has tutorials for basic math, biology, physics and more), check out the site. Another reason I took the time to talk about TheNewBoston is Bucky started an indiegogo for a project he’d like to get off the ground. It’s an open source social network geared toward techies. With all of the videos I’ve watched of his, and the amount he’s taught me about programming alone, I’m supporting his effort for the site. I want to get the word out as far as I can throw it, so check it out, tell a friend and if you’re interested enough, support his cause.

Open Source Social Network IndieGoGo, By TheNewBoston.org

Vogel I am a gamer and a parent, lost in the struggle to balance the two. You can Email Rob or follow Rob on Twitter @ or Facebook

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