Programming

A bit of background.

I started actual programming on a Radio Shack Color Computer. I did some dinking around on a Timex Sinclair but I got serious with the CoCo.

Over the years, I’ve done a lot of programming. Mostly satisfying personal projects.

As a consultant or contractor, customers have tried to keep track of the work employees do. Generally I keep a notebook with me. As I go through the day, I write down the tasks I perform and the things I need to do.

Back when I started my new job, I snagged a notebook and kept track. The boss would have the team update a document located in Sharepoint. Then just sending a weekly email.

On the 2008 Annual Review, I decided to create a database to manage my review the reports. I snagged the years worth of data, cleaned it up and imported it the database. After further review, I wrote a php app to let me make updates and display the weekly data. I’d copy it and mail it out.

Over the past several years I’ve been dabbling in CSS and getting better in php coding. I’m also learning a lot about JavaScript in order to manipulate the page.

In late 2009 I started taking that knowledge and improving the app.

So far while the app is useable, if I put something in the wrong place, I just pop into the database and fix it. Once I even screwed up a bunch and had to restore from backup. Oh yea, I make nightly backups and still use my notebook.

But after the improvements, I have one of my coworkers who is interested. So I started making edit pages. Places where someone can edit their entry without access to the database.

For the past year I’ve been adding features and fixing errors. I’ve also been adding users. Most recently a Todo manager that’s integrated with the weekly status data.

It really satisfies a personal itch. I do this to make it easier for me to keep track of my work. The first time, I submitted 1,400 items in the load. This past year, I have over 1,600 items to review.

This is what I consider fun šŸ™‚

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