Author Archives: dasunwang

DIY, Thoughts

2014: Year of Me

Short list of 2014 goals for me (no particular order).. because I love myself.

  • Bartender's license
  • Tattoo on upper shoulder
  • Pierce my left ear like Scotty Pippen
  • Finish 3 self-help books
  • Starbuck's Gold Card
  • No more Adderall
  • Volunteer at Animal Shelter
  • Learn the Ukulele
  • Origami
  • Longboarding: learn how to slide on switch comfortably
  • Keep track of my monthly charges
  • Work out like I did in Texas
  • Write my Twitter bot
  • Coachella Weekend 1
  • Low stakes Poker
  • Sports Analysis Blog
  • Photoshop/Design
  • Hip-hop/Trap Production via Fruity Loops
  • Data Mining
  • Putting myself as a top priority
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Thoughts

Why I Love Vacations

*Hypocritical*

This is going to sound very hypocritical from one of my previous posts, but I need to readjust my viewpoints. Vacations are all about meeting new, cool motherfuckas (people). I cannot express how entertaining, enchanting, heart-warming, awesome, dope my last vacation was because there is nothing like meeting new people, especially mutual friends.

From Pittsburgh -> Richmond -> Hampton -> NYC with love, my vacation has really allowed me forget about all the necessities and hard work involved in The Grind. Vacations allow me to take that crucial step back from the working world and realize that there is more to life than just progressing your career. Admittedly, it would be nice to make some guap in the future, but it's also mentally and physically vital to maintain your relationships outside of work, something that Berkeley doesn't teach you at all.

After one fender-bender, one meal-a-day for a week straight, one amazing music festival (I love our family), one unforgettable, well maybe partially-forgotten New Years in NYC, I've made it back in one piece, and I am so stoked to see what I can do for myself in 2014.

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Thoughts

Tired of Fake People

Done with Cal. Learned a ton about myself, my friends, and what I really hold true to myself.. I guess the reason I drink is to drown out social norms -- it's socially acceptable to drink, but at a personal level, I can ignore everyone and everything I want to, which at this point is everyone I know.

Fake people suck. They chase this notion of any kind of social "norm" where everyone else supposedly is and base everything off of that norm. It's so stupid and tragic seeing Individuals melt into something that they're not. I hate it. The worst part is that they try imposing their viewpoints onto you. I'm So Far Gone, but I'll Thank You Later, telling you to Take Care because Nothing Was The Same.

"My real friends never hearing from me / Fake friends write the wrong answers on the mirror for me." Fakers -- Stop pulling me down to your Earth. By the time I'm through, you'll be wishing you knew me better.. I'm so complacent in human interaction, but just understand, there's a reason why I want to leave your sorry ass and do my own thing. You might never realize that, but I don't have time to explain to you normalcy. I can only better myself everyday; Invincibility lies in oneself.

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Thoughts

Why I Hate Vacations

With winter break coming up, and my last round of finals almost over, I feel obligated to write about my thoughts on the time off. Success is earned, not given. I'm almost full-time graduated from Cal; I just got accepted into the Graduate school I want to attend, and I'm almost full-time employed in Silicon Valley, yet I feel absolutely no need of slowing down.. Granted, everyone needs to take a breather -- mine's going to be a sick East Coast city sampler with lots of friends, lots of rest, and lots of fun this Christmas. But what's the point in a real vacation?

Two years ago, I traveled with my sister to Prague for my what should have been an awesome spring break and birthday bash.. The whole experience felt surreal: the people, the food, the bars, the hostels, etc. But at the same time, I always felt like I was wasting time -- Prague feels like a fleeting memory at this point, and I would have much rather slept and played video games the whole time I was there.. If you stay in foreign country for less than a month, then the time spent there is a sinkhole. It isn't a so-called new experience through vivid, cultural puppeteering.. Hell no.

Traveling to different countries for that long just makes you a damn tourist, the same tourist that does the exact same things as generations past. What happened to novel experiences where the culture is shoved down your throat, rather than spoon-fed through some English reading tour guide?

Iceland, Greenland, and Antarctica are just 3 of the many countries that I want to LIVE in, not vacate to. Push your boundaries and stay curious. Vacation is just a pitiful excuse to avoid both of those things; you end up seeing more than you're doing, and in my line of thought, you're better off watching a slideshow of HD images from your bedroom, than to fly out for a mentally disorienting dreamland.

If I'm not learning, I'm wasting my time. I have an insatiable thirst for knowledge and novel experiences, and being a tourist bores me. I think vacations are stupid. I'd much rather head home, eat a delicious meal, and hang out with my family -- that too me is the best vacation I could ask for.

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Mathematics, Programming

Math and Computer Science

I'm currently working on my final semester at UC Berkeley, and although I'm an EECS major, I'm taking all math classes to finish out my minor.. Abstract Algebra, Real Analysis, and Number Theory. These classes are all proof based: something that I'm used to but not proficient at.

Having been in class for only 4 weeks, I can thoroughly say that the Mathematics and Computer Science mindset take the same kind of genius. If you can do one, then you can do the other. Although learning the language of Abstract Algebra vs. learning the syntax for NodeJS is drastically different, the algorithm and problem solving mindset remains the same.. The only difference is the syntax.

Coming from a computer science standpoint, mathematics has a lot more definitions such as isomorphism, groups, abelian, etc.. But at the end of the day, these definitions define your working groups for proofs -- your bread and butter if you will. They're isomorphic to the bread and butter of computer science terminology: linked list, array list, arrays, hashes, etc..

I'm having a hard time memorizing these definitions with all the things that are going on in my life, but this has been one of the most academically interesting semesters at my time at Cal.. More updates on math in the coming days!

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Thoughts

Startup Elation

I don't think I've caught the coding bug this bad before.. After coding for 12 hours straight yesterday and dreaming about debugging Rails, I still have the fire to keep improving tessle.com. Every day, every hour, I live and breathe Rails development.

Just got my very first official investor interest email today, and I must say that I am 2000% ready for the next steps for my startup. School starts in a month, but I currently have no motivation in completing my EECS degree and Math minor. I just want my degree and to ride this startup rollercoaster into 2014..

So stoked!!

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Design, DIY, Programming

The Rewards of Full Stack Web Development

This summer I took the road far less traveled.. Having worked for Texas Instruments as my previous summer's Software Internship, I reaped the benefits of having a full time job. Hell, I was making almost 50k as an intern in a state with no state tax -- gotta love Texas. Fully paid living, endless beer, and beautiful Dallas babes.. Why did I even leave??

I don't want to go in depth on what I did for the company because I have a feeling I wrote some seriously wrong database query methods that could very easily be SQL Injected, but it was my first exposure to web development: Microsoft Visual Studio (VB.NET). HTML/CSS/Javascript, I figured out the basics, and I learned how to make serious web scrapers. I thought I was one badass software intern, lol.

I really do thank Texas Instruments for providing me with the opportunity to get started in web development, but all the work I did there merely scratched the surface of what Web 2.0 could do. Last winter, I decided to give Ruby on Rails a shot (shout out to Michael Hartl for one of the best, free, online Rails tutorial). Rails is fucking tough man.. It really did baffle me why they would separate the Models, Views, and Controllers just to render a simple static page. By the end of that tutorial, I still had no idea where to begin, but I had a much better idea of how the MVC interacted, and I also had a glimpse of how easy it is to make Rails dynamic.

And then this summer came rolling along.. I'm currently working part time to pay rent and booze, while working overtime on my startup product. tessle.com Being the only coder on a full stack development project is both physically and mentally draining, but I can safely say that I have learned 50 times as much as I did working for Texas Instruments. So without further ado, here are the rewards of full stack web development: You..

  • Master relational databases
  • Become a master of your framework
  • Understand Javascript and Frontend Development for all of the web
  • Firebug/View source on everything that looks remotely cool
  • Understand how to debug any and all situations for your application
  • Contribute to open source -- stack overflow, railscasts
  • Learn why github and heroku are absolute necessities for making your life easier
  • Appreciate how damn hard development can be
  • Evolve into a coding badass
  • Have a coding baby, one that you have nurtured for the past 6 months which you can proudly call your own... :')

Give it a shot. Even if your baby doesn't grow into anything, you will learn way more than sitting at a desk pretending to do work.

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Design, Programming

Ubuntu Edge Won't You Be Mine?

Ubuntu Edge: The biggest IndieGoGo project to this date needs another 28.5 million in order to succeed. It looks extremely unlikely, but this would be my goto, drop-my-iPhone 5-in-a-heartbeat phone. Screw the MacBook Air, I just need a single mobile device to accomplish all my needs.

I currently use Google Voice, so the ability to text/call from my computer/phone would never leave my pockets, but on top of that, I'll be switching carriers to an unlimited data plan (screw you AT&T), so the ability to access data from anywhere will be crucial to me.

I'm a developer -- the only operating system I can develop on is Linux/Ubuntu.. The days for Windows should be left to bigger desktop towers to render all my games.. Having the ability to morph from a mobile device to a developing platform, Ubuntu Edge is what I once dreamed about.

The nerdiest and geekiest phone. Say Goodbye to the days of Apple/Google Voice, Ubuntu Edge won't you be mine?

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Uncategorized

Goodbye G5

One nerdy ass ode to the only computer mouse that has gotten me through 5 years of gaming addiction:

I remember when you were on sale for $35; I had just gotten my first job, and I was hella into Counter Strike. My piece of crap Sunbeam mouse had been accumulating the greasy oils of McDonald's for far too long. I had just built my first computer ever, and I needed my right hand accessory to keep up with the movements I wanted to do.

Oblivion called; Diablo 2 called; CSS called. You were the only mouse I had my eyes set on -- full of laser technology and gratuitous DPI. I thank you for all the years of service you have given to me. All of the Mephisto's that were slain by your left click. All of the Mudcrabs that were ruthlessly gashed, and all of the n00bs on Counter Strike that never stood a chance.

Logitech you have made one hell of a mouse, and here's a picture for your G5's tombstone. RIP.

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Programming

Hashtags on Facebook

The day is finally here.. Facebook now has #hashtags. Now the next question: is it a Twitter killer, or does Twitter provide something more beyond the ability to create hashtags?

Facebook: this is awesome. The recent acquisition of Instagram combined with the ability to share photos and thoughts with hashtags now makes Facebook the premiere photo-sharing website. Take a picture, tag it, and share -- it really can't get any easier for girls to show off every single night out. With servers bigger than office buildings, Facebook has created a very addicting and powerful sharing resource. The only problem is the psychological factors involved with Facebook. It is your online identity. It's you, showing off how much damn fun and gaudy your lifestyle can be. It is the most superficial way to show off who you truly aren't.

So what's the problem? Is Twitter done or does it present people's online identity in a different way?

@Twitter: what better way to sort out 140 character thoughts, by means of the hashtag. The hashtag culture that has derived is full of useful #ideas or some #reallydrawnoutthoughtsforemphasis. Obviously, most of the hashtags created on Twitter or pretty pointless, but it's always awesome seeing someone else have the exact same thought or blurb as you. Unfortunately, Twitter will never amass the photo-sharing capabilities that Facebook possesses.

It's the chatter of the internet -- the background noise that occupies everything you do, but aren't paying attention to. On Twitter, people have a psychological sense of anonymity that Facebook can never provide. You can follow your friends and favorite celebrities without having to worry about a social reputation or who you're attempting to creep on. On Twitter, you are the background noise with zero fucks to worry about. It's anonymous, fun, drama-free, and flirty something that Facebook will never be able to accomplish.

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