I don't understand how I am supposed to create files to run the tests that accompany the practice problems to check if my code is correct. I am opening the problems in Cloud 9. Thank you.

I don't know if I will even get into app academy. The profiles of many of their students seems like they have either ten years experience in programming or graduated with a PHD in rocket science from Harvard... But is $100k/year in San Francisco decent money? Rents seem astronomical and I already have a child.

Taxes for state federal income and SS/Medicare combined would be like, ~40% ??

Plus you have to pay them $20k?

may not be the place for you if you can't go without income for however long the program is

also, what language are you using for the tests? link to tests?

Test is in Ruby.

Here is an example of a prep question. I don't understand how I am supposed to save my code and tests so that the tests can be run and answers can be solved using tdd


# Write a method that will take a string as input, and return a new
# string with the same letters in reverse order.
#
# Don't use String's reverse method; that would be too simple.
#
# Difficulty: easy.

def reverse(string)
end

# These are tests to check that your code is working. After writing
# your solution, they should all print true.

puts(
'reverse("abc") == "cba": ' + (reverse("abc") == "cba").to_s
)
puts(
'reverse("a") == "a": ' + (reverse("a") == "a").to_s
)
puts(
'reverse("") == "": ' + (reverse("") == "").to_s
)

Are you supposed to use testing software like rspec? Is the test fully browser-based ( i.e. You save and run code in your browser)? Do you have or need Ruby installed?

Looks simply like like Ruby you can save as a .rb file and run from terminal or Ruby command prompt. Or an online environment.

So write your method and below that paste their tests. Should return three trues.

Try here under Ruby

I think at a point they make you use a test/unit library or learn rspec (probably from codeschool) as prepwork.

In the meantime, it seems like all the problem wants you to do is make the function reverse the string...

The tests should all evaluate to true.

def reverse(str)
# replace str.reverse with a efficient reverse algorithm
str.reverse
end

puts('reverse("abc") == "cba": ' + (reverse("abc") == "cba").to_s)
# => "cba": true

puts('reverse("a") == "a": ' + (reverse("a") == "a").to_s)
# => reverse("a") == "a": true

puts('reverse("") == "": ' + (reverse("") == "").to_s)
# => reverse("") == "": true

I honestly don't think you need to have a degree in rocket science to get into a coding bootcamp. It probably helps, but then you should be building rockets instead. It just probably takes more time for some than others.

I was rejected from app,aca,de,my about 2 years ago, but I only had a little over a month of coding experience. I should have taken more time, but instead I rushed the application. I applied with ~1 week of coding experience (mostly youtube and zed's LRTHW). I made it through some tests, hw, and interviews, but bombed the final interview when I couldn't get an O(n) problem to work at even O(n^2) time. Heck, I couldn't even iterate correctly.

Looking back, those puzzles which seemed challenging at the time aren't so bad anymore. It just takes time and some good preparation. A course in data-structure/algorithms in C++/java/python/whatever (skip the intro course) at your local community college should more than enough help prepare you for most of the puzzles.

Out of 4 people who I know of that went to a rails bootcamp (app,aca,de,my or d,ev bo,otca,mp), 2 went to UCLA, 1 went to UCSD, and 1 went to community college (I don't think he graduated). None of them has a degree in cs. I think they all have at least above-average intelligence, but they sure don't have a degree in rocket science.

from AA's pov, it makes sense to be really selective. That way they can truthfully say that a high % of their students finish the course and go on to get high paying salaries

if you're a complete novice at programming or at ruby, which they appear to want to use, then spend some time learning about programming, working with arrays, ruby, etc. If it's what you want to do for a living, you should probably start learning asap