BecsReport

=PHP – SUMMARY of course=

I am a year 10 student currently undertaking a PHP course that was set up by Mr. Ruwoldt on Moodle. I have chosen to do a community studies unit to take control of exactly what I want to learn. I have family that are into programming so that is where I was first intrigued by it.

In the first term of semester one I started following a JavaScript tutorial course that involved the basic if statement, while loops, arrays and modules. Mr. Ruwoldt also created this course. It only took me a term to complete and was a good pre-requisite to the PHP course. I had so much fun creating games that I could play and keep me entertained for a while. It was pleasing to see the final product of what I had learnt.

At the start of the second term I was introduced to PHP. I like the idea of following one script and then applying it to a different situation, which was how the course was set up. The course showed me exactly what to do but after each section I had to apply it to another scenario. It certainly helps to make sure that you are learning and not copying.

The process I followed was to read, understand and copy a ready-made script, then change it and make it adaptable to the other scenario. I had to upload it using Filezilla to the LiveLAMP server to actually see what I had created. I got the LiveLAMP username and password from the students who set up and manage the LiveLAMP server. I used PHP Designer 2006 to write the scripts.

There are a few differences in JavaScript to PHP but in all languages this is the case. It is just a matter of adapting to the change. I had a few difficulties with my code. I obviously had made some errors that were not picked up so later on the scripts that I made to follow failed. I had to go back and check over all of my scripts to find out where I went wrong, but that’s how programming works. One tiny error can put all your scripts down. Making these mistakes are also very beneficial. To review all of the scripts with greater knowledge than when I wrote them made them easier to understand and interpret what that script was for.

I like seeing the final product, to actually see my scripts and code working and producing results. I have learnt a lot about programming within two terms and still intrigued by what is possible.


 * Rebekah

