I was twelve when we bought a tandy pc (TRS-80)..got into zork on a friends Atari PC, so my dad picked up a book (something like "How to Write Text Adventures in BASIC) and that was the start of a very long and wonderful love affair and career.
But being able to do that effectively requires being significantly smarter than everyone else who is looking at and commenting on the designs so they can design and insert weaknesses which no one realizes are weaknesses.
Could see strategies focused on that same peer process. Less smart eyes on the subject is more opportunity. Keeping everyone involved surely is crucial.
Take all this advice and throw it out for a moment. When you have a site that needs done, think about what development tools you 'feel your oats' with. Those are the right ones...for this project...for now. I have always used a smattering of hand-coding tools and a smattering of visual tools. Sometimes I just need that polished slick look I can get quickly from a visual tool, not always a whole platform or IDE but sometimes just a freebie, or even something brand new. The most important thing is, if you are going to be doing this by yourself, as a sort of self-made consultancy or what have you..summer money while you are attending college etc. then do whatever it takes and use whatever it takes to get the job done the way the guy with the MONEY wants it done.
Sometimes I'll use a visual tool like Dreamweaver or Artisteer just to get a quick design and then use this as a template and code the entirety of the site by hand. Sometimes I use Notepad++ sometimes I use an IDE.
You, after a dozen or two middle-of-the-road projects, will discover those development tools that just simply say 'I can do anything with just these 4..now I'm set'...until HTML5 undergoes mitosis and now you have two standards to deal with...but this program only supports that one and that IDE can only do this....
Point is...development is an ongoing...well...development. Tools and technologies will change (rapidly)
Alvin Toffler said:
'“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”
Some people in this digital age can, some can't, as is to be expected.
I first pondered this when I realized I didn't want to learn to use new input hardware for gaming. Or learn a new 'gamepad' setup or what have you. I had certain configs I was used to and didn't want to 'unlearn and relearn' control of this game or that.
Age certainly CAN come in to play but, as many other things, should not be used as an excuse.
Just keep on learning, unlearning, and relearning till you make 6 figures my friend, forget the others and put that energy into your own development.
Oh yeah, keep smiling:)
Great comments thanks for your reply! You hit the proverbial nail on the head nicely.
Yes, I know learning syntax in a weekend does not a programmer or expert make...that comment was really just to say that I don't care if the syntax is clean or reads like regex snips but I am more interested in capability.
Thanks again!
Again, more great info, thanks. I forgot about tcl/tk, Python was just getting started when I touched that one.
I'll be checking out Ruby and Python, maybe Clojure.
And I have still a great respect and admiration for PHP!
Thanks!
Your comments are of help even though my question was not perfect! Looks like Ruby or Python will do the trick, but I might have to check out Clojure as well.
Thanks again!
Awesome info! Ken, you hit it right on for me, I love PHP for just these reasons, I will probably check out Ruby and Python as they seem to fit my bill.
Thanks so much for your input, really!
That is correct, never did like getting into assembler or even too far into C.
Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it...
So far Ruby and Python seem to be right up my ally...and I still love PHP!
Right, I debated this exactly before posting and I had hoped that noting this was for personal and hobby use would tip everyone off that I'm not looking for anything SPECIALIZED...
Thanks for your input and for your considerate tone Seriman and stox...
General purpose programming. I just want to become expert with a Language that can do utilities, small-scale applications, maybe some web work, and has a lot of libraries, like PHP, I am really liking this Language so far...
The 'right' question meh. I bow to your judgement. Next time I will endeavor to git er right. Or, mebe you could read through some of my replies to the comments and get an idea and post a USEFUL comment.
Or not. You probably would answer the wrong question. Thanks anyway.
As it was, so it is. I am aware of this, and I thought most would catch when I say 'hobby' and understand me to mean that I am interested in plain general purpose coding. Nothing too fancy or too buried in any particular vein like drivers/hardware, or mathematics etc.
I knew I should have said a little on that but, being my first post here, I wanted to keep it brief u know..
As I noted in my post I never was a seasoned programmer, I was a total hack, aw hell you guys prolly don't even know what a hack is, you probably think I had an area of expertise too. I HACKED SHIT TOGETHER and got PAID! I learned whatever I needed to know to accomplish what others couldn't. I probably forgot more about the languages I've used than most 'experts' know of any single language.
I couldn't possibly have listed all the languages and technologies I have done work with. But here's a sample....
BASIC, C, Pascal, Ada, COBOL, Perl, CGI, vbscript/asp, scripting (*ux shells mostly), VB, most recently PHP.
I am only interested in general purpose work, utilities, hell I don't even know yet exactly where I will go with this.
I was hoping for some informed guidance and expert advice but maybe slashdot isn't what it used to be...
Slashdot Mirror
Is it just me or is the link to nasa.gov down!?
I was twelve when we bought a tandy pc (TRS-80)..got into zork on a friends Atari PC, so my dad picked up a book (something like "How to Write Text Adventures in BASIC) and that was the start of a very long and wonderful love affair and career.
But being able to do that effectively requires being significantly smarter than everyone else who is looking at and commenting on the designs so they can design and insert weaknesses which no one realizes are weaknesses.
Could see strategies focused on that same peer process. Less smart eyes on the subject is more opportunity. Keeping everyone involved surely is crucial.
duck duck go!
Laravel
Take all this advice and throw it out for a moment. When you have a site that needs done, think about what development tools you 'feel your oats' with. Those are the right ones...for this project...for now. I have always used a smattering of hand-coding tools and a smattering of visual tools. Sometimes I just need that polished slick look I can get quickly from a visual tool, not always a whole platform or IDE but sometimes just a freebie, or even something brand new. The most important thing is, if you are going to be doing this by yourself, as a sort of self-made consultancy or what have you..summer money while you are attending college etc. then do whatever it takes and use whatever it takes to get the job done the way the guy with the MONEY wants it done. Sometimes I'll use a visual tool like Dreamweaver or Artisteer just to get a quick design and then use this as a template and code the entirety of the site by hand. Sometimes I use Notepad++ sometimes I use an IDE. You, after a dozen or two middle-of-the-road projects, will discover those development tools that just simply say 'I can do anything with just these 4..now I'm set' ...until HTML5 undergoes mitosis and now you have two standards to deal with...but this program only supports that one and that IDE can only do this....
Point is...development is an ongoing...well...development. Tools and technologies will change (rapidly)
Alvin Toffler said: '“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” Some people in this digital age can, some can't, as is to be expected. I first pondered this when I realized I didn't want to learn to use new input hardware for gaming. Or learn a new 'gamepad' setup or what have you. I had certain configs I was used to and didn't want to 'unlearn and relearn' control of this game or that. Age certainly CAN come in to play but, as many other things, should not be used as an excuse. Just keep on learning, unlearning, and relearning till you make 6 figures my friend, forget the others and put that energy into your own development. Oh yeah, keep smiling :)
Great comments thanks for your reply! You hit the proverbial nail on the head nicely. Yes, I know learning syntax in a weekend does not a programmer or expert make...that comment was really just to say that I don't care if the syntax is clean or reads like regex snips but I am more interested in capability. Thanks again!
Again, more great info, thanks. I forgot about tcl/tk, Python was just getting started when I touched that one. I'll be checking out Ruby and Python, maybe Clojure. And I have still a great respect and admiration for PHP! Thanks!
Your comments are of help even though my question was not perfect! Looks like Ruby or Python will do the trick, but I might have to check out Clojure as well. Thanks again!
Yes I would like to have the option for GUI, looks like Python and Ruby cover my bill...thanks.
Awesome info! Ken, you hit it right on for me, I love PHP for just these reasons, I will probably check out Ruby and Python as they seem to fit my bill. Thanks so much for your input, really!
That is correct, never did like getting into assembler or even too far into C. Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it... So far Ruby and Python seem to be right up my ally...and I still love PHP!
Right, I debated this exactly before posting and I had hoped that noting this was for personal and hobby use would tip everyone off that I'm not looking for anything SPECIALIZED... Thanks for your input and for your considerate tone Seriman and stox...
General purpose programming. I just want to become expert with a Language that can do utilities, small-scale applications, maybe some web work, and has a lot of libraries, like PHP, I am really liking this Language so far...
The 'right' question meh. I bow to your judgement. Next time I will endeavor to git er right. Or, mebe you could read through some of my replies to the comments and get an idea and post a USEFUL comment. Or not. You probably would answer the wrong question. Thanks anyway.
As it was, so it is. I am aware of this, and I thought most would catch when I say 'hobby' and understand me to mean that I am interested in plain general purpose coding. Nothing too fancy or too buried in any particular vein like drivers/hardware, or mathematics etc. I knew I should have said a little on that but, being my first post here, I wanted to keep it brief u know..
Awesome, more great advice, thanks and appreciation!
Finally a voice in the aethers I can hear, thank you.
As I noted in my post I never was a seasoned programmer, I was a total hack, aw hell you guys prolly don't even know what a hack is, you probably think I had an area of expertise too. I HACKED SHIT TOGETHER and got PAID! I learned whatever I needed to know to accomplish what others couldn't. I probably forgot more about the languages I've used than most 'experts' know of any single language. I couldn't possibly have listed all the languages and technologies I have done work with. But here's a sample.... BASIC, C, Pascal, Ada, COBOL, Perl, CGI, vbscript/asp, scripting (*ux shells mostly), VB, most recently PHP. I am only interested in general purpose work, utilities, hell I don't even know yet exactly where I will go with this. I was hoping for some informed guidance and expert advice but maybe slashdot isn't what it used to be...