I love it.

I love having to program something I have never done and having to figure out how the hell to do it. Man it's nice to be able to work symbolically with arguments I put into things like:

document.getElement.ByID(div+i).innerHTML=something.responseText;

and I can fill in a bunch of divs at one time.


Now I will go listen to MiniPop and have their beautiful melodies haunt me.

Almost Social Networking

I got all excited and decided that I could make my own Google Wave. I started writing code yesterday afternoon and I have a chat client...that works like a very simple chat client. I used AJAX type stuff to post the text in divs. The way(this is ultra tricky, I know) that data is passed between instances is by saving the text to a common text file which is then periodically viewed by the Javascript and posted. It's ultra low tech but it does work. I wonder if I could do it with a web service. Almost certain I could. I learned a lot and it was fun too. Crazy. The thing is web-based, by the way.

Job Search and New Page Idea

I'm officially in the job hunt now, and I'm looking for volunteer opportunities because my resume isn't exactly overflowing with development experiences. I program in C#, ASP.Net, JavaScript, AJAX.

I'm thinking of a next project--it would be social networking in a sense, but musical. The idea is that two or more people will rate a piece of computer generated music. What ever piece is rated highest (of a group of 5) will move to the next round, be mutated, then voted on. The crux is that people will get to do it "together". It would be interesting to see how ratings are different depending on who a person is paired with.

more improvements

So I have simplified my page and it works better now. I have also added some instructions in the css popup that direct the user a little better. Almost ready for the world, it is. Got a G1, trying it out today. Weird change from that other smartphone I had.

Wow what I have done

I've had such a productive summer. Mainly I figured how to use pagemethods/webmethods for passing params back and forth between c# and javascript. I found out that you can't really intercept and have your way with the passed param--it's kinda untouchable until you send it back to c#. I added a little css. I got my postback(there is a section that posts back) to end up in the correct spot using a method in page_render and an anchor. I figured out what task is okay to use a postback and what ones can be ajax'd. Also learned alot about the crazy way that validation is implemented. Right now I think I have the validation pretty good where no stray values are being input. Oh yeah, I learned how valuable javascript is.

I found out how to make a textbox have a finger mouse pointer onhover. That was cool. I also figured out what needs to be done for uploading a project to a server. Currently my project is at www.tobymgraves.com and the only problem that is occurring is due to the server not saving my pictures immediately. I am constantly working to improve the page. I've tested it in IE, Firefox, Chrome, and Safari and Camino on a Mac. Also Safari on iPhone.

Now time to look for a job.

Success

I've succeeded in getting the username from a cookie, automatically accessing the DB to find the user's favorite drawing of a cellular automata. I can also draw the picture without a postback--it happens right on the page. Also I have the code assign a new usernumber if the person has not been to the site, or if they haven't been there in a long time. Phew. Took a lot of work.

Right now I am writing the code for the half of the page that evolves digital circuits from scratch until the fulfill the truth table. Find out it's not super easy to convert a 1 to boolean without doing a few steps in between. That's about ready to run.

Integration

I have succeeded in triggering an event on a page written in C#, then passed parameters to a Javascript/Ajax function, passed the params to a C# function, back to a Javascript function and ended the program. Now I intend to do my cellular automata/evolutionary algorithm page in Ajax, getting data from the user via cookies, retrieving the data in the background processes, and drawing/retrieving a picture in the background processes. I need to find out how to draw a pic without opening a new window. I may perhaps use the UpdatePanel directive.

AJAX

Since I have a lot of time on my hands at this time, I'm getting back into studying code. Like multiple hours daily if possible. Right now I'm implementing AJAX to make a page that deals with AI concepts. Half the page is cellular automata, the other half is evolutionary algorithms. The idea is to calculate and retrieve data behind the scenes. I found a way to do it, but I'd rather come up with my own way, which does not employ ScriptManager.