Wednesday, 7 October 2009
Thursday, 17 September 2009
Glad to be back?
When Tom, Shaun and Gary said at the start of last year that over the summer break “you should keep up with what you’ve learned” they weren’t kidding!
After a month I had forgotten how to code websites. This was quite a big shock to me. It also motivated me to get out there and do something about it. I managed to find my first freelance client and produce a standards compliant website that they were very happy with.
This was closely followed by being offered some work experience at a local web design company. This helped me immensely during the summer break to keep my skills fresh in my mind.
This has also led me to taking on a paid position as a junior developer whilst I’m at college. I’m happy about this as it will provide me with experience of working in the industry, which is what most employers seem to be looking for these days.
Working over the summer has also provided me with a little head start on the new college year. This is because I am now getting a lot of development experience and also getting to use some basic PHP at work before I’ve even started learning it in my SMLP.
Since I received my letter advising me I had obtained a place in the second year I have been raring to get back. the break hasn’t dampened my enthusiasm for the course which to me is a good thing.
Another privilege I have received over the last couple of months is that I was chosen by my tutor of one of three people to give our perspective on the first year of the course to the new first years in a presentation.
Having to get this ready for a couple of days prior to my start date gave me the perfect excuse to get my college head back on.
The presentation itself seemed to be well received and I even managed to provide an advice page for the first years. I’m sure, like me this time last year it won’t start making sense until they’re a little further in though.
Having just finished my first day back I thought it might have been a little more stressful. Thankfully it appears the little bit of prep work I did prior to today served me well.
My targets for the coming year haven’t changed I am still looking to improve my grade profile and also ultimately become employable by the end of the course.
So yes, I am glad to be back.
After a month I had forgotten how to code websites. This was quite a big shock to me. It also motivated me to get out there and do something about it. I managed to find my first freelance client and produce a standards compliant website that they were very happy with.
This was closely followed by being offered some work experience at a local web design company. This helped me immensely during the summer break to keep my skills fresh in my mind.
This has also led me to taking on a paid position as a junior developer whilst I’m at college. I’m happy about this as it will provide me with experience of working in the industry, which is what most employers seem to be looking for these days.
Working over the summer has also provided me with a little head start on the new college year. This is because I am now getting a lot of development experience and also getting to use some basic PHP at work before I’ve even started learning it in my SMLP.
Since I received my letter advising me I had obtained a place in the second year I have been raring to get back. the break hasn’t dampened my enthusiasm for the course which to me is a good thing.
Another privilege I have received over the last couple of months is that I was chosen by my tutor of one of three people to give our perspective on the first year of the course to the new first years in a presentation.
Having to get this ready for a couple of days prior to my start date gave me the perfect excuse to get my college head back on.
The presentation itself seemed to be well received and I even managed to provide an advice page for the first years. I’m sure, like me this time last year it won’t start making sense until they’re a little further in though.
Having just finished my first day back I thought it might have been a little more stressful. Thankfully it appears the little bit of prep work I did prior to today served me well.
My targets for the coming year haven’t changed I am still looking to improve my grade profile and also ultimately become employable by the end of the course.
So yes, I am glad to be back.
Wednesday, 9 September 2009
SMLP Resource List:
Paper-Based Resources
I have had some previous experience learning a programming language Visual Basic in a similar timescale as I had a HND assignment a couple of years ago where this was relevant.
During this time I found that the books produced by Sams Publishing provided me with a relevant base on which to start my learning.
As such I will be using the following books to start my formal learning of PHP and MySQL.
1. Sams Teach Yourself PHP in 10 Minutes, by Chris Newman. (2005)
This book break down the process of learning PHP into 25 chapters. Each of these chapters should take in the region of 10 minutes to work through. One of the reasons for choosing this book was due to the physical size. On the shelf in the shop, next to books on the same subject (most of which were larger than telephone books) this book stood out as something I may be able to use within the 8 week time scale.
2. Sams Teach Yourself MySQL in 10 Minutes, by Chris Newman. (2006)
Exactly the same as the previous book this one breaks down the process of learning MySQL into 25 chapters. Each which should take around 10 minutes to work through. As I had already chosen the previous book to learn the PHP side of things it makes sense to supplement this with a book from the same author which should hopefully compliment it. Again this book is similar in size to the previous one meaning I should have no problem working through it within my allotted time scales.
3. PHP 6 and MySQL 5 for Dynamic Web Sites: Visual QuickPro Guide by Larry Ullman (2008)
I have also looked at this book as it provides a pictorial view of what should be happening on most of the pages. I think this will be useful should I not understand and it should be helpful to clarify things. This book also breaks things down into very simple instructions. This book will be used should I feel the other two did not provide me with enough knowledge as it seems to be a more comprehensive guide breaking things down into greater detail.
Online Resources
4. w3schools.com online tutorials
This is a site I have come across before when learning both XHTML and CSS. It provides a great number of basic tutorials on all sorts of languages including both php and MySQL. It provides information in relatively short pages and on most of these will have a working example where the code can be edited to provide an interactive learning experience. I intend to begin my online learning with these tutorials.
5. webmonkey.com online tutorials
This site bills itself as the web developers resource. I was also advised by a peer it has a very helpful and easy to understand beginners tutorial on php. The site also has a whole programming languages section which I may find useful.
6. php.net
The home of php on the net this site should provide me with with all the information I need to know about php. There also appears to be a php manual which breaks subjects down into helpful chunks and also provide coded examples of how to use the language.
Other Resources
In order to be able to test the things I build offline I have also downloaded WAMP and MAMP servers and installed these on my PC and iMac respectively as otherwise I would have to upload everything each time I wanted to carry out some testing.
I have had some previous experience learning a programming language Visual Basic in a similar timescale as I had a HND assignment a couple of years ago where this was relevant.
During this time I found that the books produced by Sams Publishing provided me with a relevant base on which to start my learning.
As such I will be using the following books to start my formal learning of PHP and MySQL.
1. Sams Teach Yourself PHP in 10 Minutes, by Chris Newman. (2005)
This book break down the process of learning PHP into 25 chapters. Each of these chapters should take in the region of 10 minutes to work through. One of the reasons for choosing this book was due to the physical size. On the shelf in the shop, next to books on the same subject (most of which were larger than telephone books) this book stood out as something I may be able to use within the 8 week time scale.
2. Sams Teach Yourself MySQL in 10 Minutes, by Chris Newman. (2006)
Exactly the same as the previous book this one breaks down the process of learning MySQL into 25 chapters. Each which should take around 10 minutes to work through. As I had already chosen the previous book to learn the PHP side of things it makes sense to supplement this with a book from the same author which should hopefully compliment it. Again this book is similar in size to the previous one meaning I should have no problem working through it within my allotted time scales.
3. PHP 6 and MySQL 5 for Dynamic Web Sites: Visual QuickPro Guide by Larry Ullman (2008)
I have also looked at this book as it provides a pictorial view of what should be happening on most of the pages. I think this will be useful should I not understand and it should be helpful to clarify things. This book also breaks things down into very simple instructions. This book will be used should I feel the other two did not provide me with enough knowledge as it seems to be a more comprehensive guide breaking things down into greater detail.
Online Resources
4. w3schools.com online tutorials
This is a site I have come across before when learning both XHTML and CSS. It provides a great number of basic tutorials on all sorts of languages including both php and MySQL. It provides information in relatively short pages and on most of these will have a working example where the code can be edited to provide an interactive learning experience. I intend to begin my online learning with these tutorials.
5. webmonkey.com online tutorials
This site bills itself as the web developers resource. I was also advised by a peer it has a very helpful and easy to understand beginners tutorial on php. The site also has a whole programming languages section which I may find useful.
6. php.net
The home of php on the net this site should provide me with with all the information I need to know about php. There also appears to be a php manual which breaks subjects down into helpful chunks and also provide coded examples of how to use the language.
Other Resources
In order to be able to test the things I build offline I have also downloaded WAMP and MAMP servers and installed these on my PC and iMac respectively as otherwise I would have to upload everything each time I wanted to carry out some testing.
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