React Native, node.js, Expo, Redux

[csearle]

Hi team,

I'm trying, on and off, to learn to write apps using the tools above in the hope of breaking out of the world of electrical installation at some stage and back into the world of software*.

I just wondered if any readers here are au fait with any of these things? I have my son available occasionally for questioning, but his response times are somewhat unreliable.

Regards,
Chris


* My motivation for this is a) because I'm 58 and getting a bit old for crawling through lofts, b) I'd like to earn a bit more than the rather meagre amounts I seem to get as a self-employed electrician that hates paperwork, and c) I would like to re-engage with one of my sons who is an up-and-coming programmer of web-based applications.

[UncleZen]

Any particular reason why you want to learn a javascript framework? That seems, to me, like jumping in at the deep end.
Are you familiar with responsive frameworks such as bootstrap, which you'll probably need to know first in order to contain your single page application in react etc

PM if you want to discuss offline.

[eepee]

back into the world of software

You do not define what it is you want to do.
Work for someone?
Implement your own ideas??

If the latter through personal sales or via a commercial agency of some sort?
Then there is the question of what the software will do/require in terms of external resources.

Regards,
ep

[johnhemming]

I am also 58, but I stopped working as an electrician decades ago. My father was an electrical contractor and I did some work for him in my late teens. When I left University I went into programming and more recently have gone back into programming and am doing web based coding in java and javascript.

I think perhaps, however, you should ask the question as to how best you can get into making money out of tech rather than rewiring. What I would personally recommend, however, is that you looked at becoming expert in the area of the internet of things. That is the area where wiring for lightbulbs (and other electrical appliances) and tech combines. Hence you would be able to move on from where you are.

Quite a few people are getting Amazon Echo devices and similar equipment and there is probably a role in making these work well with lighting etc.

For example this:
https://www2.meethue.com/en-gb/friends- ... azon-alexa

You can, if you are up for a challenge, find out how program skills behind alexa to interface with household equipment.

I have written a couple myself recently (running in Java on my own servers)

Making Tax Digital - which allows people to find out things about their tax records (VAT only at the moment) via Alexa.
https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Cirrostratus ... ax+digital

and the Cat Mess Clearing League (which I wrote to try to make sure that my daughter cleans up some of the cat mess and it is not just left to my wife and myself)
https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Cirrostratus ... ess+league

[stewamax]

Since you ‘hate paperwork’, beware that writing error-free code can itself be a very pernickety detail job!

I think you may be jumping into the deep end unnecessarily.
Of the languages, HTML and CSS fluency is a must, followed by reasonable Javascript.
This is for the client end. For the server end there are umpteen environments to work in, but learning the PHP language will take you quite a long way.
As a minimum you will need an HTML editor that displays code and can render it (display the result – like a browser does). See if you can get an old cheap copy of Dreamweaver.

For smartphone app development – something you didn’t mention – Java (or C++) is mandatory for Android phones and Swift or Objective-C for Apple IOS-based iPhones/iPads. To develop for Android you need the Android Studio integrated development environment (IDE) (don't use Eclipse) and for IOS Apple’s Xcode IDE.

That’s coding.
But many - perhaps most - websites are now developed using a content management system (CMS) of which Wordpress is by far the most popular, or simpler ones with an interactive ‘drag and drop’ development tool such as WIX. If you develop a simple website in Wordpress, you can usually add your own HTML/CSS to pages to customise them, but you will also learn a lot about the use of templates (usually PHP ones) and themes. And this even extends to smartphones: using CORDOVA you can develop HTML/CSS/Javascript applications that run in the phone and display using the the phone's webview ‘rendering engine’ (q.v.).

That has scraped the surface.
If you want to create and use a database, you need to learn SQL and preferably a bit about database design (normalisation is easier than it sounds!).
And if you want to create well-structured programs, learning object orientation (use of classes and objects) is a must.

If I have put you off I apologise. So good luck!

[csearle]

Any particular reason why you want to learn a javascript framework? That seems, to me, like jumping in at the deep end.
Are you familiar with responsive frameworks such as bootstrap, which you'll probably need to know first in order to contain your single page application in react etc

PM if you want to discuss offline.

I'll try and respond to you all, but I have to get up early tomorrow morning so will do it in stages.

Thanks for your reply. Well my son was waxing lyrical about React (as opposed to React Native) and I rather got caught up in his enthusiasm. I just rather fancied writing an app and thought I could start by writing one that is useful for my electrical work. He pointed out that React Native, although he didn't use it, was more suitable to app writing. As I said I also wanted to learn something with which I could awaken his enthusiasm so that I was not just plain old dad.

I was a contractor writing software in assembler, C, and C++ for many years in Germany for various firms (including Siemens) so I don't really have much fear of things, but obviously it does involve getting to grips with new concepts, which is what I'm trying to do now. Javascript seems, to my mind anyway, to be a bit of a sloppy language and therefore prone to letting through mistakes. I may be being unfair here; that is just my first impression. The C++ I've used has many functions that are called on this event happening or on that event happening so that doesn't seem too dissimilar. Never heard of bootstrap. I'm building a mind map of all these kind of facilities so that I can understand where they fit into the whole picture and can (in most cases) judiciously then ignore them, or alternatively mark them as requiring understanding. So, thanks for adding that one!

Thanks for the offline offer UncleZen. I will dig a bit deeper and get back to you with any questions that I find myself left with!

Regards,
Chris