Week Six - Evaluation
Thursday 22nd October 2009
After a frantic week of trying to get the last threads of this assignment into something that resembles a website I have learnt a few valuable lessons along the way.
A problem I have had since the off set is the lack of ability to manage my time. The planning of the assignment seemed relatively easy but sticking to the actual schedule proved to be extremely difficult. There were times when certain aspects of my planned time over lapped or were missed and as a result everything snowballed at the last minute.
Learning a new technology has also proved quite stressful and I am only now beginning to understand how to use it to its full potential now that the assignment has passed.
I will be continuing to research and utilise PHP as much a possible for three reasons: it’s automated and takes some of the repetitiveness out of building; it communicates extremely well with MySQL, they seemed to have been designed with each other in mind; and the syntax, although at first daunting, is quite easy to pick up.
I think I will stray away from learning through book and stick to tutorials online. At least this way there is a possibility of an infinite source for any area of PHP. One thing I found extremely difficult to follow in my reading material was that there was no one to turn to when things went wrong.
Spending nearly four hours one day trying to figure out why I couldn’t connect to a database proved to be quite frustrating. After much angst I had to turn to the internet to get a better picture of what was happening with the mechanics of the process because I could actually see where my mistake was in using the book.
I found the best method for my learning was taking an already created script an breaking it down, or just breaking it, to see how the processes worked in the background. I know I’ve only just scratched the surface of the language but I feel confident in being able to apply scripts to my site and adapting them.
On the website http://www.samcrawshaw.co.uk/a8 I have created an image upload for and was able to implement a loop to display the contents of the directory from scratch. Through this I was able to change values and create another upload form for processing text and displaying the contents to another section of the site.
I’m still not comfortable with using functions such as stripslashes and explodes. I think it’s just because my brain isn’t tuned into the descriptive side of PHP yet. But as time has passed I have become more accustom and gained greater understanding.
I initially only knew how to include scripts into a site using the include function and if it didn’t work that was the end of that. I can now look at a piece of code and have a rough idea of the actions it’s performing and in some cases, manipulate to suit my needs.
One thing that really dragged it’s heels on my SMLP was the statement I included that said I would write down each new script I learnt, create a working example and provide the code for it to the user. This was a grievous on my part. I literally added another half an assignment into an already busy schedule.
I spent more time colour coding pre tagged HTML code than I did learning PHP and building the final site. And I still didn’t finish it all in time. I managed to get halfway through my new_skills section of the site before it became mundane and more of a chore than a learning exercise.
Colour co-ordinating code cost considerable time in all other aspects of my assignment. This is the one thing I would change in my SMLP if I could go back and re-plan. All the other problems that occurred were related to this fact.
I must have spent all of half a day using Photoshop through out this assignment which was a learning out come I had mentioned previously and stated I would spend more time developing these skills.
There are still a few things I would have liked to include in my site as well which I did create in my ‘skills bank’ but just didn’t have the time to implement into the final build.
A new problem that occurred towards the end of the assignment was with my web host. I was supposed to post my evidence in blogs on my site but as of yesterday I have lost my WordPress installation.
I took an event like this in to consideration and backed up blogs from day one. The only thing that it has cost me is convenience. I had to upload the blogs to a directory on my site and code a page for them to be viewed. This doesn’t technically meet my SMLP plan but at least the evidence is there.
I’m pleased that what I have built, in the little time that was left, required little to no validation mark up. This is showing me that my XHTML and CSS coding skills are starting to become second nature and over time, hopefully, I will be able to code blindfolded.
With all these new experiences I can reflect on the fact that my planning of time needs to be looked at in future assignments. I need to know realistic time frames and to be able to accurately predict project lengths.
To summarise, the skills I need to develop are as follows:
- Plan my time more efficiently;
- Make sure my knowledge of PHP doesn’t dwindle by keeping in practice;
- Create realistic goal for myself;
- Develop more complex scripts to interact with MySQL.
These skills are realistic and achievable and if I am able to achieve these goals through the run up of the next assignment I will be one step closer to being a better web developer and ready for employment at the end of this academic year.
Word Count: 1012
Week Five - Falling Apart
Wednesday 21st October 2009
After finally building the log in system I have stumbled across various other problems. I have been testing locally for the majority of the course and as a result when it has come time to move the database over most of the settings have needed tweaking.
This has put me behind quite some time and I have had to do a few all nighters to make up for lost time. It hasn’t helped that my blog entries were deleted in the process of this but through experience I have kept back ups, so again it’s only been time that has been lost.
I am in a rush now and a one thousand word evaluation on top of everything else is looking like a nightmare from this side of the clock.
With these problems occurring now, which they inevitably do in these scenarios, I can on press on and fix the problems as they occur.
With all what’s gone wrong I am please that everything works locally and validates so that’s one load of my mind. I think good practice has made sure that validation is becoming less of a burden and hopefully aspects of my PHP and MySQL technical un-ability will dissolve over time.
I have planned my work out in manageable chunks now so the race is on to finish this in time. Goals for this afternoon are:
- Get the article page of a8 functioning correctly;
- Get the registration section of new_skills working;
- Write a 1,000 word evaluation;
- Print outs;
- CD;
- Assets list;
- Time sheet;
- Burn CD.
Word Count: 266
Week Four - Interaction
October 15th, 2009
This week’s work has kind of taken a back burner which isn’t going to help in the long run. I’ve spent too much time pottering about on an adjacent assignment and I think I may have over stepped the time mark a little.
I haven’t done nearly as much work as I would have like to and following the book I was using concerning MySQL databases has left me even more confused than when I started.
I have leant a few things about PHP though. Mainly using functions and loops to get some really good results such as display the content’s of a directory. These will definitely help in building the site I said I would for my SMLP, which I am regretting committing so many goals to.
I really have to push the boat out this and next week and hope that everything runs smoothly, which do doubt wont.
If I could go back and change one aspect of the SMLP it would be not to show all my workings by maintaining a sister site running parallel to my ongoing projects. I’ve literally nailed my feet to the floor by adding another half of an assignment onto an already busy schedule.
I have had success with the coding side though and I am feeling more confident apply the skills I am learning to new problem that arise throughout this assignment. With better planning on my next module I will be able to work more efficiently and with less stress.
Some goals to set myself this week are:
- Start uploading my site;
- Start validating and debugging;
- Try an get to grips with MySQL;
- Finish off final screen designs.
Word count: 282
Week Three - MySQL
October 8th, 2009
Tasks this week of creating a log in system has proved to be more difficult than I expected. I had originally planned to have finished learning to build a registration system by the end of this week but time has seemed to elude me this week. I will have to put in extra hours this week to make up for lost time.
I now have to juggle my timetable more economically this week as I am due to start the designing process of the web site but until I have mastered the log in system the final layout may have to wait.
Hopefully I will have most of the technical side of this problem completed by the end of this week and that should give me ample time for building and testing. I still need to build the photo upload system and gallery but these are minor compare to the log in system.
I think if I were to negotiate my time with the Self Managed Learning Plan I would have spent more time in the building aspect of this task. I feel I have gained better experience through building and debugging than I have actually reading through books.
This is a skill that I am becoming aware of now; learning through doing. I will try to apply this method to future tasks and adapt my learning to suit.
To recap on the tasks I need to complete by the end of this week:
- Finish log in system;
- Build upload page;
- Build gallery;
- Start screen designs.
Word count: 259
Week Two - PHP Statements
October 1st, 2009
This weeks task have been to finish learning PHP and MySQL and start to put these methods into practice. I have created a basic page to hold these findings which I am happy to report are running smoothly.
I have created a few scripts that process information using PHP. These scripts include a basic interaction form and an eMail form in three instances; basic, with validation and with ‘sticky forms’.
I have also included use of creating a JavaScript include statement to access a twitter feed for updates for a visitor. This was not intended at first but I think using up and coming social network devices for visitors interaction is becoming more prominent in this industry.
All these findings have been commented with code for the visitor to see, which I am beginning to regret due to the amount of time spend coding these findings. If I were to start again I would probably choose to omit this aspect of the build.
I stated in last weeks blog entry that I would ideally be building an image upload form but I feel I may have jumped the gun as I have only just finished the eMail processing. I will now concentrate on the image upload form. This will enable me to add the two elements together to hopefully build some sort of log in system.
So to summarise, items to address this week are:
- Complete an image upload form;
- Start building database access to display the images;
- Research into creating a user log in page to edit submissions;
- To build a JavaScript image gallery.
Word count: 265
Week One - Learning PHP Fundamentals
September 24th, 2009
After the first week of studying some fundamental processes of PHP I have found that the language seems quite easy to pick up. There is a vast amount of new syntax to learn and to add to my vocabulary but I am sure this process will pick up pace in due course.
The syntax presented isn’t far more complicated than say, XHTML, as a lot of the functions I have read about relate to inputs in forms, such as the name attribute.
I know this is only scratching the surface but it will naturally lead into more complicated functions and will enable me to increment my learning.
What I am aiming to achieve is to be able to build an eMail form and an image upload page from scratch. There are many scripts to download and implement in the use of web pages but I want to understand mechanics behind it all. I have used script in the past to process data and have eMails sent from webpage but they were merely included without moderation or understanding from myself.
From reading tutorials on the likes of w3schools.com I have found that there is also some creativity in the process of developing code. There are plenty of ways to build a script that will produce the same results. Not that they are all correct but it does open the possibilities of creating something new which will try and peruse in the future.
This week I have looked at sending mail forms and redirecting browsers and as of next I hope to write in this blog that I have managed to learn the fundamentals of creating an image upload system for a image gallery.
I feel I may have miscalculated the amount of time required for both research and learning in my SMLP because I seem to be learning as I am researching. Part of my learning is to build some small apps and display them here http://www.samcrawshaw.co.uk/a8/new_skilks. These will indefinitely be incorporated into some of my final build so re-evaluating my time in my last blog might give a good insight into why I gave a bad judgment in time.
Word count: 362