James Bell | HND Interactive Media | Online Learning Journal Year 2

The Final Semester

| Thursday 22 January 2009

The final semester is here and my time on HND Interactive Media course will be over in the blink of an eye. With only the final few assignments to complete my focus will now turn to future employment and gaining the skills which I will require for a career with the web industry.

SMLP
The SMLP (Self Managed Learning Plan) is a very important part of the final semester. For this assignment I have chosen to learn PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor) as I feel that this is a key employability skill.

Learning PHP will allow me to expand my search further as I seek employment and add another ‘string to my bow’. My previous experience with PHP is very limited but it has given me a thirst to learn more. Creating dynamic websites that are easy to maintain and are able to interact with the user are becoming commonplace, especially with the increasing popularity of AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML).

The main aspect of the self managed learning plan is that it is ‘self managed’. Planning and executing an entire assignment with no outside help is a daunting prospect but something I am looking forward to.

Over the course my time management has increased dramatically but I feel that this assignment will have the most effect on it. During the assignment I will have to plan every detail to ensure that I don’t spend too much time on a single area as there will be no-one to ensure I don’t fall behind.

Portfolio
Designing my portfolio is going to be a very key task. My portfolio will need to be flexible and easy to adapt to any situation such as applying for a new job. I am looking forward to this project as it will allow me to create a professional portfolio and give me a place to showcase my work.

Final presentation
With the final presentation just around the corner I am both nervous and excited. The final presentation will be the last thing I do on this course and as presentations are not really my strong point it brings with a certain amount of stress.

With content of the presentation being the work I have created over the last two years on the course I plan to use my portfolio as my visual aids. Depending on the layout of my final portfolio I may decide to create a separate section of the website specifically designed for the presentation.

This will help me organise the presentation and help me with my timing as this has been one of my problems with previous presentations.

Employment
After this course I hope to gain employment as a web developer. Although I am aware that due to the current economic state it may be very difficult to find a full time job I feel that spending another two or more years in education will be of no real benefit to me as the thing I really need is real world experience.

Word count: 498

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A list of PHP resources

| Tuesday 13 January 2009

  • Php.net

  • All the latest PHP news and a complete functions list. It also contain numerous links to other PHP resource sites.
  • http://www.php.net/

  • Sitepoint.com

  • Contains numbers PHP tutorials covering various subjects. It also contains a PHP blog which features articles from professional web developers regarding the latest PHP news and developments.

  • http://www.sitepoint.com

  • w3schools.com

  • W3Schools has an extensive list tutorials segregated into basic, advanced, database and XML.

  • http://www.w3schools.com/PHP/DEfaULT.asp

  • Planet PHP

  • Contains an extremely large list of PHP related blogs. Contains links to each blog and also the latest posts from each one on the main page.

  • http://www.planet-php.net/

  • Tizag

  • Extensive list of PHP tutorials over various topics. There is also an active forum that could be used to get help or information.

  • http://www.tizag.com/phpT/

  • PHP Solutions, Dynamic Web Design Made Easy - By David Powers

  • This book goes through step by step instructions for adding dynamic content such as: feedback forms, online galleries etc...

  • Sample available at Google books

  • PHP 6 and MySQL 5 for Dynamic Web Sites

  • This book provides detailed instructions for various PHP tasks and how to use it in conjunction with MYSQL databases

  • PHP 6 and MySQL 5 for Dynamic Web Sites - Larry Ullman

  • Developertutorials

  • Another tutorial website that offers a wide range of information for varying degrees of difficulty.

  • http://www.developertutorials.com/tutorials/php/

  • PHP Builder

  • A 9000+ community of PHP beginners to enthusiasts. This website offers articles and a code library.

  • http://www.phpbuilder.com/

  • Good PHP tutorials

  • A relatively new PHP tutorial site that is continually expanding with new tutorials and members.

  • http://www.goodphptutorials.com/

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