SQL & Javascript
More SQL today and the first introduction to JavaScript. What a day! I actually didn’t mind going from SQL to Javascript, but something about semicolons and curly braces seems a bit wacky at first glance. However, the language seems logical enough, just not as structured and formal as SQL.
Products that Count
Tonight I went to an event hosted at the Yelp headquarters that was run by a group called Products that Count. The topic was Messaging is eating the world.
The speaker was a venture capitalist. His theory is that people will communicate in the future using messaging and with bots. Essentially, all existing apps need messaging; a conversational interface – either structured or unstructured. He predicts a convergence between chat, content and commerce. I really liked some of his ideas: using the SnapChat idea of expiration and applying it to messaging; using SMS to sign up or get something rather than an app or a form.
Some of his other ideas were a bit less likeable: that life will be outsourced to bots to the greatest extent possible, who will know you so well that people may not be able to distinguish when you do something versus when your bot does it. I would want people to know my bot did it – because it means I have a bot that is awesome!
Ultimately, the really cool question to me is what will we, as humans, be able to do once we are freed up from the mundane? Some people may predict a dumbing down. Instead, I think the opposite is possible: if I no longer have to spend any time thinking about the daily stuff and even occasional stuff, I would like to think I will be able to do amazing things. And, that humans would evolve in a way that we cannot yet actually envision.
I am so thankful to my mentor for suggesting that I attend. It was great to see her and meet other developers and start to see a connection between what I am aiming for all day long at school and the real thing…
Yet again, I do wish I could have more sleep. Given homework, I really am looking at less than 7 hours of sleep, but hearing the talk tonight was worth it.
michdcode 