What are your goals for 2016? What do you want to learn?
Mine are:
Working smarter is proving interesting and difficult at the same time. The main problem here is having the discipline to only check mail at certain times and to stay off of Slack, Twitter etc
I have been playing withy Arduino since last year and have created a few projects with it. I am currently making a controller for some sliding wardrobe doors using hall effect switches.
I should add I have been doing this on and off and so am not an expert!
This year ( like last year ) I want to improve my photography by visiting different areas of the country.
I found the Arduino programing software not very user friendly and found this at Christmas: https://codebender.cc/
It has better error reporting and you can move code around by dragging and dropping unlike the Arduino software and it also has a lot of libraries built in. It also has a lot of programs you can view.
Only possible drawback is if you want to keep your program to yourself you have to pay.
For this year (and probably the one beyond that):
My list keeps growing, but this year I want to focus on these three things:
My dream is to find someone who will pay me to do nothing but learn all sorts of neat stuff. 
What are your goals for 2016? What do you want to learn?
To produce a complete web-site using Golang because the compiled language is far more efficient, leaner and should be a lot quicker at rendering pages. Fast loading pages are ideal for the increasing mobile market.
Working smarter is proving interesting and difficult at the same time. The main problem here is having the discipline to only check mail at certain times and to stay off of Slack, Twitter etc
I prefer not having any notifications and to run email, Slack, Facebook, etc in a separate browser. When I want a coding break the other browser is opened and closed again fbefore returning to coding. Multitasking is a not productive 
^^ thisā¦
I think of multitasking as someone trying to put a positive spin on not paying something your full attention.
Iād be more interested in using something like Johnny-Five. As you might guess, itās JS-based, but there seem to be a lot of possibilities of what you can do with it ā the website has loads of examples. Use-case-wise, Iād be really interested in automating my home (as you seem to be doing). What language have you been using so far? The Arduino IDE supports the C and C++, right?
I think JS is something that a lot of people are looking at tackling. Out of interest, what kind of subjects would you be interested in reading about? Is there anything in this vein that we could be covering on the JS channel?
Iām currently using virtual desktops ā one for work, another for non work-related email/surfing. Iāve switched off all the notifications I could (e.g. I only get email when I press āGet new messagesā), but Iām still finding things overlap. My next idea is to make various profiles for fr various things (e.g. an email profile for work and one for social). Itās tough, though.
Any thoughts on which server-side language to go with?
html/css - i think itās a valuable asset to have.
Essential, more like : )
JavaScript basically, though I recognise thatās no small challenge. Iāve got a book sitting next to me called āJavaScript Programming: Pushing the Limitsā by Jon Raasch. Itās focused around development using Backbone, Underscore, Node, the Express framework, MongoDB, and bunch of other bits and bobs. Iāve not read far into the code side of things, but I found Jonās writing style and the initial chapters very approachable. Iām a fair way off actually getting serious with it, but it looks promising. One thing I did note was a not a single mention of React in it, even though it was only published in 2013.
I think JS is a good choice if youāre doing it locally (e.g. just get your head around how it works), but if you want to set up a remote server running Node and Mongo, that is not as straight forward as something like PHP and MySQL which come pre-installed on most hosting packets.
Also a book written in 2013 will be somewhat out of date by now and could potentially lead to a lot of frustration as the examples donāt correspond to the current version of things.
When you say āconnect front-end and back-endā how do you mean? Something like sending an Ajax request from one to the other and getting a response? Or more like realtime communication?
Well I have my Ubuntu server running nearby, and that has some things installed on it it, including Node and NPM already. Apache, PHP and MySQL are also available on there.
I can also run those locally too, or on another Ubuntu install sitting inside a Hyper-V instance.
Thatās very much understood. It was something I picked up on a bit of a whim, so Iāll have a look at it and see whether it takes me somewhere useful. It certainly wonāt take me anywhere near some of the changes brought about in ES6 for example, but it should get me a better idea on how MVC, NoSQL, templates and so on hang together.
Essentially, creating applications that have a back-end data store, a browser-based client presentation, and a means of transiting data securely between the two. In a sense, it doesnāt matter whether that is a todo, a simple blog, or the bare bones of a shopping cart. Iām trying to grasp principles and structures as much as anything right now.
I guess I need additional knowledge when it comes to social media. However, I wouldnāt mind learning about other things such as graphic design, creation of videos and such. Once you go internet, you canāt go back.
I have books on JavaScript, but reading up on a subject doesnāt stick with me in the end. I really love project-based books and tutorials, but I also need to find a use for what I am learning in something I am working on. That is why I have let my JavaScript skills slip so badly. Most of my freelance jobs over the past few years have involved building small to medium sites (usually my own custom themes powered by WordPress), and PHP/mySQL-based applications.
Occasionally I get the need to use JavaScript (most recently to build a five-star rating system for an application I had made for a client, and often accordian type features). Itās hard to expand your knowledge if you donāt find an immediate use for it.
Iām in a rut and want to get out of it.
Very true. I have much the same problem, perhaps more so because back in the real-world, I donāt code anything for a living.
I use the standard Arduino code and I am told it is based on C. You can run C directly on the Arduino but I am having enough problems with the Arduino code!
@chrisofarabia, @Webmachinepost
Since you both have websites, maybe try using the existing data and redesigning the site using a different platform, language, framework, css, library, etc
A long time ago I learnt Basic and after some time felt as though coding was like āturning the handleā. I joined a C++ Computer Class and after my first āHello Worldā the interest was restored. The enthusiasm continued with Clipper, Delphi but after learning PHP once again felt like āturningā¦ā.
Golang is once again a breath of fresh air. The compiler is quick and unforgiving, reminds me of some females 
and refuses to compile if any libraries or even variables are declared and not used!
Modern web-browsers are remarkably forgiving and are magnificent at interpreting sloppy scripts that take an extrordianary amount of time to render. My dream is to have a Golang Browser that discards all CSS, JavaScripts, remarks, scripts etc that are declared and not used!
[rant over]
I want to improve my marketing skills and start my own agency.