Re: Learning coding with NVDA


 

Hi Jo,
Ultimately, it depends on:
1. Inspiration and motivation: for the most part, people start out doing anything (including programming) because they are inspired by or something motivates them. In my case, I got interested in programming when I was a teenager thanks to my experiences using assistive technologies at school. This is partly the reason for contributing code to NVDA today; the other reason for me contributing code is because of lives of users - people have different reasons for using NVDA and other screen readers, and one major motivation for continuing my NVDA work (even though I'm a college student busy with competitive speaking competitions) is how users will end up utilizing what I write, including in unexpected situations.
2. Goals: people who started out learning to program at an early age may find themselves doing something else later in life, and vice versa. Ultimately, it isn't just the process of learning how to code on your computer that'll 100 percent determine your satisfaction with what you do - it is the ultimate end goal you have in mind. Among many reasons to go into programming as a teenager, I hope you find a worthwhile goal (I'm intentionally saying it like this because there are those who went into programming for bad reasons).
3. Values and processes: I think programming is, after all, writing. I think people starting out programming may not realize the fact that what they're essentially doing is becoming a playwright, except the actors are silicon chips, wires, and increasingly, wireless radios and things taught to think smart. As a "digital dramatist", you're essentially going to learn how to pour out your heart, beliefs, and values in code. NVDA source code is a good example of this, with different "writers" working together to formulate a story.
4. A bit of math: I once heard that, of all engineering disciplines, computer science (which includes programming as a subfield) is closest to mathematics. Programming began as a small subfield of mathematics centuries ago, and computing and math are still intertwined (for example, artificial intelligence benefits from research in mathematics and vice versa). In the beginning stages of learning programming, you won't get into math a lot, but as you progress and learn more about logic, debugging and more advanced concepts, you'll see why colleges and universities ask potential programmers to prove that they can do something with math (and to debunk a popular belief, there are blind people who are successful in mathematics and programming, and I still think about calculus from time to time). There are exceptions out there: there are successful programmers who had little knowledge about math when they first began.

Rather than telling you which programming languages to learn and from whom, I'd like to challenge you by asking you to think critically about the following statements:
1. I think programming is fun because I watch people do it on the Internet or TV.
2. I think I can learn to code because I watch people do it on the internet or TV.
3. I think I can explain what I'm doing to people who don't know what I'm doing.
4. I think I can learn to explain what I'm doing to people who don't know me and don't know what I'm doing.
5. I think Alexa is the greatest invention in world history.
6. I think Alexa is not the greatest invention in world history.
7. I think I can listen to private conversations if I learn how to code.
8. I think I can stop myself from listening to private conversations if I learn how to code.
9. I think I can serve people through my programming skills.
10. I think I can learn to serve people through my programming skills.
11. I believe global problems can be solved by computers.
12. I believe computers can't solve global problems.
13. Computers can solve all kinds of life issues.
14. Computers can't solve all kinds of life issues.

Some of these statements should give you chills, because programming comes with ethical responsibilities. More than anything, I think the most important thing you'll learn when you do decide to learn programming isn't the number of programming languages you can learn or extent of NVDA code contributions, but thinking about your actions and consequences (computers are smart, but only because those who do write code behind such systems literally told chips to act this way).

Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Joseph

-----Original Message-----
From: nvda@nvda.groups.io <nvda@nvda.groups.io> On Behalf Of Jo Fullerton
Sent: Friday, November 9, 2018 4:49 AM
To: nvda@nvda.groups.io
Cc: Jo Fullerton <Jo.Fullerton@...>
Subject: [nvda] Learning coding with NVDA

Sending again with relevant subject line.

-----Original Message-----
From: Jo Fullerton
Sent: 09 November 2018 12:47
To: nvda@nvda.groups.io
Cc: Jo Fullerton <Jo.Fullerton@...>
Subject: RE: [nvda] The word "alert" in Google Chrome

Does anyone have any advice for a teenager in Scotland who wants to learn coding using NVDA? Is there a list of programming languages that work well with NVDA?

You could reply to me directly - jo.fullerton@...

Thanks

Jo Fullerton


-----Original Message-----
From: nvda@nvda.groups.io <nvda@nvda.groups.io> On Behalf Of Chris via Groups.Io
Sent: 09 November 2018 12:38
To: nvda@nvda.groups.io
Subject: Re: [nvda] The word "alert" in Google Chrome

Its probably a in browser notification of some sort

As to what it relates to I cant possibly speculate on that sorry





From: Felix G. <mailto:constantlyvariable@...>
Sent: 09 November 2018 12:31
To: nvda@nvda.groups.io <mailto:nvda@nvda.groups.io>
Subject: [nvda] The word "alert" in Google Chrome



Hello everyone,

when working with Chrome and NVDA I often hear the word "alert" by

itself, that is, without any hint as to what the alert is about and

how to react to it. Can anyone relate to this and offer a

non-speculative explanation?

Thanks in advance and have a nice weekend,

Felix










--

Celebrating 150 years of creating change for blind and partially sighted people.
To help us continue removing the barriers that can stop people with sight loss thriving, visit www.rnib.org.uk to donate.

--


DISCLAIMER:

NOTICE: The information contained in this email and any attachments is confidential and may be privileged. If you are not the intended recipient you should not use, disclose, distribute or copy any of the content of it or of any attachment; you are requested to notify the sender immediately of your receipt of the email and then to delete it and any attachments from your system.

RNIB endeavours to ensure that emails and any attachments generated by its staff are free from viruses or other contaminants. However, it cannot accept any responsibility for any such which are transmitted.

We therefore recommend you scan all attachments.

Please note that the statements and views expressed in this email and any attachments are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RNIB.

RNIB Registered Charity Number: 226227

Website: https://www.rnib.org.uk

Join {nvda@nvda.groups.io to automatically receive all group messages.