How to Build a Multiplayer Tic-Tac-Toe Game with Solana Wallet Integration
IntroductionIn this comprehensive tutorial, we'll create a web-based Tic-Tac-Toe game with real-time multiplayer functio...
1 week ago • 10 comments
Recent Discussions
Why Fortran is Making a Surprisingly Cool Comeback
Fortran, the granddaddy of scientific computing languages, has clawed its way back into the big leagues! As of April 2024, the TIOBE Index ranks Fortran among the top ten most popular programming languages. This is a surprising turn of events for a language that debuted in 1957, but it highlights a key takeaway for programmers: **don't underestimate the power of a specialized language.**### **Why the Fortran Phoenix?**Fortran's resurgence is directly tied to the ever-growing importance of scientific computing. With fields like Artificial Intelligence demanding massive numerical analysis, Fortr...
Fun fact: The First Computer Bug Was Real
The term 
Object-Oriented Programming (OOP)
Object-oriented programming (OOP) is a fundamental programming paradigm that revolves around creating "objects" – self-contained entities that represent real-world things or concepts. These objects bundle data (properties) and the actions (methods) that can be performed on that data. But OOP goes beyond just objects. It provides a set of core principles that make code more organized, reusable, and maintainable. In this blog post, we'll delve into four of these key OOP concepts: abstraction, encapsulation, inheritance, and polymorphism.**1. Abstraction: Focus on What Matters**Imagine using a li...
Conquer your arrays with map()!
Have you ever found yourself staring at a long list of data in an array, wishing there was a way to transform it easily? Well, fret no more! JavaScript's `map()` method is here to save the day.Think of `map()` as a magical conveyor belt for your arrays. You feed it an array and a function, and it spits out a brand new array with each element transformed according to your function's instructions.Here's how it works:* **The Array:** This is the starting point, the data you want to manipulate.* **The Function (The Magic):** This function defines what happens to each element in the array. It takes...
Rising Stars: The Booming Landscape of African Programmers
Africa's tech scene is exploding, and its programmers are leading the charge. Across the continent, a growing army of talented developers are making their mark on the global software development stage.This surge is fueled by a young and tech-savvy African population. With a median age of around 19, many Africans are growing up comfortable with technology, fueling their passion for programming. Initiatives like Andela are further greasing the wheels, equipping aspiring programmers with the skills they need to thrive in the industry. ### So, what makes African programmers so in-demand? Here's a...
Understanding and Preventing SQL Injection
Have you ever wondered how websites store all your information? From login credentials to shopping preferences, a vast amount of data is kept behind the scenes. This data is typically housed in large databases, and websites use a special language called SQL (Structured Query Language) to interact with them. Unfortunately, malicious actors can exploit weaknesses in how websites handle SQL to gain unauthorized access to this data – this is known as SQL Injection (SQLi).### **What is SQL Injection?**Imagine a website that allows you to log in with your username and password. The website woul...
Keeping Your Secrets Safe: Cryptography in Computer Science
What's up Africoders! In the ever-growing digital landscape of Africa, where innovation is booming, securing our information is paramount. Today, Let's look into the fascinating world of cryptography, a branch of computer science dedicated to keeping your data under lock and key.Imagine whispering a secret message to a friend, but instead of words, you use a complex mathematical formula. That's kind of what cryptography does! It scrambles data using algorithms, making it unreadable to anyone without the proper key. This is crucial for protecting the sensitive information that flows through our...
Join Africoders.com: Elevate Your Skills and Drive African Tech Innovation
**Calling All Passionate Software Engineers in Africa!**Are you seeking a vibrant tech community to connect with, share knowledge, and advance your career? Look no further than Africoders.com, the premier online forum dedicated to empowering African software developers.**Why Join Africoders.com?****Connect with a Thriving Community**Africoders.com boasts a dynamic network of talented engineers from across the continent. Network with like-minded individuals, share experiences, and forge valuable connections that can open doors to new opportunities.**Expand Your Knowledge Base**Engage in in-dept...
History of the QWERTY Keyboard Design
On today’s Fun Fact Friday, we’ll talk about the history of the QWERTY keyboard design.Have you ever wondered why the keys on your keyboard are arranged in the seemingly random QWERTY layout?Back in the 1860s, Christopher Latham Sholes, an American inventor, was working on creating the first practical typewriter. The early typewriters had keys arranged alphabetically, but this design led to a problem. When typists struck adjacent keys in quick succession, the mechanical arms would often jam.To solve this issue, Sholes and his team reconfigured the keyboard layout to slow typists down and reduc...
Building a CLI Real-Time Currency Converter in Python: A Step-by-Step Guide for Fellow Computing Students
Hello Africoders and fellow computing students! This semester, Python has become my new playground, and as part of our coursework, our lecturer assigned us a group project. My group and I chose to create a practical and exciting project—a real-time currency converter. In this blog post, I'll walk you through the steps we took to build this converter, from setting up the project and integrating an API, to overcoming various challenges that I encountered along the way.**Step 1: Creating the Project Folder**First, I created a new folder for my project and opened it in Visual Studio Code (VSCode)....
Understanding JavaScript's Data Types
JavaScript, like any other programming language, relies on data types to organize and manipulate information. These data types define the kind of values a variable can hold.1. **Arrays:** Ordered collections of items, similar to lists. Each item has an index (numerical position) for access. Arrays can hold elements of any data type, even mixed types.2. **Objects:** These are complex collections of key-value pairs, where keys (often strings) are used to access values which can be of any data type, including other objects. Think of them as digital dictionaries storing information.3. **Numbers:**...
Using Code Snippets for Repetitive Coding
**Hello Africoders! 🌍**Ever found yourself typing out the same lines of code repeatedly? It's time-consuming and can lead to errors. You're knee-deep in a coding project, and you realize you've written the same function for the umpteenth time. Frustrating, isn't it?. That's where coding snippets comes in.Snippets are pre-written code blocks that you can insert into your code editor with just a few keystrokes. They can range from simple variable declarations to entire functions or classes.How to Use Snippets* Find or Create Snippets: Many code editors come with built-in snippet librarie...
Understanding the useEffect Hook in React
Managing side effects such as data fetching, subscriptions, and manually changing the DOM can become challenging when building React applications. React's `useEffect` hook provides a powerful yet straightforward way to handle these side effects in function components. Let’s dive into the basics of `useEffect` to understand how it works and when to use it.#### What is `useEffect`?The `useEffect` hook is a function that allows you to perform side effects in function components. It runs after every render by default, making it ideal for operations that need to happen due to state or prop changes,...
How Do You Stay Motivated While Coding?
Hello Africoders 🌍,You’re at your desk, code editor open, a challenging problem ahead. The clock ticks away, and you’re starting to feel the weight of the task. How do you keep your motivation high and push through to the finish line?We’ve all been there. Whether you're debugging a stubborn bug or building a feature from scratch, staying motivated can be tough. But the key is finding strategies that work for you.### Tips to Stay Motivated1. **Set Clear Goals:** Break down your coding task into smaller, manageable goals. Each small victory will give you a sense of accomplishment and pro...
What It's Like Working Remotely
Hello Africoders! 🌍Imagine waking up, grabbing your coffee, and starting your workday from the comfort of your home. No long commutes, no rigid office hours. The shift to remote work has become a significant trend, especially accelerated by the global events of recent years. Companies are embracing it, and so are employees.How was your imagination? Yeah, I know! As much as it has its pros, there are also cons to working remotely.Let me show you some pros and cons, then we go back to that imagination.### Pros of Remote Work* **Flexibility and Work-Life Balance:** You can tailor your sch...
useState Hook: A beginner's guide
In React, managing state is crucial for building dynamic and interactive user interfaces. The useState hook provides a simple and intuitive way to add state to functional components. Let's dive into the basics of `useState` and how to use it effectively.**What is `useState`?**useState is a hook in React that allows functional components to manage state. It takes an initial state as an argument and returns an array with two elements: the current state value and a function to update that value.**How to use `useState`**Using `useState` is easy. Here's a basic example:```import React, { useState }...
Jaden Casing Strings
Jaden Smith, the son of Will Smith, is the star of films such as The Karate Kid (2010) and After Earth (2013). Jaden is also known for **[some of his philosophy that he delivers via Twitter](https://twitter.com/jaden)**. When writing on Twitter, he is known for almost always capitalizing every word. For simplicity, you'll have to capitalize each word, check out how contractions are expected to be in the example below.Your task is to convert strings to how they would be written by Jaden Smith. The strings are actual quotes from Jaden Smith, but they are not capitalized in the same way he origin...
N+1 Queries In Laravel
N+1 queries are a frequent problem in Laravel that make your app slower because of unnecessary database calls. Imagine you’re at a grocery store with a shopping list. Instead of grabbing all the items in one go, you go to the checkout and back for each item. This is inefficient, right? That’s what happens in your app with N+1 queries. By identifying and solving these issues, your Laravel app becomes much faster.# **What is N+1 Queries in Laravel?****N+1** queries happen when your code asks the database for data in an inefficient way.**For example**, if you have a list of 100 blog posts, and yo...
The Not-So-Lovely "ILOVEYOU" Virus
The year is 2000. The internet is still young, dial-up connections dominate, and email is the primary mode of communication. Then, love blooms (or should we say, malware blooms) in the form of the infamous "ILOVEYOU" virus, also known as the Love Bug or Loveletter.This seemingly innocent email worm, disguised as a love letter with the attachment "LOVE-LETTER-FOR-YOU.TXT.vbs," wreaked havoc on millions of computers worldwide. Let's delve into the history of this cyberattack and explore its lasting impact.**A Love Letter with a Bite**The ILOVEYOU virus originated in the Philippines, created by a...
Who likes it?
You probably know the "like" system from Facebook and other pages. People can "like" blog posts, pictures or other items. We want to create the text that should be displayed next to such an item.Implement the function which takes an array containing the names of people that like an item. It must return the display text as shown in the examples:$$[] --> "no one likes this"["Peter"] --> "Peter likes this"["Jacob", "Alex"] --> "Jacob and Alex like this"["Max", "John", "Mark"] --> "Max, John and Mark l...
