I started "coding" for the web in 2002, when I returned to college to get my undergraduate degree in Telecommunications, Information Studies, and Media (TISM for short). As I started out I felt overwhelmed by the task I assigned myself. I had no understanding of page mark-up (html), or the new topic of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), or Scripting (JavaScript). Where was I to start?
Since I had a good basis in art and quite a bit of experience in Photoshop I started as many people in my situation started, with WYSIWYG development. I would start my page layout in Photoshop and then bring my image into Fireworks/Dreamweaver, letting the software figure out what I was trying to accomplish and write my code for me. This was never a favorite way of doing things (still isn't); which led me to start viewing the mark-up in the background and editing some things myself. Finding my freedom in writing code for myself I soon abandoned all use of point-and-click design.
I learned (X)HTML and CSS fairly quickly, they are both simple and straightforward. JavaScript was a lot different; I had some training in C++ so the syntax seemed to be familiar but just didn't click for me at the time, which led to some resentment of the language. Now I consider myself an avid JavaScript user where the situation calls for it.
Dynamic websites were close on my horizon since I had found a job with the university as a student Graphic Designer for the International Business Center, which has a number of websites to manage. I had a little programming background in some well know languages: Basic, C++, Java, and Visual Basic. Scripting was however totally new to me.
I jumped in with both feet. I knew the HTML and I knew a lot of the VB syntax and now I was going to try and put it all together. Starting out slowly at first, editing a page here and there, and then creating whole pages on my own. Now I develop whole applications as a daily requirement.
The mainstay of my daily development, sadly, is in Classic VBScript; but we are moving in the direction of .NET and most likely C#. I sometimes program in PHP which is always fun because it is not VB. I also do a lot of Database development mostly in SQL Server, but I also work in MySQL a little.
I am always trying to learn something new from what I am doing; refactoring my own code is something I love to do. Finding a more efficient route to the same destination is journey rarely without benefit.
