Own Your Skills

In September 2017 I gave a talk at the Pacific NorthWest PHP conference (PNWPHP). "Using PHP and JavaScript to Design a Better Board Game" The board game I discussed was Strengths and Troubles.

Meet Pup, the PHP-Women elephant I was given at the conference.

This fall that talk morphed into an article for php[architect] Magazine. "Rapid Prototyping a Board Game with PHP" was published in the October 2018 issue.

Recently, I was interviewed by the magazine for a php[architect] podcast episode. You can listen to the podcast here PHP Architect Podcast Episode 14. If you're not a PHP geek you may want to click here to hear my interview only. They really let me go on and on. My interview runs about 28 minutes.

Own Your Skills

One reason programming is so deeply satisfying is that it's creative. 

The fact that programmers are creative is lost on most non-coders. There was a widely held idea that our main job was to add a line to a form for a bank or other client. Graphic artists are supposed to be the creative ones. The app explosion demonstrates programmer creativity although many believe that's just about making millions.

My main point in my presentation, the article and the podcast is that having skills like PHP, MySql, JavaScript and HTML5 or any other languages allow you to be creative on your own personal projects. 

Suppose a skill you possess is knitting. Do you wait around for a paid knitting gig? No. You think about the striped socks your girlfriend's been wanting and get to work.

To quote Simon Sarris' final comment in the code for his HTML5 Canvas Tutorial,

“// Now go make something amazing!” 

Now Go Make Something Amazing -- Simon Sarris

I'm coding my new project, Gothic Windows, in HTML5. As usual, I'm not using any editor or authoring system or even loading special libraries (so far).
I'm old school.
I plan to thank people and Websites that have helped me directly or indirectly.
Thank you #1 goes to Simon Sarris
Here are some comment lines from his HTML5 canvas shapes code, which was a great tutorial for me on canvas, animation and even object oriented programming.
// By Simon Sarris
// www.simonsarris.com
// sarris@acm.org
// Free to use and distribute at will
// So long as you are nice to people, etc
// Now go make something amazing!
That last line inspired me. And I did make an amazing HTML5 interactive mapping program, with database for a client.  At least I amazed myself.
Next I hope to amaze others.
Simon's JavaScript methods guided my work on Fleximap and now on Gothic Windows.
So, thank you, Simon.
And, thanks for your kind attention.
Marcia

I'd Better Get Started

Since I'm currently working on a project I expect to release soon, I'd better get started on this blog.
I've been putting it off until I had time to "design" the blogger page.
Oh well.
Quote from an email from my son today: "Perfect is the enemy of good."
Absolutely right, Devin.
The project? Gothic Windows. Stay tuned until it's perfect.
Just kidding.
I'll make progress reports here.
Thanks for your kind attention.
Marcia