Introduction
Hello, my name is Sam Chau and this is my learning portfolio is for CIS 2336. My learning portfolio should explain both what I have learned in terms technology and how I have learned in terms of technique. My portfolio should provide a narrative of what, and how, I learned in this class. To do so I have selected my best assignment for the course to show that I have learned in each module. Click the module links to the left of the page to view each assignment that was chosen for the learning portfolio.
Mod 1 Assignment
For module 1, I learned all about HTML and CSS, these two programming languages are the basics to all websites. Let’s say HTML is the structure of a website which in this example it would be the skeleton, meanwhile, CSS makes up the flesh and skin which are the fancy layouts websites may have. I chose the css tutorial assignment. I was my first time working with stylesheets and it was neat know that you can use css to format different things on your web page. CSS stand for cascading style sheets it is the language used to describe the appearance and formatting of your HTML. It allows you to apply formatting to certain things when one or more styles apply to different areas of your website. CSS can be used inside the actual code to using things like "style", "span", or "strong". It also controls things like background color, height, width, and where things go on the page. People use stylesheet seperate from the html to keep the page from looking cluttered. Although I already knew some HTML and CSS before starting this class, it was nice going through all of the assignments and using it as a mind refresher.-
Mod 2 Assignment
For module 2, I chose the textbook assignment. PHP is a programming language that can do all sorts of things: evaluate form data sent from a browser, build custom web content to serve the browser, talk to a database, and even send and receive cookies. You can use includes inside of php to call things like headers/footers. From example 1 you can write code in PHP to show what version of the server you are and using and the operating system. Example 2 show different sorting methods using php. Example 3 shows how the php use includes and how you can write in php and still incorporate html in the code also. You can explore all of my assignments by clicking "Module two". PHP is a server-side scripting language designed primarily for creating dynamic web pages, as you explore Module Two you may notice how my website has evolved into grasping the PHP ways; one would say it is more dynamic than before.
Mod 3 Assignment
For module 3, focused on introducing MySQL/SQL and learning to how put it to good use along with PHP. I created databases and secured them by placing them outside of the Web Root directory. The assignment I chose for this module is the Bucky's MySQL tutorial. It was a 33 step tutorial that walked you thru from creating a database and user access on the php admin, then using mySQL to actually create tables and do alter then using SQL commands. Like the tutorial because Bucky didn't go fast and helped me understand what each command did. Each video were about 5-10 minutes long, so made it easy to watch instead of having one big video. Everything in this class has been "fresh off the boat" to me, it can be overwhelming at times but exciting when the code I'm working on actually runs. Click on the "Module 3" tab on the left of the page to explore my completed assignments.
Mod 4 Assignment
In Module 4, consisted of learning about Javascript and the functions within the language. Javascript is used for making websites more interactive; it can be used to control web pages on the client side of the browser, server-side programs, and even mobile applications. Out of the assignments I chose the javascript code academy assignment. Even though we only had to cover two units of the assignment, I learned some very valuable information from the tutorial. The first unit was just a walk through dealing with more of syntax type of things. For example, having to use parentheses to display strings, not for numerial values. The use of confirm. Where you type something in the confirm parentheses and a window will pop up to confirm the information with a OK or Cancel. Prompt does the same thing but will prompt you enter data in a dialog box. The use of the console.log which will log everything in the parentheses in a console. Unit two introduce the use of functions in javascript. You must first declare a function with a variable then claim in as a function and use a parameter and name it anything you want. You must call the function outside it.
Reflections
CIS 2336 was by far the most learning experience I ever had in this class. I took this spring semester and although it was tough, I am proud to say I appreciate everything that was taught to me. Throughout the course I was introduced to PHP, MySQL, phpMyAdmin, and welcomed other new terms in programming. Before the semester begun I had some brief knowledge over C++ and Java therefore the modules was not too stressful. Moving on to the rest of the modules, I had no previous consciousness of such database programs and languages. Each given assignment from PHP, MySQL, and JavaScript modules shaped the process of my understanding for each new topic. One of my favorite tutorials were the ones codeacademy offers. Their tutorials all exceedingly comprehendible for anyone who is willing to learn or has a passion for computers and beyond. Each topic within the language/server is covered comprehensively which turned out to be a great key in my learning. Not only did I get to practice what was taught within the topics but I also got the opportunity to practice coding myself and that made learning exciting to me. If my class had been given more time to focus on specific points throughout the course I would prefer to go back to JavaScript to have more practicing time. By that I am referring to having assignments given to the class like we did in the other modules and come up with a working code. I would also like to spend more time on PHP just to double check I fully understand how PHP and MySQL work hand in hand. If I had more time with the portfolio, I would change the whole design to make more appealing. Overall, I enjoyed Professor Crowley class, I learned a lot from him and hopefully I can use this tool and knowledge to apply to the real world.