The Learning Curve
The last 24 or so hours have been most instructive. I’ve been intensely focused on making up for lost time by diving into a few areas of development that I felt needed to be addressed if I am to claim any affiliation with the gurus and sages of web development. Two days ago I was reading an article on A List Apart and, as fate would have it, stumbled upon the Yahoo! User Interface Library (YUI) site.
Upon inspection, I began a process of learning that took me from frameworks, to grids, onto the Yahoo! Developer Network, back to design, around to CSS, and just expanded exponentially from there. Today I discovered Google’s “Google Code” and again the lights went on. I may be just a little late, but I’m starting to get a good understanding of why designers and developers would find poetry in using “. . . tools, libraries, conventions, and best practices” to make routine task less burdensome.
The lesson was continued later as I researched what made rock star programmers and developers, well uh, rock stars. That thread led me to Ruby then Ruby on Rails, then of course, Python. Oh my, what ever is a pseudo developer/designer/content manager/information architect to do? When I first set out a year ago to tighten up on the skill sets I knew I needed in order to become a developer, I had dreams of just learning Visual Basic 2008. Why? For no other reason than to keep abreast of our friends in Redmond, Washington. As of this post, however, there’s a brave new world I’m heading for. I get a sense I’m on the right path: I’m expanding my knowledge base, gaining practice breaking and then making things work, and developing the confidence to step out of my comfort zone. Eventually, I’ll gravitate toward a combination of tools that allow me to design and develop world class apps and sites.
On a more trivial, but no less lesson worthy note, I installed XAMMP Server onto my laptop, then hooked up Word Press. Had some sort of initial trouble with the MySQL server, but after a slight panic attack and some “jump-in-and-break things” hubris, I was up and experimenting and so, so very proud. I now can spread the love of Word Press to the masses of user groups and seminar patrons awaiting my sermons. Needless to say, small accomplishments like these does build confidence in route to more heavy lifting. I feel the resources and tools are beginning to coalesce and synthesize into a philosophy and work-flow that will help me reach some very ambitious and fulfilling milestones.
“Seek and ye shall find.” Got code?!
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