Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Spilling Some Beans


As I have already told you a few weeks ago, I have been working on another top-secret project.  Now is not the time to spill all of the beans because it is not quite ready yet, but I can spill some of the beans at this time.

Quite simply, I am working on developing an independent website.  Since I know so very little about just how to do this, I have been learning how through the video tutorials at [Lynda.com].  If you take some time to check out what they have to offer, you might find some subjects that you would like to learn a lot more about, such as their Adobe Photoshop courses.  Be assured that I tried several other leaning options, like [Khan Academy], [Codecademy], [Code School] and the hundreds (thousands?) of YouTube videos available, but what Lynda had to offer was the best option for me.

I have finally settled upon working with [PHP], which is a server-side scripting language.  What?  Yeah, see what I mean?

Well, a server-side scripting language does its thing in the server while a client-side language (HTML, javascript) does its thing in the browser.  If you are using something like Blogger and click on the HTML tab at the top-left of your post compose page, you will see a bunch of client-side scripting language after you actually type or paste something onto the compose page.  After discovering that what I picked through the automatic YouTube embed button at the top of the compose page did not always end up with the video I wanted to embed 2-3 years ago, I started manually inserting the embed code directly into the HTML page.  So, I had a little prior experience with working with code, but building a website from scratch involves a whole lot more—be assured.

Alas, please don’t ask too many questions at this time.  For I am still mostly in the dark about many of the details.  Thankfully, there is such a thing as a [software framework] that saves a lot of steps throughout the development process.  It is when I ran across something called [Ruby on Rails] on a YouTube video that started me to thinking that I just might be able to bring this dream/nightmare to fruition (naturally-speaking, of course).  Since I switched from Ruby to PHP, I am now working with the [Laravel] framework.

The reason why I switched from Ruby to PHP was on account of not being completely confident in Ruby being able to handle all I wanted the site to offer and not wanting to take the time to find out whether it would or not.  Whereas, I ran across several indications of PHP being able to handle it all before I made the switch.

Yeah, what a long, strange trip I have been taking.  I hope we both like the destination when the time comes.

P.S.: What you just read was written before I started having so much “fun.”  To put it bluntly, for every step forward I have taken, I have fallen down the flight of stairs that appear just before I can take the next step.  As it stands now, I cannot use either Laravel or Ruby on Rails because of something being messed up with this computer.  What I need can be done on Arlynda’s computer, but that is another nightmare I do not want to deal with.  So, I will be treading water until we can download and install our free copy of [Windows 10] around the last of July.  Oh yeah, there is going to be a rest of this story to come (probably several chapters of it).  Sigh.

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8 comments:

  1. It sounds like you've challenged yourself with quite a task. I wish you much success with this new project and look forward to seeing what you come up with.

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    1. Thanks for stopping by, my dear Stephen!!! I have really missed you. The next time you and your longsuffering wife go off on a romantic getaway, you need to check in with me much more often.

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  2. Since I'm totally clueless on the subject I won't even attempt to ask a question

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    1. Thanks for stopping by, my dear Ann!!! Methinks Gibbs would be farther along than I am by now. Sigh.

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  3. You've more patience than I have, Jerry! From reading what you've written about what you're doing I'd have no hair left by now! :) But I am interested to learn your progress as you go along and your no doubt success.

    I, too, probably will be switching over to Windows 10, eventually. From what I've heard it's not going to have the problems 8.1 had/has.

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    1. Thanks for stopping by, my dear Lee!!! Since we still have Windows 7 on both computers, I am unaware of any problems 8.1 has. I do know of 8 not having a start button, which 8.1 was supposed to fix.

      I was wanting to wait until some of the bugs were worked out on 10 before installing it, and since I am now taking a different approach to my coding problems, I may not have to install it on this computer until well into the fall. We will wait to see how it goes on this computer before installing it on Arlynda's--either way.

      What I have read about 10 not including a media center/player troubles me. For we use the Windows Media Player a lot. Yes, there are other players out there, but I like to stick with what I am familiar with.

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    2. Yep...I intend to wait a while until it hits the market - we'll find out then how good it is. My ex is computer savvy and he's on 8.1 and he hates it. He's eager for 10 to come out. My computer guy was going to upgrade my tower to 8.1 a couple of weeks ago, but I suggested we wait until 10 comes out and he agreed...saying he'd contact me when it did. I'll upgrade my laptop at the same time.

      I'm still on XP and am having no problems...for what I use my computer for. Of course, XP doesn't come under the free upgrade to 10...but my computer fellow said my tower has all the capabilities to handle it and he will do a loop across...or some such thing! Whichever - whatever.

      I hate change! lol

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    3. Thanks for stopping by again, my dear Lee!!! Well, they have to change in order to keep making money. Although, I am rather shocked by the regular price for 10 being only $99 for the home premium version and $199 for professional/enterprise.

      The one really good thing about 8.1 I heard of is that one can "refresh" without having to do a complete uninstall/reinstall when things get messed up like what is holding me back on this one. Yes, I have system restore, but it has never worked right from the beginning with this computer while it worked like a charm with Windows Me and Vista we had before on other Dell computers.

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