BelfastJS @ NIDC Meetup Week 2021
An evening of web development talks featuring 3 fantastic local speakers.
Talk #1 by Paul Barber: Why quit a perfectly good job and end up building a Twitter bot with 60 followers
After 18 years working in software and data analytics, most recently leading the engineering and data science team at Analytics Engines, last summer I came to the conclusion that I knew what I didn't like doing, the bigger challenge was to know what I did want to do. Up until that point I'd been following a fairly standard career path in technology - get good at tech, then become an OK manager. Since then I've set up as an independent contractor, joined the NHS COVID workforce appeal in a graduate role, and spent a lot of time on a twitter bot about COVID-19 in NI.
Things I've learned:
what you are good at and what makes you happy aren't the same thing
working in the public sector is a great and unintentional route to humility
from a software development perspective, if you thought startups were bad, wait until you meet the public sector
working with Microsoft tools is a great and unintentional route to humility
building automated data analysis (that other people understand) in 280 characters is exceptionally difficult
Talk #2 by Chris Laughlin: ESLint Time Bomb
A last minute replacement talk, really good but you'll have to watch it because there's no description ;)
Talk #3 by Neil McCallion: Go North, Get Sword: Making Text Games on the Web
Text adventures were some of the earliest and most influential computer games. Born of the need to present fantasy worlds without complex graphics, games like Colossal Cave Adventure and Zork spawned an entire genre of ‘interactive fiction’ that has evolved, mutated and persisted to this day, despite the massive advances in games and graphics over the decades.For aspiring writers, indie game devs with limited resources, and engineers looking to flex their creativity, making a text game can be hugely rewarding. The web’s text-based roots, rich APIs, and ease of development and distribution make it a natural home for your next adventure.
Join me for a look at the basics of text adventure writing and development, with a focus on what browsers can bring to the table. From simple linked HTML pages to full JavaScript-based game engines, we will explore how to structure map data, parse user input, keep track of state, and add complex logic on our journey to a working adventure game. Bring a torch!