Create Flash site with HTML like markup...

TC50: FluidHTML Wants To Rewrite The Web With Flash-like HTML: "

Screen shots from our recent Patient Portal billing release

OpenID According to Dave

A very nice explanation of how OpenID works.

An application I was involved in building...

...made it to the local news this week. The physician, Dr Ethan Basch is interviewed and there are some brief screen shots of a patient using the application. It was developed as part of a clinical trial that was recently published to show that people would use the Internet to report symptoms. The application is called STAR, Symptom Tracking and Reporting. The application was written using our in house content managment application, Cold Fusion 7 and SQL server.

http://wcbstv.com/video/?id=106969@wcbs.dayport.com

Teaching Programming

Let's face it, kids today have grown up with a computer and they really know their way around the Internet and various applications. The problem is many adults assume that because kids know more than they do, that makes them computer experts. The fact is both of my kids know their way around Instant Messaging, Facebook, iTunes and email, but if they need to upgrade a device driver or diagnose a system error, they are lost without me. When I was in College computer programming was done on punch cards (God am I that old). Personal computers were in their infancy. I think the fact that PC's were new, made them exciting and filled you with wonder as to how these machines worked and what they can do. PC's and technology are so advanced today, I think the inherent wonder is gone.

When you look at the way programming is taught at the college level, it's no wonder we are graduating so few Computer technology majors . My son needed to take an intro to computer programming course. He's coming down to the end of the semester now and the entire experience has been nothing short of unpleasant for him. At this point it will be a miracle if he actually passes the course.

I have wanted to teach both of my kids some basic programming concepts since they were in elementary school, but I could never get them interested enough to sit down. The thought if learning some programming always sounded too much like school work. Sitting back now and assessing the College programming experience has made me think about what's wrong with the process. The number one goal a teacher should have in an intro to computer programming course is MAKE IT EXCITING AND INTERESTING. The kids have to see why this can be FUN. It's less important to be an expert at the language than it is to understand the basic concepts of programming.

Here are some random thought/observations:

• My sons course used Visual Basic. I used Visual Basic.... 10 years ago. I actually developed some of my first web based applications using VB CGI. I wouldn't choose VB now as a language to teach. You're trying to teach concepts. Many will argue that you should be teaching an object oriented language. I don't think an intro course should use an object oriented language. I do think the language should target WEB PAGE development. Get them excited by showing them how the tools they use everyday are created.
  
• VB requires Visual Studio. In order to program the lessons you either had to go to the lab to use one of their installed copies or install a demo copy that came with the book. Visual Studio and the entire IDE is way too complex for intro students to have to comprehend. Just learning everything the development environment can do can take an entire course to master. There were times that windows closed and my son could not figure out where they were or how to bring them back. The development environment should not frustrate the learning process. It's about the programming not the IDE.
  
• Keep the user interface simple. If you focus on web design students will need to learn some basic HTML. I'd rather they learn that than how Visual Studio works. It's a skill that can be useful outside of the programming exercises. The lessons my son had to work on concentrated on user interface design elements and getting them to work. Spend less time on UI and more on what a language does. Keep the UI as simple as possible. Just enough to support understanding the underlying programming concept.
  
• Use OPEN SOURCE tools whenever possible.

Not every kid that take an intro to computer programming course is going to have an interest, but I think the way it's being taught at the college level today is actually driving away potential future programmers by making the first experience a painful and frustrating one.

Use Google Charts in your programs

This API couldn't be simpler. You can generate a chart with simple URL parameters.

An Ajax only solitaire site

This is an excellent solitaire site but it's even more amazing that there is no Flash involved. It is all JavaScript and Ajax. Amazing.

World of Solitaire

Resume Driven Development (RDD)

This article sums up my feelings about why Cold Fusion is not popular amongst programmers. They don't want a language that's easy to learn, easy to understand and can cut coding time more than 50%. They want to develop in the language that will look best on their resume.

Java, .Net and C# look better than CF or PHP, but will take twice as long (conservatively) to develop the same code.

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The top 10 dead (or dying) computer skills

It's nice to see all the comments that were sent in reference to the idiot inclusion of ColdFusion on this list.

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