The Quest For Mobile Knowledge (Part 2/2)

The second semester started off with a bit of a whimper. It wasn't so much that the coursework was difficult, because it wasn't. We were learning about web services - SOAP and REST. REST, in particular, seemed intuitive because I've been using a scaled-down version of it for years in my AJAX-driven applications.

No, it was because the lecturer in question was being paid by the hour, and on the first day alone he insisted on using the full three hours allotted to our lesson, to explain Client-server Architecture. I've had Client-server Architecture explained to me before, and I've even explained it while teaching. It has never, ever, taken more than ten minutes. This was to set the tone for all our lessons together.

On the other hand, the tutorials involved using a very scaled-down, very portable database known as HSQLDB, which I was pretty sure I'd get to apply in some interesting ways.

Term 1

As explained earlier, we were working on SOAP-based protocols, going through the ins and outs of XML. Nothing really ground-breaking there.

The other module was infinitely more interesting - we got to play with Android Studio. At long last, the very reason I had wanted to take this course in the first place. After having learned all that Java the previous semester, this shed new light on what I had been doing before starting this course. Now I knew what I had been missing - an understanding of Java, namespaces and all that jazz. It all started to look increasingly clearer.

Term 2

Here, we started delving into RESTful web services, and using them in the native Android applications we were developing. I began to make a native Android version of the hybrid app I had made earlier to keep track of my household chores. My web services and database were hosted on www.teochewthunder.com.

Yes, a lot of my coding was still done via copying and pasting, but this time I actually had some idea of what I was doing.

My Learning Methods

You'll probably have figured out by now that I learn mostly by doing. And making extensive use of other resources such as local libraries and the Internet.

That's why I did all those projects on my own time - to really drill in those lessons.

And also because I was - and still am - interested.

Sure, learning the coursework wasn't all that difficult. Even without the extra effort, I would probably have gotten by just doing the school projects and reading the material. Hell, I don't think anyone failed this course.

But I'm not in this just to get by. Getting by was never the point. Graduating and obtaining the certification was never the point. Even having good grades was never the point. Learning was the point of all this.

I had taken this course in order to help me along a path I had started traveling a year prior to this. And it all came to fruition in...

Graduation

… May of this year. That was when I graduated with my third Diploma.

But meh, it's just another piece of paper that may be obsolete in three years. In this business, what certifications you have aren't all that important. People are more interested in what you've done.

To the untrained eye, I had simply obtained certification. But my real harvest from all this was - Java, jQuery, jQuery Mobile, HSQLDB, Android development….

Quite a haul.

This is just the first step. This is just the beginning. One of many beginnings.

I did great! How about some app-lause?!
T___T