November 22, 2017 in Tutorials+Tips

Advocating for Accessible UI Design

Although it is a hot topic in our industry, accessibility is not just up to developers! In this article I wrote for CSS-Tricks, I go through several non-technical accessibility tips developers can share with designers and content providers in order to advocate for accessible UI design on teams.

(more ...)

November 3, 2017 in Research

Day 6, Algorithms: Sorting Algorithms in JavaScript

Algorithms have got a bad, scary, rap. And you know what? It's for good reason – understanding an algorithm is pretty doable, but implementing an algorithm in code of your own? It's hard. I went through writing some common sorting algorithms in JavaScript with lots of help from the Internet. Take a read!

(more ...)

November 1, 2017 in Research

Day 5, Algorithms: Logarithms, Big-O, & Binary Search

If I told my 16-year-old, art student self I'd be writing a blog post about logarithms, I wouldn't have believed it. I've tried hard to avoid math for much of my life, yet here I am, not only learning about it but enjoying it! This post is an outline of what logarithms are and how they tie into computer science by way of Big O notation and binary search.

(more ...)

November 1, 2017 in Research

Day 4, Data Structures: I Made a Hash Table

Apart from hashtags, my association with hashes is encrypting passwords in a database. That association is correct in terms of what a hash is, but there are also hash tables, hash functions, hash maps, and oh my gosh, more hash things for sure. Let's focus on a hash function and a hash table and building a rudimentary one in JavaScript.

(more ...)

October 31, 2017 in Research

Day 3, Data Structures: Stacks & Queues

Stacks and queues are quite similar in that they are both linear and abstract data structures (meaning they describe the behavior of a different data structure, like a linked list or array). All the action in terms of adding and removing items happens at their ends, and their main difference is in which end that adding/removing happens.

(more ...)

Thumbnail for "Day 3, Data Structures: Stacks & Queues"

October 28, 2017 in Research

Day 1, Data Structures: Linked Lists

Linked lists are very similar to arrays in that they are a one-dimensional list of elements. Unlike arrays, however, in a linked list, you cannot just jump to index 4, you have to walk through the list, starting with the "head", or the first element in the list, and work your way through to the fourth element. They are very useful for lists where you need to add/remove elements, but not so useful if you need to search elements.

(more ...)

October 27, 2017 in Inspiration

Podcast Recommendation: A Piece of Work

Abbi Jacobson, the long-haired one from Broad City, has a podcast about modern art. It’s fantastic. As an art school graduate who doesn’t remember very much about art, I absolutely relate to the podcast’s sentiment: It’s everything you want to know about modern art but were afraid to ask.

(more ...)

October 22, 2017 in Thoughts

JavaScript and Me

JavaScript and I have had a rocky relationship over the past few years. My consulting work doesn't really require a deep understanding of JavaScript, but my newfound resolve to level-up my skills and to obtain a full-time job have deemed that deep understanding quite necessary.

(more ...)

October 21, 2017 in Tutorials+Tips, WordPress

What is PHP Output Buffering?

As someone who works with WordPress on the regular, output buffering is one of those concepts that I've encountered in the past and, until now, never needed to understand. I hope this serves to be a relatively plain language description of what output buffering is at a high level, and will illuminate the concept for others!

(more ...)

October 12, 2017 in Updates

A few things I’m excited about

Adjusting to life in LA has taken a lot longer and a lot more work than I anticipated. I find myself re-discovering my work and learning habits, but I'm finally starting to feel back in the game after my break earlier this year. Here are a few things I'm particularly excited about.

(more ...)

September 13, 2017 in Miscellaneous

Thai Food in Los Angeles

Once you can process the fact that great restaurants can be in strip malls, Los Angeles does a few things better than NYC and Thai food is one of them. I have yet to figure out what the others are (probably Korean food), but bear with me. Where to find […]

(more ...)

September 9, 2017 in Miscellaneous, Updates

Workspace of late

I quite enjoy seeing other people's workspaces, particularly the people I only know of through online means. I have finally figured out a work routine I'm happy with here in Los Angeles. I can't say I'm sold on the city quite yet, but that's another blog post. For now, here are my tools of the trade.

(more ...)

August 18, 2017 in Tutorials+Tips, Updates

Plans and Pens for notlaura.com v3

There are a lot of fun technologies that have matured since I took my ski-bum sabbatical over the winter, and I am doing my best to bring my skills back up to speed. They weren’t all that far behind, but given my newfound motivation and availability for side projects, I’m […]

(more ...)

August 1, 2017 in Updates

Updates Soon-ish

I’m in the process of a light rebranding effort, primarily updating this site to be less oriented around attracting business and more oriented to me as a developer/individual. This site’s design has been the same for almost five years and, although I still love it, my goals have changed significantly; […]

(more ...)