Ionrock Dot Org

Today I started working on some Javascript for a client. With the rise of AJAX and some very smart folks writing great Javascript code, it is actually a lot of fun to play with. If someone had shown me Object Oriented Javascript when I first saw the language, I believe I would be much different programmer today. It would have been more appealing to understand Javascript and how to use it effectively. Instead, I got into Object Oriented programming through a really junky OO language, PHP.

On the positive side of things, PHP did show me how a language can not have the features needed to do a task. This is why I learned PHP instead of something like Perl or Java (I eventually did learn Java btw). PHP was a great fit for learning to program for the web using simple hosting. When I learned other languages like C++, Java, C# and Python, I went back to PHP and understood design decisions and could appreciate it for what it was, a simple and effective tool for creating template based web pages. I also looked at PHP 5 and realized the vast improvements to the language.

The moral of the story is when looking at languages or technology, context is king. There must be a clear understanding of what the language is useful for and how one can find value in it. This is probably an overly capitalistic representation of my point, but oh well.

In other news, I am off to lunch. I hope to increase my preceived worth to Lauren by giving her a kiss on the cheek when arrive. I am also hoping to increase my value by running an errand for her...