Education Ecosystem Blog

Who’s AlisonPKD? Did one of her viewers really order her pizza whilst she was streaming? There’s only one way to find out. Read our Q/A session and find out for yourself!

Real name: Alison

Alter ego: AlisonPKD

Location: Hamilton, New Zealand

Powers/abilities: C#/.NET, Python

Username: livecoding.tv/alisonpkd

Questions:

Q: What made you want to study programming in school?

A: I’m extremely interested in the backend programming of game development. I’m currently focused on learning the fundamentals of programming before I can create a unique game, where I know what’s going on behind the scenes. One of my main goals is to build applications that the world will love, and for these applications to perform at an extremely high level.

Q: Why did you choose C# as the programming language to study?

A: As part of my Diploma Level 5 Programming in Information Technology at Waikato Institute of Technology, I am learning C#.  My thoughts on this are if I push through the course content, learn a high level language, I will be able to apply the concepts I’ve learned to other languages. In my spare time I practice the logic I’ve learned in C# and apply it to other languages, with different syntax and features.

Q: Tell us about your webstore www.society6.com/alisonpkd. Do you make all the designs?
A: Yes, most of the time when I’m not coding I’m illustrating. A lot of the designs there are concept art for one of my upcoming game dev projects.

Q: When did you first hear about Livecoding.tv? What was your first reaction?

A: I was scrolling Facebook and saw a TechCrunch article about the streaming service provided on LCTV. My first reaction was “This seems like a great opportunity to improve my coding skills.” I’m constantly looking for new people who want to learn to code together. I love the idea of communal learning with programming as it takes some of the isolation out of it. I want to interact with more than my computer while programming, LCTV appears to offer the interaction with little distraction.

Q: Share an interesting moment/experience you’ve had as a streamer on Livecoding.tv.
A: One of my viewers paid for pizza to be delivered to me. It was very delicious.

Q: What’s the best thing about Livecoding.tv? What’s the worst/most annoying?

A: The community is very supportive and have helped me improve my code a lot. The site can be a little buggy but the LCTV team are very quick at fixing problems that arise within the site.

Q: What role, if any, do you think Livecoding.tv is playing in promotion/learning of programming/coding?
A: LCTV plays the role of being an open platform to teach and get feedback on your programming/code. I definitely would say that my programming skill has progressed since I first started using the service. I’ve joined small communities of programmers, some at my level, some at a higher level, and we’ve all worked together to improve each other’s code and bounce ideas off one another. I think this all contributes to higher learning.

Q: When did you first learn to code? How did it go initially?
A: In high school last year, we had to learn python. Initially, I found it quite challenging, but as I progressed through the assignments the basic fundamentals of the language became easier to implement in my code. It was a great language to begin learning the logic (conditional statements, loop iterations, variables, etc)

Q: What’s the best thing about coding?

A: Programming allows me to actively participate in finding solutions to complex social and business problems, as well as create software to improve pre-existing systems, making them more efficient. I want to take this ability and apply it to game development.

Q: If you were not a coder, what would you rather be? Why?

A: I would probably be a game artist, or a Composer/Musician. I believe game programming is my main focus with game artistry and music composition adding to my skill set, I can code the game I envision, illustrate the assets and compose the music.

Q: What’s the most annoying/irritating/bizarre coding habit you have?
A: I forget about the time so I end up going to bed at 4am.

Check out one of AlisonPKD’s recent streams: In Class with Alison