ocus Topics for 2021
Changes for 2022
I changed jobs in the second half of 2021. My Javascript skills were less of a priority as my new role was focused on Swift. I felt as though I had mastered Learning to Learn, therefor I swapped it out for leadership and communication.
My wellness routines where an ongoing concern, so I kept that focus. I hadn't made much progress in category theory in 2021, so I rolled it over to 2022.
New Focus Topics for 2022
Category Theory
In contrast to the previous year, I ended up over-investing in category theory in 2022. I was constantly running into a web of mathematical concepts that I was less than familiar with. I did manage to uplift my understanding from a vague shaky beginner level to a more solid intermediate grasp of the material. There were lots of diversions along the way. The consensus was that category theory was easier if you knew abstract algebra so I added it to the list. Most of the programming examples that were used to illustrate category theory were in Haskell so that went on the list too.
I had a bit of trouble translating the theory into practise. I am mostly using Swift at the moment and while Swift uses lots of category theory's concepts, they tend to be obscured .e.g. although, concurrent contexts, throwing contexts, sequences and, optionals are all monads, in Swift they are each treated as their own separate thing, and you would only notice the similarities, if you already knew the theory. If a programmer wanted to tie those concepts together, e.g. using a Monad class they couldn't, because Swift does not support higher kinded types.
There are libraries that help Swift be more category theory friendly, and one, Bow even simulates higher kinded types. Maybe I will experiment with those libraries in 2023.
Leadership
I managed to make some progress on this, even though it felt, as if category theory was stealing my focus. I even managed to translate my learning into activities at work. Although, most of these leadership activities, were extensions of things I have been doing for a long time, or started as a part of my Learning to Learn focus in 2021.
Wellbeing
I, for the most part, continued with the wellbeing strategies I developed in 2021. However insomnia and stress started to creep back. This was probably due to my letting music practice lapse. Exercise and mindfulness meditation were not enough. Playing a instrument seems to be the most effective de-stressor for me.
Swift
There is always a lot to learn in Swift. Every year apple releases new versions of Swift, XCode, iOS, macOS, watchOS and tvOS. There is also the new Swift libraries and APIs. While I learnt a lot this year I feel I am barely scratching the surface. I am still working my way through last years WWDC videos.
Conclusion
All up I was less effective in converting my learning into day to day behaviour change in 2022 than I was in 2021. But I still made some good progress.
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