If you find meaning from digging into low level libraries, that's great. Most people would think of meaning as having shared values with the business you're working for and it's end users / customers. Prioritize finding end-users who you genuinely care for and whose lives you want to improve is one way to find meaning.
There are actually two products: XControls.org, which augments IBM Domino XPages and also XComponents.org for an Angular.js environment.
This is one of those open source tools that I'd love to see mature into a commercial offering: emailing request tickets, getting bugs fixed, having access to frequent release candidates, etc. I emailed them awhile back asking for commercial license and inquiring about any support they could offer. They're open to the idea, but seem very new to the game.
Begin with a problem then start with the thing that your users will see and work your way down the stack. New students enjoy the immediate gratification from changing a color, moving things around on the browser, or animating a great looking turtle. I recommending having a problem to work within as it provides constraints and a set of mini goals. "I need to take user input" then becomes "I need to process user input" then becomes "I need to put this user input somewhere" and once your friend visits each part of the stack, he can decide where he wants to spend time.
I didn't answer the "fun" part because it's not so great a leading indicator of career direction. Both sides have significant depth and breadth in terms of technical challenges and skill.
This isn't accurate at all. 1) AngularJS was not built by Java developers at Google. Further, it's not clear if the original authors were Java developers. 2) JSF was built by the guy who created Struts, which he did to because he was unhappy with how Struts worked. 3) I wouldn't describe JSF as a Java/XML framework, it's intended to be a component framework.
1. You're wrong on the 1st point again. Misko is a Java developer and he created Angular JS - also the way Angular supports Dependency Injection, was inspired by the way it's done in Java land. https://docs.angularjs.org/guide/di
2. No one said he wasn't that guy so this point is moot.
3. You're wrong there too, If you've done any JSF programing you would know that Facelets tags/components need valid XML elements when the UI is declared. So basically there are 2 things that you need to know to use JSF - Java and XML which makes is a Java/XML based Web development framework.
If I'm not mistaken, access to these videos previously required an account from a GV-funded company. It looks like they've opened up content to everyone. Very cool.
I tried the "request access" option on a movie I wanted to see (Effective Story Telling). Hope the author grants me access.
BTW, when I worked at Google as a contractor, I had to request access to many papers I wanted to read that by default were just available to employees. Almost always the author/owner would grant access.
Depending on Google Spreadsheet for uptime monitoring is nothing more than just a fun hack. I'm surprised that some people here are taking it so seriously. If you're using a script like this, then I hope it's just to keep those single dynos from falling asleep :)
It's also subject to Google Docs availability, my script sometimes fails to run with only a "We're sorry, a server error occurred. Please wait a bit and try again." email notification.
I agree. At first glance there's a lot of shorthand (@, =, ^, ?, &) but that knowledge comes with time. I experienced a lot of confusion with the compile() and link() functions that I feel could have been prevented with better docs. Until that's done, I recommend the path I took: lots of experimenting and watching John Lindquist's videos over on egghead.io.
