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In this episode we’ll be talking to the Treehouse teacher, bearded feminist, and professional dad joker, Kenneth Love.
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Hi, I'm Craig.
0:00
Welcome to the Treehouse Show.
0:01
The Treehouse Show is our weekly
conversation with the Treehouse community.
0:02
[SOUND] In this episode,
we'll be talking to the Treehouse teacher,
0:05
bearded feminist a professional dad joker,
Kenneth Love.
0:11
[SOUND] So, thanks for
being in the show, Kenneth.
0:15
>> Thanks, Craig.
0:17
>> I have a question.
0:18
>> Okay.
0:19
>> How did you get started in technology?
0:20
How do I get this technology?
0:22
My school luckily when I was in
kindergarten first grade we had a computer
0:24
classes on like Apple 2E's-
>> Awesome.
0:28
>> So we were doing like logo and
organ trail or
0:31
that kind of stuff-
>> Tarzan.
0:33
Yeah I mean there were
tons of great games.
0:35
So that was always fun and
I enjoyed doing that.
0:36
Middle school and
high school we had Basic programming,
0:39
like the language Basic,
not simple programming languages.
0:43
So did that all through, all through
school did some sort of programming.
0:48
>> What would you build in that?
0:51
>> We did random things.
0:53
Usually it wasn't
anything too complicated.
0:55
First time it was drawing.
0:57
>> Okay.
>> Which was kinda cool.
0:58
But then it was like, you finally
figured out that okay if I have Basic.
0:59
So you just had loops.
1:05
>> Sure.
1:06
>> Like, go to 100 or whatever, right?
1:07
>> Right.
>> Wasn't even QBasic,
1:08
we didn't have functions.
1:09
We need to figure out, okay cool,
if I can draw the scene,
1:10
and then I can draw another,
clear the screen, draw another scene.
1:13
And then if I loop between
them I get animations,
1:16
I can make wheels turn or whatever.
1:18
>> Okay.
1:20
>> So that was fun.
1:20
And around that time I got into doing
design stuff, learning web stuff.
1:21
I snuck diskettes into the public
library so I could upload web pages
1:28
because you weren't allowed
to bring them in from home.
1:32
And so anyway got into like new
web design, stuff like that so
1:34
I went to college for that.
1:38
And then got caught up with
programming towards the end of that
1:40
to make a role playing
game it never happened.
1:45
>> Okay.
1:47
You were going to make
a role playing game?
1:48
>> Yeah people were making a game online
>> I said I would help with art,
1:49
because I was a designer, graphics person-
>> That's right,
1:54
you've got that background
I forgot about that.
1:56
>> Yeah, I have a design degree, so
>> Okay.
1:58
>> I get really concentrated on fonts and
stuff.
2:00
Anyway, I was going to help him do this.
2:04
So I was producing tiling art and it was
an orthogonal tile, or not orthogonal,
2:06
but we had perfected tiles so
it was offset by halfway.
2:10
And I needed a way to test it, so
2:14
they gave me little PHP script that would
build up like this big table for me.
2:16
And I was like, that's pretty cool I
want to figure out how they did that.
2:20
And I was doing an internship for
my college,
2:23
working in their web
department which was also PHP.
2:26
So I basically picked up PHP from that,
from a couple books.
2:31
And then I was like, design's boring,
I'm gonna be a programmer instead.
2:34
>> Okay, when you picked up the PHP
what did it stand for at that time?
2:38
>> I think it was still at that point,
PHP hypertext preprocessor?
2:41
>> Okay.
>> Though a little weird backronym thing?
2:47
>> Right.
2:49
Yeah, I don't think gonna
do anything else yet.
2:51
>> Okay.
2:53
>> Yeah.
2:54
>> I touched that when it
was personal homepage.
2:55
>> Yeah.
2:57
>> Yes, make my own homepage.
2:58
It was very nice looking.
2:59
>> Yeah.
>> So [COUGH]
3:02
what do you teach here at Treehouse?
3:05
>> So I'm the Python teacher primarily.
3:08
So we do Python, we do Flask,
Django, all of these Pythony stuff.
3:11
I've also done some stuff over Git and
Vim.
3:15
And I've done-
>> Wait, what's Vim?
3:19
>> Vim is a really,
really old text editor.
3:21
[LAUGH] So
3:25
it's from the very early days of anything
we would even consider the Internet.
3:26
So ARPA days.
3:29
>> Okay.
>> And so
3:31
Vim was meant to be this very light
weight, very fast text editor.
3:32
To send edits back and
forth across the wire quickly.
3:36
So you would be in Massachusetts at MIT
and you're working on code that leaves in
3:39
the mainframe in Nebraska cuz
you're working on government stuff.
3:43
>> Got you.
3:46
>> And you wanna be able to send
that data as fast as possible.
3:47
You can probably only see
a few lines at a time, so
3:49
then becomes very finely tuned for
this style of editing.
3:51
Okay, you're working on
small amounts of text, but
3:57
you're gonna be able to move
around it very quickly.
3:59
And you're gonna be able to
do edits very quickly, and
4:01
send those edits back across
the wire very quickly.
4:02
>> Gotcha, and that's what happens
when sometimes I pop in to the editor.
4:04
>> Yeah.
>> It's like a default editor.
4:08
>> Yeah you forget to attach your
message on your Git commit and
4:09
then you pop into the editor
that just beeps at you?
4:12
>> Right.
4:14
That's them.
4:15
>> Right, [LAUGH] okay.
4:15
>> Colon queue gets you out of that.
4:16
>> [LAUGH] Okay, thanks, and
that's in the workshop that you teach?
4:18
>> Yeah, we did a meet-up here a year or
two ago and
4:21
I spent about an hour showing
everybody how to do [CROSSTALK]
4:25
The basics of them, very,
very basic of them.
4:30
It's a very lying a lot of older
technology thing it's very deep and
4:34
somewhat murky.
4:38
>> Do you still use that?
4:39
>> Sort of, so there is a features a lot
of editor have called vim keys which
4:41
basically gives you Vim's modes and keys
so that you can move thing very quickly.
4:46
You can edit things like you are used to
in Vim without having to be in them, so-
4:51
>> Cool, so
4:55
you can get the other
benefits of the editor, okay.
4:56
>> Yeah, so if you really loved, say
you Sublime text little mini map thing,
4:58
it shows you where you're at on the file.
5:02
You could use Sublime text and
then have Vim keys installed and
5:04
you'd have Vim inside of Sublime text.
5:07
>> Awesome, what's your current editor?
5:09
>> I did most of my stuff
in [INAUDIBLE] lately, but
5:11
Visual Studio code is pretty
fun I'll tell you that.
5:14
>> Sound.
>> [CROSSTALK]
5:17
>> They all have Vim keys.
5:19
And then I jump around, yeah.
5:20
I've used, the last few years I've used
like Atom, and Visual Studio Code and
5:20
Emax, which the Vim people
are gonna hate me for.
5:25
Cuz there's those are classic
[INAUDIBLE] where-
5:29
>> But you sit on both sides?
5:31
Yeah, I like both of them so.
5:33
>> Okay, cool, so you also do
something weird with your keyboard.
5:36
I use to sit next to you,
shared the desk next to you and
5:39
you had a really loud
keyboard first of all.
5:42
And one time I sat down at your
computer and I went to type and
5:45
is was just kinda like,
not what I was typing.
5:47
What's going on?
5:50
>> Yeah, so the loud keyboard is,
it's a mechanical keyboard.
5:50
Again older school,
there is actual springs beneath the keys,
5:53
instead of like in a laptop.
5:57
It's just a little membrane
with air beneath it.
5:58
>> Okay.
6:01
>> Sounds makes so it loud.
6:01
>> Okay.
>> So what's cool is you can
6:03
customize how loud these are.
6:04
>> So if you're like,
I really like that feel.
6:05
So it feels like a typewriter,
but you don't want it to be loud,
6:06
you can make it [INAUDIBLE]
by quieter springs.
6:08
>> But you like it loud.
6:10
>> I like it loud.
6:11
>> Like popcorn's in the microwave loud.
6:12
>> Yeah, it can be really loud.
6:13
>> Okay.
6:15
>> And then the reason you couldn't
type is I type into Dvorak
6:15
which is an alternate layout from
Qwerty which you're probably used to.
6:18
So all my keys don't type the key that
you think they do, except for A and M.
6:22
And the number keys.
6:27
>> So why do you do that?
6:29
>> I kind of mixed it up on a whim.
6:31
There's long been a thing of Dvorak
being the cleanest way of typing or
6:34
the safest way of typing.
6:39
It avoids RSI, or
no carpal tunnel, or whatever.
6:41
>> Okay.
6:44
>> Most of that's unsubstantiated.
6:45
>> Okay.
6:47
>> But about 12 years ago, I was like
>> Dvorak it's cool, let's try it out.
6:47
And I switched to it and I'm still there.
6:53
>> Okay, let's cut really quick to
something that Kenneth is typing,
6:57
cuz it's kind of impressive
seeing this screen cast.
7:03
You should see this.
7:05
Cuz you type really fast.
7:08
>> I do.
7:09
>> It's impressive.
7:10
>> Yeah [CROSSTALK]
>> It's kinda mind blowing, but
7:11
people think that you're a computer, so
that's the secret to being a computer?
7:13
>> [LAUGH] I think it comes
more from just lots of typing,
7:18
I mean as a programmer you do an insane
amount of typing all the time.
7:22
And I come from a past of not using IDEs.
7:28
>> Right.
7:33
>> So I don't have the,
7:34
I've watched programmers that
are very ingrained in the IDE world.
7:37
They're Java programmers, C# programmers,
whatever, they've used IDEs forever.
7:42
And they're amazingly fast
due to auto complete.
7:46
They know how to trigger they know
when its gonna come out they can just
7:49
automatically complete these things.
7:51
I don't have that training.
7:53
I have the will type of getting
out cause you're not text and
7:55
it really doesn't do autocomplete for you.
7:57
So I've done a large,
large amount of typing over the years.
7:59
So, a lot of the speed and
accuracy just comes from typing a lot.
8:04
>> Okay.
>> It's not because of the Dvorak.
8:10
I mean the Dvorak probably helps but
it's just practice.
8:12
One thing that Dvorak is great for though.
8:17
On Macs which a lot of us use.
8:20
You know you do Command+W to close the
window or Command+Q to close a program.
8:21
>> Sure.
>> And they're right next to each other.
8:25
How often have you hit Command+Q
when you meant to hit Command+W?
8:27
>> [INAUDIBLE]
>> I don't have that problem because my Q
8:29
and my W are very far from each other.
8:31
>> Very nice, very nice.
8:32
If you're using an iPad do
you flip that into Dvorak?
8:35
>> No.
8:38
No.
>> Is that hard?
8:39
Are you like really bad at touch typing?
8:40
>> No, the weirdest thing for me, and
I've had to do it a few times like
8:41
I'll call my wife and
need her to get something off my computer.
8:45
>> And then it's like she has
to type in the password, and
8:49
it's like I have to translate
like where this key is
8:50
in Dvorak to where it's in Qwerty.
8:53
>> Because the password
goes in [INAUDIBLE].
8:55
>> Yeah, which I can usually
well go in in Dvorak, but
8:56
she's looking at Qwerty keys because
I don't re-key the keyboard.
8:59
The keys are still where they are,
in Qwerty.
9:02
You just hit the key and
types the Dvorak key.
9:05
>> You see the world are much
differently than I do.
9:07
>> It's probably an unnecessary robot.
9:10
[LAUGH] Like I can just switch
back to Qwerty and be fine.
9:11
It's 12 years, why would I quit now?
9:16
>> Yeah.
Right?
9:18
Right.
>> It's not hurting me, I think.
9:20
>> Right, and your wrist look very strong.
9:22
>> Yeah, they're fine wrists.
9:24
>> [LAUGH]
>> They hold up my hands well.
9:27
>> [LAUGH]
>> [LAUGH] They're good.
9:28
>> What's something that
the students won't know about you,
9:31
without watching one of your courses?
9:35
What's something that they can learn?
9:36
About you, what do you want to share?
9:38
>> About me?
9:39
>> About you, personally,
that they're not gonna learn here.
9:40
>> Well, now they will though.
9:43
>> Right, so before this moment.
9:46
>> Okay, that's a good question.
9:48
They may not realize just how many really
terrible puns I slip in the courses.
9:53
>> Mm-hm especially they might
not be your students, right?
9:57
>> Right, yeah,
10:01
and people who aren't my students won't
know how many horrible jokes I've put in.
10:01
>> You do have kind of
a killer amount of puns.
10:05
>> You and
I are both right there on that one, yeah.
10:08
There's lot of bad puns, lot of bad jokes.
10:12
And the jokes often transcend just
like things I say they end up as like
10:14
the stuff I'll write in the course.
10:18
So there's layers of it.
10:20
It's an onion.
10:22
>> Okay.
10:23
>> Yeah.
10:24
>> Okay.
>> I don't think I've made anyone cry,
10:24
due to jokes though.
10:26
>> Because it's an onion.
10:27
>> Right.
10:28
>> Got you.
10:29
>> Yeah, so I think the art form that
you're speaking of is dad jokes.
10:31
You are a father.
10:37
>> I am, yeah.
10:38
I don't believe that's pretty regular.
10:39
>> No?
>> No, I don't think you have to be a dad
10:42
to make dad jokes.
10:43
>> True, and being a teacher also
gives you a level of bad jokes.
10:45
So you've kind of got two
things going on there.
10:51
So can you give me one?
10:54
What's your most recent favorite dad joke?
10:58
>> So what's the temperature inside of a?
11:02
A [INAUDIBLE] is the-
>> The thing in Star Wars, yeah.
11:06
Like the lama looking thing, Lukewarm.
11:09
What's brown and rhymes with Snoop?
11:15
Dr. Dre.
11:19
>> [LAUGH]
>> See you forgot about Dre
11:20
>> [LAUGH] That's terrible,
11:23
that was a BOGO.
11:26
>> [LAUGH]
>> How do vampires cross the ocean?
11:27
On blood vessels?
11:34
This is [LAUGH]
>> Where does a witch park?
11:38
In a broom closet.
11:42
I've got tons of horrible
little jokes like that.
11:45
We should probably skip most of them.
11:48
[LAUGH]
>> [LAUGH]
11:50
>> And the thing is
11:52
I've liked them since I was a kid.
11:53
Like I would go to the library and
11:54
get joke books that were just
full of those crappy jokes.
11:55
>> Yeah.
>> And
11:58
then memorize them because they're so
horrible but
11:59
you had to read them repeatedly.
12:01
>> Yeah.
What's the joy that that brings you?
12:02
>> Because I can see that you love it.
12:05
>> Yeah, I think it's almost
the repulsion on someone else's face.
12:07
>> [LAUGH]
>> I think it's akin to why people love
12:15
prank videos, right?
12:19
You enjoy watching this because
it's this horrible thing that's not
12:21
happening to you.
12:23
>> Okay.
>> So you can laugh at it because it's not
12:24
your downfall.
12:26
So I think on the puns it's getting
to inflict that little bit of
12:29
like eye rolling and just my God I can't
believe he said that on someone else.
12:34
I think that's what makes it fun.
12:38
And just finding out
how badly they can go.
12:41
>> One my favorite ones that I ever
heard you tell involved the dance,
12:46
the school dance?
12:51
Do you remember that one?
12:52
>> Was it about long lines?
12:55
>> Yeah.
12:57
>> Yeah I remember that one.
12:57
Yeah, you want that one?
12:59
>> Let's close this out and let's let
everybody at home be repulsed by this.
13:00
>> All right it is one of my favorite
jokes actually, like all time favorites.
13:04
So okay, so there's a guy, a kid and
he's all excited the prom is coming up.
13:08
Right?
He asks the girl he wants to
13:13
go out with and
she says yes so it's great.
13:15
So, you know,
there's a lot of preparation for prom.
13:18
So he goes to the flower store,
to the get the boutineer and
13:21
the corsage and everything.
13:25
And there's just this huge, long line.
13:26
And so
he's just waiting in line all day long.
13:29
>> It's prom season.
13:31
>> Yeah, prom season so he's there
hours waiting to get the flowers.
13:31
He gets the flowers.
13:34
Cool.
13:35
Text office list.
13:37
[INAUDIBLE] nice to [INAUDIBLE] and
get his tux, right?
13:37
So he goes to the tuxedo rental.
13:40
>> Horrible place.
13:43
>> Horrible place, yeah.
13:44
Those are never fun.
13:45
And he's waiting in line to get his tux.
13:47
Again, long lines-
>> Prom season.
13:49
>> It's prom season.
13:51
He's been waiting in line for
hours to get this.
13:52
So he's got the corsage, and
the blue boutineer, he's got the tux.
13:55
He's good to, right?
13:58
They're not gonna worry about the limo,
none of that, they're just good to go.
13:59
So he goes and picks her up,
takes her, they get to the school.
14:02
There's a huge long line to get in and
take the pictures.
14:06
>> Of course.
>> Because you gotta do
14:08
pictures and everything.
14:09
>> Right.
>> So they stand in line for
14:10
the pictures, long time.
14:12
They finally get into the dance.
14:13
It's hot, a lot of people,
she asks for some punch.
14:15
And he's like, cool, I'll go get it.
14:17
He walks over, no punchline.
14:19
[SOUND] Thanks for
watching the treehouse show.
14:24
To get in touch with the show
reach out to me on Twitter, or
14:30
hit us up in the tree house community.
14:32
See you next time.
14:34
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