bismillah

alex is finally introduced to the javed guy

alex: hey man, it really is time. you told me in

that you would introduce me to this javed guy. i initially did not want to learn how to code, but i agreed and now, yusuf, inshallah tell me about the first steps.

yusuf: yes, i would love to. see, i had to learn how to code too. i was not born being able to code. the main resource i used was the book of javed.

alex: so you learned how to code through a book and the author’s name is javed?

yusuf: yes

alex: what are his qualifications, or did you just pick him because you liked his name?

yusuf: this man has a remarkable vita. however, this is only the secondary reason why i enjoyed learning coding from him.

alex: let’s go step by step. you might not care that much about his professional career, but i do, and i think a lot of other people as well.

yusuf: he went to school in austria. not australia, but austria. no kangaroos in austria and they speak german there.

alex: i see and i don’t care.

yusuf: then he went to germany to study mechanical engineering. while he was doing his bachelor’s, he worked in a field he really enjoyed. it was about numerical optimization of mechanical structures. in the two years he worked there, he was basically just coding. he started with coding in java and then, because the demands expanded, included html, css, and javascript.

alex: javed is using java, did you try to be funny?

yusuf: no, java is the name of a programming language. besides working for that science chair, he was also a tutor for multiple sports: kickboxing, running, soccer, and some others.

alex: so he is not fat?

yusuf: no, he isn’t. for his final bachelor thesis he went to this german car manufacturer, BMW. he wrote his thesis there. his work was math and code. all the math things needed to be implemented as code.

alex: i do not think getting some math equations is that difficult in programming languages, or am i wrong? also, did he use java or javascript for that?

yusuf: doing simple math operations in coding languages is not that difficult, you are right. but he coded up a topology optimization software. he wrote everything in matlab, another coding language.

alex: he likes to switch between coding languages, doesn’t he?. topology optimization sounds fancy, what is it?

yusuf: javed describes this in the following way: imagine you would give me any mechanical physical structure. it could be a chair, a car, a plane or whatever. now you tell me that you want to clamp one side, area or any other locality. so basically you are holding it tight.

alex: okay, i have a plane and am holding it on its wings.

yusuf: next, you tell me where you want to apply forces. now the optimization code will try to generate holes in the structure. its goal is to minimize the compliance while removing material. or in other words, how can i keep most of the stiffness and still remove some material, that is, add holes in it.

alex: so you want to maintain the stiffness and remove as much material as possible. is this because you want to have it lightweight?

yusuf: exactly, also you can tell the optimizer how much material it is allowed to remove.

alex: what did he do after his bachelor’s?

yusuf: he did one more master’s semester in mechanical engineering and then completed his master’s in aerospace engineering. while doing so, he worked for the german aerospace center and some positions at other science chairs.

alex: when you say science chairs you mean he worked at the university for a professor?

yusuf: yes. in every single job he had, he was coding. he coded in java, python, matlab, html, css, js and i don’t know what else. also, for some of his subjects in his master’s he had to code as well.

alex: do you mean the master’s thesis or actual subjects, like aircraft aerodynamics?

yusuf: both, for example, he had to code up a multi-disciplinary problem and solve it. during his master’s, he had to write two theses. guess what, both are fully based on coding and math.

alex: did he continue with topology optimization in his master’s thesis?

yusuf: no, he wanted to know why everybody is talking so much about machine learning. his master’s thesis was trying to create a surrogate model for making predictions for flow fields. basically, he used different machine learning techniques to get a prediction model.

alex: sounds fancy. is his work openly available?

yusuf: you can read the thesis at

alex: impressive, i think this javed guy indeed should know things about coding.

yusuf: the story continues. he is currently doing his phd and for the majority of it, he has to code as well. by the way, the field of his phd is aerospace.

alex: what exactly?

yusuf: usually in wings of aircraft, you have kerosene. now the goal is to replace kerosene with hydrogen. hydrogen shall be stored under very high pressure in tubes. besides using hydrogen, the tubes are an integral part of the wing structure. so, every load that the wing sees, it is directly forwarded to the highly pressured hydrogen tanks.

alex: okay, you convinced me. the cv of this guy really sounds nice and i think i wouldn’t mind learning from him too.

yusuf: yeah, his cv is okay, but this is not the reason why i like him so much.

alex: what then?

yusuf: he keeps complicated things simple. he says, if you really have understood complex ideas, you can break them down to simpler subparts. he likes to talk to humans on the same level. because of his expertise in some fields, he could use technical terms, overcomplicate things and thus appear to be smart.

alex: so basically you are saying, he does not like to brag and does not humiliate others with some of his expertise.

yusuf: maybe that too, but i just like it that he keeps things simple and approachable. the person who he talks to won’t feel stupid too much. he might be even motivated through the conversation with him. also, it is kind of a respectful or simply honest way to communicate.

alex: not overcomplicating things has indeed a link to honesty. moreover, if you really want to teach something, you would use a language that others can relate to. i think i understand what you are trying to say. let me ask you the probably most important question?

yusuf: sure, go ahead.

alex: he is muslim, right?

yusuf: yes, he is and i love him for being so open about it. he likes to call himself a slave of Allah. obviously, muslims are slaves of Allah, but it requires some bravery to say that openly in a world where muslims have to be afraid of being openly muslims.

alex: okay, i do not care whether he is a muslim or not. however, from your description, this guy seems to be transparent and does not present himself as the mistake-free guru.

yusuf: the reason why i love him being so openly muslim is that, through that, you know who he is. he really cares about justice, human rights, or in large about morals. another thing is that other muslims can be motivated through a confident muslim too, to be confident slaves of Allah themselves.

alex: i see, you want to marry him. anyhow, is he funny?

yusuf: funnier than you.

alex: you maybe want to kiss my shoe? javed, that is not an austrian name?

yusuf: no, he is from pakistan.

alex: in one of our previous conversations you also talked about editor and other tools that you might need. does he also talk about these things?

yusuf: yes. because he had to write actual code himself, he knows the value of handy tools. you don’t want to click here, there, and then there to get one thing done. you also do not want to write boilerplate code yourself. you also do not want to get error messages once you run the code, when some of them could be mentioned to you directly.

alex: i only got one thing out of your cryptic description. he had to code himself in real life and thus teaches you accordingly. i mean, not just the coding language, as maybe like in a course at a university, but the actual efficient application of it.

yusuf: you understood everything i said and still call it cryptic? should i consult a special doctor for you?

alex: you can call me Dr. Alex.

mashallah, let’s recap

yusuf: i think i have given you enough of my valuable time. now alex, give me a short summary about what we talked about so that i can pray asar.

alex: valuable time, your measurement metric is broken, when you call your time valuable. this javed guy seems to have knowledge about coding. and because he likes to talk to other people in a dignified way, he puts some effort into breaking down complex ideas to simpler ones.

yusuf: yes, furthermore, i myself learned coding through him. because of the experience i had with him, i would like to teach you how to code by using his book.

alex: finally he inshallah also talks about tools to be efficient in coding.

yusuf: yes, mashallah.