Education Ecosystem Blog

Stephen Lu

Streams as: Munk801

Livecoding.tv/munk801

A Little About Munk801:

Stephen Lu is a man of multiple talents. He is a Software Engineer, Technical Director, Dancer and a nerd, technically as well as literally. He started streaming the very night he heard about Livecoding.tv, because learning and sharing is what he lives for. Originally from Salt Lake City, he lives in LA and loves Obj-C/Swift like nothing. Python comes next on that list. He would love to learn Ruby someday, while he believes in creation of products those help us solve real life problems. He loves video games, movies and even has a game streaming channel on twitch to his name.

You can join him as he streams @Livecoding.tv/munk801, and plays some funky music while building IOS apps from scratch.

Last weekend, we came across Munk801 in a virtual street, in a virtual city and here’s what we talked about.

Interviewer: So Stephen, Where did you first hear about Livecoding.tv? What was your first reaction?

Munk801: I read about Livecoding.tv on a website called Product Hunt. It’s a daily feed website that keeps you updated with best of latest products, websites, and all sorts of things.  Its a great place to find all the cool stuff. Anyways, when I first saw Livecoding.tv, I thought it was a fantastic idea!  I always wanted to see a platform where people can interact with others through coding for both learning and collaborating. And thanks to you guys, that finally happened!

I: Great. That’s what we had in mind when we started. So, after your experience with the platform, what’s the best thing about Livecoding.tv? What’s the worst or you could say, annoying?

M: The best thing is community engagement. It’s awesome to see all the great things people are building and that really motivates you to get up and start doing things yourself. The worst thing that I have found isn’t anything from the platform. It’s like a by-product of the same engagement.  Because, when you have community engagement like this, you do come across naysayers and ‘trolls’ trying to sabotage you for their enjoyment, and seeing your reaction live on their mean acts.  But the community itself is so powerful here, that those people generally don’t stay too long and disappear eventually.

I: Yeah, that’s something we all experience at some stage in our life. Right. Tell us something interesting that you have experienced as a streamer @Livecoding.tv.

M: One great thing that I often experience is seeing the ‘regulars’, regular viewers, always pop back in the chat, curious to know how the product is developing and all that.  When you have a platform where you can interact with someone live, you really get this feeling that you are talking directly to them and feel yourself a part of this special engagement.

I: Well, that’s quite interesting . So, which products are you working on Livecoding.tv these days?

M: I am creating a brand new app right from scratch these days. It is actually based on a very popular app called ‘Yik Yak’. Yik Yak essentially is a feed of comments. One can post literally all sort of comments there and people can like or dislike these comments. I am doing something similar by replacing comments with tech questions. Once launched, people will be allowed to post technical issues of all sorts they face and the community there will respond with their solutions/suggestions. Most programming nerds love solving complex technical questions/bugs/issues and this is a way for people to get direct responses on how to fix it.

I: Wow, that sounds way cool to me. Then, which coding languages do you code in on Livecoding.tv? 

M: I program there in Apple’s new programming language, Swift. Mainly because it’s a language many people are looking to learn, and iOS app development is on the rise too. So in a way am helping community learn how to build cool iOS apps from scratch.

I: That’s wonderful. Truly. Let’s go back now, and tell us about when you first learned to code and how did it go initially? 

M: I first learned to code in high school. My high school had this program where they use to take us to a technical institute to learn Java and SQL. It was a pretty cool thing for us then. I enjoyed being able to go and learn coding in high school, which is still unfortunately, not as available to students in the schools as it should be.

I: Lucky for you then. Right. So if you were a programming language, which one you be? And why?

M: If I were a programming language? Let me think. I would definitely be Python. I love to be transparent, and completely explicit.  And I would like to feel that a lot of people like me. *laughs*

I: That’s really funny. Now, what do you do when you’re stuck in a dead-end while coding? 

M: Well most times, firstly, I flip a table. Then, as  the aggression subdues, from flipping of course, I generally tend to move on to something else. Or I will go out for a walk or like lay and relax for a bit. It never helps, sitting and staring your code for hours once you are stuck. I guess sometimes its better to let it simmer in your mind and come back to it later with a different perspective. But table flipping is something you all should try once, it feels so good. 

I: Ah, well I would definitely give it a thought next time I get stuck. Alright, so if you were not a programmer, what would you rather be?

M: I feel I would like to be a movie director.  I love movies, and if I couldn’t create software or products, I would love to create cool movies.  Regardless, people will enjoy what I produce. 

I: So, regardless, what’s the most annoying or bizarre coding habit you have?

M: The most annoying coding habit that I have is in my typing habits. It’s like, I use Vim as my coding environment for most things. Now, Vim is a special type of code editor that utilizes a certain set of key bindings to ensure efficiency in terms of time & speed, in whatever you are typing. For instance, in order to move the cursor on the editor in a vim/vim-like environment, you generally use letters ‘hjkl’ which translates into ‘left-down-up-right’.  So one thing I do when I am thinking is I quickly smash ‘jkjkjkjkjkjkjk’, and with the loud mechanical keyboard i generally use, that smashing of ‘jkjkjkjkjkjkjk’ gets quite annoying and irritating for others around. *laughs*

Well, that’s how it went with our Swift lover Munk801, you can follow his streams @ Livecoding.tv/munk801. And if you would like to feature in our Q&A session, simply drop us an email at don@livecoding.tv.

And it goes without saying, don’t forget to let us know how you feel about our Q&A series in the comments below.

Take Care.