Digital Humanities Questions & Answers

1. 

   dot.porter
   Member

   I have a long history of technical work in DH (mainly XML related). I've been working as a manager for a couple of years and although I still get to do some coding I'd like to sharpen my skills, and maybe learn something new. I'm particularly interested in tools for working with XML documents, and in website development. I have taken a couple of courses through my university's IT services (perl and python), they offer other courses too but three hours really isn't enough time to get much out of it and there's no follow-up. I've also done some of the codeacademy tutorials but again it's not really enough to do much with. Maybe I just need to do more of them? I have access to Lynda.com, which seems to be chock full of courses but that is a bit overwhelming. Ideally I would take a web development course of some sort at the U. but my life and work schedule doesn't make that a very good option right now.

   Anyone with experience with Lynda.com, maybe recommendations on where to start? Or are there other options available I'm not aware of? Thanks so much DHers!

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   Posted 4 years ago Permalink
2. 

   Ben Brumfield
   Member

   Most of the resources I'm aware of are language-specific; often geared for programmers who want to switch from one technology to another. The Ruby and Ruby on Rails communities have put a lot of effort into eliminating barriers for new learners, however, including building websites and tutorials that allow learners to start experimenting with the technology within their browsers -- without having to install an application framework at all. The two I'm aware of are TryRuby and Rails for Zombies. You can find other Ruby-specific resources at Amanda Wagener's community-contributed directory iwanttolearnruby.com.

   One last suggestion -- it's usually best to have a project in mind when you're working on these things, rather than learning programming in the abstract.

   Posted 4 years ago Permalink
3. 

   dot.porter
   Member

   Replying to @Ben Brumfield's post:

   Thanks Ben. I have a scanned manuscript that I've been wanting to play with (I'm actually processing the derivatives now), so I at least have some files I could do things with. My first step will be getting them into some kind of page turning system, I guess, then I can kind of mess around and see what else comes to mind. Regarding Ruby, that's one language I've never looked at but if there are good tutorials for easing into it I will give it a try. Thank you!

   Posted 4 years ago Permalink
4. 

   Patrick Murray-John
   

   I've responded to similar questions in the same way before, so forgive me being a broken record. But at least I'm consistent!

   The best way to sharped coding skills is to code, just as the best way to sharped writing skills is to write.

   So, I'd say look for little etude-like projects that'll push you to learn more to accomplish a task.

   So start with wanting to work with XML and dive into doing some basic manipulation. Especially if your XML experience involves TEI, maybe dive into the New Variorum Shakespeare Digital Challenge data.

   Some possible little things to do might be:

   • Count how many lines each speaker has
   • Calculate the average length of each speakers' lines
   • See which characters use the longest or shortest words

   These likely won't win you the $500 prize, but so what? They, or things like them, might be fun little coding exercises to sharpen your skills. You might even discover that, after you hit on a couple that sharpen some skills, you discover -- and push -- your own coding boundaries.

   The above is just one suggestion for how to get at that principle -- to sharpen your coding skills, put the books and tutorials down and write some code that does small, quick-gratification tasks. Turn back to the tutorials only when you're stuck in how to proceed with writing the code.

   HTH

   Posted 4 years ago Permalink
5. 

   dot.porter
   Member

   Replying to @Patrick Murray-John's post:

   Thank you Patrick!

   Posted 4 years ago Permalink
6. 

   Wayne Graham
   Member

   This is a bit more meta, but Pragmatic Thinking and Learning: Refactor Your Wetware is a great book on training your brain to think like computers (and write better software).

   I always encourage people to also read as much code as they possibly can. I wouldn't start with framework code, but a nice library for something that you want to do. You mentioned a page turner, so you may want to take a look at the code from this project: http://jpageflipper.codeplex.com/. I would also be sure to get Doug Crockford's JavaScript: The Good Parts and Marjin Haverbeke's Eloquent JavaScript.

   If you're interested in how single-page web applications work, I'd check out Ember.js and Knockout.js.

   If you're looking at the Web Stack, Julie Meloni's books are great. And, if you want to build video games in HTML 5, you can always check out my latest book.

   HTH,
   Wayne

   Posted 4 years ago Permalink
7. 

   dot.porter
   Member

   Thanks Wayne and everyone else! I had a busy week last week, set myself up with a web host, installed some stuff and basically jumped in with both feet.

   dotporterdigital.org

   Wayne, right now I'm playing with the Internet Archive BookReader, but I'll have a look at the page flipper. IABR does some things that aren't perfect for the data I'm working with, I have a friend who is helping work it out (someone associated with the project whose data I'm using, which is really helpful) but since what I'm wanting to do is to experiment, once I've figured out how to get the IABR to do what I want, I'll want to try something else too :-)

   Another friend recommended Javascript the good parts so I will definitely be checking that book out. Over the weekend my friend who is helping with the BookReader walked me through some really simple ways to use javascript to access the XML metadata files directly (what I'd done was to write XSLT to read those files and output javascript with that data hard-coded, which isn't very flexible). It's just a different way to think about it, I'm all in XML-land in my head and I need to crack out of that.

   I'll check out those single-page apps too. That might be a good way to help my head get around how these programs work. It's tough having one simple js file that points to a bunch of other stuff... just overwhelming. But even after a week I'm feeling more comfortable... and like I'm having a lot of fun.

   Posted 4 years ago Permalink

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