Update

While learning about the PHP CLI, I began to wonder what exactly I could do with it. PHP has been used almost exclusively for web development. If there are uses for it besides that, I would be curious about it. Here are some articles from the php.net manual and some published materials from different sites on that.

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/opensource/library/os-php-command/

Update 12-17-2012

Here are the things I learned and were intriguing from PHP materials.

• ^ the symbol for either or. It's pretty underused, I find.
• $1 .= "string" concatenates "string" with the previous value of $1.
• Types of loops: while, do-while, for, foreach, continue, break

Here are some good videos on youtube. Here

I was trying to figure out how to use the CLI available after version PHP 4.3.0. Since I have an Ubuntu setup on my laptop, I'll just use that for my testing purposes. The one extra installation I need to run CLI commands is the php-cli package. It's pretty straight forward. After that all I have to do to run scripts is to type in "php /path/script.php" and it will run script.php.

I realize that this is not a lot of progress in a span of two weeks. I need to quicken the pace of my updates and stay focused on this.

Update: 12-04-2012

It's been kind of hectic lately. I've gone through the first part of the PHP study guide provided by zend. I'm not even close to finishing what I set out to do in the 1st benchmark. There are other priorities as well that I have to worry about. The 70-680 Microsoft certification might be respectable, so I will keep going through the material. Being knowledgeable about the most popular OS in the world doesn't hurt.

1st benchmark

I want to right away get started in understanding firmly the basics of PHP and be able to talk about it. Topics include syntax, coding trivia, functions, looping options, .htaccess and php.ini files. The last topic .htaccess and php.ini files is kind of prevalent in my job right now because I have to handle issues with access and controlling the way PHP is used. I'm going after things I am interested most of all. Gotta keep the passion alive.

One last thing I found interesting while reading the beginning of the PHP manual is command line usage of PHP. Sounds like I can tie that into my text processing hobby.

My learning experience

I've been working on a lot of different IT issues at my job as an IT specialist. It has been a great opportunity to learn something new, but I think it is ultimately not what I will go into as a career. I still want to move forward with programming and software development/web application development. That is why I am putting more effort into learning about PHP and other languages. Although I have experience using Java, PHP, and Perl, along with a taste of other languages like C, C++ and a few others, I want to be develop my skills so that I can use them quite effectively. My attention toward IT has taken my attention away from learning these languages.

To start with, I want to write in this blog again and become prolific in documenting my progress and things that I learn. Programming languages like a natural spoken language can be forgotten if it is not used. I think by having documentation, at least I can look back and review my studies.

Another way I will develop my programming is to actively study for certification exams to become a Sun Certified Professisonal Java Developer or the Zend certified developer.

If I am to further my career, I feel this is a where my efforts should go to. Developing my skills and getting certifications would be a good step toward showing employers what I am capable of.

Update on my job

I've been working at Analyzer for over two months now so I have a routine going and a small understanding of how it functions. One of the things I am beginning to appreciate more and more is the freedom in this job. Although we are encouraged to show initiative, we don't get pressured to be constantly busy. I have also been putting my efforts into an inventory program that I mentioned before.

This inventory program has been a bulk of what I have done at Analyzer. It's an simple inventory program now that we are using to keep in check the equipment that we maintain for our clients. While simple, the program has a great potential for being a tool that will enhance our performance in the field. It's not just a inventory control system. It's an interface that can keep us informed anywhere.

I have used open source tools to create this web application. It will provide its services over the web for browsers and mobile devices. That is where my efforts are. I have learned a lot because of this. I am mostly working by myself on this program. My colleagues are acting as concurrent developers or giving input. Learning how to format and populate a mobile web page is one of many things I had to figure out how to do for this application. It's been a very rounded work experience.

LAMP Web Application

I've found employment at a small IT firm in Waikiki that services businesses as their own IT department. It's been a different experience compared to programming. My employers do value my programming background though. They've started to discuss what they would want to build in terms of software tools for the company and also for their clients. One of these projects is a web application that would require a web server and code to drive the service.

I have never worked with servers before. LAMP (Linux, Apache, Mysql, PHP) was unfamiliar to me. I had used PHP, Sql server and Apache before, but never a Linux server. It's been a very interesting experience for me. On one side, I want to dive into the project. But I also need to look at this as a project manager. My co-worker has a more firm mind when it comes to project management. She reminded me that we should look at all the alternatives for the type of server OS to use, as well as the programming language. One of the most promising and cheaper choices, Ubuntu, jumped out at me immediately. I decided to follow my co-workers prudence in researching further to determine the correct tools for this project. Nevertheless, we found some information that confirmed our assumption in using Ubuntu to create a LAMP type of setup.

LAMP is used by many companies to host content and it is also the most widely used open source setup for developers. An even more inviting detail is that Ubuntu bundles all the packages needed to get a LAMP setup going very quickly.

As of today September 18, 2011, we are at a preliminary stage of development. My co-worker and I have both setup stations to work on a LAMP Ubuntu server. Everything is ready for us to start developing.

Since this is my first time in creating an application on this framework, I am still learning the nuances of Linux and also for Mysql. At the same time I am very excited, because this was what I was working toward in college. It feels good to know that despite my overall duties at Analyzer-USA, I am also putting my programming background to use.

image from techtickle.com