
People who were born from the years 1981-1996 or commonly called the millennial generation (generation Y), are the transition generation between all-analog and digitalized lives, thanks to the existence of the internet and cellular phones. Especially if you’re a millennial born before 1990, there’s a high chance that you experienced a lot of analog communication modes, such as phone cards, telephone coins, mail exchanges, or even having pen pals in your childhood and adolescence. 

When I was little, I’d usually move around the cities once every 3-4 years to follow my father, who was working as a civil servant. As a result, my childhood friends scattered in some cities. Interlocal phones were still expensive back then, so I sent mail and greeting cards from the post office to communicate with friends from other cities.

Of course, this communication process via mail took a long time. Imagine waiting for mail replies from East Java to Papua (I used to live in Jayapura), which could take several weeks. The Postman was someone that you’d always look forward to. 

<div class="text-center">
<figure class="figure">
<img src="https://www.asepbagja.com/blog-img/pile-of-postcard.jpg" class="figure-img img-fluid" alt="A pile of postcards" />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-center">Postcards that I printed from my photos.</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>

In July 2022, I chatted with some friends around my age in a group chat about how fun it was to send Eid greeting cards and postcards. This group chat existed because we have lived in Bali and Jakarta, and now some people have already moved again. There is a friend in Jakarta that already moved to the United States, a friend from Bali who moved to Portugal, including me that already moved to Estonia from Bali, and there is a friend that moved from Bali to Jakarta.

I said at that time, “Sometimes I want to exchange postcards again. The last time I sent Eid greeting cards was in 2011. Sent them to my social media friends that want to exchange greeting cards.”

It turned out that a friend replied, “Let’s exchange. In 2019 I still requested a postcard from a friend in the Netherlands. I still keep it 😆 Physical things just seem more special nowadays. I guess it’s because they require more effort.”

Then a friend in the United States replied, “The last time I exchanged postcards was at the beginning of the pandemic when the new Trump-appointed USPS boss wanted to shut down post offices. So, we bought stamps to give a little bit of support.”

Since some friends also wanted to exchange messages through the post office, we decided to exchange postcards. The choice fell to postcards because they usually have unique designs or pictures from the sender’s city or country.

I immediately thought about creating my own postcard because I have a lot of landscape photos from various places in Estonia that I took while cycling or going on holidays outside of the city. From Tallinn to some other cities.

The first thing that I did was look for a place where I can print my own postcards. After googling printing places in Tallinn, I found some printing shops that can print postcards. Unfortunately, all of those print shops were too expensive for me if I want to print single postcards with different pictures. In other words, printing 10 postcards with 10 different pictures are way more expensive than printing 10 postcards with 1 same picture.

Finally, I thought about looking for a print-on-demand service provider, instead of regular print shops. Print-on-demand places can print individually with different designs affordably. It doesn't matter if the company isn’t located in Estonia, as long as the printing and shipping costs are still affordable.

After considering some print-on-demand places that can print postcards, I decided to go with [Printful](https://www.printful.com/a/liveinestonia). The printing cost is still within my budget, and the shipping fee is only 4€ because they’re sent from Latvia. Latvia is a neighboring country in the south of Estonia.

I initially tried to print 5 pieces and the results weren’t very good. Of course, it wasn’t the print-on-demand place’s fault. It was my fault because I wasn’t very good at adjusting the design. Understandably, it was my first time printing postcards. I felt that the print results weren’t decent enough to be sent to my friends. Finally, I decided to print the second design iteration. I waited for about a week again to get the print results sent to my home.

While I was waiting for my postcards to be printed, one postcard from my friend in Chicago, United States arrived. It did indeed feel different when seeing my friend’s handwriting on that postcard compared to when seeing their typing on the phone or computer screen. Especially, seeing that the postcard is already slightly worn and folded at the ends due to the very long delivery process. It made me really want to keep the postcard well.

<div class="text-center">
<figure class="figure">
<img src="https://www.asepbagja.com/blog-img/kartu-pos-chicago.jpg" class="figure-img img-fluid" alt="A postcard from Chicago, United States" />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-center">A postcard from Chicago, United States</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>

My postcard order finally arrived.

Another difficulty I faced was, “What am I supposed to write in this postcard?” 😅 It was tricky because we chat on daily basis in the group chat, so if I am asking again how are they doing in the postcard, it may seem odd and irrelevant. After consideration, I decided to write a little story behind the pictures I took in the postcards.

After the messages were written, I immediately went to the post office to send those postcards. I  then found out that the delivery cost for international postcards is actually not expensive. The stamps cost only 1,9€ for each delivery to the United States, Portugal, and Indonesia.

<div class="text-center">
<figure class="figure">
<img src="https://www.asepbagja.com/blog-img/kartu-pos-eesti.jpg" class="figure-img img-fluid" alt="The postcards that I sent from Estonia." />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-center">The postcards that I sent from Estonia.</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>

After returning from the post office, I curiously checked my mailbox. “Whoa, there’s a postcard from my friend that lives in Braga, Portugal.” Just like the previous postcard I received, this postcard was also already worn. It looked even more beautiful to my eyes. 😆

<div class="text-center">
<figure class="figure">
<img src="https://www.asepbagja.com/blog-img/kartu-pos-braga.jpg" class="figure-img img-fluid" alt="A postcard from Braga, Portugal." />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-center">A postcard from Braga, Portugal.</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>

I learned a few things from these postcard exchanges:

The photos I captured actually look more beautiful and alive when printed compared to being enjoyed on Instagram.
After frequently communicating digitally and instantly, it turns out that receiving messages from the post office gives a different sensation. It just feels more special.
I learned where to print my own postcards at an affordable price.
I got the experience of sending mail from the post office in Estonia.

Another benefit I received was I learned how to sell my picture works in the postcard media. You can visit my shop, [Live in Estonia, on Etsy](https://www.etsy.com/shop/LiveInEstonia).




When getting around by bicycle within the city of Tallinn, I am usually able to cycle for at least 6  to 8 kilometers. It has been so fun to be able to explore the city. [A month](https://www.asepbagja.com/personal/how-i-started-biking) after I started biking, I thought, “Exploring other cities seems fun too.” Especially since I started to be able to cycle for 20 kilometers.

I began to look for information on how safe it is to cycle long distances in Estonia. Finally, I was able to find out about <a href="https://en.eurovelo.com" target="_blank">EuroVelo</a>. EuroVelo is a long-distance cycling route between countries that connects the entire European continent. There are three EuroVelo routes in Estonia which are:
1. Route 10 - Baltic Sea Cycle Route
2. Route 11 - East Europe Route
3. Route 13 - Iron Curtain Trail

<figure class="figure">
<img src="https://www.asepbagja.com/blog-img/eurovelo-map.png" class="figure-img img-fluid" alt="Peta jalur EuroVelo di seluruh Eropa." />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-center">Map of EuroVelo routes across Europe.</figcaption>
</figure>

I started to feel challenged. Exploring other cities in Estonia by bike seems exciting. Especially since this EuroVelo route (according to the map) doesn't pass through the main intercity streets which are full of cars. So, it most certainly has many interesting places to visit and to be photographed.

### Training for 100 kilometers 

I began to set a target of cycling for 100 kilometers a day. It’s of course an achievable target but it requires preparation and training. I didn’t plan to cycle as fast as I can to achieve 100 kilometers, rather I want to do relaxing cycling with a lot of stops to take photographs. Even so, I still need to train so I won’t get tired easily.

I tried to increase the distance of my cycling. On one weekend I was only cycling for 20 kilometers. Then on the weekend after, I increased my distance to 40 kilometers.

The route I took was following EuroVelo 10 leading to the west of Tallinn to Rannamõisa, a village in a small city called Harku. Along the way, there were indeed a lot of people cycling either in groups or solo. Some of the bikes that I came across were also seen in bike touring setups using bags attached to the bicycles.

<figure class="figure">
<img src="https://www.asepbagja.com/blog-img/eurovelo-3.jpg" class="figure-img img-fluid" alt="Sepeda dilengkapi dengan tas pannier." />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-center">Bike touring training with bags, food supplies, pumps, and various equipment for bicycle repair.</figcaption>
</figure>

On the previous night, I did a lot of preparations by watching various YouTube videos on how to do long-distance cycling effectively. From the effective way to change gears to how to keep the cadence. I practiced all of those during my first 40 kilometers of training. 

At first, I was unsure of whether I’ll be able to do it. But after trying, I prove to myself that I can do it! Even though the day when I tried my first 40 kilometers was windy. On my first 20 kilometers, I was cycling so hard against the wind that had 30-37km/h of speed. It felt really difficult in the beginning, but it was very satisfying when I achieved the distance.

**Some pictures from the EuroVelo route I was on**

<figure class="figure">
<img src="https://www.asepbagja.com/blog-img/eurovelo-4.jpg" class="figure-img img-fluid" alt="Jalur EuroVelo" />
</figure>

<figure class="figure">
<img src="https://www.asepbagja.com/blog-img/eurovelo-5.jpg" class="figure-img img-fluid" alt="Jalur EuroVelo" />
</figure>

<figure class="figure">
<img src="https://www.asepbagja.com/blog-img/eurovelo-6.jpg" class="figure-img img-fluid" alt="Jalur EuroVelo" />
</figure>

<figure class="figure">
<img src="https://www.asepbagja.com/blog-img/eurovelo-7.jpg" class="figure-img img-fluid" alt="Jalur EuroVelo" />
</figure>

<figure class="figure">
<img src="https://www.asepbagja.com/blog-img/eurovelo-8.jpg" class="figure-img img-fluid" alt="Jalur EuroVelo" />
</figure>

<figure class="figure">
<img src="https://www.asepbagja.com/blog-img/eurovelo-9.jpg" class="figure-img img-fluid" alt="Jalur EuroVelo" />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-center">Resting while eating an energy bar.</figcaption>
</figure>



When the last snow in March stopped falling, and the air temperature got warm enough around 7°C-10°C, my wife and I started planning to buy bicycles. Since we saw that the bicycle lanes in Tallinn city are quite organized and safe, we thought it might be quite convenient to get around with bikes. Besides, Tallinn and most of Estonia are generally quite flat. There is no steep uphill. Exploring the city with bikes certainly can be fun, because we can wander more compared to using public transportation. Moreover, it makes us healthier just like The Gym of Life video explained below.

<div class="ratio ratio-16x9 mb-3">
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KPUlgSRn6e0" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
</div>

Finally, entering the month of April, my wife bought the bike first. This is because we need to adjust our budgeting and we can only buy one bicycle per month. Besides, I still didn’t know what bike I wanted to buy - whether it was a road bike, hybrid bike, or city bike. I didn’t have any plan to become an athlete, I just wanted to explore the city.

The amount of my knowledge about bikes was basically none. The last time I had a bike was in 2011 when I still lived in Bandung. After giving it some thought and watching some YouTube videos, my choice fell to the hybrid bike. My reasonings were that this can be used in asphalt roads as well as gravel roads, and it doesn’t have high speed. Finally, in June, I bought my first bike after 11 years of not biking. I chose Scott SUB Cross 50.

<figure class="figure">
<img src="https://www.asepbagja.com/blog-img/bicycle-1.jpg" class="figure-img img-fluid" alt="Scott SUB Cross 50" />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-center">Just out of the bike shop.👯‍</figcaption>
</figure>

### Started learning new things about bikes

Within one month after buying the bike, my knowledge about bicycle topics increased quite a bit. I learned a lot from YouTube about bike maintenance and what accessories I needed to add to suit my cycling style.

I did my first modification in the first week, which was to add a mudguard. This is useful to prevent my clothes from getting dirty due to water splashes from the tires, considering Tallinn’s weather that can have sudden rains. I’d rather reduce the coolness level of the bike than have my clothes get dirty. I cycle almost every day, with at least 8-10 km of distance. I also go to the office after lunch more often, just so that I can bike.

The second modification happened in the third week, which was adding a rear rack for the bags. I did that because at the end of last June, I wanted to enjoy the Midsummer holiday with my wife in <a href="https://goo.gl/maps/nFr3eBVmjjRqo4pbA" target="_blank">Kuressaare</a>. It’s a city on Saaremaa island, the westernmost island in Estonia. We wanted to go on vacation by bike.

<figure class="figure">
<img src="https://www.asepbagja.com/blog-img/bicycle-2.jpg" class="figure-img img-fluid" alt="Vacationing by bicycle in Kuressaare." />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-center">Vacationing by bicycle in Kuressaare.</figcaption>
</figure>

We tied the picnic mat and bags filled with our clothes on our bikes. We went from Tallinn to Kuressaare by bus. In Estonia, intercity buses can also be used to carry bicycles with free baggage fees. We only needed to pre-order the luggage space from the bus’ website.

### Started understanding the cycling style

After the vacation to Kuressaare, I started to better understand my cycling style. It turned out that I really enjoyed doing bike touring. Relaxing cycling for quite a long distance while taking pictures of many things. Eventually, I decided to add another accessory, which is a pannier bag. This bag is specifically designed to be put on the bikes’ rear rack. Just like what postmen use.

<figure class="figure">
<img src="https://www.asepbagja.com/blog-img/bicycle-3.jpg" class="figure-img img-fluid" alt="My current bike with a pannier bag on the back." />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-center">My current bike with a pannier bag on the back.</figcaption>
</figure>

It’s not only me who added accessories to the bike to suit the cycling style. My wife also did the same. She’d prefer a relaxing ride on a short distance within the city though. The bike that she chose is also the city bike type. With an additional detachable cart that can be used for shopping or for carrying our beloved cat.

<figure class="figure">
<img src="https://www.asepbagja.com/blog-img/bicycle-4.jpg" class="figure-img img-fluid" alt="Two people standing with their bikes." />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-center">Us with our bikes.</figcaption>
</figure>

### After one month of biking

One month after I started biking, I felt positive changes in my body. I feel more energized when I am programming for my work. My mind also feels more refreshed.

On the days when I am not cycling, because I want to rest, I’ll walk instead. The combination between walking and biking makes me no longer feel the lower back pain.

Aside from the health side, there’s also another benefit that I get. I began to enjoy exploring the city and taking photographs. Biking became a hobby that supports my photography hobby because exploring the city has become easier. You can visit my [Instagram](https://instagram.com/bepitulaz) page and [Live In Estonia](https://www.liveinestonia.com) to see my photographs.

As long as there’s no snow and ice on the road, it looks like I’ll keep biking.🚴🏼  


Photography, especially landscape and street photography, is my hobby besides music production. I bring a mirrorless camera, Sony A6000, almost every day wherever I go. This hobby escalated since I moved to Estonia in October 2021. Living in a new country with beautiful nature makes me more excited to take photos. The problem is, what will I do for those photos?

<div class="text-center">
<figure class="figure">
<img src="https://www.asepbagja.com/blog-img/kesklinna-jaanituli.jpg" class="figure-img img-fluid" alt="People gathered around the bonfire." />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-center">The Midsummer's Eve celebration in Tallinn.</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>

Uploading it to the Internet is the definite answer. The easy solution is to upload it to Instagram. Of course, I did that. But, I'm not a person who trusts 3rd party social media platforms to upload all my works. I started prioritising my domain as <a href="https://www.asepbagja.com/personal/going-back-to-personal-web" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">my house of content in 2019</a> rather than posting it on social media platforms. Furthermore, I like the <a href="https://indieweb.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">IndieWeb</a> concept, "your content is yours, and you are in control."

Because of that reason, I casually searched for a .com domain name related to Estonia in <a href="https://namecheap.pxf.io/x9Pgmx" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Namecheap</a> a few weeks ago. I need a domain to be a place for all photos that I take almost every week. Lucky, I found an available good domain name <a href="https://www.liveinestonia.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">liveinestonia.com</a>.

After buying the domain, I started to develop the website. The goal was to make it as cheap as possible, even better if I could make it free of cost. The first option was using WordPress to avoid coding effort. But, I couldn't find free WordPress hosting. So, the tradeoff was no coding effort, but I had to pay for the hosting.

No, I won't go for that option. So, I chose to code my blog engine as simple as possible so that I could host it for free. There is a lot of free hosting for a static website. That's why I must use a tool that can produce a static site with which I'm already familiar to avoid a learning curve.

My choice of technology stack was Next.js as the static site generator, Google Photos as the content management system (CMS), and I hosted it in Vercel. With that technology stack, I didn't spend additional money to operate the website besides the domain and Google Photos. I already have Google One subscription for a year which includes Google Photos. Moreover, I open-sourced my photo blog engine if you want to use it. You can visit and fork <a href="http://github.com/bepitulaz/live-in-estonia" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">its GitHub repository</a>.

Finally, enjoy my photography works on the Live In Estonia website. You can contact me if you have an exciting project and want to collaborate with me.


After five months of being separated, finally our beloved cats are reunited with me and my wife. The process to relocate them from Denpasar to Tallinn was quite long and cost quite a bit. Luckily the relocation costs of these cats are mostly covered by the company I work at, which believes that pets are part of the family.

Some people thought that our cats are expensive breed cats, considering how much effort we put into relocating them. However, they are domestic short-haired cats that we adopted after frequently visiting our home when they were little. We’ve adopted them since we lived in South Tangerang in 2015 and moved with us to Denpasar in 2018. They’re already a part of the family. 

<figure class="figure">
<img src="/blog-img/pet-new-home.jpg" class="figure-img img-fluid" alt="Cats in our new home." />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-center">Domestic short-haired cats from Tangerang in their new home in Tallinn.</figcaption>
</figure>

Relocating pets abroad is surely not as easy as moving abroad. There are a lot of rules that we need to pay attention to, especially since we moved to a country that is a member of the European Union. The European Union is known as an area that has the most rules. What made us stressed was the busy moving schedule. We only had about 3 months since I got hired to the Estonian office. So, what did we prepare to relocate our fur boys?

### Finding out about animal import rules in Estonia

This was the very first thing we did. Using Google, we searched for information on how to bring pets from third-world countries to Estonia. Finally, we found the info on the website of [Põllumajandus- ja Toiduamet (Agriculture and Food Board)](https://pta.agri.ee/en/animals/travelling-pet). The site provided the procedures for traveling with animals for non-commercial purposes (not for sale or transfer of ownership purposes).

From that site, we concluded that pets are able to enter the country, as long as it’s within 5 days of the pet owner’s arrival date. Other than that site, we also found the information on the required documents from [PetTravel.com](https://www.pettravel.com/immigration/Estonia.cfm).

To put it short, the procedures and required documents are:
1. Cats or dogs need to have a microchip injection that fits the European Union’s standard.
2. Rabies vaccination, since Indonesia is a country with a high level of rabies.
3. Rabies titer test. This takes 4-6 weeks because we need to send the pets’ blood test samples to laboratories that are recognized by the European Union, in this case the laboratory is in England.
4. Health certificates from the veterinarians that are recognized by the Animal Husbandry Department.

<figure class="figure">
<img src="/blog-img/pet-health-certificate.jpg" class="figure-img img-fluid" alt="The health certificate and rabies test document." />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-center">The health certificate and rabies test document.</figcaption>
</figure>

<figure class="figure">
<img src="/blog-img/pet-vaccine-certificate.jpg" class="figure-img img-fluid" alt="Rabies vaccination and other supporting vaccination certificates." />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-center">Rabies vaccination and other supporting vaccination certificates.</figcaption>
</figure>

<figure class="figure">
<img src="/blog-img/pet-barcode-microchip.jpg" class="figure-img img-fluid" alt="Microchip’s barcode that was injected into the cat’s skin." />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-center">Microchip’s barcode that was injected into the cat’s skin.</figcaption>
</figure>

Since we were afraid of making a mistake, finally we decided to use a pet relocation service to take care of all the required documents. Besides, we felt that we were unable to take care of the pet-related business while we were taking care of our relocation documents at the same time. Our minds were too full to think about everything, especially since we only had 3 months time. The agent that helped us take care of all the documents at that time is [Animal Express](https://animalexpress.co.id).

### The timeline that you need to pay attention to

There are some timelines that you need to pay attention to when taking care of pet relocation to Estonia (the rules are almost the same for other country members of the European Union), such as:
1. Microchip injection needs to be done after rabies vaccination so that you can insert the vaccination data inside the microchip.
2. A rabies titer test can only be done 3 months after the rabies vaccination date, and the results will be released within 4-6 weeks (this excludes the time to send the blood test sample).

Considering the timeline that requires more than 3 months, we needed to leave our pets for a while in Indonesia with heavy hearts. We decided to take care of the human relocation business first, from immigration documents, looking for an apartment, to waiting for our residence permits in Estonia to be granted.

Eventually, in September 2021, my wife and I traveled to Estonia while our cats traveled to Bekasi, a city close to the Indonesia capital, Jakarta. At that time we decided to send them from Denpasar to Bekasi to be checked in to a pet hotel we frequently use, [Pondok Pak Chiko](https://www.instagram.com/pondokpakchiko/). When we were still living in South Tangerang, we often checked in our pets there whenever we needed to go outside of the city.

### Choosing the airlines to bring pets

In February 2022, we decided to pick them up. Why did we need to pick them up, instead of just sending them? It’s because of the “5 days arrival with the owner” rule. If an animal is being transported without proof that the owner is also flying from the origin country to the European Union, then the animal’s status will change to “commercial import”. The documents will be different and the cost is a lot more expensive. Also, the animal can only be transported to Frankfurt, Germany because Estonia doesn’t allow any animal in without the owner. This means we’ll end up needing to fly to Germany to pick them up. Since this is a very expensive option, it’s cheaper and easier to pick them up from Indonesia.

As for the airlines, there are 2 popular options that people use for international flights with pets: Qatar Airways and Turkish Airlines. Turkish Airlines actually provide an option to bring cats or small dogs inside the cabin (no need to put them in the cargo), and the price per kilogram is only half of the price per kilogram when loaded into cargo. In our case, we still put them in the cargo to avoid hassles during the transit in Istanbul, since there were airline crews that took care of them in the transit. Besides, my wife was the only one to pick them up, so it wasn’t possible since one passenger is only allowed to bring one pet inside the cabin.

After consideration, our choice fell to Turkish Airlines since it’s the only airline that provides direct flights from Jakarta to Tallinn. Qatar Airways only has the Jakarta-Helsinki option. We felt that it was too much of a hassle and it would be tough for the cats if we needed to bring them in cold temperatures from Helsinki, Finland to Tallinn, Estonia by ferry. They’d also need to adapt from a tropical country to a subtropical country.

Considering that my place is only 5 minutes away from the Tallinn airport, the choice of using Turkish Airlines is the best since the cats won’t need to get cold outside for too long.

<figure class="figure">
<img src="/blog-img/pet-carrier.jpg" class="figure-img img-fluid" alt="Cats were registered as Turkish Airlines’ cargo." />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-center">They were registered as Turkish Airlines’ cargo</figcaption>
</figure>

That’s our story of relocating our beloved cats from Denpasar to Tallinn. Now our fur family has reunited and become expatriate cats. 😸



When I decide to move and settle in one place, usually the first thing that I’d do is look for a place to stay. That's also what I've been doing all this time when I migrated and moved from one city to another in Indonesia. Looking for a place to stay in another country surely provides a different experience than searching for a place in Indonesia.

<div class="text-center">
<figure class="figure">
<img src="/blog-img/inside-apartment.jpg" class="figure-img img-fluid" alt="The apartment in Tallinn" />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-center">The apartment unit that I rent</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>

In Estonia, especially in Tallinn, the process of searching for a property is relatively easy because everything can be done online. Two internet sites that you can use to search are [kv.ee](https://www.kv.ee/) and [City24](https://www.city24.ee/). We’re able to find the property types that we want there, from houses, apartments, to shared houses (a house that’s shared with several tenants). Expatriates who live in Tallinn usually prefer to choose apartments to rent, because they’re located inside the city and the costs aren’t as expensive as renting houses.

Tallinn city is divided into 7 districts: Haabersti, Kristiine, Lasnamäe, Mustamäe, Põhja-Tallinn, Nõmme, and Pirita. If you want to be closer to the center of Tallinn, the usual choice will be to rent a place in Kesklinn. I personally live in Lasnamäe, but in the area bordering Kesklinn. So it’s still close to downtown, close to the airport if I need to fly abroad, and not too far if I need to go to the office which is located in Põhja-Tallinn district (about 20 minutes journey using tram).

<div class="text-center">
<figure class="figure">
<img src="/blog-img/tallinn_map.jpeg" class="figure-img img-fluid" alt="Tallinn's map" />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-center">The picture is taken from <a href="https://www.tallinn.ee/eng/districts" target="_blank">Tallinn’s official website.</a></figcaption>
</figure>
</div>

Most of the apartments for rent in Tallinn are fully-furnished types, in another word all furniture such as fridge, induction cooker, dishwasher, oven, some basic kitchen utensils, mattress, TV, chair, dining table, and washing machine are already available. Tenants can just add additional furniture that suits their tastes. There are some things that you need to pay attention to before renting an apartment in Tallinn: 

### Building age and its energy class

It costs around 400€-1,000€/month to rent an apartment in Tallinn. Of course, a cheap rental price isn’t the only deciding factor. Aside from looking into the apartment unit’s condition, we also need to take into account the apartment building's age and its energy class. Energy class defines how efficient a building is consuming the energy for room heaters, water heaters, and electricity consumption. In Estonia, building energy classes are divided into 7 alphabetical categories from A to G. A means the most efficient, while G means the least efficient.

Why do we need to pay attention to this? Because as a tenant, aside from paying rent we’ll also need to pay monthly utility bills. The utility bills include gas to heat the rooms and water, also electricity bills. Utility bills could double especially in winter compared to summer. So, the worse its building energy class, the more expensive the utility bills will be. It’s not funny if we rent an apartment unit for 400€ with basic amenities and a relatively small size, but we’ll need to pay utility bills that cost almost the rent price during winter. It’s better to pay a bit more expensive rent and get good facilities, but lower utility bills because the building is already efficient. Energy classes A to C should suffice.

Usually the older the building is, the energy class tends to be not very good unless the building has been renovated by the management. Don’t worry though, this kind of information is always transparently available on property sites. Other than that, we can also ask the property agent (broker) that manages the property on average utility bills in summer and winter for the apartment unit that we want.

<div class="text-center">
<figure class="figure">
<img src="/blog-img/korterid-energiamargis.png" class="figure-img img-fluid" alt="The energy class" />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-center">Example of the energy class information from KV. Energiamärgis is the energy class in Estonian.</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>

### Prepare money three times of rental price for the first payment

The process of renting an apartment in Estonia usually involves property agents or brokers. The common process is prospective tenants will make an appointment with agents via property sites to be able to visit the apartment units they target. If prospective tenants like the units, agents will inform the property owners to make an appointment with prospective tenants.

In my experience, if I liked the apartment units, the agent would ask me to create introduction letters since property owners were too busy to meet. The form is similar to a job application letter. They also contained photos of me, my wife, and my [two fur boys](https://www.asepbagja.com/id/pribadi/memindahkan-kucing-indonesia-estonia). In the letters, I also explained where I am working, how much I make per month, and how long I planned to stay in Estonia in the future.

If the property owners agreed to rent their apartments, the next step is to create rental contracts and make payments. In this step, we need to have money at least three times the rental costs. For example, if the rental cost of an apartment unit is 600€/month, then the tenant will need to pay 1,800€ upfront. It consists of a 600€ rental cost for the first month, 600€ agent fees, and a 600€ deposit that will be returned when the tenant terminates the rent.

That’s why it’s difficult to rent apartments directly from owners without involving an agent. From the owners’ side, they wouldn’t need to pay any costs and find tenants on their own. Agent fees that amount to one month's rental price are charged to the prospective tenants. The deposits will be returned by the end of the rental period, usually not in full because the owners will use the deposit money to fix damages happening during rent. In Estonia, the rent is paid monthly even though the contract is yearly.

### Bringing pets

If we have pets like cats or dogs, then we need to check with agents on whether the owners will allow pets on their property. Finding an apartment that allows pets tends to be a bit more difficult compared to finding an apartment that doesn’t. The rent costs also tend to be higher because property owners are concerned about furniture damages caused by pets. 

Luckily I was able to find an apartment unit in the strategic area and the owner allows me to bring pets. However, I needed to put in more deposit which is more than a month of the rental cost.

And that’s the experience that I can share on finding and renting an apartment in Tallinn, Estonia.




Social interaction is social relationships between an individual to another individual, an individual to a group, and a group to another group. We as humans will always perform social interactions wherever we are since we are social creatures. It’s very rare for a person to live without other people’s help at all.

For me who migrated from a country whose climate is tropical, warm, and densely populated to a country in the Northern Hemisphere that is cold and quiet - I of course faced challenges when interacting with the locals. Estonian people have a culture that is very different from Indonesian, so the way they interact is also different. As an immigrant, I need to understand that to integrate well.

> "Where the earth is stepped on, there the sky is upheld."

These are some of the things I learned so far based on my observation and personal experience, either in public spaces or work environments. These might be useful if you have an opportunity to visit or move to Estonia so that it won’t be too shocking for you.

<figure class="figure">
<img src="/blog-img/walk-from-behind.jpg" class="figure-img img-fluid" alt="Estonia yang sepi dan dingin" />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-center">The quiet and cold Estonia</figcaption>
</figure>

### Very rarely smiling

When I was a child, I was taught by my mother to keep smiling whenever I meet other people. “So you became friendly and not coming across as arrogant”, she said. As an adult, I always smile at everyone. Come to think of it, that’s what the majority of Indonesians do, isn’t it? Whenever we walk and make eye contact with other people, both parties will smile as a common response. Whether it’s a fake smile, a cynical smile, or a real happy smile. That’s why Indonesians are known as friendly because we always smile.

The situation is very different in Estonia. When I first arrived here, I still liked to give smiles to whoever I met on the road, especially when there was eye contact happening. But, there usually were no responses. Cold. Some people visibly walked faster. Maybe because they thought I was being crazy by smiling for no reason.

After further investigation by asking other immigrants that live here longer and googling, apparently it’s common for Estonians to rarely smile. Even if they eventually smile, it’s usually because they’ve known the person well and really want to smile.

### No small talks

Estonians speak very little. Not only in direct conversations in face to face communications, but also when responding to email or chat app messages. I got told off by the accounting consultant I hired to take care of my side business in Estonia, that I did too much small talk when contacting him. Just like average Indonesians or Americans, I used to start my messages in the chat app by asking, “Hi, how are you?”. My consultant replied, “You don't need to ask me that every time you send me a message. Just say hi and tell me what is your intention”. Turns out that asking how people are in small talk to be seen as friendly is considered rude. You only ask how the other person is doing if you really want to listen and are ready to give suggestions if the person isn’t doing well.

I found out that in my work environment, my Estonian colleagues also don’t do it. They very rarely greet each other with, “How are you?”, or as they say in Estonian, “Kuidas läheb?” if it’s just to say hello. If they ask how the other person is doing, the one who asked will silently listen to the whole story and respond to it. That could turn into 2-5 minutes long conversations for such a simple question. That’s why in the office we usually ask each other and talk about things outside of work during lunch. 

Not only for small talk questions, even for serious questions that they don’t know the answers to, they’ll immediately respond that they don’t know. If the questions are asked via online messages, they usually won’t respond if they don’t know or don't have the answers yet. There was one occasion when I asked a question to the HR person via Slack. I noticed that she doesn’t respond to me the whole day even though I saw her online all the time. The next day I received an email from my colleague from a different division answering my question. Turns out, the HR person forwarded my question to another team that knows the answer.

### Bad customer service

The combination of rare smiles and disliking the small talk makes Estonia known as a country with bad customer service, rough impressions, and a lack of empathy. This is at least according to expatriates from countries whose customer service involves small talks like The United States and Indonesia. For example, the human cashiers in local supermarkets very rarely smile. They would only utter one or two words, “Card? (as in do you want to pay with card or cash?)” and “Aitäh (thank you)”.

There was a time when my wife pre-ordered an iPhone, and it still didn’t get delivered even after three months due to distribution issues on Apple’s behalf. My wife decided to ask for a refund by asking via email to customer support, “Can I refund my order?”. There was no response for three weeks. Then I suggested she visit the store and ask directly. The store employee suggested she send an email to the same address with the order number, account number for a refund and write down, “refund”. The refund went back into the account in less than three days. 

From the above incident, I concluded that it’s better not to ask customer support vague questions when communicating with them. It’s better to go straight to the point about what you want.

### Respecting other people’s personal space

During the Covid-19 pandemic, we were advised to keep a distance of at least 1,5 meters. I remembered what an Estonian guy said in the e-Residency group, “I don’t think we need that. We always stand more than 2 meters in our life”. I understood what he meant by that only after I [moved to Tallinn](https://www.asepbagja.com/personal/finding-job-software-developer-abroad). When waiting for a bus or tram, people will stand apart from each other so they won’t be greeted by other people. They only stand closer to other people if they already knew each other.

<figure class="figure">
<img src="/blog-img/personal-space.jpg" class="figure-img img-fluid" alt="Orang-orang menunggu bus" />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-center">The scene of standing apart in a bus station</figcaption>
</figure>

<figure class="figure">
<img src="/blog-img/trammipeatus.gif" class="figure-img img-fluid" alt="Orang-orang menunggu tram" />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-center">People who don’t know each other appeared to stand apart</figcaption>
</figure>

Sometimes your friends wouldn’t even greet you in public if you appeared to be busy. One time my work friend said, “I saw you yesterday in Prisma”. I asked, “Why didn’t you say hi to me?”. His response was, “You looked busy with your stuff. I didn’t want to bother you”. He thought if he said hi to me, it would bother me because we would end up chatting.

### A hug is more common than a handshake

Contrary to respecting other people’s personal space, Estonians prefer to hug rather than shake hands. When I first met my colleagues in the office in person, they’d hug me regardless of whether they were male or female. At first, I felt uncomfortable, especially if it was a female colleague that hugged me. Even though it’s not a tight hug, our shoulders would still meet and we’d touch each other’s back. Later I started to get used to it.

The hugs usually will happen on first meets, when saying goodbyes after long conversations, or when there are events that feel awkward. My wife experienced it once when an old lady tried to talk to her in Estonian at the Supermarket. My wife didn’t understand Estonian very much so she just replied with a short yes. After the conversation prolonged, my wife told the old lady that she only speaks English. The lady then laughed and hugged my wife.

<hr class="border-2 border-top" />

Estonians come across as cold and harsh like ice cubes. Don’t get it wrong though, they appeared cold on the outside but warm on the inside. They don’t hesitate to offer help whenever they can. I have one recent example of this. It was when my wife and I went shopping at a big store, at the cashier register. The cashier asked me in Estonian, “Kas sul on kliendikaart? (do you have a member’s card?)”. I replied, “Ei ole (I don’t have it)” because it was my first time shopping at that store. Then I continued in English because my Estonian is still limited, “What’s the benefit?”. She then explained that without a member's card I’ll need to pay the price in full. I thought I could just pay the full price no problem. But suddenly an Estonian who was queueing behind me said, “Use my card and get the discount. Palun (please)”, and he just tapped his member’s card to the cashier machine without us needing to ask. 

I have read an article on the internet. Reaching the heart of Estonian people is quite difficult, but once we do, they’ll become really good friends.

Some of the tips from me to interact with Estonian people, so far it has been going well:

- Avoid small talk. If you want to start a conversation, look for a more meaningful topic. Instead of asking how they’re doing, it’s better to start with simple but meaningful stuff such as, “It’s very slippery on the road today, isn’t it? Is there any way to walk safer?”. Even though you can look up the answers to this question on Google, it’s a topic that they find enjoyable to explain and could lead to conversations.
- Don’t talk about politics and religions because both things are personal matters. In fact, more than 70% of Estonians claimed to be non-religious people and stated that religions aren’t important in a census. If you want to avoid eating pork, for example, you can simply say “I don’t eat pork”. You don’t need to explain the religion-related stuff unless they really want to know.
- Learn the Estonian language. Even though a lot of Estonians speak good English, they’ll be really happy if they meet immigrants that truly want to try communicating in the Estonian language. The HR person in my office told me that one of the reasons I landed the job, technical skills aside - is also because my knowledge of Estonian is quite a lot. In fact, I have tried to [learn the language](https://www.asepbagja.com/personal/how-to-learn-foreign-languages) on my own.

For an introvert like me, Estonia feels like heaven. I don’t need to do tiring small talks to come across as friendly. I don’t even need to be passive-aggressive when I want to give my criticisms to another person, all I need to do is to give constructive criticism in a direct and clear manner.



It has been six months since I moved from Denpasar to Tallinn, Estonia. It’s time for me to share my experience on how I landed the job as a software developer in Estonia during the pandemic - the time when it’s even more difficult than usual to travel abroad.

![Asep in Tallinn](/blog-img/snow-in-tallinn.jpg)

The very first thing that I did was to find the country where I want to go. Even though I really wanted to go to Finland or Estonia, during the job search I decided to expand the number of the countries I aim for to increase my chances. Because of that, I decided to seek jobs in several countries in the European Union that I find interesting. I simply thought, "I just need to move from Indonesia to one of the countries in the European Union. If after moving I still want to move to Finland or Estonia, I’ll look for another way."

As a result, from about 90-ish job applications that fit my skill set, the majority of those were sent to Germany, Portugal, and the Netherlands. I even only sent three applications to Finland, and one application to Estonia. As you may have seen, that only one application is the one that landed me the job 😅

### Some places to find job openings

Since my goal is to relocate or move abroad, I only applied to job openings that offer relocation packages or sponsor moving with the family. I skipped remote job openings.

My mainstay place to find job openings is LinkedIn Jobs. You can access this feature from LinkedIn’s main feature that says “Jobs”. I found this feature so powerful. What I did at the time was to set the job alert there. That way when there are new job openings, LinkedIn will send me emails. The criteria that I set for my job alert were:
- Full-stack developer JavaScript, PHP, or Ruby
- Located in Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, Estonia, or Finland
- Full-time
- On-site or hybrid

How did I find out whether those applications offer relocation packages? Of course by reading the description in the job openings. What if they aren’t mentioned in the descriptions? In my case, I still applied since I could ask about them during the interview anyway.

How would you get interview calls if you’ve never sent any job applications? 🤷🏻‍♂️

My tip to maximize your LinkedIn use is to take the "LinkedIn skill assessment test" that relates to the skills you mention in your profile. You can do it by clicking the "Take skill quiz" button. Make sure you pass the test and obtain the "LinkedIn Skill Assessment badge."

![Linkedin Job](/blog-img/linkedin-skill-assesment.png)

Doing so will help the LinkedIn Jobs algorithm to show job application recommendations that fit your skills. Have a look at my LinkedIn Jobs picture, there is a job recommendation that shows that my skills matched the job requirements with the "You have a preferred skill badge."

![Linkedin Job](/blog-img/linkedin-job.png)
 
What I really liked about LinkedIn Jobs is when there are job applications that feature an "Easy Apply" button. This allowed me to apply to jobs with a single click without needing to write new cover letters. The majority of my job applications were submitted via Easy Apply because I didn't feel like writing personalized cover letters for dozens of applications.

Aside from LinkedIn, I also used the relocate.me site and manually browsed Career pages of Europe-based companies that I knew and wanted to work for.

### Preparing the CVs

I recommend the Europass format when creating the CVs. It's a very boring, but really effective format. This format really focused on your working experience. So, you won’t find CVs with weird designs or mentions of vague, self-proclaimed skill levels such as PHP 70%, JavaScript 80%, or Adobe Photoshop 7/10 🤪

The easiest way to create CVs in this format is by visiting the [Europass European Union](https://europa.eu/europass/en/create-europass-cv) site. You can fill out your biodata and working experience, and then export them in ready-to-send PDF format on this site.

When applying for jobs at European companies, I recommend not including your pictures, date of birth, and gender. You can set that when exporting your CV in PDF format.

One quite interesting thing about this site is that you can save several versions of CVs and cover letters. This allows you to have a template when you need small personalization when applying for jobs, such as mentioning the name of the company you aim for, for example.

![Europass](/blog-img/europass.jpg)

### Apply as much as you can

This is my last tip if you really want to move abroad: stay persistent in applying. Apply as much as you can to increase your chances of getting the interview calls. From about 90-ish applications that I sent, I only got three interview calls - so you can roughly estimate the ratio.

Of course, other factors determine whether or not you will get the interview calls, such as working experience, skillset, and formal educational background. No need to worry too much about your educational experience, since it can be overshadowed by your working experience. The most important thing is to try.

I hope the above tips will help you to find jobs abroad, wherever your dream country is. 



If you are a musician and your main musical instrument is a keyboard, you may hear about a keyboard workstation, synthesizer workstation, or workstation. What is it exactly? Do I need one?

The workstation is special hardware in the shape of a (usually) keyboard. Typically comes with synthesizer engine, multi-effects processor, audio interface, sampler, drum pattern designer, and sequencer. You can use their preset sounds or do advanced sound editing to make a new sound. You can record and playback your song directly into its sequencer. Since it has an audio interface, you can also record external audio such as your voice, guitar, other synths, etc. The coolest part is you can easily combine (splitting and layering) multiple sounds of instruments with it.

To summarize, a workstation is a specialized computer for music production.

Nowadays, the computing power of a laptop is more powerful than a workstation. It can run multiple software synthesizers and audio effect processors in a [Digital Audio Workstation (DAW)](https://www.asepbagja.com/programming/midi-scripting-ableton-nodejs), such as Logic Pro and Ableton Live. So, both a workstation and laptop can do the same thing.

Then, why bother to buy a keyboard workstation if a laptop with a DAW and MIDI controller can give the same capability? The answer is that it depends on the musician's musical style and workflow.

<div class="text-center">
<figure class="figure">
<img src="/blog-img/my-home-studio.jpg" class="figure-img img-fluid" alt="My home studio setup." />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-center">My home studio with a Korg Kross 2 keyboard workstation.</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>

For me, I use both of keyboard workstation and a DAW. These are some reasons why I'm using a keyboard workstation in 2022.

### Minimalize context switching

Before buying a workstation, I worked mainly in a DAW (Ableton Live Lite) with a MIDI controller. It was good, but I often feel counterproductive. Editing a softsynth with a mouse (or touchpad) is not fun for me. Also, I get busier searching the Internet for good VST softsynth plugins to create sound. I know because I'm using the Lite version. The complete version of Ableton has a lot of built-in synthesizers.

Then the moment when I had a budget came. Instead of buying the complete version of Ableton Live, I chose to buy a Korg Kross 2 88MB workstation. It feels amazing. It feels like the machine said, "Here are all you need to produce music. Go! Mess with it." All physical buttons and knobs feel more natural than a mouse/touchpad.

### I'm not exclusively playing electronic music

I love playing the piano. That's why I bought the 88 keys workstation. It has full piano length and weighted hammer action keys. Also, the workstation has many acoustic instruments sounds, so I don't need to find separate VST plugins for each musical instrument sound.

### More reliable than a laptop

Nowadays, I don't perform live music on stage. But, there was a time [I did a live performance](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9xBOk7nHeo) with a laptop in a band. Sometimes, I experienced my laptop freezing during the live performance. That was an inconvenient experience. As a software engineer, I'm sure a computer with hardware and software dedicated only to doing one job will be more reliable than a general-purpose computer.

<div class="text-center">
<figure class="figure">
<img src="/blog-img/garageband.jpg" class="figure-img img-fluid" alt="GarageBand for mixing the song." />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-center">I use GarageBand for mixing the song.</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>

In the end, I'm still using a DAW for recording and mixing the song. Currently, my workflow when producing music is something like these:
- I do everything as much as possible on my workstation, such as finding the idea of the track, writing chord progression and melody, making the sound, and recording with its sequencer.
- I also have a Korg Volca Modular synthesizer. I can connect it to the line-in of my Korg Kross 2 workstation and jam with the song that I record in Kross's sequencer.
- After the song is complete, I transfer the WAV data to the laptop and mix it in a DAW. Now, I'm using GarageBand for my DAW. It's free software if you have a Mac computer and has more capabilities than the Ableton Live Lite version.

There's no real winner between a keyboard workstation and a laptop with a DAW. That's why musical instrument manufacturers such as Korg, Roland, Yamaha, and Kurzweil still produce and update their keyboard workstation products.



Aside from [composing music](http://asepbagja.com/music) I also like to learn new languages, whether they’re programming languages or foreign languages. Some of the foreign languages that I learned are English, Mandarin (China), Finnish (Finland), Malay (Malaysia), and Estonian. I forgot some of the languages since they’re rarely in use. The foreign languages that I still actively use and learn are English, Estonian, and Malay. English because it has become a daily language, Estonian because I live and plan to live long term in Estonia, also Malay to communicate with friends in the indie maker community since the majority of the people there are Malaysians.

<div class="text-center">
<figure class="figure">
<img src="/blog-img/asep-bagja-priandana-Q3tz6XkBP_c-unsplash.jpg" class="figure-img img-fluid" alt="Taman Jepang di musim semi." />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-center">Japanese garden in Tallinn in the spring. Photo was taken from <a href="https://unsplash.com/@asepbagja">my Unsplash.</a></figcaption>
</figure>
</div>

Did you know that learning a new foreign language and becoming a bilingual, or even polyglot has many benefits? Some of them are:
- Unlock new learning resources. In my case, whose career is in the Information Technology industry, English is an important language to learn because the majority of the most recent and in-depth resources are using the English language.
- Help to find new information on the Internet. In the case where you need to sell in a country whose national language isn’t English, you’ll find difficulties if you do Google searches in English. There is a lot of interesting information written in the local languages.
- Provide better opportunities to build a career abroad. This relates to my experience learning the Estonian language for fun in 2018. I was just curious about the language, and I still managed my own company from Bali with the Estonian e-Residency program. However, when I got a job interview in an Estonian company in 2021, this gave a stronger consideration for the HR person to recruit me. Even though everyone communicates in English in the office as the official working language.
- Reduce the risks of Alzheimer’s and dementia. From a health perspective, I read that learning a second, third or more languages will help to reduce the risks of getting Alzheimer’s or dementia because we force our brain to keep learning and working.

Good luck to Indonesians, since most of us have been bilingual or trilingual ever since we were young. At the very least, we’re able to speak Indonesian and our local languages. This really helps in learning other foreign languages.

### Tools and learning material

I still remember the time when I learned English in my teenage years, textbooks are basically the only learning material available. Other than that, I went to a language class in LIA so that I can have conversation partners. In the age of the internet, learning a foreign language has become even easier thanks to many smartphone applications and various websites to learn. Here are some of my learning tools to learn new foreign languages.

#### Textbooks

I really like to learn foreign languages from textbooks because of their structured learning materials - designed for beginner to advanced levels. I’d recommend you to buy a textbook if the foreign language that you learn has textbooks available in the bookstores. Personally, I used textbooks when I was learning English, Mandarin, and Estonian. It was easier to find textbooks for English and Mandarin in Indonesia. However, I was only able to find Estonian textbooks when I moved here to Estonia since no one sells them in Indonesia.

<div class="text-center">
<figure class="figure">
<img src="/blog-img/tere-jalle.jpg" class="figure-img img-fluid" alt="Buku teks" />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-center">Estonian language textbook level A1 to A2 and Introduction to B1.</a></figcaption>
</figure>
</div>

#### Smartphone applications

I have three favorite applications to learn foreign languages. There are free and paid versions of them.

**Duolingo**

Among my three favorite applications, only [Duolingo](https://www.duolingo.com) has the most language options. There are 19 languages that you can learn from this application. I used Duolingo when I was learning Mandarin, Hungarian, and Finnish. In my opinion, the downside of this application is its monotonous learning method. The users are only able to answer multiple-choice questions in texts or audio to memorize the vocabulary.

Duolingo’s paid version has the quiz features to help understand the language better. I personally haven’t tried its paid version.

**Speakly**

Speakly is a technology startup from Estonia that focuses on language training. There are 7 foreign languages that you can learn from this application, such as Estonian, Russian, Spanish, French, German, and Finnish. I used Speakly to learn Estonian. I find Speakly provides more variation than Duolingo. Aside from multiple-choice questions, there are sentence writing, listening, and speaking lessons. Speakly’s free version only has multiple choice questions, sentence writing, and short sentence listening lessons. 

Its paid version has more features such as listening to daily conversations in real life, speaking (but not with real people), to music recommendations for the languages you aim to learn.

If you want to try Speakly’s premium feature for free for a full month, you can use my invite code from [this link](https://www.speakly.me/share/mc_2yURQ2g66).

**italki**

I used this application to train my conversation with real people. In this application, I was able to find language tutors to train my communication ability for the languages that I am learning. This is a paid application whose prices vary on what each tutor wants to charge.

If you’re interested in trying iTalki, you can use my invite code in [this link](https://www.italki.com/i/ref/cdCaaC?hl=en&utm_medium=user_referral&utm_source=copylink_share). You’ll get a US$5 bonus credit after making a US$20 credit purchase with that code.

### Some tips to learn foreign languages

I have some tips to help you learn foreign languages, which are:
1. Find your motivation to learn. Try to find the answer to this question, “Why do I want to learn X language?”. In my case, my motivation to learn Estonian is because I plan to live here for the long term. For context, we’re required to be able to speak Estonian at the very least in B1 level (intermediate) to get the permanent residence permit. 
2. Keep using the language. Even if you don’t actively use it, at the very least try to keep writing in it. My Mandarin is getting rusty since I don’t use it at all. Back to point number 1, I didn’t have a strong motivation to learn Mandarin 😅.
3. Focus on the first three months. If you’re the type that wants to learn a lot of languages, I’d recommend not mixing your learning. It’s better to focus on one language in the first three months, that way you’re able to identify the pattern of the language you aim to learn.
4. Use social media such as Twitter and YouTube to add daily vocabulary in the language you aim for. I usually like Estonians’ and Malaysians’ tweets so that Twitter algorithm will recommend more Estonian and Malaysian tweets content.

That’s how I learn foreign languages on my own. I hope this post will help fellow learners that want to learn foreign languages. If you have tips to share, please leave your tips in the comment section below 👇🏼.



I walked around Tallinn's old town area a few weeks ago and stumbled upon this graffiti. I guess someone created it after the protest event against Russia's aggression in Ukraine in February 2022. The war that's still happening now.

<div class="text-center">
<figure class="figure">
<img src="/blog-img/asep-bagja-priandana-1CC23Ak7z8E-unsplash.jpg" class="figure-img img-fluid" alt="People Just Want Peace graffiti" />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-center">The graffiti in Tallinn's old town.</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>

Inspired by that graffiti and the big protest in Tallinn, I started composing this music. Peaceful music for everyone.

"People Just Want Peace" consists of two tracks, "Prologue" and "People Just Want Peace". I use field recording to create a Prologue track, my footstep on the flurry ice. I like to hear the ice sound. It feels peaceful to the ear. I keep involved a generative technique with JavaScript in this single to create a rhythmic synth sound for the main song.

You can listen to "People Just Want Piece" on [your favourite streaming platforms](https://artists.landr.com/692531433367).



Photography is my other hobby besides music. I occasionally take photos with a mirrorless camera or smartphone whenever I go outside. Usually, I upload some of them to my Instagram profile. However, there are some great photos that I don't upload because it doesn't suit my Instagram vibe. Those kinds of photo files will end up in my cloud storage.

I don't have any idea to monetise it. So, I upload those photo files to Unsplash to become free royalty stock photos. Thus, you can use it on your content if you like. Go, check out my [Unsplash profile](https://unsplash.com/@asepbagja)! I will upload many more to it.

<div class="text-center">
<figure class="figure">
<img src="/blog-img/estonia-flag-nature.jpg" class="figure-img img-fluid" alt="Estonia flag in nature" />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-center">The representation of Estonia flag 🇪🇪 in Päe lake.</a></figcaption>
</figure>
</div>



Recently, I released my debut single [A New Life](https://www.asepbagja.com/music/a-new-life-singles). It's a [generative music](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generative_music) album that I composed and programmed using JavaScript. In this article, I will share the process behind it. But, before going to the code, let me explain some music technology terms that I use a lot.

![A New Life](/music-img/a-new-life.jpg)

**MIDI**

[MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface)](https://midi.org) is a protocol that allows computers, musical instruments, and other hardware to communicate. It was developed in the early 80s because manufacturers need to make their products compatible with other products from other manufacturers. For example, I can connect a keyboard from the Korg brand to an expression pedal from Behringer using a standard MIDI cable.

In modern times, when a computer is a go-to tool for music production, MIDI data is transferred via USB cable and USB port. Most modern electronic musical instruments have a built-in USB port along with traditional MIDI in/out port. The picture below is the example from the back panel of my Korg Kross 2 workstation keyboard.

![Korg Kross 2 back panel](/blog-img/korg-kross-back-panel.jpg)

**What is a MIDI controller?**

A MIDI controller is any hardware or software that generates and transmits MIDI data to MIDI-enabled devices. The most-selling MIDI controller in the market is hardware in the form of a keyboard (piano like), knobs, faders, or grid pads. A MIDI controller doesn't produce sound. People use it to trigger and control sound from other musical hardware or computer software.

In the age of mobile computing, there are many MIDI controllers in software/app form. You can search it on Apple App Store and Google Play Store with a "midi controller" keyword.

**Digital Audio Workstation**

Digital Audio Workstation is an electronic device (hardware) or computer software to record, edit, and produce audio files. Nowadays, most musicians and music producers use the software DAW because the personal computer has more and more computing power. Some of the popular DAWs in the market are [Logic Pro](https://apple.com/logic-pro/), [Pro Tools](https://www.avid.com/pro-tools), [Cubase](https://www.steinberg.net/cubase/), and [Ableton Live](https://ableton.com).

#### Let's dive into the process!

The concept here is simple. I use Node.js scripts as a MIDI controller to control my hardware synthesiser through DAW. I used Ableton Live 11 Lite for A New Life single, but it is applicable for any DAW. Here is the connectivity schema.

![DAW - Node.js schema](/blog-img/daw-connection.PNG)

I can use Node.js scripts to directly control the synthesiser and let DAW record only the audio. But, I didn't go that route. The reason for that is I want DAW to save any MIDI data that come from the script. As you may already know, the Tallinn in December song is a piece of generative music that the note came from real-time weather forecast data. If something happens with my master record, it will not be possible to recreate that song again later with the same note.

First, I define the script as a virtual instrument using the [`easymidi`](https://github.com/dinchak/node-easymidi) library.

```
const easymidi = require("easymidi");

const virtualInput = new easymidi.Input("Node.js input", true);
const virtualOutput = new easymidi.Output("Node.js output", true);
```

Only with three lines of code, the script can be visible as a MIDI device in DAW's MIDI track.

![Node.js virtual instrument](/blog-img/daw-node-script.png)

**Sync Node.js with the sequencer in Ableton**

MIDI can sync the tempo between multiple devices. Imagine I have two musical instruments: a synthesiser that plays an arp (a melody that can play automatically) and a drum machine. I can sync both devices by selecting one as a master, and other devices will follow the tempo of the master. In my case, the master is Ableton. Node.js script and my Korg Kross 2 synthesiser must follow the master tempo of DAW. I don't need to worry about my synthesiser. It has a built-in MIDI sync feature because the manufacturer follows the MIDI specification.

How about the Node.js script? I have to program it and follow the MIDI specification too. The program must track the MIDI clock from the master. A MIDI clock is a signal broadcasted from the master via MIDI protocol to sync devices and software. According to MIDI specification, there are 24 pulses per [quarter note](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quarter_note).

```
const MIDI_CLOCK_PER_QUARTER_NOTE = 24; // From MIDI specification:
const MASTER_TEMPO = 40; // BPM = number of quarter notes per minute
```

I defined the value of the clock per quarter note and the master tempo. The tempo measurement unit is BPM (Beat Per Minute). From that information, I can calculate how many MIDI clocks per minute for 40 BPM tempo.

```
let totalClockPerMinute = MIDI_CLOCK_PER_QUARTER_NOTE * MASTER_TEMPO;
```

Now, here's the main code. I did the MIDI clock counting inside an event loop. The `easymidi` library has a callback event, and it can be triggered when a MIDI clock comes from the master.

```
let clockCounting = 1;
virtualInput.on("clock", () => {
  if (clockCounting === totalClockPerMinute) {
    // Reset the counter
    clockCounting = 1;
  }
  
  // Do everything creative inside this block
  // Example: send the note data per quarter, sixteenth, half, eight, or whole note.
  // ...this area is our canvas...
  
  // Example:
  // Sending a note every half note
  if (clockCounting %  (MIDI_CLOCK_PER_QUARTER_NOTE * 2) === 1) {
    virtualOutput.send("noteon", {
      note: 55,
      velocity: 130,
      channel: 1,
    });   
  }

  clockCounting++;
});
```

**Wrap up**

The code above is the skeleton to compose the music and sync Node.js scripts with the sequencer in DAW. Now, you can read and play with the complete source code in [A New Life's Github repository](https://github.com/bepitulaz/generative-music).

Please, check the [MIDI specification](https://midi.org/specifications) for the additional resource.


Recently, I'm planning to build a weekend project for personal purposes. It's an application to analyse stock market data for helping me in my investment journey. I plan to use Node.js as the backend. However, I'm curious about how Node.js perform when handling a large dataset. How fast can it do the operation?

To answer that question, I created this scenario:
1. Create an array with 5 million elements with a float data type. It is to simulate the stock price dataset.
2. Calculate the [Simple Moving Average](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/sma.asp) for a specific window interval from that dataset. It is the operation that I want to measure.

Here is how I generated the 5 million elements of an array. We won't measure this operation.

```
const simulateClosingPrices = Array.from({length: 5000000}, () => Math.random() * 5000);
```

Below is the code to calculate SMA in JavaScript. I packaged it as a Node module.

<script src="https://gist.github.com/bepitulaz/5fc2b4a2a42b5225e2ea47b098a12883.js"></script>

Here is the execution time.

```
elapsed time:   160.32ms
elapsed user:   124.93ms
elapsed system: 28.68ms
```

#### Can we make it faster?

Hmm...how if I involve [Rust](http://rust-lang.org)? I love that language. It's a system programming language that doesn't have a garbage collector and compile into native code. In theory, it will be faster than JavaScript. To embed and use Rust with Node.js, I have to package it as a Node module. There are two options to do that. First, compile it as a Node native module. The second one, target it for [WebAssembly](https://webassembly.org) and package it as a Node module.

Let's try both options. These are the toolchain to make the Node module with Rust:
- [wasm-pack](https://rustwasm.github.io/wasm-pack/): It's a toolchain to compile Rust code into WebAssembly.
- [node-bindgen](https://github.com/infinyon/node-bindgen): It's a toolchain to compile Rust code into a native module.
- [neon-bindings](http://neon-bindings.com): This one can compile Rust code into a native module too. But, after I tried it, I couldn't reuse my existing Rust code for WebAssembly. I must adjust many parts of it. So, I abandon it.

Below is the code to calculate SMA in Rust and targeting WebAssembly.

<script src="https://gist.github.com/bepitulaz/88eb126ef1dd2ccd80d890aeee0c77a5.js"></script>

Below is the code to calculate SMA in Rust and targeting the native module. In my case, it will compile to `aarch64-apple-darwin` instruction since I ran this benchmark on the Apple M1 processor.

<script src="https://gist.github.com/bepitulaz/870868b5fe5fed87d21911d415a85891.js"></script>

### The result

```
First run
|                           | JS     | WASM  | Native Module |
|---------------------------|--------|-------|---------------|
| elapsed total time in ms  | 160.32 | 81.89 | 1137.70       |
| elapsed user time in ms   | 124.93 | 53.81 | 1106.9        |
| elapsed system time in ms | 28.68  | 22.25 | 74.05         |

Second run
|                           | JS     | WASM  | Native Module |
|---------------------------|--------|-------|---------------|
| elapsed total time in ms  | 144.09 | 75.94 | 1165.27       |
| elapsed user time in ms   | 123.32 | 52.72 | 1109.09       |
| elapsed system time in ms | 22.53  | 23.26 | 84.15         |
```

It is surprised me. My expectation was the native module will perform faster than WebAssembly, but the result was the opposite.  Probably, it happened because I tried to map the JS array directly into the Rust vector. I read some articles it said would be better if I passed the [TypedArray](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/TypedArray) instead of JS array. Let's try it in the next article.

According to this experiment, WebAssembly performs 2x faster for the total time than pure JavaScript when handling this scenario.

_The featured image photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@chrisliverani?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Chris Liverani</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/s/photos/speed?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Unsplash</a>_
  


My company [Tanibox](https://tanibox.com) is developing agriculture software for two years. We focus on [Tania](https://usetania.org), our open source farm management software. We love growing plants, but we--all co-founders of Tanibox--never touch agriculture as an industry before Tanibox exist. So, we jumped to agriculture technology industry by trial and error. Here are some interesting insights from a couple of years building an open source software for agriculture to share with you.

![Farmers](https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1500937386664-56d1dfef3854?ixlib=rb-1.2.1&ixid=eyJhcHBfaWQiOjEyMDd9&auto=format&fit=crop&w=800)
<a style="background-color:black;color:white;text-decoration:none;padding:4px 6px;font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, &quot;San Francisco&quot;, &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;, Helvetica, Ubuntu, Roboto, Noto, &quot;Segoe UI&quot;, Arial, sans-serif;font-size:12px;font-weight:bold;line-height:1.2;display:inline-block;border-radius:3px" href="https://unsplash.com/@wflwong?utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=photographer-credit&amp;utm_content=creditBadge" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" title="Download free do whatever you want high-resolution photos from Warren Wong"><span style="display:inline-block;padding:2px 3px"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" style="height:12px;width:auto;position:relative;vertical-align:middle;top:-2px;fill:white" viewBox="0 0 32 32"><title>unsplash-logo</title><path d="M10 9V0h12v9H10zm12 5h10v18H0V14h10v9h12v-9z"></path></svg></span><span style="display:inline-block;padding:2px 3px">Warren Wong</span></a>

**1. Most farmers are old and not a tech-savvy**

We build open source software. Our early adopter is mostly a software or hardware developer and tech enthusiast coming from several countries. The countries that I can notice because they are active in our forum: Indonesia, India, USA, UK, UAE, Hungary, Tajikistan, Canada, France, Sweden, Lithuania, and Brazil. Since we get hundreds of download for this couple of years, perhaps there are more people from other countries, but they are not active in the forum so that I can't notice.

Some of the early adopters are the developer that wants to sell and distribute our software to the farmer in their country. Most of them told the same issue that is hard to convince the farmer to digitalise their operation because most of the farmers are old and not tech-savvy. We also get that issue when introducing the software here in Indonesia.

The solution for this is to approach the younger farmer because they are more open-minded than the old one and we must lower barriers to entry.

**2. Digitalisation won't promise rich**

"If I use your software,  how many yields and profit it can increase? When is the break-even point? ", this type of question is usually coming from my country, Indonesia. It's hard to answer because it depends on your business operation. Digitalisation will help you to record your farm operation better. Then you can analyse which aspect of your farm to make it more efficient after several growing cycles.

Anyway, do you ask Microsoft with this type of question, "Hey, if I buy your Windows license, how many % of profit you can increase for me?".

**3. Localisation is important**

If you want to target the global market, you have to think about the localisation of your software since day one. Our mistake was not doing this as early as possible, so our market penetration is a little bit slow. Lucky for us, there are not many open source software for agriculture in the market. We support localisation in Tania 2 years after launch in version 1.6.

Even for the European market, most people including us are thinking of Europe as a single market. Yes, it is for a few aspects. But, Europe consists of many languages and most of the farmers, especially in the countryside, don't speak English.

**4. Offline first**

The countryside and the rural area are farms mostly located. The online connectivity can be an issue there. If you are building something for agriculture, think offline first. We do it when developing Tania.

**5. Most of the world's farms are small and family-run**

In terms of volume, it means this type of farmer is the lucrative market. It spreads across the globe. But, chasing this type of farmer is challenging though because the small-holder farmer is usually price-sensitive. The cost of your solution should be as low as possible.

### Conclusion
Agriculture is the slowest industry that adapts the new technology. I hope these insights are useful for anyone interested to jump in into building an agriculture technology solution.



It's been a while since my last post on this website. Three years ago. It's time to dust off and start writing again. I want to challenge my self, "how if I make this blog like a social media?" I will prioritise to post anything here instead of posting in social media whether it's a short or long content.

This blog post is the first attempt. Wish me luck with the idea!

![Typewriter](/images/type-writer.jpg)

<a style="background-color:black;color:white;text-decoration:none;padding:4px 6px;font-family:-apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, &quot;San Francisco&quot;, &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;, Helvetica, Ubuntu, Roboto, Noto, &quot;Segoe UI&quot;, Arial, sans-serif;font-size:12px;font-weight:bold;line-height:1.2;display:inline-block;border-radius:3px" href="https://unsplash.com/@julsssy?utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=photographer-credit&amp;utm_content=creditBadge" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" title="Download free do whatever you want high-resolution photos from Julienne Erika Alviar"><span style="display:inline-block;padding:2px 3px"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" style="height:12px;width:auto;position:relative;vertical-align:middle;top:-2px;fill:white" viewBox="0 0 32 32"><title>unsplash-logo</title><path d="M10 9V0h12v9H10zm12 5h10v18H0V14h10v9h12v-9z"></path></svg></span><span style="display:inline-block;padding:2px 3px">Julienne Erika Alviar</span></a>



In [part 1](https://www.asepbagja.com/programming/introduction-to-functional-programming-in-javascript-part-1/), we had learned about two important concepts in functional programming paradigm: immutable data and pure function. Now, we will learn another important concept in functional programming, that is higher order function.

According to Wikipedia, higher-order function is a function that does at least one of the following:

*   takes one or more functions as arguments
*   returns a function as its results.

JavaScript has the first-class function. It means the functions in JavaScript treats as a value, that we can assign it to the variable, pass it around, and return from another function. Therefore, JavaScript supports higher order function. I'm sure every JavaScript programmer ever used higher order function in their life. If you ever used jQuery, you must be familiar with these syntaxes:

```javascript
$.get("my-api-url.com", function(res) {
  console.log(res);
});

// or

$("#my-awesome-button").click(function(evt) {
  evt.preventDefault();
});
```

Those are the sample implementations. We passed the function as an argument to another function.

**Map, Filter, and Reduce**

`Map`, `filter`, and `reduce` are three methods those are natively available in most browsers and in NodeJS. We will intensively use these methods when doing functional programming in JavaScript and also in any programming language.

`Map` takes a function and collection of items, runs the function on each item in the collection, and returns a new collection as the result. This is the simple example of `map`.

```javascript
let sample = [1, 2, 3]; // I want add each item by 1

// we pass an anonymous function to the map
let mapResult = sample.map((item) => {
  return item + 1;
});

console.log(mapResult); // [2, 3, 4]
console.log(sample); // the original data does not change: [1, 2, 3]
```

So, actually, we did not need to implement it by our self like we did in part 1 of this article -- the `pureFunction` section.

Next is `filter`. It takes a function and a collection, runs the function on each item in the collection, returns a new collection when the function returns `true`. This is the simple example of `filter`.

```javascript
let sample = [1, 2, 3]; // I want the even number only

let filterResult = sample.filter((item) => {
  return item % 2 === 0;
});

console.log(filterResult); // [2]
console.log(sample); // the original data does not change: [1, 2, 3]
```

The later is `reduce`. It takes a function and a collection of items,and returns the value by combining the items. This is the simple example of `reduce`.

```javascript
let sample = [1, 2, 3]; // I want to sum all the items

let reduceResult = sample.reduce((prev, current) => {
  return prev + current;
});

console.log(reduceResult); // 6
console.log(sample); // the original data does not change: [1, 2, 3]
```

The advantage of using `map`, `filter`, and `reduce` is you can easily chain all those function with predictable behaviour. This is the sample case to use it all together.

```javascript
let leads = [{
  name: "Acme Company",
  isDeal: true,
  currency: "USD",
  deal: 150
}, {
  name: "Seven Eleven",
  isDeal: false,
  currency: "IDR",
  deal: 1000000
}, {
  name: "Cozyfield",
  isDeal: false,
  currency: "IDR",
  deal: 2500000
}, {
  name: "Froyo Agency",
  isDeal: false,
  currency: "USD",
  deal: 2000
}];

// get all data with USD, change the currency symbol to $
let getUsdOnlyWithDollar = leads.filter((item) => {
  return item.currency === "USD";
}).map((item) => {
  return {
    name: item.name,
    isDeal: item.isDeal,
    currency: "$",
    deal: item.deal
  };
});

// [{ name: 'Acme Company', isDeal: true, currency: '$', deal: 150 },
// { name: 'Froyo Agency', isDeal: false, currency: '$', deal: 2000 } ]
console.log(getUsdOnlyWithDollar);

// get all data with isDeal is false, convert all USD currency to IDR
// 1 USD = IDR 13000, then sum all the amount of expected deal
let calculateIt = leads.filter((item) => {
  return !item.isDeal;
}).map((item) => {
  let result = {
    name: item.name,
    isDeal: item.isDeal,
    currency: item.currency
  };

  if(item.currency === "USD") {
    result.deal = item.deal * 13000;
  } else {
    result.deal = item.deal;
  }

  return result;
}).reduce((prevItem, currItem, index, array) => {
  return {deal: prevItem.deal + currItem.deal};
});

console.log(calculateIt); // { deal: 29500000 }
```

**Currying**

We won't cook that spicy and exotic cuisine for now. Currying is the process of transforming a function that takes multiple arguments into a function that takes only a single argument and returns another function if the arguments are still needed. Take a look at these two code snippets:

```javascript
let greeting = (message, name) => {
  return message + " " + name;
};

console.log(greeting("Hello", "Asep")); // "Hello Asep"
console.log(greeting("Hello", "Bagja")); // "Hello Bagja"
```

We already familiar with that syntax, nothing wrong with that. Now the curried version for that greeting function.

```javascript
let curriedGreeting = (message) => {
  return (name) => {
    return message + " " + name;
  }
}

let sayHello = curriedGreeting("Hello"); // this is partially applied function
console.log(sayHello); // it returns a function
console.log(sayHello("Asep")); // "Hello Asep"
console.log(sayHello("Bagja")); // "Hello Bagja"

// you can also call it directly by using another parentheses
curriedGreeting("Hello")("Asep"); // "Hello Asep"
curriedGreeting("Hello")("Bagja"); // "Hello Bagja"
```

At the moment we invoke `curriedGreeting` with only one argument, it will return the next function that still waiting to be invoked by the second argument. After the second argument is passed to the function, we will get our expected return value.

That looks so cool, but why we want to do that? It's not straightforward, is it? Ok, let me show you a use case that can be considered to use this technique.

```javascript
let callAPI = () => {
  // Do the web service call here. Let's assume it returns an array of objects
  return [{
    name: "Brio",
    manufacturer: "Honda"
  },
  {
    name: "Avanza",
    manufacturer: "Toyota"
  },
  {
    name: "Innova",
    manufacturer: "Toyota"
  }];
};

// Filter the data with curried function
let filterData = (fn) => {
  return (manufacturer) => {
    return fn.filter((item) => {
      return item.manufacturer === manufacturer;
    });
  }
}

// call the web service only one time
let filterBy = filterData(callAPI());

// then we can use the result multiple times
console.log(filterBy("Toyota"));
console.log(filterBy("Honda"));
```

Currying is a useful technique in functional programming. It can avoid repetition in our code, thus makes the code more efficient. I encourage you to play and use it in your JavaScript code.

**Summary and What's Next?**

JavaScript supports higher-order function very well. It makes JavaScript suitable to apply some techniques from functional programming paradigm, and we can combine it with the knowledge that we had learned from the [part 1](http://asepbagja.com/programming/introduction-to-functional-programming-in-javascript-part-1/) of the article to make our code more brevity.

Learning functional programming won't hurt you. I encourage you to learn a programming language that specifically designed for it because many techniques and concepts are hard to explain or do in JavaScript. You can pick Haskell, Clojure, Scala, Elixir, OCaml, etc. By knowing imperative programming and functional programming you will get the best of both worlds.

Hope you enjoy this series of introduction to functional programming.



Imperative programming is a programming paradigm that uses a sequence of statements to reach a certain goal. It focuses on how to perform actions to achieve the expected result. Otherwise, functional programming paradigm concentrates on computing results rather than performing actions. In another word, the imperative one is an annoying micromanager in your office, and the functional one is a macromanager who just describe what's the job to be done.

Imagine this situation. You are asked by your boss to get 3 sales leads by the end of the week. The approach will be distinctive by those 2 paradigms.

The imperative boss will micromanage you by telling you something like these:

1.  Open Craigslist
2.  Find the phone number
3.  If you find it, please dial that number
4.  Tell to the prospective client, "Hello, I'm from annoying company...bla...bla..."
5.  If you can't find the phone number, you should seek the email address
6.  Send them an email with this sentence, "Hello, I'm from annoying company...bla...bla..."
7.  When you can't find the contact in Craiglist, you should try open Yellow Pages
8.  Schedule a meeting at Wednesday afternoon with the prospective client
9.  ...and so on, until you get 3 sales leads by the end of the week.

The functional boss will tell something more descriptive without micromanaging you:

1.  That is a computer with internet connection on the desk, you can use it to find and contact some leads
2.  You can use office phone to call them
3.  Schedule a meeting whenever you feel it is necessary
4.  Return back to me after you get 3 sales leads by the end of the week.

After we get distinctive between those 2 paradigms, now we will try to implement it in JavaScript. JavaScript currently is one of the hottest and mainstream programming languages which support multi-paradigms. So, we can use it to program in a functional way, while using the imperative features whenever necessary.

**The first pillar of FP: think about immutable data**

Immutable data means the data can't be modified after its creation to avoid side effects. JavaScript does not force us to use immutable data like any other programming language specifically designed for functional programming, therefore we should force our self to think about immutability when programming with the functional paradigm. Consider this mutable code:

```javascript
// 1: simple mutable data sample
let x = 10; // create the initial value
x = x + 1;
console.log(x); // now x's value is 11

// 2: the mutable loop
let sample = [1, 5, 3, 2];
for(let i = 0; i < sample.length; i++) { // the i's value is changing on each iteration
  sample[i] = sample[i] + 1;
}
console.log(sample); // now sample's value is [2, 6, 4, 3]
```

It's hard to spot the bugs in a large code base with many mutable data. Do you remember the micromanaging boss? Yes, it's kinda like that. According to sample number 2 above, we will read the loop 4 times to track the current value of `sample`. Imagine if you have an array with 1000 elements inside it. Have fun with that.

**The second pillar of FP: Pure Function**

A pure function is a function that does not depend on and modifies the states of the variable out of its scope. It means the function always returns the result given same parameters and produces no side effects. I will give you an example to understand about "side effect".

```javascript
let sample = [1, 2, 3]; // I want each element of this array add by 1.

function impureFunction(data) {
  for(let i=0; i < data.length; i++) {
    data[i] = data[i] + 1;
  }
  return data;
}

let result = impureFunction(sample);
console.log(result); // You get what you want: [2, 3, 4]
console.log(sample); // But you get the side effect too. The value has been changed :(
```

You can think the side effect in code is the same as the side effect in medicine. When you drink cough syrup, your cough maybe stops, but after that, you will feel sleepy. In a large code base, the impure function will hard to test and debug. So, we will rewrite that by using pure function and immutable data.

```javascript
let sample = [1, 2, 3];

function pureFunction(data, index, init) {
  if(index < data.length) {
    let current = [data[index] + 1];
    let result = init.concat(current);
    return pureFunction(data, index + 1, result); // we use recursion instead of for loop
  } else {
    return init;
  }
}

let result = pureFunction(sample, 0, []);
console.log(result); // you get what you want: [2, 3, 4]
console.log(sample); // your original data does not mutate: [1, 2, 3]
```

According to the code above, we are making a new array instead of mutating the original one. We also use recursion to avoid side effect. Let's scrutinize the `pureFunction` function to understand it.

```javascript
// pureFunction takes 3 parameters: data, index, init
// pureFunction will create a new array as a return value
pureFunction(data, index, init) {
  return init;
}

// The type signature of pureFunction actually like this
// I'm using Haskell type signature syntax, since JavaScript is dynamic typing
pureFunction :: [Int] -> Int -> [Int] -> [Int]

// data is for our original array
// index is for the index of the array
// result is our copy of original array
// so if we call the function, the operation actually like this
pureFunction([1, 2, 3], 0, []);

pureFunction(data, index, init) {
  let current = [data[0] + 1];
  let result = init.concat(current);
  return result; // it is [2]
}

pureFunction([1, 2, 3], 1, [2]);

pureFunction(data, index, init) {
  let current = [data[1] + 1];
  let result = init.concat(current);
  return result; // it is [2, 3]
}

// and so on
```

That is the explanation of pure function. What you give is what you get. It does not depend on to any variable outside its scope. So, we can test and debug the function easier.

**Summary**

In this first part, we had changed our way of thinking to express our idea to achieve the result. We have learned about immutable data and pure function to avoid side effect and made our code more concise. Those are still basic things before we dive deeper to learn about functional programming in JavaScript (or in another language). Hope you enjoy it and see you in the next part.

P.S. [The second part](https://www.asepbagja.com/programming/introduction-to-functional-programming-in-javascript-part-2/) of this article has been published.



Google announced that they use HTTPS as a ranking signal [on 2014](https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2014/08/https-as-ranking-signal.html), and it becomes more standard in their search result. Therefore, I decide to use HTTPS also for this blog; and it looks pretty too for having a green lock icon on the browser. I'm a Docker devotee, so I'll show you how to do it by using Docker.

**1. Install Docker on the server**

I'm using Ubuntu 16.04 on my [Digital Ocean](https://m.do.co/c/603d8d4e7ded) droplet. So, you can follow Docker official installation guide for Ubuntu on their documentation page [here](https://docs.docker.com/engine/installation/linux/ubuntulinux/).

**2. Run Let's Encrypt companion for Nginx proxy container**

Before running this container, I will shortly explain what Let's Encrypt is, in case you never heard it. Taken from its website, it is a free, automated, and open certificate authority (CA), run for the public's benefit. Let's Encrypt is a service provided by the [Internet Security Research Group (ISRG)](https://letsencrypt.org/isrg/). Hence, we don't need to buy and manually renew the SSL certificate anymore.

I assume you are at the home folder (/home/user/). You should create a directory for storing the certificates.

```
/home/user/:$ mkdir certs
```

Then, you will run Nginx as the proxy server for our WordPress container. I'm using Nginx proxy image which is maintained by [jwilder](https://github.com/jwilder/nginx-proxy).

```
/home/user/:$ docker run -d -p 80:80 -p 443:443 \
  --name nginx-proxy \
  -v /home/user/certs:/etc/nginx/certs:ro \
  -v /etc/nginx/vhost.d \
  -v /usr/share/nginx/html \
  -v /var/run/docker.sock:/tmp/docker.sock:ro \
  jwilder/nginx-proxy
```

If you look the command above, 3 writable volumes are declared:

*   `/etc/nginx/certs` is for creating and renewing Let's Encrypt certificates
*   `/etc/nginx/vhost.d` is for changing the configuration of vhosts, and it's needed by Let's Encrypt
*   `/usr/share/nginx/html` is for writing challenge files, so Let's Encrypt can verify your domain.

After the Nginx proxy container is running, you will run Let's Encrypt container to create and renew the certificate for each domain that you want to add the SSL certificate. I will use the Let's Encrypt image which is maintained by [JrCs](https://github.com/JrCs/docker-letsencrypt-nginx-proxy-companion).

```
/home/user/:$ docker run -d \
  -v /home/user/certs:/etc/nginx/certs:rw \
  --volumes-from nginx-proxy \
  -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock:ro \
  jrcs/letsencrypt-nginx-proxy-companion
```

Ensure those 2 containers are running by using `docker ps` command. Then you can start any containers to be proxified with https connection by using this command:

```
/home/user/:$ docker run -e "VIRTUAL_HOST=yourdomain.com" \
  -e "LETSENCRYPT_HOST=yourdomain.com,www.yourdomain.com" \
  -e "LETSENCRYPT_EMAIL=your@youremail.com" \
  ... # put the rest of the necessary settings here
```

The `LETSENCRYPT_HOST` and `LETSENCRYPT_EMAIL` are necessary, so Let's Encrypt service can automatically create and renew valid certificate for each virtual host.

**3. Install MySQL database**

I'm using [MySQL official image](https://hub.docker.com/_/mysql/). I'm storing the MySQL data in host directory to prevent data loss when the container restart or die.

```
/home/user/:$ mkdir data

/home/user/:$ docker run --name wp_mysql \
  -v /home/user/data:/var/lib/mysql \
  -e MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=my-secret-pw \
  -e MYSQL_USER=my-user \
  -e MYSQL_USER_PASSWORD=my-password \
  -e MYSQL_DATABASE=wordpress -d mysql:latest
```

For my case, I'm importing my MySQL dump from the old WordPress setup to the MySQL container.

```
/home/user/:$ docker exec -i wp_mysql mysql -umy-user -pmy-password wordpress < dump.sql
```

**4. Containerize the Old WordPress Setup**

I'm not using WordPress official image since this is an existing blog, not a new one. So, I re-arrange my WordPress directory structure before containerizing it. Here is the structure.

```
wordpress_root
| src (for wp-content, wp-include, and the entire WordPress files)
| Dockerfile
```

This is my Dockerfile. I'm using PHP7 Apache as a base image.

```
FROM php:7-apache

MAINTAINER Asep Bagja Priandana <asep@asep.co>

RUN a2enmod rewrite expires

# install the PHP extensions we need
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y libpng12-dev libjpeg-dev && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/* \
	&& docker-php-ext-configure gd --with-png-dir=/usr --with-jpeg-dir=/usr \
	&& docker-php-ext-install gd mysqli opcache

# set recommended PHP.ini settings
# see https://secure.php.net/manual/en/opcache.installation.php
RUN { \
		echo 'opcache.memory_consumption=128'; \
		echo 'opcache.interned_strings_buffer=8'; \
		echo 'opcache.max_accelerated_files=4000'; \
		echo 'opcache.revalidate_freq=60'; \
		echo 'opcache.fast_shutdown=1'; \
		echo 'opcache.enable_cli=1'; \
} > /usr/local/etc/php/conf.d/opcache-recommended.ini

COPY src/ /var/www/html/
```

Then modify the existing `wp-config.php`.

```
// Don't hardcode your DB setting. Instead use environment variable.
/** The name of the database for WordPress */
define('DB_NAME', getenv('WORDPRESS_DB_NAME'));

/** MySQL database username */
define('DB_USER', getenv('WORDPRESS_DB_USER'));

/** MySQL database password */
define('DB_PASSWORD', getenv('WORDPRESS_DB_PASSWORD'));

/** MySQL hostname */
define('DB_HOST', getenv('WORDPRESS_DB_HOST'));

// Add these 2 lines, because we are running the Apache behind Nginx proxy
// Otherwise you will get infinite redirect
if ($_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_PROTO'] == 'https')
  $_SERVER['HTTPS']='on';

if (isset($_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_HOST'])) {
  $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'] = $_SERVER['HTTP_X_FORWARDED_HOST'];
}
```

Now, you can build your custom WordPress image.

```
/home/user/:$ docker build -t user/my_wordpress .
```

**5. Run the WordPress Image**

Let's run the newly created image.

```
/home/user/:$ docker run --name my_wordpress \
  --link wp_mysql:mysql \
  -e WORDPRESS_DB_USER=my-user \
  -e WORDPRESS_DB_PASSWORD=my-password \
  -e WORDPRESS_DB_NAME=wordpress \
  -e "WORDPRESS_DB_HOST=172.17.0.3" \
  -e "VIRTUAL_HOST=yourdomain.com" \
  -e "LETSENCRYPT_HOST=yourdomain.com,www.yourdomain.com" \
  -e "LETSENCRYPT_EMAIL=your@youremail.com" -d user/my_wordpress
```

Be careful, WORDPRESS_DB_HOST is your MySQL container's IP address.

**6. Pointing your domain to the host**

Now you can open your DNS manager and point the A record to your host IP and make www CNAME record with @ value. After the DNS propagation has completed and everything is correctly configured, you can access your website and see the little green lock icon on your browser.

**7. The last is configuring the URL inside your wp-admin**

Login to your WordPress dashboard then goes to Settings > General. Replace the http with https.

![wordpress](wordpress.png)

Voila, now your WordPress site has ben secured and Google will love it.



Most of you perhaps ever heard or read about [The Cashflow Quadrant](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0446677477/mikeleeorg-20) by Robert Kiyosaki. I bought his book when I was a high school student. The book explained about quadrant of economic roles: employee, self-employed, business owner, and investor. The employee is people who have a job, I was. The self-employed is individuals who own a job, I was. The business owner is individuals who have a system that produces cash flow for themselves and other work for them; this is me now. The last is the investor, people who can make their money work for them; this is my next target.

To pursue that level, I should find a way to invest my money. So, last month, I decided to attend Sekolah Pasar Modal. It is a one day course which is held by Indonesia Stock Exchange. The course fee took only Rp 100.000, and the fee would be returned to the course attendees as balance in their investor account. Sekolah Pasar Modal is divided into 2 level. The first level is an overview of the stock market, shares, and the mechanism to start trading the stock. The second level is about the basic of fundamental analysis and technical analysis.

Technical analysis is for someone who wants to be a stock trader. It is a skill for reading charts as the primary tool to predict the market. Frankly, I'm not interested become a stock trader, or moreover to be a daily trader. My goal is to make a long-term investment. Buy a company's stock at the right price and hold it for a long time, and exit at the right moment. So, the primary skill should be a fundamental analysis. It is an ability to assess a company health by looking and analyzing its financial statement and its other essential data.

As Master Oogway said in Kungfu Panda 3, "If you only do what you can do, you will never be more than you are." So, now I re-open my knowledge from my accounting education background to be more than I am.



**Happy new year 2016.**

Annually I challenged myself with some new skills and some targets. Few years ago, I challenged myself to learn Mandarin, because it is the most spoken language in Asia. Therefore, I took a Mandarin short course and also self-learning it via Youtube.

I had also challenged myself to learn functional programming paradigm and tried to master one of the programming languages that used that paradigm. My choice was Clojure because it is using Lisp dialect. I was coming from PHP and JavaScript, so I should learn another dialect for broadening my horizon. Maybe now I'm still far to be a master of Clojure (LOL); but at least, I'm fluent coding with it.

In 2016, I'll give some challenges again for myself:

1.  Learning another programming language. The requirement is static typing, compiled to native code, and using different dialect from Lisp and C-based syntax. My choice will be OCaml, it is coming from ML (Meta Language) dialect. The target is I should deploy at least one production system which is written in OCaml.
2.  Learning Finnish. The target is hunting the northern lights from Lapland with my wife and communicating with Finnish people in Finland.
The number 2 is the hardest, but challenges are needed to push me beyond the limit. I'll write the progress here.

**Challenge accepted!**



I have a small green house in [my home front yard](https://www.asepbagja.com/personal/my-familys-journey-to-grow-our-own-food/), and I deployed some sensors like temperature, humidity, electrical conductivity (EC), and pH sensor there.

After the development of the sensors completed, it was the time for me to develop the web service for logging the data. I considered to use NoSQL database for persistent data storage. Otherwise I dismissed that idea for the sake of cost efficiency.

To use NoSQL database, I should open one or two servers in cloud provider for running it. As we know, the cost for compute engine is charged per hour. Let's pick AWS EC2 for the example. T2.small instance pricing is $0.04/hour. That's too expensive for non-profit purpose.

**The solution**

I decided to make my own NoSQL solution. Persisted all data logs to plain text and put it on AWS S3. That's cheaper, because S3 is storage server and it is charged per GB. For the first 1 TB, it only costs me $0.02/GB. It will takes a long time to reach 1 GB, if only for saving plain text.

The concept is simple. Just catch the string from the sensor, transform it into Clojure data structure, and save it inside the plain text file. To query it back, I just need to read the plain text file, transform the string back into Clojure data structure, and do the computation.

Here is the snippet code for writing and querying the data.

```
(ns data-logging.core
  (:require [clojure.string :as str]
            [clojure.walk :as walk]
            [clojure.java.io :as io]
            [clj-time.coerce :as coerce]
            [clj-time.local :as l]))

(defn data-parser
  "Parsing data from sensor."
  [raw-string]
  (let [split-data (str/split raw-string #",")
        flatten-data (->
                      (map #(str/split % #"=") split-data)
                      (flatten))]
    (-> (apply hash-map flatten-data)
        (walk/keywordize-keys))))

(defn write-today-log
  "Write today log file."
  [sensor-data file-name]
  ;; check if file already exist
  (if (io/.exists (io/as-file file-name))
    ;; exist: append new hash map to vector.
    (let [existing-data (read-string (slurp file-name))]
      (spit file-name
            (with-out-str
              (pr
               (conj existing-data (data-parser sensor-data))))))
    ;; not exist: create new file and insert the vector of hash map.
    (spit file-name
          (with-out-str
            (pr (conj [] (data-parser sensor-data)))))))

(defn search-log
  "Search data between two times."
  [start-time end-time file-name]
  ;; update the date time string to timestamp
  (let [log-data (read-string (slurp file-name))
        with-timestamp (map
                        #(update-in % [:datetime] coerce/to-long)
                        log-data)]
    ;; let's find the data!
    (let [result (filter #(and
                           (> (:datetime %) (coerce/to-long start-time))
                           (< (:datetime %) (coerce/to-long end-time)))
                         with-timestamp)]
      ;; here is the result
      (map #(update-in % [:datetime]
                       (fn [x]
                         (l/format-local-time
                          (coerce/from-long x)
                          :mysql))) result))))
```

This is how to use it.

```
;; Saving the sensor data
(write-today-log "sensorid=123,temp=31.52,humidity=45.4,datetime=2015-12-08 17:31:30" "today-2015-12-08.log")

;; Querying the data
(search-log "2015-12-08 14:00:00" "2015-12-08 19:00:00" "today-2015-12-08.log")
```

Someday if I can get profit from my greenhouse and I need to scale this system, I just need to export the log into another data storage technology. It's simple, cheap, and scalable.



[Geekcamp Jakarta 2015](http://geekcamp.id/) is a technology and business conference organized by KMKLabs. This is my presentation about computer generated music using Clojure and Overtone. The talk is using Bahasa Indonesia, but here I try to give the English transcript.

<iframe class="vidio-embed" src="https://www.vidio.com/embed/178403-geekcamp-lambda-jakarta" width="560" height="317" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>

**Transcript**

[00:20] I want to talk about music. Who loves music here? I'm sure many of you loves music.

[00:27] Are there many programmers here? Because it will relates with code also.

[00:36] First, I will introduce myself. My daily job is a CTO in Froyo, it's my digital marketing agency, its office is located in Bintaro. I'm also an organizer of Lambda Jakarta, it's functional programming meetup. We are discussing about Haskell, Clojure, Scala, F#, you name it. All about functional programming.

[01:06] If you look at the bottom of the slide, you can see if actually I want to be a farmer. I have private greenhouse at my home and I'm also a seasonal bedroom musician.

[01:26] This is the usual way to play music. Oh, It is my favorite band, Dream Theater. You must be play using real instrument, such as guitar, keyboard, drum, and so on.

[01:40] But, I think it will be more interesting if we can play music using a computer. We will use the programmer's way. Our instrument will be the text editor. Is it looking weird for you? Yes, it is. With the text editor, we can generate music with various sounds.

[02:06] I'm using Clojure for the programming language. Clojure is a Lisp implementation on top of Java Virtual Machine. Before we continue this talk, anybody here knows Lisp? Ok, you know it, you know it, ah you, my downline, must be know it.

[02:26] Clojure is a slightly young Lisp implementation. Released in 2007, and created by Rich Hickey. Maybe if there's someone here who has not known it, this is the Clojure code looks like. 90% of Clojure code is like that. Just call function with argument, argument, whatever argument, and so on. 90%. The rest of 10% is knowing about symbol, keyword, string, vector, map, and atom if you need mutable. Because Clojure in default is actually immutable.

[03:26] This is the simple sample code. `defn` is a function definition, parameter is a vector,`let` for local scope variable, `if` for condition, and it return true and the else is false. How to call the function? You just call the function name and put the parameter. That's it.

[04:17] Then, for the sound engine we will use Overtone. It utilises SuperCollider engine. Maybe if any of you here is a game developer, there's a chance you have heard about it. You can use it for sound synthesizing and mimicking the real instrument.

[04:53] Let's try hello world. The hello world is slightly different.

[05:14] If you know about sound design or synthesizer, actually sound is coming from sine wave, square wave, saw wave, and triangle wave. Each of them has different timbre. Let's start from sine wave.

[05:48] _typing_

[06:30] If you notice, in sine wave function you'll see frequency, attack, sustain, and release parameter. If any of you here is play in a band, there's a chance you have seen knobs on the keyboard or synthesizer to set those parameters. Attack to set how fast the tone will reach the peak, sustain to set how long the tone, and release to set how long the tone will disappear.

[07:17] _trying the waveform one by one_

[08:37] There's also noise. Just a noise sound.

[09:03] We can combine all of it to be more interesting sound like in subtractive synthesis technique.

[09:16] Let's try the simple one. Frequency modulation synthesis. A waveform that modulated by another waveform. It is like Yamaha DX-7 synthesizer. It's a breakthrough sythesizer in 80's. Here it is.

[10:28] The second sample. We can play the sampler. So, in Overtone we can also use recorded sound to be played.

[10:57] _typing_ Like this. Kick drum, snare drum, piano, or maybe guitar loop.

[11:50] We can also play chords. But, it is insane to type line by line if you play in live situation. You won't make it.

[12:09] So the better way is creating the sequencer. Sequencer is a tool to play sound loop. Now, I'm trying to make piano and drum loop.

[12:44] Left hand.

[12:50] Then the right hand.

[13:00] Then we add the drum loop.

[13:18] It's no problem if we add a synth sound that we had created before it.

[13:34] Ah I have to finish the demo, because the time is over now. Actually, you can use Overtone for recording, composing a song, or connect it to midi device.

[14:28] At last, let's jamming on Github. So, jamming is not only in music studio, we can music jamming also in Github.

**Slide and Sample Code**

The slide is using English. You can read on [Slideshare](http://www.slideshare.net/AsepBagja/geekcamp-id-2015-programmable-music).

You can also see the sample source code on [Github](https://github.com/bepitulaz/programmable-music).



My wife's dream after we married was having a garden at home. But at that moment, we were living in an apartment with a very small balcony. It's theoritically impossible to plant anything. So, we discovered a way to plant vegetable at small space and we found it. Hydroponic was the answer. We can plant without soil but only water.

**The Age of Farming in The Apartment**

At the first time, we were growing spinach. It sprouted fast, only need 3 days to see the small leaves. After around 7 days, we were moving the sprouts to the hydroponic system for growing it. We chose wick system, the very simple hydroponic system. Instead of growing, the spinach was wilting.

The second time, we were growing lettuce. Because we read about lettuce is the easiest vegetable for hydroponic beginner. At that time, we added LED growing lamp to our hydroponic system, because we knew that our vegetables was getting lack of sun light. But we still got the same result like before, the lettuce was wilting.

![first-prototype](/blog-img/simple-hydroponic.jpeg)

We tried another shot. I forgot how many times we tried to grow vegetables in the apartment and got so many failures. At last, we knew the failure came from the temperature and the humidity. The temperature inside our flat were too high and the humidity level were too dry.

**The Age of Farming in The Greenhouse**

Few months ago, after we were living in the apartment for a year. We were moving to the new house. A house on the ground. At that time, Indonesia was in dry season. So, we got an idea to build our greenhouse at the front yard to isolate all the vegetables from the outside and also to easily controlled the temperature and the humidity.￼

![Build the small greenhouse.](/blog-img/build-greenhouse.jpeg) Build the small greenhouse.

We are building our NFT (Nutrient Film Technique) system as a growing system for lettuce and kale. We are also building the drip system for tomato, eggplant, and cucumber. The result is satisfying. All the vegetables grow healthy and can be harvested.

Our greenhouse is not only for growing vegetables, that is also the place for me to learn IoT (Internet of Things) application development. Hydroponic farming is a suitable area for implementing the power of internet connected sensor and machine learning, because it generates a lot of data e.g., air and water temperature, humidity, EC (electric conductivity) of water, and PH.

![iot-implementation](/blog-img/iot-implementation.jpeg) The internet of thing implementation.

**Why We Do All That Things?**

We used to buy vegetables in supermarket - don't ask why we are not going to traditional market. Usually vegetables in supermarket is not too fresh, and the price is also high-priced, especially for hydroponic vegetables. Thus, why we learn to grow our own food.

Despite that reason, successfully growing our own food is like getting a new life achievement. Maybe we are getting one step ahead to prepare our self for zombie apocalypse, nuclear war, or living on Mars.

![growing-lettuce](/blog-img/growing-lettuce.jpeg) We are growing lettuce.



_A letter from my dad about how to make my company bigger._

My dad was a government auditor for 35 years plus. He never expected me to be an entrepreneur. At the first, he did not support me, but now he is the one who regularly give me advices about running a company.

A few days ago, he sent me an email (in Bahasa Indonesia) that I thought it was a very good advice and I would like to share it to another startup founder. Here is the email which I translate into English.

> _Assalamu'alaikum wr. wb.,_
>
>
> _Just for refreshment. Don't ignore internal control. The startup world tends to neglect the corporate culture, because startup needs to be fast, spontaneous, and less (long) bureaucracy. With bigger (startup) organization size and scalability, there's no reason for not accepting the corporate culture._
>
>
> _For early stage company, especially a technology company, agile concept, fast pace, spontaneous, and risk taking culture should be maintained to release the innovative product faster; get a lot of feedbacks from user and doing next iteration. For product development, it is very good approach. But when the company turns to be a mature company, the company culture should turns to be mature also. When the size of the company is getting bigger and bigger, the line of products or service is getting more, and the number of clients or users is increasing, that's the moment to adopt the corporate culture into the company. Of course, you'll get conflicts in every aspect in the company. Moreover if many people are involved in it, e.g. investors and employees, but this is an adjustment that the company need. Corporate culture will help you to control the operation of the company to be more efficient and stay effective, also it can secure your company asset._
>
>
> _[David] said, "He has certainly wronged you in demanding your ewe [in addition] to his ewes. And indeed, many associates oppress one another, except for those who believe and do righteous deeds - and few are they." And David became certain that We had tried him, and he asked forgiveness of his Lord and fell down bowing [in prostration] and turned in repentance [to Allah ]. - Quran surah Saad:24_
>
>
> _Usually startup can be very messy when it starts to go into the corporation operational matters such as legal, finance, HR, etc. More time you spend to reject the corporate culture, faster your company will die. Embracing the corporate culture will become an important step to bring your company into higher level._
>
>
> _Even though Asep (me) is a CTO and a programmer, but don't forget you are a guy who had taken accounting major in college, so you won't forget the element of internal control. Ok?_
>
>
> _Unless you want to be a startup, forever._
>
>
> _Wassalamu'alaikum wr. wb._

The last sentence is very bold. You want to be a startup forever or go into higher level. Thanks, my dad.



Today, September 21, 2015, I'm officially 28 years old.

Many people say 28 is the starting age to enter adulthood. In astrology, they call it Saturn Return. It is a period for Saturn completing its full orbit around the Sun, and Saturn is returning to the position when the people were born.

Whatever people talk about the age of 28, I believe it is the age for starting something matters and meaningful in my life and my career. My first career milestone was building a company before 25 years old, and I achieved that. I found a digital marketing agency with my partner from scratch. It is a good cashflow business until now.

Now, after 3 years plus doing service business for the client, I'm ready to expand my career.

**Education for Tech**

Inspired by the initiative to teach my office boy for coding, I'm thinking how if I scale this initiative to many people who want to learn coding, but don't know how to start it. It sounds very interesting, isn't? Who know if I can make them get a better career for their life after learning coding?

I'm in the progress to start this very soon with my partner. Oh, the name for this initiative is Framework.

**Agriculture**

Apparently human population in earth is proliferating, but how about the food production? Can it balance the population? Starting from this background, I and my wife are just thinking how to produce our own food. Hence, we learnt hydroponic farming. We are living in dense city with no land for farming, but hydroponic can answer that challenge. No soil and can do vertically.

Leveraging my coding skill, I add some computer and sensor automation to our hydroponic farm. Luckily, I and my wife have some friends who are in the same train with us. So, we are starting Tanibox to help the world produce more edible vegetables and fruits.



Currently, I'm developing an indoor farming system to grow vegetables (at the moment is Lettuce) and herbs in my house. You can check the project's progress on [my Hackaday's page](https://hackaday.io/project/7124-tanibox-indoor-farming-system). The system should controls the lighting on and off at the correct time, logs the temperature and humidity and triggers the fan based on it, and sends the farm log to the server, so, I can predict the harvest time and the farm optimal condition in the future. At the heart of the system, I'm using Raspberry Pi as a micro controller.

Physical world is actually concurrent, thus why not give Clojure a shot? It's a good language for handling concurrency, right?

So, here is my first working version of my code for controlling the LED growing lamp.

```
(ns farmbox.lighting
  (:require [clojure.core.async :as a :refer [>! <! >! <!! go chan close!]]
            [gpio.core :as gpio]))

  (def port (gpio/open-port 4))

  (defn switch-on []
    "Switch the lamp on."
    (if (= (gpio/read-value port) :high)
      (do (gpio/set-direction! port :out)
          (gpio/write-value! port :low)
          "Lamp is on")
      "Lamp is on"))

  (defn switch-off []
    "Switch the lamp off."
    (if (= (gpio/read-value port) :low)
      (do (gpio/write-value! port :high)
          (gpio/set-direction! port :in)
          (gpio/close! port)
          "Lamp is off")
      "Lamp is off"))

  (defn lighting-machine []
    "Create the process for turning on/off the lights."
    (let [in (chan)
          out (chan)]
      (go (let [input (<! in)]
        (cond
          (= input "on") (>! out (switch-on))
          (= input "off") (>! out (switch-off)))
          (do (close! in)
              (close! out))))
      [in out]))

(defn plug-the-machine [switch-status]
  "Call the process of lighting here."
  (let [[in out] (lighting-machine)]
    (>!! in switch-status)
    (println (<!! out))))
```

I gave `Lamp is off` and `Lamp is on` string because go channel can't be given `nil` value.

**The drawback of using Clojure in Raspberry Pi**

Although Clojure is good for handling concurrency, but its runtime is too heavy for device with limited resources likes Raspberry Pi. Its startup time can takes around 2 minutes. It won't be a big problem for production, because you only start the app once. Otherwise it will give some pains in the ass when in development phase, the compile time and the startup time are too slow.

In the second iteration, I will try to evaluate NodeJS as the runtime and use ClojureScript for coding it.



_One of the biggest problem of having pet is filling its needs while the owner leaving the home._

I had an aquarium which was filled with 7 fish, and the fish should be fed at least once a day or better twice a day in small portion. A week ago, I and my wife must left our home for celebrating Eid together at my parent's home in another town, thus it led me for creating an automation system to feed my fish.

Three days before the departure, I started to create it. I have an Arduino Uno R3, an ESP8266 wifi module, a Tower Pro SG90 micro servo, and a Starbucks' juice bottle as a fish food container. My first design was making a system that can tell me via email if it successfully feeds the fish twice a day, but then I remembered that my current home doesn't has always-on-internet. So, I ditched the email feature and surely I didn't need to use ESP8266.

Then I moved with second design. The Arduino would be rotating the servo twice a day without notified me whether it fed the fish successfully or not. I tested it several times, and 150% sure that this device worked with zero bug in code.

![working-design](/blog-img/aquarium-post-mortem.jpeg)

I left my home confidently.

Yesterday, I arrived to my home. Open the door. Stank very bad smell. What the hell was going here? Oh my God! All the fish was floated up on the thicken water. I assessed they had died for 3 days because of ammonia and not by automation system failure.

The catastrophic came from my prepaid home electricity. It showed 000 kwh (kilo watt hour), hence my aquarium pump and filter was turning off and couldn't cleaning up the food leftover. I miscalculated the power usage of all electricities in my home. I should bought more KWh before I left, but I didn't.

**Conclusion**

The lessons that I learned here are:

1.  Prepare the automation system with backup battery. I have a plan to create mini solar powered battery system as a backup from the main electricity.
2.  Making a simple app that can calculate the amount of needed kwh for all home appliances.



Why I'm deeply in love with Clojure? That's because I can do full stack development only in one language. I can write HTML with the same Clojure data structure, then styling it by writing CSS in exactly the same data structure. When I need to do user interface development, I can use ClojureScript then compile it into JavaScript. Actually writing ClojureScript is more pleasant than writing vanilla JavaScript. How about the backend development? You don't say. Clojure was invented for that purpose.

Here is the content of my `project.clj` for doing full stack Clojure website development:

```
(defproject sample "0.1.0"
  :description "FIXME: description"
  :url "https://asep.co"
  :min-lein-version "2.0.0"
  :dependencies [[org.clojure/clojure "1.7.0-beta2"]
                 [org.clojure/clojurescript "0.0-3291"]
                 [org.clojure/core.async "0.1.346.0-17112a-alpha"]
                 [compojure "1.3.4"]
                 [selmer "0.8.2"]
                 [garden "1.2.5"]
                 [jayq "2.5.4"]
                 [ring "1.4.0-RC1"]]
  :plugins [[lein-ring "0.8.13"]
            [lein-ancient "0.6.7"]
            [lein-cljsbuild "1.0.6"]
            [lein-garden "0.2.6"]]
  :resource-path "resources"
  :aot :all
  :main sample.handler
  :uberjar-name "sample-standalone.jar"
  :ring {:handler sample.handler/app}

  :cljsbuild {:builds [{:source-paths ["src-cljs"]
                        :compiler {:output-to "resources/public/js/main.js"
                               :optimizations :simple
                               :pretty-print true}}]}

  :garden {:builds [{:id "screen"
                     :source-paths ["src-styles"]
                     :stylesheet sample.core/screen
                     :compiler {:output-to "resources/public/css/screen.css"}
                     :pretty-print? true}]}

  :profiles {:dev {:dependencies [[ring-mock "0.1.5"]]
                   :ring {:auto-refresh? true}}})
```

I write CSS code by using [Garden](https://github.com/noprompt/garden). It is fun. Who doesn't want to trade their CSS pre-processor with full fledged programming language? For HTML templating, I usually use [Selmer](https://github.com/yogthos/Selmer) when I collaborate with front-end developer who doesn't speak Clojure. But[Hiccup](https://github.com/weavejester/hiccup) is also good when you want to write HTML in Clojure data structure. If I need to create React application, I will use [Reagent](https://reagent-project.github.io/) library. Frankly, developing React application is more convenience using ClojureScript.

Clojure and ClojureScript really make me a happy developer.



This weekend, I am experimenting to use [React Bootstrap](http://react-bootstrap.github.io/) with ClojureScript. For whom that doesn't know it yet, React Bootstrap is a [Bootstrap 3](http://getbootstrap.com/) component built with [ReactJS](http://facebook.github.io/react/). I'm using [Reagent](https://reagent-project.github.io/) library for interacting with React from ClojureScript, instead of [Om](https://github.com/omcljs/om).

Integrating React Bootstrap and Reagent was confusing me at the first. It was non-trivial effort. I searched Google and got no relevant solutions for hours. So, this working solution is based on my trial and error experimentation.

Let's start.

In `project.clj` file, I use Reagent with `:exclusions`, because I have to use React version from NPM not the version that comes from Reagent. Don't forget to create `react.cljs` which contains only `(ns cljsjs.react)`.

`project.clj`
```
(defproject sample "0.1.0-SNAPSHOT"
  :description "Write your definition here."
  :url "http://sample.org"
  :license {:name "Eclipse Public License"
            :url "http://www.eclipse.org/legal/epl-v10.html"}
  :dependencies [[org.clojure/clojure "1.7.0-beta2"]
                 [org.clojure/clojurescript "0.0-3269"]
                 [reagent "0.5.0" :exclusions  [cljsjs/react]]]
  :node-dependencies [[react-bootstrap "0.21.2"]]
  :plugins [[lein-cljsbuild "1.0.5"]
            [lein-npm "0.5.0"]]
  :source-paths  ["src-clj"]
  :resource-path "resources"
  :npm-root "resources"
  :cljsbuild {:builds [{:source-paths ["src-cljs"]
                        :compiler {:output-to "resources/main.js"
                        :optimizations :advanced
                        :pretty-print true}}]})
```
`react.cljs`
```
(ns cljsjs.react)
```
Now, look at the index.html file. I use React and React Bootstrap which come from NPM. I manage the NPM dependencies by using [lein-npm](https://github.com/RyanMcG/lein-npm). It is a good Leiningen plugin for integrating NPM and Leiningen seamlessly.

`index.html`

```
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
  <head>
    <meta charset="utf-8">
    <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1, maximum-scale=1, user-scalable=no">

    <title>Sample</title>

    <link rel="stylesheet" href="css/bootstrap.min.css">
  </head>

  <body>
    <div id="apps" class="container-fluid"></div>

    <script type="text/javascript" src="react.min.js"></script>
    <script type="text/javascript" src="react-bootstrap.min.js"></script>
    <script type="text/javascript" src="main.js"></script>
  </body>
</html>
```

Finally in `core.cljs`, I can do JS interop to call React component from React Bootstrap module.

`core.cljs`

```
(ns sample.core
  (:require [cljsjs.react]
            [reagent.core :as reagent :refer [atom]]))

(defn text-editor
  "Text editor for static blog."
  []
  (let [grid (aget js/ReactBootstrap "Grid")
        row (aget js/ReactBootstrap "Row")
        col (aget js/ReactBootstrap "Col")]
    (reagent/create-element grid #js{}
      (reagent/create-element row #js{}
        (reagent/create-element col #js{:xs 6 :md 6}

          ;; create div for text editor
          (reagent/create-element "div" #js{:contentEditable true} "Left column"))
          (reagent/create-element col #js{:xs 6 :md 6} "Right column")))))

(reagent/render [text-editor] (.getElementById js/document "apps"))
```

This is my working project structure for doing all those thing.

```
doc
resources
-- node_modules
---- react-bootstrap
---- react
-- index.html
-- main.js
src-clj
src-cljs
-- cljsjs
---- react.cljs
-- sample
---- core.cljs
target
test
project.clj
```



As a web developer and iOS developer, I didn't know much about hardware or bare metal programming. I only learned about resistor, capasitor, transistor, etc when I was still in junior high school, thus my electronic knowledge is very limited.

**Arduino Uno R3. My First Board.**

I was interested for learning electronic again as a hobby around 2-3 years ago, when I read that Arduino is easy for learning micro controller programming. I bought it for IDR190.000 (around USD15). I also ordered a bread board for prototyping, some jumper cables, and a pair of LEDs.

I must admit that it was not easy enough for the first time. I had to learn Arduino IDE with Processing language, and learned some jargons that I never knew before in web programming e.g., baud rate, digital pin, analog pin, Tx/Rx, serial port, etc. Finally, I can made my first project run. It was blinking the LED project. Arduino IDE makes everything simple, from writing the code (sketch) until uploading it to the board.

Today, learning Arduino programming from web development background is getting easier. We can do it by using JavaScript with NodeJS and Johnny-Five package.

**Raspberry Pi. Small Linux Board with ARM Processor.**

After doing some small toy projects in Arduino platform, I read about Raspberry Pi the $35 credit card size computer. The first time I knew about GPIO (General Purpose Input/Output) was from this board, and with this board also I learned how to build a cross compiler toolchain for compiling C program from OSX to RPi. I was using this board for various purposes, mostly for home entertainment.

My latest hobby project was building the automation system for my aquarium. It utilized RPi to control servo motor for rotating the fish food dispenser over the internet. I built it by using NodeJS, SocketIO, and [Johnny-Five](https://www.npmjs.com/package/johnny-five) package.

<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oNoDhwC3RDk" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>

The problem came when I want to deploy it on my aquarium. I felt $35 was not worth to be placed as a permanent installation, because I still need the RPi for my home entertainment. So, I should find the cheap way. Arduino obviously not the cheap way. It is $15, but if I want to connect it to the internet I should buy either ethernet shield or the expensive wifi shield.

My friend gave me a solution via Twitter. He mentioned about...

**ESP8266. The $5 Wifi Module.**

I google-ed it. It is a new wifi module that people usually use it as a module for Arduino, but actually it can be used as a stand alone micro controller. So, I ordered it for IDR70.000, also with USB TTY programmer for IDR22000. The total shopping was just IDR99.000 (around $7). It is worth to solder permanently.

The USB TTY is used to program the micro controller. ESP8266 has 2 GPIO pins and working with 3.3 volt power. I can't use JavaScript for this hardware, thus it becomes my first time for writing my own firmware in C and deploy (flash) it to a hardware that don't have operating system. Now, I'm in progress for porting my aquarium system to use this coin size and cheap module.

I will write the tutorial about how to use it in the next post.



Although coding is not a basic communication skill for human, I prefer to encourage people for learning it, especially for someone who wants to expresses and develops his/her idea in technology industry but doesn't come from computer science background. There are couple of reasons according to that opinion.

In the first place, if people know basic coding skill, he/she can develop his/her very beginning concept of software by his/her own hand, then his/her can show it to the more appropriate software engineer. It will establishes an effective communication between the idea owner and the software engineer. Second, basic coding skill can improve his/her decision making skill, because he/she will writes many decisions for many conditions in his/her flow of codes and datum.

In spite of the benefits of having the ability to code, learning it also has some hurdles, such as too many programming languages out there. It will make newbie feel confuse to choose their very first programming language. One more example obstacle, books that teach about coding usually too technical and contain many technical jargons which can scare non-technical people at a glance.

Many peoples that desire to make business in technology industry are not always coming from computer science background; they only have ideas, and also many computer science degree holders don't know how to make business by using their knowledge. Thereby, both of them should meet on one table if they desire to grow together. Thus, basic coding skill will be helpful to establish the communication between them in this circumstance.



_This is the story of my life about my relationship with some programming languages from the first time I learnt computer programming until now. It was like finding a life partner._

**Pascal**

I met her around 2003 from my high school accounting teacher. She was my very first date in programming world. I tried to digest how to do programming and what I can do with programming. My relationship with Pascal was very short. I didn't serious relationship with her; rarely kept in touch with her, thus we broke up. With Pascal, I only wrote some simple CLI programs for calculating my physics and math homework.

**Visual Basic 6**

After Pascal, I was dating a pretty girl from Microsoft called Visual Basic 6. She was very nice girl. Drag and drop GUI programming (it was such an instant gratification), interactive IDE (imho), and the most important thing was I could compile the program to has .exe extension, so that I could show off my program to my friends easily. LoL teenager :P

**Java**

She was just an acquaintance. I only said hello to her; chatted for a while; then said goodbye and never met with her anymore.

I know Java is good and many people love her, but I don't have a good chemistry with her.

**PHP**

I wanted to learn web programming, then I met with PHP. At that time, I made a date with PHP 4. She didn't have supports for object oriented programming, and by the way I also didn't know yet about what object oriented programming was. So, not a big deal.

Now PHP is my true life partner. I have a love and hate relationship with her, but I can't leave her. She is easy going (I mean easy to deploy on any server), practical, and easy to understand. She evolved from an ugly language to be better and better.

**Javascript**

As a web developer, I couldn't avoid to meet and keep in touch with this little girl. Even to make a simple alert window on the browser. My relationship with her is so-so until now.

**Objective C**

I accidentally met her, the girl with a pair of brackets, because I accidentally bought an iPhone 4 on 2010. I was thinking, "This expensive gadget should generate more money for me". So, I learnt to understand her, Objective C.

Now, she is my very best friend to help me earn some extra money.

**Ruby**

This was my affair from PHP. The grass is always greener on the other side, no? I tried to replace PHP with Ruby from my development stack, but she didn't play it very well for me. Ruby with her famous RoR framework wasn't matching with my digital agency workflow. She couldn't be deployed on shared host and the main problem was when we hand over the project to another developer or the client. In Indonesia, they mostly couldn't understand it.

So, I was coming back to my true love, PHP. Now, I still write Ruby code just for making some small CLI tools.
In the late 2013, I learnt functional programming paradigm. This was a new paradigm for me, and it opened my eyes and my mind.

**Erlang**

My very first crush in functional programming world. I read many good things about her, so I tried to approach her. But in reality, she was the girl who can blow my mind in the first date. Her syntax is bewildering me. The OTP framework is also hard to understand by me. So, after 3 months trying to compromise with her. I gave up.

**Racket**

She comes from the family of LISP language. So, she uses S-Expression. Parentheses, parentheses everywhere (puts Buzzlightyear meme here please). Looked weird at the first sight, but I was feeling the good chemistry with LISP based language. My friend said to me, "LISP doesn't have syntax, you will easily understand it.". My friend was right, this language is easy.

I hang-out for a while with Racket. I loved her, but I knew she won't fit in my development tool box. I need more practical language with a good community support and lot of libraries.

So, I moved on. Good bye Racket, thanks for making me fell in love with LISP, but I had to find the perfect partner in functional programming world.

**Clojure**

Lastly, I met with Clojure. A young girl who was born in 2007. She is a LISP on JVM (Java Virtual Machine). Although she is still young, but I don't doubt her capabilities, because LISP is mature language and JVM also has mature ecosystem. When I can't find Clojure library, I can interop with existing Java library. Is it good, right?

Clojure also has a sister. Her name is Clojurescript. She can builds Clojure code into Javascript. Sophisticated.
That's my journey in programming world. So, there are 4 active girls beside me now. PHP is my true love and my lifetime partner for developing website, Javascript a little girl that helps me making interaction in the browser, Objective C will comes when I need to develop iOS application, and lastly Clojure the young girl who teaches me a lot about functional programming and also for developing system on top of JVM.

P.S. because of Clojure, now I can adapt the functional programming paradigm also to my PHP and Javascript code.


Asep Bagja Priandana

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