Xylophone injuries

We’ve made it to the end of week 5. I’d like to say I’m enjoying the thrill of learning, and am reaping the rewards of extensive cerebral gymnastics. I would really like to be saying that. But instead I’m going to draw some descriptive analogies that have occurred to me over the recent weeks of MASSIVE PAIN.

My daughter has started to show affection by aggressively patting my face. Some might call it a slap-punch, but what do they know. Her hands are small so I can easily dodge the blows. But the fun happens when she’s ‘forgotten’ there’s something hidden in her vice like grip:

Number one on the pain list is my hairbrush. As its weighty handle collides with my eye socket, I’m reminded of Javascript… The four weeks of pre-course, and the first four weeks of the actual course were all based around the programming language Ruby. In week five, without any slowing in pace whatsoever it’s a handbrake turn into programming in Javascript instead. Javascript looks like complete insanity. It is insanity. I prefer the hairbrush.

Number two on the pain list is that pointy little sucker, the remote control. Or as I now think of him, AJAX. AJAX allows content to update and change dynamically without a user having to reload the entire page. It puts a spring in the step your facebook news feed, and keeps google maps on track. But it works hand in hand with javascript. And as I think I may have mentioned, javascript looks like a hairbrush.

And then there’s the xylophone. I will confess that I haven’t been formally introduced to that 2ft block of coloured wood and painted steel YET, but when I am, I think it will taste like databases. If you want data to persist after a user leaves a web application, you need a database. But not just one, you need three, one for testing, one for development and one for production. And then you need some more acronyms. So. Many. Acronyms. PostgreSQL (try saying that with a fat lip) is probably my least favourite.

But onwards. Tomorrow is week 6, meaning we’re almost at the halfway point. From here on in there will be fewer new concepts, with a greater emphasis on consolidating what we’ve already learnt. Here’s hoping it won’t hurt as much second time round.