codeguppy

I’ve spent 20+ years in tech, with 15 of those in software leadership. Recently I decided to look for a new opportunity, and as part of that I’ve been sharing some of my lessons and reflections on LinkedIn (where I have ~7800 followers) and a small about me website.

I’d love a kind of “virtual 360” from this community: based on how I show up, do I sound like the kind of leader you’d want to work with? I consider your feedback a gift. Please let me know your opinion.

# Links mentioned in the post

LinkedIn posts: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mveteanu/recent-activity/all/ Mini personal website: https://mveteanu.me/

# Other links (beyond the post)

My various X posts: https://x.com/mveteanu/

I had different blogs (on blogspot, on their own domain, in markdown, etc.).

Now my blogging platform in LinkedIn where I put some sort of marchitecture articles:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mveteanu/recent-activity/all/

What's your opinion on this?

Recently, I managed to recover some of my earliest work from the ZX Spectrum era from an old audio cassette.

It is a mini-game, that I created as a teen, called "Atomix," written in BASIC with a mix of Z80 assembly — some of which I coded myself, while other parts were disassembled from existing games. I put the game in an modern emulator and recorded a screencast. See the video in my linkedin post:

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7288665...

Hi coding enthusiasts,

I run a small JavaScript coding site for code newbies: codeguppy.com

What I've noticed is that most beginners have a hard time to properly open and close the { ... } for functions, code blocks, etc.

I was playing with the idea of introducing a simpler "javascript" to codeguppy.com -- where basically the symbols { } are replaced with begin ... end.

A simple pre-processor will replace begin ... end with the proper { ... } before sending the code to execution to the JavaScript engine.

Looking forward to your feedback on this. Do you think this will make coding more approachable to beginners or will create confusion later on when they will have to remove the "training wheels"?

Please see below how a function will look like (converted from the Breakout project on the codeguppy site):

function createBricks() begin let noBricks = Math.floor((width - brickSpace) / ( brickWidth + brickSpace )); let arBricks = [];

    for(let row = 0; row < 3; row++)
    begin    
        for(let col = 0; col < noBricks; col++ )
        begin
            let x = col * ( brickWidth + brickSpace ) + brickSpace;
            let y = row * (brickHeight + rowSpace) + rowSpace;
            
            let brick = { x : x, y : y };
            arBricks.push(brick);
        end
    end

    return arBricks;

end

Dear Parents,

I’ve created a JavaScript coding course designed for the whole family!

This course is ideal for parents eager to teach their kids the basics of coding. It covers JavaScript in the browser, using the codeguppy.com platform, which is built on the widely used p5.js library—popular in both academia and creative coding.

With nearly 700 slides of beautifully illustrated content, this course is part of my mission to support coding education. As a special offer, I’m sharing 100 copies of this course in PDF format for FREE. Don’t miss out—download it while supplies last!

Download the course in PDF format

https://codeguppy.gumroad.com/l/js/ Discount code: GIVEAWAY (Enter the code, and the price will update to $0.00)

Printeed edition ================

Preview the printed edition on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/uJmS-s4DKAM

Order your copy from Lulu: https://www.lulu.com/shop/marian-veteanu/illustrated-javascript-coding-course/paperback/product-kv8yky2.html?page=1&pageSize=4

Your Support Matters ====================

I’d love for as many people as possible to discover this course and the codeguppy.com platform. I don’t have a marketing budget, so if you enjoy the course, please consider sharing it on social media. Your support would mean the world!

Hello all,

I'm sharing with you the design of 3 unique hardware products that I designed.

If you are working in tech or you're a gadget lover, you may find some of these designs useful.

Power Presenter: An OBS and PowerPoint clicker https://mveteanu.me/pdf/power_presenter.pdf

Stay Active: An AI solution for controlling TV time https://mveteanu.me/pdf/stay_active.pdf

Coral Micro: A dedicated coding computer https://mveteanu.me/pdf/coral_micro.pdf

What's your opinion?

I'm sharing with you a small PDF collection of my research papers on AI/LLMs, cloud-native technologies, web API, and product design.

The papers are intended for a general audience.

Feel free to explore them:

# AI/LLM

Harness Proprietary Data with Foundational Models and RAG https://mveteanu.me/pdf/rag.pdf

A visual presentation of Leading AI Studios https://mveteanu.me/pdf/ai_studios.pdf

A Tour of Azure AI Services https://mveteanu.me/pdf/azure_ai.pdf

OWASP Top 10 for LLMs https://mveteanu.me/pdf/llm_security.pdf

# Cloud

Core Services Across Azure, AWS, and GCP https://mveteanu.me/pdf/cloud_core.pdf

Select the right cloud-based DB for your project https://mveteanu.me/pdf/cloud_db.pdf

21 Tips for Designing Web APIs https://mveteanu.me/pdf/webapis.pdf

# Leadership

25 Challenges Every R&D Leader Faces https://mveteanu.me/pdf/rd_challenges.pdf

# Physical Product Design

Power Presenter: An OBS and PowerPoint clicker https://mveteanu.me/pdf/power_presenter.pdf

Stay Active: An AI solution for controlling TV time https://mveteanu.me/pdf/stay_active.pdf

Coral Micro: A dedicated coding computer https://mveteanu.me/pdf/coral_micro.pdf

# Cloud architecture

SaaS vs IaaS vs PaaS https://mveteanu.me/pdf/saas_iaas_paas.pdf

Exploring Multi-Tenant Architectures https://mveteanu.me/pdf/multitenant_architectures.pdf

Pitfalls of Microservices https://mveteanu.me/pdf/pitfalls_microservices.pdf

Docker Tips https://mveteanu.me/pdf/docker_tips.pdf

# Industry quotes

Key Quotes Driving the Software Revolution https://mveteanu.me/pdf/quotes.pdf

Hello parents: I've assembled an "Illustrated JavaScript Coding Course" to teach your kids how to code.

Almost 700 slides of fun content!

Get the course here: https://codeguppy.gumroad.com/l/js/launch

Kotlin is like C# https://ttu.github.io/kotlin-is-like-csharp/

Kotlin is like TypeScript https://gi-no.github.io/kotlin-is-like-typescript/

JavaScript is like Python https://codeguppy.com/blog/javascript-is-like-python/

Swift is like Kotlin https://nilhcem.com/swift-is-like-kotlin/

Swift is like Go http://repo.tiye.me/jiyinyiyong/swift-is-like-go/

Swift is like Scala https://leverich.github.io/swiftislikescala/

Dear tech friends,

I'm inviting you to share the nostalgia about early teach:

Q1: First computer vibes! Please share details about your initial encounter with computers! What computer sparked your curiosity, and which programming language stole your heart? Was it BASIC on a microcomputer or Pascal, Assembler on a mini ... or something else? Share the nostalgia!

Q2: Legacy tech throwback! What discontinued framework or language do you believe was ahead of its time or didn't get the love it deserved? Let's reminisce about the unsung heroes of the programming world!

Q3: Tech wonders of today! Keeping it fair and square (aka as impartial as possible), what modern language or tech has you buzzing with excitement? Share your unbiased thoughts on the latest and greatest in the digital realm!

When I found out that there are coding clubs in US public elementary schools that accept only girls, I thought to ask reddit about this. In my opinion children of both genders should be allowed equal access to (coding) education – especially within a publicly funded educational system.

To my surprise I got a lot of comments on my reddit question defending the school position.

What’s your opinion on this?

P.S. Original reddit thread https://www.reddit.com/r/Teachers/comments/169tp2b/is_this_gender_discrimination/

Hello all,

I need your advice in selecting the software stack for an educational, boot-to-code computer. The computer will be an AIO with a keyboard, screen and a Linux board with just-enough CPU to run the coding environment.

The intent is that eventually in the future to turn the computer in a commercial product that will come bundled with a coding book that will teach coding to young audiences and enthusiasts. E.g. a modern-retro computer. Below are a few mockups and even a possible ad:

Pic1: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FqZl4tNWAAEVICB?format=jpg

Pic2: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fo-QP-MX0AEOjUJ?format=jpg

Pic3: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fo-QP-PXEAIGSn4?format=jpg

The computer will offer a simple coding editor, a language (TBD) with a nice API for drawing shapes, put sprites, etc. on a graphical canvas.

Now, back to software stack that will power the coding environment (editor, menus, etc.) and a language interpreter (e.g. JavaScript).

Main requirement from software stack is to run on a low-powered Linux SBC and boot in under 5 seconds to coding environment.

I’m considering the following options:

1. Dart + Flutter + Skia (no X)

2. C# + Avalonia + Skia (no X)

3. Kotlin + Compose for Desktop + Skia (no X)

4. Pascal + Ultibo (no Linux)

5. C + LVGL (no X)

6. Vala + GTK (Linux w/ X)

7. HTML5 (Linux w/X and Chromium engine).

What do you recommend?

P.S. Looking forward to your recommendations regarding features of the coding platform. My intent is that experience to be similar to fantasy consoles (but high-res) or to codeguppy.com environment.