Arpit J | Notes

Notes

Jan 2024

Asking questions the smart way - summarized

How To Ask Questions The Smart Way is one of my favourite pieces of text related to software development (although the learnings can be extrapolated to other fields too). I adopted it as my Bible back in first semester and have referred it to my friends and juniors in conversations around taking-help a LOT of times ever since. I’ve also gone back to the document to read it again, but would agree to it being lengthy (it is highly recommend as an investment in yourself though).

Nov 2023

First 4 hours of using Neovim

I’ve finally decided to give scary Vim a try after I followed a few commands online and got stuck in it 2 years ago. After hacking at it for the past 4 hours, here are some short notes from what I’ve learned researching and using neovim. What is Vim? In simple words, a text editor which considers the use of mouse to navigate/edit a blasphemy. Vim is a modal text editor (it uses different modes in which text can be manipulated).

Oct 2023

Generating Sign Language

I’ve been working on creating a more accessible space online for the specially abled using AI/ML technologies under my university’s Centre of Excellence. The What, Why, Who, When and Where About 5% of our country’s population suffers from auditory and speech impairment. Most of the educational content available on the internet caters to the “mainstream” population and lacks accessibility features for those with special needs. In order to create a friendlier online space for them, we are working on modules which will essentially translate the content on internet into a more comprehensible form.

Oct 2022

Why do I use Linux?

To start with a small rant on Apple and Microsoft being giant monopolies in the global market for operating systems. On one hand, Apple boasts a fluid user experience (and ecosystem lock-in) with its macOS And on the other hand we have Microsoft’s Windows which brags its vast support of applications and (pseudo) customizability. Linux, however, speaks for itself. Linux? Linux is a free and open source operating system (technically speaking 🤓☝️, it’s a kernel, but for the scope of this post, let’s call it an OS).

Jun 2022

Learning to make a Temperature Converting API using Express.js

One of the first few tasks of the internship I recently got, was to develop a simple RESTful API which converted a given temperature from Farhenheit to Celsius and vice versa. The choice of technology was left up to me. Having worked with Node and Express.js before, I decided it would be convenient for me to work on the API using these. It would be easier developing an understanding over the API structure and its nuances, without having to worry about learning the syntax of a new language.