After six weeks into the semester, things still seem to be going well. The pace is still pretty quick, but I am used to the pattern of how things are done in each class now. The first couple of weeks can always be a challenge just trying to find out each instructors pace and teaching style.
My first mid-term exam is tomorrow, February 23, in SQL. I feel well prepared for it and am anxious to take it so I can move on to the other mid-terms that are coming. So far I've been able to be off to a good start this semester in terms of grades, which of course makes me happy!
I proud to say I won the Jack Lussier Family Scholarship this semester. I am so thankful for people and organizations who are willing to help students make their way through college. Especially in these tough financial times.
But most exciting of all is the upcoming baby! My wife is due on March 2nd and my daughter is anxiously awaiting to see if she will have a baby brother or sister. Spring break is at the end of March and I'm sure the whole family will be glad to see dad have a break from school!
Monday, February 22, 2010
Monday, February 1, 2010
Another beginning
The spring semester has started. We're just over 3 weeks into it now. And wow, what a semester this is shaping up to be! The pace seems much faster this semester. The homework seems to be a much bigger load as well. However, I feel I'm keeping up and doing well. The following few paragraphs are my initial impressions of my five classes.
First, is Object-Oriented Design with UML. This class is picking up right where Intro to Database left off. Most of our discussion so far has been on how to take a user request and turn that into a database design. We are already into more complicated databases than last semester. I can see now how important those first building blocks were. This process is a challenge, but once I get more experience with it, I can see how rewarding it will be to set up a more complicated database. I already would like to set up some databases at home. Perhaps for a common contact list for the whole family. And an organization tool for our movies, my video games or my wife's crafts could also come in handy.
After OOD with UML, I have Intro to Visual Basic.NET. This is a course I immediately liked. Not only because of my love for programming, but also because the design environment is much like Visual Basic for Applications in Excel, which I have some experience with. So far, the course is coming quite naturally to me and I'm looking forward to surpassing what I had self-taught myself in the Excel environment.
My next course is Computer Hardware Essentials. While I don't currently have plans to have a career in IT support or building computers, this class is still very interesting. And I feel it will be a very important one. As a person in the IT field, I am already getting many questions from friends and family regarding their computers. It will be nice to be able to answer some of them, finally! But also, this is a great course to take for maintenance of my own computers. Depending on where I work some day, I may find myself in a role of not only doing programming or website design, but also being the IT support person.
SQL programming is another of my courses. I am definitely liking learning how to write database queries with Oracle iSQL*plus. The basics of writing a query were initially quite easy, but already, they are getting more complicated as we head into grouping statements. And I know there is much more to go. There is a lot of work into learning all of the different SQL statements, but it is a very rewarding experience.
My final class is PHP with MySQL. This class has introducted me to working with a Virtual Machine and Linux. I am glad to have the opportunity to work with these tools already. I've been in a Windows environment almost exclusively since the early 90's. I find the PHP language very similar to JavaScript in many ways, but also it's very different. I'm really looking forward to creating some projects with PHP and integrating it with MySQL. For this semester I have chosen to run my projects on my Windows XP laptop in Apache 2.2, PHP 5 and MySQL 5.0. Getting all of those programs set up and running correctly on my laptop was a challenge in itself and taught me many things regarding configuration files and .ini files. I may try IIS at a later date, although there shouldn't be much difference. This summer I may also upgrade to Windows 7.
The spring semester is definitely off to a running start. As mentioned, there is a lot more homework and the pace is definitely more accelerated than in Fall. However, I have been expecting this and have handled it well. I hope to be ahead of my work as much as possible when the baby arrives in another month or so. I am so excited to have another member of our family arrive!
First, is Object-Oriented Design with UML. This class is picking up right where Intro to Database left off. Most of our discussion so far has been on how to take a user request and turn that into a database design. We are already into more complicated databases than last semester. I can see now how important those first building blocks were. This process is a challenge, but once I get more experience with it, I can see how rewarding it will be to set up a more complicated database. I already would like to set up some databases at home. Perhaps for a common contact list for the whole family. And an organization tool for our movies, my video games or my wife's crafts could also come in handy.
After OOD with UML, I have Intro to Visual Basic.NET. This is a course I immediately liked. Not only because of my love for programming, but also because the design environment is much like Visual Basic for Applications in Excel, which I have some experience with. So far, the course is coming quite naturally to me and I'm looking forward to surpassing what I had self-taught myself in the Excel environment.
My next course is Computer Hardware Essentials. While I don't currently have plans to have a career in IT support or building computers, this class is still very interesting. And I feel it will be a very important one. As a person in the IT field, I am already getting many questions from friends and family regarding their computers. It will be nice to be able to answer some of them, finally! But also, this is a great course to take for maintenance of my own computers. Depending on where I work some day, I may find myself in a role of not only doing programming or website design, but also being the IT support person.
SQL programming is another of my courses. I am definitely liking learning how to write database queries with Oracle iSQL*plus. The basics of writing a query were initially quite easy, but already, they are getting more complicated as we head into grouping statements. And I know there is much more to go. There is a lot of work into learning all of the different SQL statements, but it is a very rewarding experience.
My final class is PHP with MySQL. This class has introducted me to working with a Virtual Machine and Linux. I am glad to have the opportunity to work with these tools already. I've been in a Windows environment almost exclusively since the early 90's. I find the PHP language very similar to JavaScript in many ways, but also it's very different. I'm really looking forward to creating some projects with PHP and integrating it with MySQL. For this semester I have chosen to run my projects on my Windows XP laptop in Apache 2.2, PHP 5 and MySQL 5.0. Getting all of those programs set up and running correctly on my laptop was a challenge in itself and taught me many things regarding configuration files and .ini files. I may try IIS at a later date, although there shouldn't be much difference. This summer I may also upgrade to Windows 7.
The spring semester is definitely off to a running start. As mentioned, there is a lot more homework and the pace is definitely more accelerated than in Fall. However, I have been expecting this and have handled it well. I hope to be ahead of my work as much as possible when the baby arrives in another month or so. I am so excited to have another member of our family arrive!
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