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Tag: PHP

Programming Languages

I was chatting with a friend about forgotten programming languages and how many we had learned and forgotten. During a quick Google search for "hundreds of frameworks and languages," I stumbled upon this intriguing list of computer programming languages. The way Bradley broke his list into categories caught my attention, and I couldn’t help but feel nostalgic.

Over the years, I've encountered and dabbled with several languages. I coded in Commodore BASIC, Pascal, and Motorola 68xx assembly language in high school and university. Later, I extensively used C, Perl, PHP, and JavaScript during my professional journey.

While I did learn languages like C++, Java, Objective-C, and Python, I must admit that I haven't had the chance to create anything meaningful with them. And thanks to my Linux and web development background, I can claim to know scripting languages like Awk and Tcl, along with markup languages such as HTML, XML, and XHTML. It's a pretty diverse list, to say the least!

Though I might have forgotten how to use some of these languages due to lack of practice, I could quickly brush up on my Perl, PHP, and JavaScript skills for web development and systems management if a project came my way. Of all the languages I've encountered, Perl has always held a special place in my heart. It allowed me to express myself freely without enforcing rigid computer science rules. As they say in the programming community, "there is more than one way to do it" with Perl, and I love its philosophy, as highlighted in the book Learning Perl "Making Easy Things Easy and Hard Things Possible."

Looking back at this diverse list of languages, I can't help but marvel at the incredible journey I've had with programming. Each language brought its unique charm and possibilities, making my experience in the world of coding truly memorable.

WordPress Theme Creation

Every time I tell myself "I will write my WordPress theme", I start learning about what is required and ... I quit. I feel overwhelmed and demotivated by the amount of effort. I already know PHP (but my skills are rusty), and with some time and effort, I think I could learn the WordPress Codex. But ... CSS. Argh! That would take a lot of time for me to learn.

And I want this theme support microformats2. Another learning curve. So as I see it I have three learning curves to climbs:

  • WordPress Codex
  • CSS
  • microformats 2

I think the issue is one of time. Assuming I could dedicate 1-2 hours a week (between work, wife, and kid, I have little time) to learning each of those, how long would it take? Assuming a week to learn each one, it could take me years.

In reality, I have no interest in learning how to create a WordPress theme. What I want is a minimalist and elegant WordPress theme that supports microformats 2.