I’m a big fan of gamification, and I’ve played a few games over the years that can make learning about computers and programming fun. This post will be the first in a series of posts called “Learning through play”, where I share some of those games in the hope that it might inspire you or someone you know to pick up a new skill or test out your knowledge. So without further ado here is While True: learn()

What is it about?

You are a developer with a bug you can’t seem to solve. But while you get up for a cup of coffee, your cat solves it for you. What more can this cat teach you? Embark on a new quest to decipher your cat’s speech using machine learning.

How does it play?

The game uses visual programming to connect different nodes to sort and classify data. It is a great way to ease people into the logic puzzles they may experience while attempting to code.

What does it teach you?

While it presents a simplified representation of machine learning it does capture the basics, and you get links to courses and papers explaining the different concepts and how they work in greater detail as well as learning about the history of machine learning all the way from the ’60s, yes, 1959 saw the first use of the phrase.

I hope this helps you or someone you know to try something new.