Journals



Initial Thoughts

This chapter was very resourceful in that I reviewed a lot of information that I learned in earlier classes. The history of the internet is always interesting. This technology is relatively young, yet has evolved quickly and efficiently over the years. I learned how to create a basic website using Visual Studio 2010, and have found a few qualities that Dreamweaver doesn't offer. For example, I now have a program that can interpret ASP and VB in addition to other programming languages. I really like the interface, as well as all of the custom options you have when formatting your workspace.

This is my first exposure to ASP.NET, and I understand that it is critical to becoming a successful web developer. Today, you can acquire programs that allow you to incorporate ASP and PHP applications into your website through the use of online software. You simply click on a button, pay GoDaddy $35.00 per month, and now you have a shopping cart! This is the amateur way of conducting online marketing, and even though I was one of those clients, I am eager to my future in having the ability to understand HOW this is done. I am very excited to learn about how this programming is written and developed, so that I can begin to use the features and benefits in my sites that I write from raw code.

If someone at a party asked them what a web programmer was, I would tell them it’s one of the most infant, progressive and universal occupations out there. I would ask them to visualize a really cool website like, Netflicks.com or Amazon.com. I would not waste my time or theirs in describing the different types of programming languages that are used for different applications or software, I would simply tell them that web programmers are the creators of what they depend on in their everyday life. If it wasn’t for people like us, the internet would be minimal, boring and limited. Web programmers are the behind the scenes creators of online social, personal and business practices that are an essential part of everyday life for the majority of us.



.NET Languages

This chapter was a solid introduction to the programming language associated with the use of C#. I’m sure this chapter would have been much more difficult had I not taken Visual Basic programming prior to taking this course. I also learned the syntax associated with this language and have made it a point to solidify this concept in my mind. For example, understanding the escape sequence, when you are inserting a special character into your code will illuminate any errors in the response of your program on the screen. The ability to understand the difference between operators was emphasized and your ability to use them correctly was an essential element of this chapter.

When it comes to deciding between Visual Basic.NET and C#.NET, I am still not sure which one I would prefer. The .NET framework is the incorporation of a controlled environment for creating applications and software. I did some research, and according to the Microsoft website, “Visual Basic developers assume that you can do many things in Visual C# that you cannot do in Visual Basic .NET, just as there are many things that you can do in C/C++ but cannot do in Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 or earlier. This assumption is incorrect.” - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308470

So far, I have seen that C# seems to be more simplified and requires less code than VB. However, as I compare the syntax rules for both, I can see that the simplification of the languages gores both ways. In certain instances, VB is shorter and requires less, and in other instances, C# requires less code. At this point, if I had to choose, I would pick VB, because I know more about the programming language and therefore prefer it over C#.



Chapter Three Reflection

Honestly, this chapter was a little difficult to grasp, so I read it twice. Establishing and understanding the different types of selection and loop structures in order to identify which one you would use for your program is critical to a successful program. My main challenge was truly grasping these differences. The only aha moment was when I realized I needed to re-read the chapter...I was introduced to several differences between VB and C#, including the fact that when you declare a varialbe as an integer, simply use, INT. But when you declare a decimal, you must write out the entire word. The syntax is something that will require me to study more than someone who has more programming experience. I have to remember that the function is outside of the code declaration block, and the output of the function is held within delimiters in the body section of the ASPX page. After you name an object like a text box, you call on the input by using Request.Form()



Page Life Cycle

This chapter has really helped me to understand the C# syntax and rules that are basically the foundation to understanding how to use this programming language. Also, learning how to utilize the toolbox and propertied menu associated with your web forms is very useful in saving time and avoiding sytaxual problems when naming and validating your user’s input. The various validation operators are easier to implement using the toolbox. I’m interested in learning more about how to use the dynamic display property in my future sites, as having a solid understanding of this will benefit my work greatly in the future.



ASP.NET Lifecycle: First, a request is made ny the user to a specific URL. Then, the determination is made as to whether or not the page is set to POST BACK. Next, during initialization, controls on the page are available and each control's ID property is gathered. Controls are then loaded and if the page is POST BACK then control properties are loaded with information recovered from view state and control state. After loading occurs, validations are determined. Next, event handlers are called but only if the page is set to POST BACK. During this time, the code behind statement makes the appropriate calculations or changes. After the page is rendered, the page is then unloaded.



Chapter Six Reflection and IE 9

Understanding how to debug a program is essential especially is you are looking at code that was written by others. As a beginner in using the C# programming language, I have found that I cannot debug a program until I completely understand how the program is working. The error list is becoming more clear and I have begun to grasp the syntax and logic of a program written in C#. Logic errors are the hardest to pick out, yet as I learn more and more about the programming languages, I will be able to see the problems with the program’s design more clearly. I can definitely see myself using the Response.Write method to trace my code and see what is happening at a given time the execution of the program.



I just downloaded IE 9 on my computer and right away I noticed that it takes just as long to open as the older version. The article indicated several new features that seem to be pretty cool, yet I have already taken advantage of those features by using Google Chrome. The notification bar at the bottom would be great for the user that uses her computer to check Facebook and e-mail, but for me, this feature is something I could easily do without. One of the comments on the bottom of the article was from a lady that said she will try it out for a week to see if she prefers IE 9 over Google Chrome. I too, will take on this challenge and see if Microsoft will win me over. To Be Continued…



Chapter Seven Reflection and Database Design

Now that we are beginning to learn about the design and structure of a database, I feel like I am finally learning the information that I will need in order to build, “robust websites.” Overall, it was fairly simple to design the database itself and open the query window. The part of writing queries that I enjoy the most is that they are relatively short in size, and you don’t have to do a lot of converting in order to make your programs work. Declaring your data type in the table is simple and eliminates extra coding that has caused problems for me in the past. I plan on working within this section of ASP.NET on a long term basis, so that I can refine my ability to build databases. The article made a good point about the lack of needing certain types of information in a database. I personally find it very important to have the name of an employee in a database, however, you could use the employee ID as the primary key for use in other tables, and whenever you would need to gather personal information, another table could be used in order to do so. I understand that the process of normalization is critical in the database design process and look forward to sharpening my skill sets to improve my ability to take out those redundancies.



Chapter Eight and SQL Injection

The various commands used in this chapter are created un order to execute information against the database. The execute non-query method is the most useful for inserting, updating or deleting rows in a SQL server database. This chapter was informative in the way that it explained how to execute commands using ASP.NET instead of the SQL management server. SQL injection is one of those things that could destroy your website and your job. A hacker could execute queries against your database in attempt to delete or destroy records. It is very important to take the proper percautions so that this doesn't happen to you. The article indicated that The best defence against attacks is to parameterize your queries. Parameters are placeholders for values. I will keep this in mind as I continue to learn about ASP.NET and SQL server so that I do not fall victim to an attack such as this.