My friend AZ's Healthfocus website( a part of my portfolio)
Another friend's Healthysport website, this is about borrowed templates and
I have used the famous Joomla web application( another part of my portfolio)
current project for another client( another part of my portfolio) |
So I am now here in the car dealer for maintenance.
It's really cool to get down here in South Florida Honda dealer to have my regular check-up. My CR-V is pretty much new so the maintenance is pretty routine. I still have to shell out some cash. But this is somewhat expected in daily life.
Anyway, I'm now blogging the natural way and I'm pretty happy with the current state of this blog because of the automatic printing of quotes and new lines. I'm happy with little things like that.
Nowadays, I am taking subjects that I am yet to find the reason why I'm taking them. Data Structures stimulate my brain but I have yet to figure where the learning of binary search trees and hashes are leading to. The other thing is recursion. I know there is value in these topics I just wish the teachers could relate them into my real world.
The other course named Software Engineering is pretty cool but I don't see a future where I will be managing a team to organize a big project. All I need is how to determine the requirements and create a map or guide in creating the project. It is a very subjective field and I don't really have the heart for it.
What is really exciting to me are these little projects I am creating. This little blog which I copied from a book started in scratch. Little by little, I am adding features into it as a way of learning the mechanics of real web programming.
Right now, my goal will be adding more security, adding images, and adding more mysql features that will allow more than one user. I am taking my time.
This is good
I'm now pretty fine with my latest modifications.
First, I can now add 'quotes' and "quotation marks" without the slashes. IT turns out it is easy to do it. Use 'striplashes()' function.
Second, if you notice, I am creating new paragraphs. I used 'nl2br()' function there.
It ain't painful afterall. :)
On my IT studies
It's generally accepted that getting a Computer Science or IT degree is not enough to prove you are a good computer programmer. The way I see it now, to be good in programming one has to dream in code and keep practicing on programming itself. The primary impetus to this is of course a desire to be a computer science person. Computer Programming isn't about reading a textbook and then taking an exam and if you got a hundred you must be the best. Sorry to say that's not the way it goes in this realm.
The first thing one has to do is to learn.
Smooth sailing
10/09/11--Everything is smooth sailing now with my Ruby on Rails.I got is setup so far with Windows 7, Mac and Ubuntu. I was able to figure out the problem with rake 0.9.* so I decided on sticking with 0.8.7 as of this time. I am just cruising along with my current project, being copied from a book. It will be another e-store. I just love creating these e-commerce sites.
So far I have built one in php.
Now I am building with RoR.
Next will be in C#.
These projects are outside of my current courses at the University. Well, university courses are lame and sometimes irrelevant (but useful though in understanding these languages I am currently learning on my own). Life is beautiful when I code.
Success!
09/25/11 - I like to see that response whenever I run a program. I have finally discovered the multiple ways of setting up the ruby on rails/ gems / sqlite3 set up in both the windows 7 and ubuntu systems. Windows set up is a lot easier though it is far from perfect. The good thing is I can deploy my applications to the github.com site now, which, in a way is success on its own. I have also started tinkering with drupal as some people have tried to register themselves into it. It is nice to have a response like that even if the intention was far from what I am thinking. Anyway, the university studying is still going on. I will be preparing for my mid term exams soon. And that is life. Roll with the punches while enjoying it.
Update
09/11/11
One of the things I have tried to do so far is to create this simple blog you are reading now from scratch following a textbook guide by (oh boy I forgot the name now) and though it meets the blog criteria, there is really nothing much in it. Of course I created another one for the healthysport.net site and that is a little better but it lacks the wonders of blogs professionally created. I am hoping that now that I am back to school, I will find the impetus to improve my web development skills (which is the pathway I am pursuing in my quest for a new bachelors degree in IT). I have been spending lots of time with php, mysql but recently I discovered so many programs and languages I HAVE to learn in order for me to become good in web development. I am telling you this - the university education is not enough, in fact, I find it repetitious and limiting. It is easy to get an A+ but at the end of it all, you know deep in your heart you have not learned enough yet. So, right now, I am immersing myself into new (and I am not even sure if they are called computer languages still) approaches to web development: ruby on rails specifically, and of course java (I have been immersed in C++ a lot at the university so java is somewhat easy to study by now). I am interested with ASP.NET, and the whole gamut of Visual Studio learning. My goal in learning these is to have as much skills in my bag so later on, I can create as many as web sites as I can handle with ease. The operative word is ease.
One of the techniques of successful computer programming is avoiding the repetitions of codes, extensive use of APIs ( or libraries pre-programmed by great programmers around the world). So far I have not dealt much with design yet (as you can tell) and everything I am managing is pretty much rudimentary. It is easy to blog via established blog sites but remember I am studying to be a web developer, so it is a must for me to establish the framework of the blog, on top of learning how to use it. Anyway, I will try to connect you to my new learning products. And thanks a lot for being here.
I am back
Testing, testing
So far so good
05/21/2011 I am now getting all my web development up and working on my localhost. Most of them are derived from books I am reading and with better understanding, I should be able to expand on these. There projects range from ecommerse to registration, to blogging using object oriented programming (about time for me to use C++ in real world setting) to uploading images, and perhaps emailing. These programs will be my collection of templates that I can go back to should I design web sites for myself or for clients. I love what I am doing so far.
Building more websites
I am currently in the process of building up more website design samples with emphasis on javascript and php and even to the extent of asp and net. It is tempting to start getting clients right now but I should be able to offer better skills and designs and I am working on that. For now, my particular study is building ecommerce sites with use of php and mysql. I also want to create projects like table of mileage in running and biking and laps for swimming and reps for weight lifting which will actually be applicable to my own health programs. I've just finished bmi calculation (ho-hum, that was a no brainer). Right now I should be able to build an ecommerce site even with eyes closed...
What I am studying now
05/13/2011 Since school has been off this summer, I am immersing myself into more php and database stuff which are topics that are getting closer and closer to my heart. I am into basic stuff right now, pretty much offshoot of my recent course Internet Computing last spring. Though I got a good grade I still feel I need to know more. I keep on slapping myself over regrets that I completely stopped computer programming studies the last ten years that it's hard to keep up. There's too much to learn right now. Meanwhile, I will keep on creating mini-web pages to show my progress. But let me tell you too that I am not a proverbial nerd that does nothing but read encyclopedias and programming texts.
I recently finished Elantris by Brian Sanderson (I am partial to Fantasy books)
I am currently reading also Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson (another Fantasy and it's soo cool!).
A return to computers
05/11/2011 by MattL. This is for now a very basic blog which I created from scratch with the help of php books. Eventually I will expand it into something that will feature graphics and links and who knows, incorporate ads as well. It is amazing how on my day off I am focused on web designing instead of hitting the beach. I love computer programming whether it is in an academic setting or as in this case, internet setting. I have earned an AS degree in Computer Programming around ten years ago but did not pursue it due to my hospital work. When I returned to computer studies, little did I know how obsolete I turned out to be. The progression of Computer Science in the last ten years was exponential to say the least. And if you were like me whose head was buried in the sand for that length of time, you would be amazed at how the human brain had expanded this field. So, in returning to academics, I promised myself to get updated as much as I could. I am currently in a Junior standing at FAU here in South Florida, working on my second BS degree and by the looks of it would be pursing a Masters degree as well later. But that is not exactly my only intention in life. I want to be as excellent as I could in the area of IT. Hence, this computer studies I do on a personal basis. I love this field a lot - I am one of those proverbial people who suddenly found a happy place in computer and internet settings. In other words, I became a geek at a later life. I tried to understand computers early in their popularity (circa 1996), took night schooling at a community college in Broward and finished it after about 2 years. I was about to get into Computer Science then but family responsibilities took over (we all need to earn a living) and I put my advancement in academics on hold. Well, ten years later, all the children (not mine) I put to college are done and working, and I do not need to work so hard anymore in the work place (I used to work 7 days a week for years). I have decided to go back to school. Unfortunately, school is only a basic skill instructor in areas of Computer Studies. Becoming a good programmer is like writing: You learn by writing not by studying how to write. That is perhaps the reason why on my days off I keep practicing. A few of my friends have asked me in the past to design websites for them but 7 days a week work made me refuse. I could not handle it. Maybe it is time for me to start contacting them again, this time, as a serious web developer.
So far, so good
05/11/2011
My blog is copied from a php book (by Larry Ullman), I just want to let everyone now that. And to thank him for that also. In the meantime, I will work my css script at this point. Next is for me to try adding photos becasue it looks so bland to have no photos. I am enjoying this whole project so far. I want to avoid being too personal so let me end it here, now.
Active Lifestyle News
05/10/2011
This is a rudimentary news item format about Active Lifestyle. My name is Matt Lopez and I'm both involved in healthy lifestyle management and web designing geared towards health and fitness sites. My background involves health management (hospitals and clinics mostly) and I am currently pursuing my second Bachelor's degree in Information Technology with focus on web development. This site will be highly involved with issues ranging from health, diseases, health news, current updates and technological innovations related to those issues. This is a great endeavor for me which makes me happy. At this time, I am developing health websites for most of my friends and if anyone is interested, I am accepting web projects albeit in limited quantities for now due to school and work. Meanwhile, enjoy this very simple website, it is an ongoing project at this time. You can also check out my friend A's website which he assigned me to work on.
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