Low and behold, posts will slow down for the next few days.
I will be leaving town either Friday night or Saturday morning to attend a few summer carshows. For those of you that know me, I grew up in the industry and it has always been a huge part of my summer. I will be at the following:
It's now easier to access anything Bobby Hash related. Go to www.bobbyhash.com to reach this blog and the link to the HM Designs Web Site.
Incase a few of you are wondering why hmediapro.com, the portfolio / web development site I run is down, don't worry!
I am currently trying to transfer the domain to a different hosting company. It should be back up in the next few days.
I might be on an edge by even giving this attention, my input, or other media coverage. I do feel though this is an important subject and I would like for those of you to read through this blog before making any judgements at all.
I was scoping Newgrounds.com today and I ran across a game that really caught my attention. Unfortunately, the game itself isn't one I'd recommend to others. It seems as though someone has tried to exploit the events of April 16th at Virginia Tech (just a mere 12 minutes from my home in Radford) through a video game entitled simply "VT Rampage".
At first my thoughts were simple - How could anyone be this tasteless?
So then I played the game. The creator literally programmed a flash game to "relive" the events. You are Cho, the relentless psychopath that looks to send a message to the world. Your first mission through the 1st stage is to shoot Emily Hilscher - the first victim in the actual events. Events then move on as you return to the dorm to film the manifesto tape. From there Cho must "stealthily" make it past a ward of police to drop the package off to the Post Office. From there is where "the fun begins", as the creator puts it in Cho's words.
Norris Hall is nothing more than a glorified bloodfest. You have a time limit to slaughter as many students as possible, even with a theme song playing in the background encouraging "Go Cho Go!"
At the end of the time limit, with 32 dead and various injured, Cho is left with only one choice - to take this life. The game ends there, with credits rolling in shortly afterwards.
Personally I am all for freedom of speech. What I am not for however is the right for people to be so distasteful. It is an outrage that this online game portrays the events, let alone NAMES one of the victims in the game and allows you to murder her. This is truly a lack of respect towards the victim!
With further research I see that the media has really picked this up and has even conducted an interview with the game's creator - Ryan Lambourn. Turns out he's a 21-year-old living in Australia, but grew up in the United States (credit - MSNBC). With that being said, Ryan should be able to connect since most of those killed were students HIS age. So why would someone still do such a thing?
It has also been stated that he will remove the game if the government pays him a price. Should the government fold and pay the "ransom"? How does this play into freedom of speech and freedom of the Internet?
Frankly, if the government pays to have the game removed, it will create a few scenarios in my opinion.
Incase you're interested, this video game can be found at www.newgrounds.com
I gotta say, the ability to understand programming pays off. After getting fed up with the time I was wasting logging into Ta-Da List I decided to write my own listing program.
I like to look at it as a list management system.
I really didn't need to be super organized, such as organizing by day, week, etc. I created the list just how I would create my own sticky notes - random, jot some info down with a title and post it. The program works just the same - I have an idea, I click my bookmark, the web application comes up and I'm ready to go. Add a title, a little descriptive information and wah-la! It's posted. I can even edit the list if I screw something up and I can delete it once the task/list/whatever is completed.
I'm still thinking about releasing it once I complete the interface to meet my tastes. Will it be open source? Most likely!
PHP and MySQL are a great marriage. What are some of the applications some of you guys are building to meet your needs?
I created a small portfolio for potential employers to look at. Nothing too fancy - just showcases what I've done and a little about who I am.
www.suddenlysilence.com/bobbyhash
Originally posted Thursday, November 16th, 2006
Updates applied May 20th, 2007 -
Friends always harass me about who my web development and design instructors are. I give them the names of instructors I have taken. Unfortunately what they don’t realize is the concepts that have made me successful were learned outside the classroom.
I must attribute what I have learned to the fact that I started out designing web sites at an early age and was producing for client at the same speed. I was a daily user before I could grasp how web sites worked inside and out. I read various tutorials online. I learned a lot from the days Angelfire.com was a huge free server and WebMonkey was its tutorial counterpart. Years later I own my server and create ways to produce my web sites.
Learning is something you never finish in this industry. To this day I still learn something from every project that I take in. The amount that I know about this industry is far greater than it was when I graduated high school. Heck, what I’ve learned in the past year (thanks to Chris Pund’s talk about Web 2.0 way back in the day) has really amazed me. I also run into various situations where I learn just how little I know about this industry. This is critical as it really showcases where one needs to improve.
LAMP. Web 2.0. AJAX. The User Experience. Hello Divs. Bye Bye Tables. The world in front of us developers is changing ever so rapidly. How does one keep up with the break-neck pace of it all? Online forums, social bookmarking, and web sites geared toward the profession are a tremendous start in terms of help. It also doesn't hurt to have a Barnes & Noble near by either. Just think - go there, grab a cup of coffee, hit up the technology section and read some of the latest books out. It's a cheap and effective way to see what authors are writing about. Think those two previous steps aren't enough? Develop for clients, but do your research on products similar to what you are developing. Take note of the trends.
As of right now, you may wonder what are the emerging technlogies and trends. From my user experience and work as a developer, here is my input on WHAT you should know if you want to be effective in this field of work:
Bare Essentials:
Web-Development:
Thank the Lord for my freelancing abilities - without them I could not up to date, ahead, or let alone in the game itself.
Original Post - Friday, October 20th, 2006 - As unprofessional as this may be, I just thought I needed to post this pie chart I found while scrolling through Flickr today.
Web designers may now rejoice as finally someone has finally put our feelings into a piechart!
The morning started at 7:30 with a breakfast and interactive question and answer session. Dr. Kadaba highlighted on a few subjects that I felt were very interesting.
After the breakfast I was able to attend his presentation - “Yahoo! - Leading the New Media Revolution”. The presentation focused primarily on Yahoo!’s approach toward social mediums. A few points that I found interesting were:
At the end of the presentation, Dr. Kadaba presented myself, Chris Pund, and Michael Patton with Certificates of Appreciation from the Governor of Virginia - Tim Kaine. The certificates were to show appreciation for our efforts at the 2006 PBL National Leadership Conference.
All in all this morning has been vividly informative and has added details to my open-stary eyed approach to Web 2.0, the user experience, and where exactly I can fit in with the best of the best on the Internet. Could I see myself working for Yahoo! one day? Honestly, I do. There are some really snazzy approaches Yahoo! is taking and I personally feel that I could bring the user experience to the next level.
I’ll have pics up from this event soon!
As a college student in a web design/development major, I run across many students that honestly feel that since they are great designers, that they will have NO problem what so ever in the industry.
Little do they know clients aren't designers but they feel they are. It is great to let a client have their input. Obviously they are the one's with the reason to build a web site or have something designed. They have the business plan, know what they are trying to accomplish and how they are going to market themselves to meet that goal line.
What they don't know is that the web is different medium is isn't a traditional way of marketing. Just for that reason, you must be firm with your input and direction.
I recently saw an article at MB Web Design, a web design firm located in Whales, that really hit home on this issue. I recommend all web designers or anyone looking to become a freelancer to check it out. You may see it at http://www.mbwebdesign.co.uk/blog/
nightmare-web-design-clients/#comment-101.
While browsing through Yahoo I come across an article that really stood out and made a point. A big demographic in the business world is about to go missing in the next 30 years and its a big thing to look at. A current issue is immigration and its recent explosion.
Immigration itself could be the missing piece to the puzzle. Check it out, its - Good Life of Boomers Tied to Better Life for Immigrants.
Hey, I don't get to say I have failed a lot. Bear with me!
As many of you have read recently, I have been interviewing with a popular technology based company here in the New River Valley. It has been an exciting process and much different than other hiring processes that I have been through in the past.
The news is - I didn't get the job.
Some of you may be shocked. Some of you may have expected it from the start. I gotta say this - it was an eye-opening experience and is JUST the jump start I needed.
Today's technology industry is VERY competitive and there are a lot of jobs tailored to specific areas. With this, I was going after the title "web developer" which to me sounded just like my ballpark. I was welcomed in-house for an interview after a few phone interviews and was on my way. Then, once in-house it was a whole different story:
I gotta say I was impressed from the initial startup of the program. Immediately (although it is cluttered) the program opens with a wide variety of tools and options to assist you in your project.Not much is left to wonder as it has on screen modules/tools for:
Over the past few weeks I have downloaded Cake PHP, Scriptalicious, Aptana, and PHP Eclipse. Look for reviews and notes to be posted in the next few days!
I tend to find myself as one confident individual - unless math is involved. I personally have a weird way of finding solutions (they work.. just not how its schemed to be solved). Also - when it comes to programming I can't exactly write down the correct syntax as well as I can type it out. Something about the comfort of a keyboard I suppose...
Point being, I found this recently when giving a programming and logic test. I highly recommend testing yourself and keeping sharp with brain teasers and some programming basics. When given the test I found myself drawing blanks on many questions that I KNEW the correct answers for. I also found myself literally stumped on how to correctly write syntax on various items I knew how to program.
Does anyone else have this problem at all sometimes?
I gotta say del.icio.us hooks me up all the time with awesome bookmarks.
Today I saw a link to an article on LifeHack regarding 15 cool Firefox tricks that people hardly use. I gotta say, I was delighted with a few of them as I had no idea they could be done.
Check it out now!!
http://www.lifehack.org/articles/technology/
15-coolest-firefox-tricks-ever.html
I got to say, the past week has been horrible for me because I have a crucial job interview coming up for a company I really want to work for.
Why should I be worried? My friends are confident I'll nail the job. My family is just the same. For me though, I know this interview will drill me on my knowledge as a programmer. Honestly I would say programming is a weakness of mine, whereas my strong points are interface design, optimization, and being addicted to the field.
How can one build their confidence about situations such as this? I've found over the past few years is to look at what relevant events you've been through that tie to your career field. As a web developer/designer I have seen a lot. I've come a LONG way since my days of programming horrid looking web sites on Angelfire. I've come a long way since last year's 1st place finish at the PBL NLC with Chris Pund (cheap plug, I know). My love for Web 2.0, aka the Semantic Web, was just taking off. From then to now, I must say that my PHP and MySQL understanding has increased tremendously and I have really gotten back into javascripting. I never really realized how important it's features can be to stabilizing the user experience.
Where am I going with this? I've come a long way and I'm still improving everyday. I have the upperhand against most students my age, in my location at least just because of my passion and desire to improve. I love this industry and it doesn't get any better than picking up something new.
You know, after thinking back on all of this - I should be worried afterall. I should just go, show them what I have to offer, and see how it goes from there.
It's something else I can learn from :).
It dawned on me today that I probably download upwards of 5-10 different open source applications a day. It ranges from a variety of things - including frameworks, web development utilities, games, and much more.
Since I come across a lot of good and bad software, I have decided to actually blog about it. Look for a section coming soon about my endeavors (such as CodeIgniter, which I posted earlier this week).
As I posted last night, I downloaded CodeIgnitor, a PHP framework. I must say, so far I am very impressed.
After looking at some of the video tutorials to get a feel for how the framework is based (simple Hello World, Blog in 20 Minutes), I thought I would give it a try. I started by creating a few simple scripts, ranging from 'Hello World' to a basic string that would print variables and solutions to a math problem. From there I created my own blogging system in under 50 minutes, which isn't bad at all I think for just picking up the system.
Now it's time for the fun-run. The listing system I created a few weeks ago is taking shape but is far from where I wanted it. Currently it runs on close to, give or take, 8 files. After 35 minutes I have recreated the system with CodeIgnitor. All that is left is to add the delete function and it will be set to go.
All in all, I think this is a great resource for PHP developers and those that are just picking up the language. If you have programmed in Java, then you will definitely appreciate the libraries as it will make time more manageable in your PHP development.
I recently saw a link on del.icio.us that I thought was noteworthy to pass along. You may have noticed that with my blogs lately, I have written quite a bit about Javascript (or at least complained about it, your choice).
Anywhoo, on to the article. It is a four part video series focusing on a presentation by Yahoo's Douglas Crockford. If you are just starting, I recommend you to check out the slides first. For those that have dabbled in Javascript before, start with the videos by checking out the link below!
http://101out.com/js.php
I've recently downloaded CodeIgniter, a PHP framework. From what I've seen from the videos it looks to quite effective. I'll be testing it out this week and will post later on my thoughts and comments.
Is it not sad that, when out of your element, you panic?
That is exactly what I'm doing.. sort of.
I have a huge interview coming up next week. I will be meeting with the development team for a company I want to work for. Granted, its an honor to get this far, but it really puts a lot of pressure on me.
What will they bring at me? What kind of questions? Will they hit me with a lot of programming techniques, mind puzzles, logic?
It's hard to say but it is all a given. I've found myself in recent days going over random sorts of Javascript, D-HTML techniques, Java, PERL, PHP, and whatever else I've dabbled in over the years. I find myself quite the tool when it comes to Javascript and D-HTML, although my memory lacks at times on a few strings. Nothing that a little research won't do to jog my memory.
It's funny though that I panic - as I look at it - I shouldn't. I have clients that pay me to create these projects day in and day out. I have created various projects related to this subject material in the classroom and in my spare time for fun. That's right, I've come out of the closet - I PROGRAM FOR FUN.
Wish me luck - It should be interesting to say the least.
It seems as though in the past 6 months something in my brain has opened. It's like a channel for understanding the logic of web programming has finally opened.
I just recently received two books in the mail that I ordered, Ajax Patterns and Best Practices (Expert's Voice) and Ajax Design Patterns. I have read quite a bit of Ajax Design Patterns at McConnell Library at RU, so I have put most of my time today into Ajax Patterns and Best Practices. Both are great reads and helpful to those starting to implement AJAX. Some may not like a few of the stories that are included with Ajax Design Patterns. Look at it this way.. the stories are similar to real life problems. Who cares if they are true or not.
I'm really nervous I must admit about my phone interview with Webmail.us Monday. I'll be interviewing with the Chief Software Architect, so everyone wish me luck!
Since the semester is now over, it provides the perfect time for me to return home to visit family. This time around, the trip home wasn't to pleasant.
I drive a 2001 Focus SE, with a 2.0 DOHC that never gives me problems (these cars rock). I was on my way back to Grayson County, VA when my immediately starting over-heating and the check engine light came on. I quickly took an exit and found myself at an Exxon station with my car leaking anti-freeze faster than a school-girl leaking secrets.
Low and behold I found the problem rather fast - a torn hose. It was torn around the clamp. Simple enough - just unclamp, pull the hose tighter and reclamp.. right? WRONG.
Ford, what were you thinking by making a hose that has two different sizes on each end? I see why - considering the pipe coming out of the radiator is smaller than the chamber coming out of the engine. I'm sure theres a reason for it.. but it really makes things stressful when you try to fix a problem. I wish I knew why.. it seems to be a common trend with car companies these days.
Thankfully my father owns a rollback and I was able to get it hauled home (granted.. I had to wait from midnight till 7am in the morning due to phone issues).
I"ll leave it at yesterday just wasn't my day.
Well, this week has been enough to say the least. Now, in a mere 40 minutes I will take my American Literature final exam. WHOO!
As for other news I will be interviewing with Webmail.us next week. I really hope this turns out well.
Also - out of boredom I scripted my own to-do list. Granted, Ta-da List already does this.. and I do use that quite a lot. The issue that popped out at me was that I personally didn't always have time to boot up firefox and login to Ta-Da. Now, with my own little program I can boot it from my desktop via a flash interface and add away :). I will most likely post the code in the next few weeks once I touch up the visual pieces.
I will be out of town until Sunday night/ early Monday morning to visit family. If you need to reach me try the cell phone or e-mail.
Wish my luck, I'm off!
The title alone entails for a great read.
Or so you thought.......
It is that final week of the year that I usually find myself scurrying for all of my notes, library hours, and an enormous pot of pure black coffee. Yes, that's right folks, it's exam time. Fortunately this year is my true, last semester of exams. I will have two next fall, but hey - two are better than a full course load.
On to bigger and better things - my independent study has been approved. This means I get to dabble into the tech world and apply existing technologies to help the student body at large. What? Yes - I will be creating a true web site and application for the students of the new RU School of Communication. If you aren't in the program (or have been under a rock the past year), the Media Studies and Communications departments are merging together to form one school (about time right?).
With this - I will be creating a web site to assist in the process. What are my goals? Glad you asked!
