Hindsight really is a wonderful thing; and this unit has been full of it. Why did I set such a catastrophically large word limit for my first and final entries? And why did I set such an abysmally low limit for my regular entries, a limit that I’ve already been forced to break? Why did I set myself such complex tasks when I knew that I was learning a new programming language and knew that the learning curve would be very high? Why did I fail to properly consider all this when I wrote my learning contract?
My progress with PHP has been slow; slower than I’d ever really anticipated. It still feels like some alien concept that I’m yet to really comprehend; it’s all a bit intimidating. I’ve read a good chunk of the Kevin Yank’s ‘How to Build Your Own Database Driven Website with PHP and MySQL’, but it’s felt a bit like dragging a ton of bricks up a mountain. I find myself, rather than actually learning and absorbing what is being said, simply recieving orders from the pages and carrying them out one after the other. I realised not long ago that I needed to find some other method of learning, one that will see much faster progress. Because the reality; that I have to submit a working photo gallery in a couple of weeks time; weighs very heavily upon my shoulders at the moment.
So the plan is this; I’m going to start researching PHP tutorials online that are actually relevant to my end goal, in this case building a photo gallery. I’ve been informed that there are some very good tutorials out there, and this would seem to suit my learning style more than reading page after page from a book.
Word Count: 301
