Prehistory
I'm MrWatson of mrwatson.de, an age-old programmer and database developer, and work with the FileMaker / Claris platform.
Due to an up and coming closer integration of the platform with the web - and the general rise of the API-age - at the end of 2019 I realised the need to get up to speed with web technologies, and set myself the personal aim of learning how to programme in JavaScript and implement data visualisations in d3.
In summer 2019 I started looking at Node.js, learnt about npm, and the purpose of CDNs.
I discovered the awesome NODE-Red visual IoT workflow editor from Nick O'Leary, and realised the power, potential and importance of JavaScript.
I prepared the journey to text-based programming including installing Visual Studio Code towards the end of August - the #1 trending Editor in the GitHub State of the OctoVerse Top Project.
I had come across d3 several years ago, was totally awed by it, but did not have the time, nor motivation back then to 'get into it'.
In Sep. 2019 I rediscovered d3 (wow again!) and started experimenting.
Within a month I had discovered observablehq - awed again by Mike Bostock's genius ... but this time - with the help of the reactive envionment - I was able to quickly achieve some results ... but it soon became clear that my rusty JavaScript basics needed refreshing.
Things like:
stuff I had forgotten (Converting strings to numbers or Accessing Nested Objects)
doing old stuff, but in JS, (Regex in JS)
as well as getting up to speed on the state of JavaScript today (Gee! There sure has been some big changes in JS/ECMAScipt since 1999! Just a few ;-)), including:
- discovering the cool, new ECMAScript 6: New Features
- getting my head round all the different Javascript versions (and ways of naming them)
- …
As ever, I was always helped by my old companions Google and StackOverflow!
At the start of Nov. 2019 I found a cool youtube d3 course from freecodecamp.
Three weeks later via the freecodecamp website I found Curran's marvellous 13-hour long Data Visualization with D3.js - Full Tutorial Course - which I watched from end to end over the following weeks! (Aside: desparately need to index that video!)
Vizhub
I've had the huge luck to have stumbled across vizhub just as Curran was starting the datavis-2020 course :D
Loving what Curran is doing, I immediately supported his Kickstarter Vizhub Launch Project.
[MORE TO COME]
2020-01-20 JetBrains Mono Font arrives
2020-02-02 A very special date-viz
Notes to Self
2020-02-05
- Centering stuff in CSS is a science unto it's own!
- Need to Check out this cool D3 Real Time Chart with Multiple Data Streams (..for animated visualisation of data while it is loading)
- Watch out for OLD code that uses V3 or V4 of D3! (D3.3≠D3.5)
- Check out D3 Change history (∂-D3, so to speak)
- It is an exceptionally good read!
- AND!...check out contributor #2 of the changes file... Curran!
- OMG!...check out contributor #2 of d3... Jason Davies! (Original author of my Gaussian Primes Visualisation)