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Mid-2008 - What have you learned, what do you still plan to?
Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2008 1:05 pm
by JAB Creations
It's a little bit past mid-2008 but I'm wondering what others here have learned thus far this year and yet still plan to learn?
Re: Mid-2008 - What have you learned, what do you still plan to?
Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2008 1:06 pm
by Christopher
Perhaps you could kick-off the discussion by presenting your lists...
Re: Mid-2008 - What have you learned, what do you still plan to?
Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2008 1:13 pm
by JAB Creations
My lists? Hmm, well a lot of thanks for the help I've gotten here writing more efficient code (less regex but I also got a lot better with regex). I've been getting a lot better with MySQL (I learned some earlier this year) but I really gave it a go this past week (new thread in security if anyone wants to help me secure the code). I made my PHP class file dynamic (it was static). I've messed around with AJAX (figured out how to give an element loaded by an AJAX includes focus which was interesting). I learned the beauty of cURL! Lots of JavaScript improvements but that's not really forum related (didn't post so much about that). I'm more curious about what other people are learning and setting goals for at the moment which is why I wrote my OP as I did.

Re: Mid-2008 - What have you learned, what do you still plan to?
Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2008 1:23 pm
by alex.barylski
Hard to say really...we all learn something new every day...
Hmmm...for me it will be more about software architecture...I'd like to work on a PHP Form's library and OOSQL possibly. I would like to polish my applicaiton generator and give it an end-user interface so others can create quick prototypes.
Postfix and Linux in general are always on the horizon...which is what I have probably learned most about this year so far.
Re: Mid-2008 - What have you learned, what do you still plan to?
Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2008 2:07 pm
by JAB Creations
What do you want to do with everything you've learned and are learning? For example I want to automate a lot of what I do and make it so that I can respond to situations much quicker then I can right now.
Re: Mid-2008 - What have you learned, what do you still plan to?
Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 8:43 am
by malcolmboston
pretty much nothing except more PHP

I just dont have time anymore.
However i did buy this book mid last week:
http://www.amazon.com/JavaScript-Sixth- ... 0321430328 but i havent even read a page yet, but i am plannning on learning AJAX more for personal reasons than anything else, its still not accessible enough to be integrated into any eCommerce sites in my opinion.
Re: Mid-2008 - What have you learned, what do you still plan to?
Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 9:19 am
by JB4
I plan to get good at PHP and MySQL, then after learning a programming language, my goal is to move onto C/C++ or C#.
Re: Mid-2008 - What have you learned, what do you still plan to?
Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 10:08 am
by Chalks
My goal for the rest of this year is to get a basic toolkit together. I want to polish up a CMS I made earlier in the year, build a bunch of functions that I find myself using over and over, and get a few css templates built up. I also am planning on building a "contact me" script that I can plug into a site, and a register/login deal.
RAWR.

Re: Mid-2008 - What have you learned, what do you still plan to?
Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 2:03 pm
by JAB Creations
Chalks! Here is where I created my contact form years ago...great at giving you something generated to work from!
http://www.tele-pro.co.uk/scripts/contact_form/
Malcolm, I have the third and fourth editions of that book.
JB4, what do you want to do when you start writing software?
Re: Mid-2008 - What have you learned, what do you still plan to?
Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 2:49 pm
by JB4
JAB Creations wrote:JB4, what do you want to do when you start writing software?
I'd really like to program games. I have a lot of local game companies here in town so I'd like to go intern at one. I've always just loved to think. I'm always thinking about how to do something. That's really why I like programming.
Re: Mid-2008 - What have you learned, what do you still plan to?
Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 10:56 pm
by volomike
* Professional accountants are necessary for beating taxes back when freelancing. By meeting with one this year (my first), I'm saving a ton of money on taxes now. This reduced my stress level a good bit.
* In the world of freelancing, taking a day to write scripts, or use other tools, are necessary for optimizing and automating, allowing you to keep your time estimates low. Your average newbie guy who just learned PHP won't be in this mindset. He'll draw every form by hand rather than building a standard generator script, or not use a framework and reset CSS for styling pages, or type every Javascript command by hand with reams and reams of code and cross-browser testing instead of using jQuery, and so on.
* jQuery was incredibly useful. Every PHP developer should learn it.
* Blueprint CSS was very useful.
* Outlet ORM is going to be very useful for me in the future after just a few more improvements.
* Smarty is redundant to creating a subfolder called "templates", sticking your XHTML in there, renaming as PHP pages, and then using minimal PHP Alternative Syntax in these pages. Still, some clients want Smarty, so I still use it.
* MySQL gets an F- on keyword searches. Sphinx is the way to go. I need to learn Sphinx.
* Paypal blows. I've had bugs using their sandbox and in getting proper responses back on transactions. As soon as I can find an affordable replacement and some time to work with that API, I will do that. So far, nothing is comparable yet. Google Checkout is coming up fast on features, but they're not quite there yet, especially on the international thing.
Re: Mid-2008 - What have you learned, what do you still plan to?
Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2008 10:37 am
by malcolmboston
volomike wrote:
* Paypal blows. I've had bugs using their sandbox and in getting proper responses back on transactions. As soon as I can find an affordable replacement and some time to work with that API, I will do that. So far, nothing is comparable yet. Google Checkout is coming up fast on features, but they're not quite there yet, especially on the international thing.
Hmm, i would have to disagree with that, I have vast experience with Paypal, Google Checkout, Secpay, Protx and WorldPay from a user and development level.
Paypal is by far and away the easiest to implement, It took me around 2 hours to integrate it into my eCommerce sites and im doing the slightly more complicated Paypal cart system, not the simple buy it now button, i would say Google was also pretty simple but google makes you jump through somewhat unnecessary hoops to actually get it all integrated properly and the user base is simply not there at the moment for whatever reason, Google checkout probably accounts for around 5% of my sales, with 55% Credit card (and therefore Secpay) and the rest Paypal.
It is worth noting i've never had issues with Paypal sandbox system so it may be worth ripping your code apart and finding out whats going wrong, although i felt the docs on Paypal left much to be desired (the same goes to a lesser extent the google API and and the practically non-existant eBay API Documention)
My $0.02
Re: Mid-2008 - What have you learned, what do you still plan to?
Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2008 5:00 pm
by volomike
malcolmboston wrote:pretty much nothing except more PHP

I just dont have time anymore.
However i did buy this book mid last week:
http://www.amazon.com/JavaScript-Sixth- ... 0321430328 but i havent even read a page yet, but i am plannning on learning AJAX more for personal reasons than anything else, its still not accessible enough to be integrated into any eCommerce sites in my opinion.
As soon as you finish that, consider learning jQuery and then learn jQuery Forms. With jQuery, you can reduce many things you do in Javascript to either including a plugin and using it, or writing your own in very little time and with less of a need to test across the different browsers. With jQuery Forms, there's an AJAX component in it that makes dealing with AJAX stuff just as easy as handling PHP form posting. I am 100% certain that once you learn jQuery, you will not touch much of Javascript again (except a line here or there), will reduce the amount of time you do on browser testing, and you'll speed up project delivery times a great deal.
Re: Mid-2008 - What have you learned, what do you still plan to?
Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2008 5:25 pm
by JAB Creations
Knowing jQuery without knowing JavaScript? That's sort of like knowing how to make the car physically move by using a key and a gas pedal without knowing what those mysterious green yellow and red lights are about. Too many people treat jQuery as if it's acceptable to blindly use it. Sure learning anything can be painful but an investment in knowledge pays off greatly in interest. Keep in mind even compressed jQuery will take about a dozen seconds to download on dialup (56K actually maxes out at about 4.7KB which is effectively just over 36K) and that especially here in America there is a significant percentage of people still using dialup (think IE6 numbers). Not to say jQuery isn't awesome...it really is...but to think it's an end all solution isn't a reliable option in the long term. Besides...there is a bug for my site even in IE7/8 that jQuery hasn't fixed. Treat jQuery as you would a payment system...it's only one of many.
@ JB4: I don't want you to think in any way that I'm trying to discourage you because I've faced endless discouragement by others (not that it effected me other then strengthening my resolve) but for example the "college" I went to dropped my AS/BS degrees in Web Design/Web Development and replaced it with "Game Design"...and their success numbers include anyone who lands a job at 7-11 after they get their diploma. Considering the demand is practically non-existent (as in you'll be competing against numerous other people) unless you truly stand out you're going to be worrying about bills. I hate to be discouraging but one has to remain realistic...prepare for the worst and hope for the best is the best way to go about it. Still I think you should approach your goals and adapt as you see fit. For example even if you don't get in to the game industry you might strike a 60K a year job doing regular programming...and then you might be able to invest some of your free time to developing your own in-house game yourself or with some friends. That would be a more realistic path I think but if you're good enough...you know really good ...you might just be able to do everything you want every step of your path. Best of luck!
Re: Mid-2008 - What have you learned, what do you still plan to?
Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2008 7:08 pm
by JB4
Oh, I'm good enough.
Ya, I know pretty much everything you just said, and I know it'll be hard. I also know I can find jobs elsewhere that pay good for programming. But right now what I'm doing is going to college between my sophmore and junior year. I'm going in for 3d modeling and animation, which I know that here at least, those are in high demand right now.