I started my C++ book the other day. The book is titled, C++ Programming in Easy Steps. Each page is a lesson and there is sample programs for each lesson. The book is very interesting in the fact that it walks you through what you are doing, how to do it, and the why part comes with writing the code. I did notice myself looking at the inside of the front cover in the beginning but I am starting to memorize what each keyword means. I know that some people won’t like the fact that the book doesn’t spell out what each keyword does, but I like learning by doing and it has been great for me. The more I read of this book, the more excited I am getting for the Java books.
The 4 chapters that I have read have covered:
- Introduction – compiling and running programs, creating variables, and a little on arrays
- Performing operations – Arithmetic, assigning values, logic, conditions, data types
- Making statements – Branching with If, looping for, looping while, functions
- Handling strings – Creating string variables, join and compare strings, copy and swap strings, substrings
It is starting to get a lot more complicated and I am spending more time on each new lesson but it is a great feeling once it clicks. I am starting to see how knowing this language will be helpful for my future use with APEX, VF, and even how to better use custom formulas. The syntax and keywords of each language are different but I can start to see a pattern emerge in all of it. I can see myself getting buying a programming theory/architecture book in the near future to confirm my theory and gain more insight into the how and why. I am hoping to finish a couple more chapters by the end of the week and write up my first comprehension review.
You heard it here first – ok, so not first… not even close to first.
JavaScript:
Before I started on this journey my logic would have told me that JavaScript and Java are either: the same language, based off the same language, or an evolution of the same language. And how wrong I would have been! JavaScript is the code that you can use to turn a website from a static page to a dynamic and interactive one. It runs on the browser side and not the server side.
So why is JavaScript called JavaScript if it has nothing to do with Java? Check out what Wikipedia has to say…
Forms:
This is exactly what it sounds like. You have the ability to create a form on a web page. You name the type of data, the format of the data and what to do with the data. You can use JavaScript to interact with the user. For example: Check for form completeness before submitting. Seems straightforward right? It is for the most part, although it does lead me to some questions relating to Salesforce.com.
Looking at a landing page on my company site, I noticed (and knew before) that the oid, campaignid (if you have campaigns), lead source, are all hidden. I also noticed that there is no Salesforce code for each field, like first name. Here are my questions:
- When a user hits submit, how does it get to Salesforce?
- Am I missing code when I look at the page?
- If a field( eg. firstname) doesn’t have a Salesforce ID, how does it match?
- Last question: JavaScript can validate a form, such as if all fields are filled in, can it also dictate the format of the data or would you use XHTML?
I will be looking these up and posting the answers once I find them.
HTML, XHTML & CSS for Dummies is finished. Great information and I am surprised how much more I understand web design and coding. I understand the source code to web pages I look at.
I would recommend reading this book if you are starting off, it was easy to understand and a quick read. It does not go into depth by any means, but gives the reader the background to be able to go out on their own to find the resources they need. It lays the ground work for what is to come. I feel like this is a great start…
I am halfway through the HTML book. So far, it has been an easy read and some information I already knew. To me, the nice part about it is the “why” behind the language. To me, knowing the why makes understanding, fixing, and starting from scratch much easier. So far the book covered the basics of HTML and XHTML structure. I will go over some of my key takeaways below:
- XHTML and HTML tell the browser how to display the page
- Both have 3 types of components – Elements, Attributes, and Entities
- DOCTYPE specifies what markup language is used for the page
- For XHTML you need to add a namespace
- Metadata: Keywords, description/information of the page. Has it’s own element and attributes – name and content
- Learned about formatting – headings, blockquote, paragraph, ordered lists, unordered lists, list elements, definition lists, anchor element, alignment, images, links
- More specific formatting and styling is saved for the CSS portion
If there is something that I have missed or haven’t said correctly, please feel free to correct me.
Dreamforce 2009 was an incredible time. I was lucky enough to meet and hang out with some great people – people who have inspired me to start this blog and teach myself more of what Salesforce.com can do and programming. I wanted to start this blog in the hopes that it will help other Salesforce users. I have learned a lot of information from reading other people’s blogs and twitter… it is my time to start sharing. Please feel free to comment on things to come – please let me know when I am wrong, when I could be doing things better, and even for the few times that I might be right! Without further ado…
Here is the list of the technology that I will start learning (in no particular order, yet):
HTML, XHTML, CSS, C++, Java, JavaScript, SQL, MySQL, PHP and APEX
First up – HTML, XHTML &CSS for Dummies (full color too!)
