I’ve been trying to figure out over the last few weeks how I want to direct myself. When I started out in "programming" – as it were – I was actually working with the web, and thoroughly enjoyed it. As I now develop Intranet systems, as well as develop scripts and work a lot in SQL I’ve decided to concentrate the next year or so in web development, whilst remaining in client-side application development. The web is a very prominent place at the moment where applications of old which previously resided on a client’s machine, are now being shifted into the new web generation of applications.
There is a method to my madness. As you may well know I now work professionally as a web developer primarily working in ASP.NET, VB.NET, JavaScript, XML, XSLT and even more than I can actually remember. I also work in Python and some seriously old school VBA (which is surprisingly rather fun). I’ve also got a big heart for charity, and decided to take on another job part-time as a web developer. I don’t earn any money for it, and neither do I want to earn any money for it. What I want to earn from it is serious experience, as well as being able to use my skills to help others whom are in more need. I had actually started this job whilst studying at university but I was also working as a developer, whilst studying, whilst working for charity. It became a bit too much for me and I decided to give it all up (bar the degree of course).
PHP was always my language of choice, because of its cross-platformness, and its friendly approach to loosely-typed object-oriented development. Or I could say that I like the syntax, but most probably because I’m more familiar with it. Let’s face it, if I know a language, and it’s suitable, and it meets the needs and is composed of the features required, what’s the point in changing language? I can see the hype for Python though, so don’t assume I’m disregarding it.
AJAX is the fancy-pants technology used at the moment, and with the right touch it can be made to be very tasteful. Whilst it is very much over-used in some stupid places it can also be used to make a website much more usable.
I’ve ordered three books to get the ball rolling despite the concept of AJAX actually being very simple.
- Bulletproof AJAX
- Practical Web 2.0 Applications with PHP
- PHP Object, Patterns and Practice
The only problem I have now is finding a decent IDE for web development using Mac OS. Currently I’m using TextWrangler which was recommended to me, but I haven’t found it very powerful just yet. I’ve previously used some Eclipse plugins which were very good, although it’s been a while since I’ve touched them. Any recommendations?
