Top Ten for 2021

The year 2021 has been another challenging year. The COVID-19 pandemic is still ongoing. We're still working from home. Here are my personal highlights for this year:

Vaccinated

Celine and I (and both our family) have been vaccinated and we're still safe and healthy.

First Book

The book I have co-authored, How to Build Android Apps with Kotlin, has finally beeen published last February. If you want to learn Android app development with Kotlin, you can check out our book on Packt and on Amazon.

Android Developer Challenge

I joined the first two weeks of Android Developer Challenge: Jetpack Compose and was one of the 500 winners for both challenges.

Google Play Store Listing Certificate

I took Google Play Academy’s Store Listing Certificate training, passed the exam, and got my certificate.

First (Virtual) Half Marathon

I did my first 21k on 2021! It was a virtual half-marathon at the BMO Vancouver Marathon 2021. I finished the run in 2:45:26. I'm looking forward to my first in-person half-marathon next year.

Blood Donation

It has been one of my goals since 2011. There has been a lot of factors in the past that made me unable to do it. I was finally able to do it this time before the year ended.

Montly Run

I ran at least once a month this year. My total distance is 327 km, twice as much as last year's 161 km.

Le Français avec Duolingo

I extended my streak on Duolingo to 1655 days. In 4651+ minutes, I earned 18,750+ XP, got 157 more crowns, and "learned" 2256+ words.

Advent of Code, Kotlin Heroes

I tried Advent of Code for the first time. Using Kotlin, I was able to solve the first 15 days. I also learned some new things.

I also joined Kotlin Heroes 6 and Kotlin Heroes 7 this year. In the former, I solved a problem while in the latter, I got 2.

Victoria Trip

We were able to travel outside the city but within the province. It was our first time to visit the BC capital and we were able to visit different places and ate a lot of food. This trip happened when the cases were declining and the vaccination rate has been increasing so the province is starting to reopen.

Google Play Store Listing Certificate

One of the things announced at the Android Dev Summit 2021 is Google Play Academy’s Store Listing Certificate. The certificate is for app developers and evaluates knowledge of the best practices on creating Google Play Store listings, making them high-quality and policy-compliant, and marketing your app/games to a global audience.

I took the Play Academy training, passed the exam, and got my certificate:

Kotlin Heroes 7

Last Tuesday, I joined Kotlin Heroes: Episode 7. Kotlin Heroes is a programming competition from JetBrains (creator of Kotlin) and CodeForces. The challenge is to use Kotlin in solving as many problems in two and a half hours.

Photo from https://codeforces.com/blog/entry/92165

I was only able to successfully solve a problem last time. It was great that I did two for Kotlin Heroes 7.

Virtual Half Marathon at Vancouver Marathon 2021

Running a half marathon has always been one of my long-term goals. The longest distance I had run is 16k but that was ages ago and I haven't been able to run for a long time.

My plan is to do the half marathon at the Vancouver Marathon this year: my first 21k on 2021. Due to the pandemic, all running events are still virtual. Participants can run anytime in the month of May. I registered early and decided to do my run on the second day while the weather is good. It was very tiring but I finished my first (virtual) half marathon run in 2:45:26.

For the run, my route is the Vancouver Seawall (from Granville Island to Stanley Park and back). I also got to wear the Brooks Sherpa Visor which I ordered for use during sunny day runs.

Next year will be the 50th anniversary of the Vancouver Marathon. Hopefully, the event will be back to normal and I can run my first non-virtual half marathon by then.

Android Developer Challenge: Jetpack Compose

An Android Developer Challenge was announced during the beta release of Jetpack Compose. There are four weekly weekly challenges using Jetpack Compose to build Android apps. I joined the first two weeks and was one of the 500 winners for both challenges.

In the first week, the challenge was to build a puppy adoption app with an overview screen that displays a list of puppies and a detail screens. I made a simple app and got the images and details from BC SPCA. At the bottom of the details screen, I added an Adopt button that opens the link to the dog's details page on BC SPCA. I won a limited edition trophy of the Jetpack Compose superhero made of LEGO bricks.

The challenge for the second week was to create a working single screen countdown timer. My app is a simple one where users can set the hour, minute, and second and display the time remaining. Users can also stop the countdown and will be brought back to the "input" screen. Once the timer runs out, a "Time's up!" text will be displayed too. The prize was a Jetpack Compose poster and a set of Android pencils, and a limited edition Jetpack Compose comic strip poster.

I was able to learn and try Jetpack Compose by participating in the Android Developer Challenge. The prizes were additional bonus for me. I'll continue looking into Jetpack Compose and maybe I can use it in a project soon.

Virtual Vancouver Sun Run 2021

It's been two years since the last time I ran. I wasn't able to join a virtual run last year and my last run was at Vancouver Sun Run 2019. This year, I planned to try virtual runs. My first virtual run is the Vancouver Sun Run 2021.

Image from vancouversunrun.com

Vancouver Sun Run is Canada’s largest 10K race. They have a virtual race from April 18-30 for this year. I decided to do mine on the first day while the weather is good. It was a very sunny and hot day. I finished my 10k run in 1:10:27.

The virtual run feels like the usual run I do. I kind of miss the start/finish line, running on the open road, the pre-race stuff, and the post-race celebrations. Hopefully, running events will be back to normal next year.

Kotlin Heroes 6

After joining Kotlin Heroes 4 and Kotlin Heroes 5: ICPC Round in 2020, I decided to register again for this year's Kotlin Heroes 6 on March 9. Kotlin Heroes is a programming competition from JetBrains (creator of Kotlin) and CodeForces. The challenge is to use Kotlin in solving as many problems in two and a half hours.

Photo from https://twitter.com/kotlin/status/1365344444187312131

My goal, like in the previous Kotlin Heroes, is the solve at least 2 problems. I only managed to successfully solve one of the 10 problems this time. In the second problem, my solution was failing in some test cases and my solution to the third problem was almost done but time ran out for me.

Co-Authored Book: How to Build Android Apps with Kotlin

The book I have co-authored, How to Build Android Apps with Kotlin, has finally beeen published last month. I have been writing blogs and tech articles for a while now but this is the first time for me to write a book. We have worked on this for months and it's feels great that it's now out for everyone to read and learn from.

With the book, you can build your knowledge, skills, and confidence by working on realistic examples, practical exercises, and challenging activities. If you want to learn Android app development with Kotlin, you can check out our book which is available on Packt and on Amazon.

I wrote a little more about my experience writing for the book here.