[Uaflug] Programmers, Semantics and Pet Projects

[Joyce Young]

Hi Christopher,

I call myself a programmer, but some might argue semantics with me  
since I do mostly web based scripting. For the past 13+ years I have  
been working on websites, started with simple html static sites using  
Mozilla (yeah!) in 1994 and am now a web application programmer, with  
a focus in database to web applications. I am currently doing  
primarily database programming to support Banner, so lots of PL/SQL  
coding with a smattering of ProC and Perl, but before moving to  
Fairbanks I had been doing almost exclusively Cold Fusion with (way  
old) Fusebox 3, and I have also supported PHP apps,  done a very tiny  
amount of JSP, got stuck with some ASP for a year or so before it got  
tagged with a .net,and started done the path I am on now with my all  
favorite Perl, which sadly I have not coded with for years.

My real interest is in building dynamic database driven websites and I  
really enjoy the rapid development cycle that goes along with it since  
I like to see something working in a short time frame. Maybe I just  
have a short attention span :)

I am most recently looking at playing with Ajax, and relearning Perl,  
MySQL, and some PHP (its been a few years). I am also taking classes  
at UAF, and plan to finish the graduate level Software Engineering  
Program sometime next year.

As to my NIX background - I have done a short stint (1 year) as a  
Junior Level Sys Admin for a Florida state agency supporting various  
flavors of both Unix and Linux, and as I started my career in working  
on the web at a university where I learned to build sites and work  
entirely in a Unix environment, I am very comfy working in 'nix land,  
but I have been away from that environment for the past 5+ years and  
feel like need to relearn everything I used to know about nix land all  
over again. So here I am, hoping to glean some information from other  
users in the area. I don't run Linux at home, yet, but one of my pet  
projects (yet to happen) has been putting up a Linux server at home to  
backup all my data, and for running source control (likely svn) for  
easier maintainability of the sites I work on at home.

With my current downed PC at home, and an order being placed next for  
replacement parts (just found out that my video card might have  been  
affected as well), come payday next week I might go ahead and order  
enough to build two machines instead of just one and get that project  
going! Suggestions for hardware to build such a machine are welcome. I  
can put stuff together but selecting hardware is definitely not my  
forte!


Random past pet projects:
-- Build and maintain the 501st Legion of Storm Troopers Membership  
Application and back end approval process. Was done in Cold Fusion  
originally with an Access db (that is all the host would support in  
2002 when the project started). Since then the db has been migrated to  
MySQL (this was not by me), and I no longer have full responsibility  
of maintaining the the code, but I will be working with the new team  
over the upcoming winter to move the code to PHP. I have not done a  
lot of PHP to date and have been wanting to get some hands on new code  
development in this language, so this should be a fun project.

-- I fully support a couple other websites for my geeky star wars  
hobby, though they currently don't have a lot of content. Both have  
PHPBB running, which I need to upgrade, but I am waiting for web host  
move before I do a lot to either site. I plan to implement Wordpress  
on these sites too, primarily so that I can have easier maintenance of  
photos, and whatever else I figure out Wordpress can help me with.

-- And of course, my own website which is sadly in need of much work.  
It used to be a pretty decently sized site with a Cold Fusion host,  
but when I moved hosts last year, I was going to rebuild it all in  
something new (I had intended to Fusebox it) and never got around to  
it so all I have is a silly home page now. I need to moved hosts one  
more time since I am really unhappy with the new host, so once I move  
to Dreamhost I plan to use some of their stuff, and

Good grief, there goes my lunch hour and now you know all way too much  
about me; I truly have no shame.

So, what are others here for?? And what kinds of backgrounds do you have?