PyCon PH 2023! New me

Thanks to the Pandemic, I haven't given a talk for almost 3 years. I am someone who used to give talks almost every week. Since its the return of PyCon PH after a long time, I thought of doing something new.

My talk this year is "Let's make a realtime game with Django channels". Here's the first 3 slides:

Categories: python philippines, Personal, Python

Oh boy, is the Pandemic rough.

Long story short, it has been hard to be creative since the Pandemic started. But I wasn't idle. During this time, I've found myself busy with work. As much as I want to go back to writing, it's hard to get to the mindset. On the bright side, I've gotten better with my own programming skills.

I'm even giving a talk at PyCon PH 2023. I'm hoping this would revitalize my energy.

One day, I'll have the willpower to go back to writing. But until then, I'm just gonna continue improving.

Categories: Personal

Game Engine Development: Pygame - Part 1

Introduction

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## Video version



I gave a talk on how to make a game using pygame. It's one hour and can serve as a general overview of this series. You can watch the above and read these articles, or you can read these articles and pretty much ignore the video.

## Installation step

You need to install pygame via the pip command.

$ pip install pygame

Then we test that pygame is properly installed:

$ python
>>> import pygame
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'pygame'

If you received the error above, it means that pygame was not installed properly. Troubleshooting how to fix this …

Categories: gamedev

Game Engine Development: Introduction

In this series, I want to show students and traditional programmers how to make a game using Python. The simplicity and readability of the language lowers the barrier for learning how games engines work.

I am going to assume readers have fundamentals in Python. But you don't need an intermediate level in Python as this series will be beginners friendly.

We will learn how game engines work under the hood. We will use that knowledge to make our own game. You will learn concepts not taught in traditional programming schools.

# So you want to make a game

Python have …

Categories: gamedev

Fighting EX Fighting Layer from the perspective of an Street Fighter EX noob

I didn't play Street Fighter EX when it first came out. I grew up in the province and have limited arcade selections. It doesn't help that I rather play Xmen vs Street Fighter, Marvel Super Heroes, or Metal Slug (going for the 1CC) whenever I'm at our local arcade.

After moving to Metro Manila, I hang out with friends to play Fighting Games at our weekly casuals. A new game was released: EX Fighting Layer, and we got to play it on day 1. I immediately told everyone that I have no experience with the series and …

Categories: Games

Reasons to use Python

I'm a polyglot computer programmer. I am proficient with C, C++, Visual Basic 6.0, C#, PHP, and Python. I have basic knowledge with Java, Go, and Pawn^[1], but I am very confident I can code with these if I have the manual available.

I personally like Python the most. In this post, I'll point out the advantage of using Python.

>

> Miss Kobayashi's Maid Dragon is an anime where the main character is surprisingly not a teenager but a young adult who have a job as a programmer. Her using Python is just a …

Categories: Programming, Python

My anecdotes on why I think Python should be a beginner's first programming language

Disclaimer: I'm primarily a Python programmer, a board member of Python Philippines, and used Python before it became popular (I don't remember the exact version, but I encountered the language when it was introduced in Blender).

I started programming with Pascal, honed my skills on C and C++, and made commercial products with Visual Basic 6.0, PHP and Python.

Python is the programming language that I found the most fun to work with ^[1]. Over the years, I've written a lot of code. Based on pure experience, I can see the programming foundation a beginner will …

Categories: Essays, Personal, Python, Teaching

My choice of Programming IDE: Notepad2

I've been programming since I was a kid. I've experienced saving my code in numerous ways: using the blue IDEs (Turbo C), "copy con <filename>", visual studio (Visual Basic and C++), emacs, vi, and notepad2.

For the last 7+ years, I've been using notepad2 almost exclusively for Python programming. There is a method to my madness.



Before I started teaching programming to college students, I was an emacs user. The idea of having an IDE that you can program appeals to me. I like the idea of an IDE that is custom made to my own intuition …

Categories: Programming

Projects for Python beginners

(updated May 6, 2018)

Categories: Programming, Python

Projects for Programming Beginners

As a teacher, beginners often ask me these project-related questions:

- I've just learned the syntax of this new programming language. What do I do next?
- I want to be a programmer. What software should I make next?
- I am applying for a job. What projects should I build to get hired?
- I want to be the very best. Like no one ever was. Tell me what to make.



Learning a new skill is relatively easy. You just need to study the basics, the mechanics, the terminologies, and your stance while doing that skill (think of a stance like the …

Categories: Programming, Python