April fools day is a little less than 25 hours away. It's been about two months since I posted anything, and even longer since I've rambled anything in this Python diary. The reason is very simple. There was just too much new material I've been going through. Each time I would get a question, it would be answered immediately on the next page of the course! With such a huge amount of information in such a short period of time, I learned Python lists, loops, and nested loops. Then right when I started on more string methods my brain started forgetting some of the new material. Clearly, the limit of my short term memory has been reached (^^;) How embarrassing... I had to slow down and the last three weeks were spent looking for different examples and exercises to go through.

I've also started asking questions on different forums. The community is absolutely amazing and everyone is super helpful and kind. One of my friends even "held my hand" while I was trying to solve one particularly annoying loop problem. Of course, some explain things better than others.

The most interesting thing happened today. I asked for an explanation of an example at the Codeacademy forums several weeks ago:

"Why does the example use after an element in the list:"
for word in words:
if word[0] == ‘@’:
usernames.append(word)

"Is it because it’s a way to check the string in the list elements?"

Now some other Python learner stumbled upon this example and couldn't understand it too. He or she saw my question but couldn't understand the reply I had received and asked me for help. It should be mentioned that the example in question appears in the section with lists and loops, before strings are explained.

That was also the moment I realized I have to ask better questions. Not just ask for a confirmation of something I assume might be true (-_-;).

It's one of the habits I have from learning foreign languages. I find it saves a lot of time. When my vocabulary reaches a certain amount of words, I start guessing word meaning from situations and context. It can be disastrous and leads to misunderstandings. Sometimes those can last years. But it still works faster than looking for a word in the dictionary each time. Plus the part, when someone around realizes I'm using a word wrong, can be fun and very memorable.

In the meantime, sakura is in full blossom again!

It happens every year, and each time is as exciting as the previous.

def cherry_blossom_viewing_party(picnic, drinks):
    for beer in picnic:
      if drinks == beer:
        return Yay!
    return False

I know the above loop is badly worded, but a hanami (cherry blossom viewing party) without beer is like an ocean without fish ^^