Initial Thoughts
Chapter one was a refresher on the history of the World Wide Web and html/css coding practices. I really needed the coding refresher as it's been a couple of semesters since I studied html. I'm thinking that ASP is the core to Web Development and may be the most important class I've taken so far at CSI. If someone at a party asked me what a web programmer is I would tell them that they are the person that brings a website to life and makes all the action happen. The reason I want to be a Web Developer is because I want to do something that not everyone can sit down and do , something that takes a lot of learning and practice to become. I also like the creative side to it, coming up with cool ideas for a website can be enjoyable to me.
Chapter 3 Reflections
Chapter 3 was about using functions, methods and control structures. This chapter was a pretty easy chapter for me as alot of the same stuff was taught in previous programming classes. Some new topics that I learned in this chapter was how to create code declaration blocks which I don't recall having to do in PHP. The syntax for creating functions was a little different from PHP like the Void keyword in C# and the data type declaration. The syntax for if statements and loops are similiarily close in both languages.
After completing chapter 3 I felt alot more confident in my programming skills, it's like finally starting to click and I'm starting to think like a programmer. I feel like I am truly going to enjoy this class for the rest of the semester.
Chapter 6 Reflections & IE9
Chapter 6 was about debugging the applications that we program. This chapter flowed really well and was easy to read and comprehend. I learned a few new techniques that I wasn't aware of like the trace features of Visual Studio. I have already used the technique of echoing or writing the values of variables to the screen to see if they are coming out the way I planned it but not with the trace features in VS. I learned how programmers try to catch exception errors and use try statements in debugging.
I thought the IE9 article was pretty good at explaining some of the improved features in IE9 and I agree that it seems to be a copycat to Chrome, which doesn't surprise me. I installed IE9 when it was a beta and saw some pretty cool stuff like a painting portfolio that you can walk through in 3d and some of the games using HTML5 looked pretty cool but I encountered several problems so I had to uninstall it. I always like to have a couple of different browsers on hand and I change back and forth depending on what I'm doing, IE8 and Chrome is typically what I use but I'll have to install IE9 again and see if they fixed the bugs.
Chapter 8 Reflections
Chapter 8 introduced us to how to manipulate your database using ASP.NET . There was alot of code and information to learn in this chapter and I didnt get a goor grip on the connection strings and sql commands until working on my e-comerce final project site. I still wouldnt be able to create a connection string and data reader without looking over already written code. I like the fact that you can create your sql statement within the ide using a gui so you can visually see what you are querying.
The article SQL Injection And Parameterized Queries was very interesting , I always wondered how hackers go about injecting code into a database and this article explained a few ways they do it. It makes me a little scared being a novice programmer if say I wanted to do my own site I wouldnt know what to do as far as security. It makes sence to limit querystrings to certain datatypes to limit how the database can be updated and accessed.
.NET Languages
Chapter 2 introduced us to the basic syntax of C# and the different operators that are used along with variables constants and data types. I learned that in C# you declare the variable data types different than in Visual Basic and in PHP. The chapter also went over how to store data in an array and then access and modify element information.
In my research of which .net language is better C# or Visual Basics I found that one argument was that c# programmers make more money. This probably isn't true in every instance but has been seen when comparing 2 programmers with the same degree of skills. This in itself wouldn't persuade me to go with one or the other but it may rock the boat in slightly in one direction. One argument for VB was that its syntax is more efficient than C# and they had some examples of the different syntax that is a lot more typing in C# than in VB. Having Visual studio and the experience with keyboard shortcuts to help me write the syntax this wouldn't persuade me one way or another. So far I prefer C# to VB but the only reason for me is that I learned VB several semesters ago and have forgotten a lot of it. I may change my preference after I get comfortable with both languages.
Chapter 4 Reflection & Page Life Cycle.
-Chapter 4 was about the many different controls available in the .net framework. All of the ASP controls have a htnl counterpart that is used for the output to the browser. I thought for the most part Visual Studio makes it pretty easy to code the controls,it's not Dreamweaver but it's not to bad either. In this chapter I learned that you can create your own web user control and add it to each web page you want it in with just one line of code similiar to an include file in PHP.
The ASP page life cycle is the order of events that a page goese through when a page is requested. The order is as follows: First the page is requested and the life cycle begins. Next, the start stage where the properties of request and response are set. The page determins if its a postback or a first time request and the IsPostBack is set. The next stage is initialization. During page initialization controls on the page are available and each control's UniqueID property is set. Postback data has not been set yet and values from viewstate have not been restored. Next is the load stage where information recovered from viewstate and control state is populated if it is a postback. The next stage is the postback event handling stage the control event handlers are called and the Validate method of all validator controls is called and the isValid property is set for validation. The Rendering stageis next During the rendering stage, the page calls the Render method for each control, providing a text writer that writes its output to the OutputStream object of the page's Response property. The last stage is the Unload stage. use this event to do final cleanup for specific controls, such as closing control-specific database connections.
Chapter 7 Reflection & Database Design
Chapter 7 was a introduction to databases and SQL statements. I have learned a little about databases in PHP but we didnt get much time and experience coding and working with them. This chapter was a good review to get me back familiar with databases and the SQL syntax.All in all the chapter was pretty easy for me except I keep getting the columns and the rows mixed up in the Select ,order and where statements. I always have to think for a minute to figure out hich one I want to use.
The article Concepts of Database Design and Management was very informative but it also got me a little confused because in the example tables she doesnt have any indication which column is the primary key and foreign key.However, she did a great job of explaining how to determine if one column is functionaly dependent on another column. The article definately helped me with understanding the different levels of normal form. 1st no redundant data. 2nd: primary key is only one column. 3rd: complies with the previous 2 forms and the only determinants it contains are candidate keys.