Ben Brandt

Averages in Rust

An important part of learning Rust is figuring out how to use common collections like Vectors, Strings, and HashMaps. The next exercise in the Rust book calls for some averages: Given a list of integers, use a vector and return the mean (average), median (when sorted, the value in the

Rust

Converting Temperatures in Rust

Next up is my third program written in Rust. All the prompt said was: Convert temperatures between Fahrenheit and Celsius. This could be simple functions to go back and forth between Celsius and Fahrenheit. But I wanted to try and challenge myself to do handle some user input and use

Rust

Twelve Days of Christmas in Rust

We're going to walk through another program prompt from the Rust Book: "Print the lyrics to the Christmas carol 'The Twelve Days of Christmas'." I know the topic is a few weeks late, but should hopefully still be helpful! Getting Started Assuming you've installed Rust, you get started

Rust

Fibonacci in Rust

I've started 2018 learning yet another programming language: Rust. I love learning new languages. They expose you to new ideas, paradigms, and (in the case of Rust) even new types of programs you can build. Rust pitches itself as: ...a systems programming language that runs blazingly fast, prevents segfaults, and

Web

Running AngularJS Tests with Jest

Earlier this year, we began the process of using React in our AngularJS app. Luckily, rendering React components within Angular isn’t too hard. We use a component “bridge” based on the approach shared by the Small Improvements team, which is working well. A side-effect of bringing React into the

Web

Using Ports in Elm

Last week I had the opportunity to speak at a local meetup here in Portland about my favorite new technology: Elm! Specifically how to use your Elm code in connection with other JavaScript code or libraries. If you don't know what Elm is, or have somehow managed to avoid my

Code

Dictionaries are made from Tries

cs50 pset 5 was all about data retrieval and memory management, so the challenge was to implement a searchable dictionary that could be used to quickly implement a spell checker on entire books (like the Bible or a Tolstoy novel). Whenever working with data, you're always making tradeoffs between speed

Code

Modifying Images in C

Next up in my CS50 psets was a fun project working with files in C. First up was a challenge to find a hidden clue in a picture. You had to check the RGB values of each pixel in an image and remove the red pixels to reveal the person

Game of Fifteen

I'm slowly catching up on write ups of my cs50 psets, and next up is the next challenge from pset3, the Game of Fifteen. It's fairly simple, it draws the current state of the board, you enter which tile you want to move, and it redraws the board until you

Code

Binary Search, Selection Sort, and Merge Sort

Since I spend most of my day building websites, I don't often get the chance to test my algorithm skills and figure out the most efficient sorting or searching methods. I usually reach for the generic one in whatever library I'm using, but as always, CS50 is challenging me to

Code

The Journey in C Continues - CS50 pset 2

I know it's been awhile, I've been sidetracked with work and fell behind on my classwork, but better late than never! Here are my solutions to the second problem set for CS50: Initials.c This was a simple little program to take in a name as an input, and then

Code

Beginning to Program in C - CS50 pset1

I've been continuing my way through Harvard's CS50 course, and have begun programming in C! Again, since I've already had quite a bit of experience programming, I've been flying through the coursework, but I've been spending plenty of time in the recommended textbooks and diving into C. This is my

Web

Programming in Scratch

I've been working through some more online classes recently, thanks to the awesome curriculum from the Open Source Society, and am finally taking a class where I'm learning some C! Already I'm making cool parallels to other languages I work in every day, but that is for another post. Instead

Web

Swiss Tournament Pairing System - Relational Databases

After many weeks, I've finally been able to finish my Intro to Relational Databases class! It certainly didn't help that we've been dealing with moving apartments the last few weeks, but this class also kicked my butt big time! I've done plenty of work with WordPress databases, but honestly most

Web

Getting Started with Git

I don't know about you, but using Git, especially from the command line, has always been intimidating. At least until recently. I've known for awhile now the importance of source control for your projects and so I've been doing my best to use it. Thanks to the awesome GitHub applications

Web

Put Child Page Content on Parent Page in WordPress

The other day I was working on a documentation site in WordPress and came across an interesting problem. The documentation was lengthy in certain sections, so I wanted to find a way to keep those sections on one page for the reader but allow for a little more organization in

Web

My Intro to Computer Science Final Project

I have finally completed my final project for the Intro to Computer Science course on Udacity! It is a really simple python program that takes a very specific data input and creates a python dictionary to hold the fledgling social network. It's no facebook, and I doubt it scales well,

Web

My Web Development Toolbox

When I'm working on websites, or just about anything involving code, I find myself consistently using the same tools over and over. I thought it might be fun to share what apps and tools I'm using and why, and hopefully offer you some recommendations. Alfred I can no longer use

Web

My First WordPress Theme: Bingo

If you've visited my blog in the last few days, I'm sure you will have noticed things look a little different around here. That's because I thought I would finally take a stab at writing my own WordPress theme. I've used WordPress since 2009, which means I am now at

Web

My First Guest Post is Up!

Thanks to the amazing Melissa Gutierrez I had the opportunity to guest post over on her blog. Guest posting is certainly a different experience than just posting here, mainly because I wanted to make sure someone else would be ok hitting the publish button, not just me! Check it out:

Web

Dubacano Wines Website

I recently built a website for Dubacano Wines, showcasing their wines and events, as well as building in functionality for allowing them to do event registration on the site in the future. It is a responsive site built on WordPress to allow them to update the site with their latest

Movies + TV

Louis C.K. and the Rise of the 'Laptop Loners'

I ran across a fascinating article today, Louis C.K. and the Rise of the 'Laptop Loners' by Adam Wilson, delving into the effect of shrinking screens on our viewing experience. Here are a few excerpts: These days it’s different. The young — and the young at heart — bundle into

Web

Playing Around with Pixelmator

Playing around with Pixelmator's new features, primarily its Vintage looks and Miniaturize effect. Cool stuff! Almost like Instagram for my DSLR...with lots more control! If you haven't already, you should really check out Pixelmator, it's a great Photoshop replacement!

Movies + TV

Madagascar 3

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlkWVkpP59U] Today is an exciting day for me: Madagascar 3 is in theaters today and that means for the first time my name is in the credits of a major motion picture! So I'm going to tell you all to go see it

Web

My Wedding Website

In less than 3 months I'm getting married to the love of my life :) And I just launched the website for our wedding! It was probably the most fun I've had making a website so far, and I'm really happy with how it turned out! It was inspired largely by